Category: General

Good Morning World. This is Great Britain calling.

Is this thing on? Are we still here? Europe? Are you still there? Are our European servers still on? Are we all still friends? Sorry about all that guys. Everything went a bit mad there for a moment. Our money is worth less now, the markets are in …

Reolink HD IP Security Camera – Video overview

Remember the all-weather fixed security camera I reviewed the other day? The Reolink IP camera will fix to your wall or roof and points at your driveway, your garden, your warehouse or inside your property and you can view the images and video anywhere in the world via …

Doosl FM Transmitter – Review

I’ve been sent an FM transmitter again. It’s one of those ones you’ll find on Amazon with a rather long and confusing name. The full description for this £13 gadget is (wait for it)… “FM Transmitter, Doosl® 3.5mm FM Transmitter Radio Adapter Hands-free Calling Wireless Radio Car Kit, …

Wraps Headphones – Review

Remember the Wraps Wearable Headphones we mentioned recently? OK, so it was a bitdaft to call them “wearable” because of course, all headphone sare. However, these wrap around your wrist when they’re not in use, so you effectively turn them into a bracelet / bangle when they’re not …

Reolink HD IP Security Camera – Review

We’ve had security cameras in the past but this one will work outside and you can’t move it around automatically. Yes, it’s a “proper” security camera. Now, many of you will probably think that you need some sort of recording hardware and other bits to make this work, …

Seek announce a new cheap version of their thermal camera

In August last year we took a look at the Seek Thermal camera. It basically slots onto the bottom of your phone and, in real time, shows you what’s hot and what’s not. Now you can get an affordable model in the shape of the Seek CompactPRO. It’s …

Honor 5C Announced

Oh I like this. Honor have sent us pictures of their new Honor 5C outside, next to a river. Perhaps James took it to the pub and snapped some photos? Well, perhaps that’s a topic we’ll need to talk to him about over a cold beer. This is …

Euro 2016 causes a network data spike

Unless you live under a rock, you may have noticed that there is a little football tournament happening in France. Last week England were playing Wales during traditional working hours with a kick-off of 2pm. In previous years, businesses would get a high amount of “sickness” during tournaments, …

Apple hit further problems in China

After the recent ban on the iTunes Movies and iBooks store in China, Apple seem to be heading for some further trouble there. This time around, it is relating to it’s current flagships – the iPhone 6 & 6s. Apple’s been suing Samsung endlessly on patents & design …

iFit Classic Review

iFit introduced a huge array of new gadgets at the Gadget Show Live event last March for keeping tabs on your world of fitness and sleep. We reported directly from the event here and specifically about this watch we have to review the iFit Classic. Here is a video of …

VR Headsets are OK, but… this. This is better.

As an author on the site you find yourself chasing your tale quite a bit. You’re writing about the latest handsets, the latest speakers, headphones, tablets and VR gadgets. However, this one just jumps off the page. VR headsets. They’re great, sure – but you need to strap …

Jide Announce its next Remix, the Remix Pro

It has been a bit of time since we last heard any news from Jide (the makers of Remix Ultra Tablet and the Remix Mini). They have been working very hard on a few different projects and building their portfolio up. So, what have they been working on so …

Fancy a Bluetooth baseball cap?

A random Chinese company got in touch with us today. To be honest this happens every day. Companies seem to think that we’re a shop of some kind and we want to buy their things. We’re not, but sometimes they do tell us about some pretty weird and …

Thinking of switching contracts? Go armed

Just a few days ago I mentioned a great deal on a SIM-only plan for a friend. I have become the go-to person for “geeky” things and that also seems to include mobile phones, plans and contracts. Just last week I also helped my wife renew her contract as she’d …

Moto phones get their own Motorola Camera app in the Play Store

Why is this a thing worth mentioning? There’s a camera app specifically for Motorola phones (called surprisingly enough, Motorola Camera). It largely depends on whether you have a Motorola phone or not. More precisely, whether you have, or intend to get, one of the 2016 crop of Motorola …

Make your own popstar video with this selfie accessory

You’ve probably seen those music videos where a pop starlet has a close-up with the camera and is lit beautifully by a circular set of lights attached to the camera. It makes the singer look fresh, clear and they’ll stand out in the resulting video. Now you can …

OnePlus keep the punches coming with the OnePlus 3

I was recently on holiday and when I returned I found that this strange contraption was waiting for me in my hallway. Now for those of you who have followed us a for a while, you will no doubt be familiar with what this is. It is, of course, …

Talk to the animals with a KYON Pet Tracker

Watching your pet from work or anywhere else is pretty simple. Just get a camera or perhaps use a spare smartphone to act as an IP camera. It’s a good way to have a quick look at your dog or cat from afar, but… wouldn’t it be good …

Vodafone launch the Smart platinum 7

From Monday 20th June you’ll be able to get this, the new branded device from Vodafone. It’ll cost just £300 on Pay as you go, or you can get it on contract. Prices start at £28 per month for unlimited minutes, unlimited texts and 1GB of UK data. That’s …

Gadget Review for an International Trip

This is video is long overdue, regardless I took a business trip to Malaysia for work reasons and decided to take a road test of a number of gadgets to play with. First up was the BagsByBlack BUDDI bag, then Pump Audio V2, Anker Power Bank 20100, cables from …

MEEM is now out!

Back in January, Leigh looked at the MEEM cable which was in the Kickstarter stage. What is MEEM I hear you ask? Well it is a phone charger cable that automatically backs up personal data on a smartphone to the cable, every time the phone is charged. MEEM is …

£5 for 1GB of data – SIM-only deal of the day

This weekend was my tenth wedding anniversary. It really doesn’t seem like a decade. Not at all. I remember being at the church, going on honeymoon and even writing about it here just five minutes ago. What happened eh ? We spent most of the weekend celebrating. On …

Organika – Making your next phone cover even more individual

Covers. There’s stacks of them. If you want something a little “different” then it usually only extends to having a personalised picture on the back of your device. Meanwhile, other cases are made from wood or leather to give you a small amount of individuality. But.. what if …

Get a cable free when you buy this power bank

If you liked the look of the Glory P1 Mini power bank we reviewed on Saturday, listen up friends. We’ve got a bit of an offer on for you. If you buy it you’ll find that there’s a microUSB cable in the box. However, you can get another …

SEAT turns to VR

When I received this press release I honestly thought SEAT had launched a new way of selling their cars. Perhaps, after strapping your phone to your face via Google Cardboard or similar, you could experience a SEAT before you bought one? Well, it’s not quite that – not …

XQISIT XQ S20 Bluetooth Speaker – Review

The Bluetooth speaker market is flooded with different devices – if you don’t believe me, just do a quick search on either Amazon or eBay and it will take about a week to trawl though all the offerings. Prices range from just a couple of pounds, through to …

Tesco launch Mobile Xtras

Well, this is awkward. We’ve been given some information about a new offering from Tesco Mobile but their PR team aren’t getting in touch. We’re not totally sure if we’re breaking an embargo or what-not, but here goes anyway. So, word on the street is that Tesco Mobile …

Virgin add entertainment to your train journeys

A journey for me to London usually falls into two categories. I either take a “cheap” train which takes a couple of hours, stops at places I’ve never heard of and has no on-board “booster” so the signal on your phone is totally pants. If, however, I pay …

dial wearable now on Three PAYG

UK network Three have now made their latest exclusive device the ‘dial’ from will.i.am. It’s available on Pay As You Go for anyone wanting to purchase – no need for a contract. The dial is an interesting idea – making a smartphone with voice assistant available on your …

Make your own Google Cardboard glasses. From food.

Yeah. It’s a weird idea, but someone in the US decided to make some virtual reality glasses with crackers. Not just any crackers, but Graham Crackers. They’re a bit hard to get hold of here in the UK, which is particularly annoying as my wife finds them to …

Has TeamViewer Been Hacked?

The popular remote desktop app TeamViewer has apparently been hacked. However, TeamViewer claim the issue lies with its users reusing the same password across multiple sites which makes sense…. until reports started to surface users with 2FA were also affected. It appears hackers gained control of victims’ TeamViewer …

Get your mates on Three and bag a £25 Amazon gift card

Well. There I go again. I’ve included the entire post within the title. Now I’ve got to that Daily Mail thing where I basically repeat the contents of that headline, but again and again throughout the article. Hey ho… Three have come up with a new referral scheme. …

Ubuntu OTA brings Wireless Display to Meizu Pro 5

Announced yesterday on the Ubuntu site – the Over The Air update 11 for Meizu Pro 5 Ubuntu Edition brings the much delayed full Ubuntu PC experience from a mobile phone handset. In addition to this feature, this update also brings overall performance improvements to the M10 tablet …

EE Launch 4GEE WiFi and 4GEE WiFi Mini

Some people call these things “MiFi” units. Basically they’re tiny gadgets that you can pop in your pocket which will fire out a WiFi hotspot for you to connect to. Share the hotspot or keep it secure, it’s up to you, but it can be a life saver …

XQISIT iE 200 Bluetooth headset – review.

I for one always have some sort of headphones stuck around my head, to be honest, I can’t even walk to the shop without popping a set on and listening to a podcast or two (the fantastic coolsmartphone podcast is one I happen to listen to). I have been …

Introducing – Syncwire

Cables! Cables! Cables everywhere! At Coolsmartphone HQ we are starting to get quite a lot of requests to review cables, not the most exciting subject matter but it is nice to have good alternatives to the usual high priced branded versions. Typically if you purchase a cheaper cable, …

Man with a suitcase is coming to fix your not-spots

We all want better coverage. In a perfect world we’d stop building offices and houses that play havoc with mobile signals. We’d live in a completely flat country without hills or valleys. We’d have planning regulations that allow for networks to deploy masts easier. But we don’t live …