Category: General
I’ll be honest, we’ve been having a few problems with the new Lumia 950 XL. We’ve seen stability issues, random reboots and a generally buggy experience. Then, via Gavins Gadgets, we’re hearing that – although it’s still on the website – Carphone Warehouse have removed the handset from …
Mini PC’s are quite the thing at the moment and seem to be popping up everywhere. Now for a while, these were nothing more than Netbook components being shoved into a small box. However, with the recent developments in Android and, to a lesser extent Chrome, there has …
I hope you all had a fantastic Christmas break and you’re all now ready to go back out to the shops in a frenzy of retail craziness. Today we’ve got a few of the mobile gadget bargains that you’ll be seeing, including this rather cheap Pebble Smartwatch. It’s …
Welcome to the Coolsmartphone Award Ceremony and Podcast, coming to you, prerecorded from Coolsmartphone Towers. Our team of experts got together yesterday and decided on the best and worst bits of 2015 in order to entertain you and reward/shame those responsible. As with all good awards ceremonies we’re …
Yes, we’re getting emails from PR agencies telling us about January sales already. This one is from Three, who are launching their “biggest SIM sale ever”. They’re offering half price SIM-only deals for as little as £4 for the first three months of a 12 month plan. Not …
I need you to tick some boxes for me. – Have you got a Samsung Galaxy S6 or an Samsung Galaxy S6 edge? – Are you on Vodafone? Good news my friend, you can now start using WiFi Calling. Opt into the service by texting CALLING to 97888 …
I’m conscious that, as my kids hit their teenage years, it becomes a pretty complicated phase in life. As parents we didn’t really have many of the problems that children have today. They’re now connected to the web and a lot of interaction is done online. We didn’t …
This is a cable which is going to solve that daily charging problem. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not a massive problem, but it’s one of those repetitive and annoying little niggles. You’re about to plug in your phone and… doah… the micro USB cable is upside down. …
If you fancy getting some last minute stocking fillers and also want to save a bit of cash, have a look at the Vodafone Accessories website. At the moment they have half off selected headphones and speakers, including these three devices below. First up are the iFrogz Freerein …
Yes, it’s that time of year again and we’re all a little bit short on cash right now. I think this year I’ve been a little too sensible and I’ve actually bought all my gifts already, meaning that my bank balance – and any cash set aside for …
Christmas is coming and you need that knock-out present – well we’re here to save the day. Back in November, we looked at Oppo Digital’s new HA-2 portable amplifier and PM-3 headphones (Come in Major Tom? New Christmas Presents from Oppo), which boasted some great specifications. We have …
Have you ever found yourself talking to yourself out loud and thinking it would be nice if I didn’t need to then dig out the laptop to do what you just said? Weirdly I have. Now, take this concept one stage further and make it useful. Say for …
TVPlayer has just announced it has joined Apple TV with two of its services. The first will be giving Apple users the opportunity to watch over 85 of the UK’s top TV channels within a single app for free called TVPlayer Basic. The other is TVPlayer Plus, the low-cost pay …
Christmas time is upon us once again and Three have come out with a cracker of an advertisement campaign (excuse the pun). The new video shows someone who is born on Christmas day and who feels let down that you only get one set of presents instead of …
We’ve had a bit of a journey with these portable chargers. They were given away free to EE customers but then the stock ran out extremely quickly. Another batch were made available and, for a while, everything seemed fine. However, a few complaints started appearing online and some …
I should note at the start that this article is not sponsored by Three! I neither work for them nor receive any benefits. Nonetheless, I am a big fan. I first used Three about 13 or 14 years ago when it was first released to great fanfare about the …
Part 2 – The Lenovo Miix 3 Review (Read Part 1 here) Which Device? So, the scene having been set, how did I proceed? There were a variety of other options. First the size issue, 8 inch or 10 inch. There were 8 inch tablets by Linx, Lenovo …
It’s time for another weird smartphone pitch from China now. This is the rugged VCHOK M9-LTE handset. The people promoting this haven’t given us a link to where you can actually buy it and they’ve not even told us about the specs of the phone either, so we’ve …
Don’t know who Honor are? For one they are the company that pinched our own James Pearce, secondly they are part of the phone manufacturer Huawei. They’re based more on-line than having retail outlets, but they’re still able to supply high spec’d devices with reasonable price tags. As …
In November, Chinese phone manufacturer Huawei announced their highest specced phone to date, the upcoming Mate 8. On-paper specifications do look mighty impressive. The Huawei Mate 8 is now available for sale, with the promise of better performance and battery life. The device features the new Kirin 950 …
GroPro’s first drone, due to arrive in the first half of 2016 will be called ‘Karma’ (a potential dig at DJI for not partnering with them?), but that is pretty much all we know. Back in October, GoPro did tease us with test footage that was filmed with …
Broke your screen? Sure, you could spend money getting it fixed properly (the people at iMend can do that for you) or you can try this simple trick at home. It involves some Coca Cola, or it could be Pepsi, I’m not sure. I’m not going to sway …
Remember recently when Microsoft announced that it was going to reduce the storage it offered on OneDrive, and that the unlimited tier was going away because some people were treating it as – well, unlimited? I know that some people were using up to 75 TB of that …
There are some stories doing the rounds at the moment about the Pixel C. They aren’t just reviews and first impressions, but about the origins of the tablet. Let me explain. We know that the Pixel line has long been attributed to Google’s own high-end Chromebook range, and …
I recently received a Plemo LG G4 heavy duty case from Avantek UK for review. So here is a run down of the case and my thoughts on it. The case comes in three parts, the first two of which are required and form the main case, the third …
iPhone 6 handsets are currently receiving the new iOS 9.2 update, but it’s not just a new font or a patch. There’s also a little surprise inside in the shape of a carrier settings update. This will let Three users access VoLTE via a new setting in the …
A few months ago I had “a few beers” after taking the kids to the pub (always good in the sunshine – they can go in the pub garden on the swings and you can have a refreshing pint). On the way back I decided to use my …
We get a lot of these. Basically, when you’re walking around or away from a mains socket or far away from that cigarette lighter in you car, you can get a boost with a portable battery like this. Yes, it’s a bit heavy and a bit clunky but …
The achillies heel of the modern smartphone is battery life, hence the multitude of battery packs and third-party battery boosting cases flooding onto the market. It’s solved a problem, but you’ve had to get that solution from elsewhere. Now Apple has finally decided to step into the battery …
Dude. Let me set your expectations right now. This is £11.95. No. It’s not going to be challenging your XBox or your PS3. In fact, it won’t challenge your Nintendo Wii U, or Nintendo DS… or Game Boy. Think back to those arcade games from the ’80s. This …
It’s that time of year again when we start looking to buy Christmas gifts for our loved ones, and I’m sure for some of you, technology and gadgets will feature heavily. There’s the small chance that some of you haven’t managed to get Christmas presents yet, but over …
Fancy one of these? The Microsoft Lumia 950, which is powered by a hexa-core Qualcomm Snapdragom 808 CPU and capable of achieving a 50% charge in just 30 minutes, is available for just £35 with a £9 upfront cost. That will provide 1GB of data, unlimited texts and 1000 minutes …
Being able to judge where the mobile market is going to be in 4 years time is just not possible in my book. This is an industry that moves quickly and sees manufacturers rise and fall with speed. Take HTC as an example, or Motorola, or Nokia. If …
Time for something a little different. The other week I had the pleasure of attending one of the ongoing Westminister e-Forums. These are a series of events in London where the various regulatory bodies that keep things working properly in the UK convene to discuss a wide variety …
During my time with Vodafone I got to speak to Dr Rob. This guy is a man after my own heart. He hates acronyms and over-complifications, prefering instead to break down the technology into easily understandable and enjoyable information. Dr Robert Matthews, to give him his full name, …
It probably hasn’t escaped your attention that there have been multiple events in the last few months. Apple started the rollercoaster unveiling the new iPhones & iPads. This was closely followed by a Google event unveiling its new Nexus phones (Nexii?) Chromecasts etc. There was also an LG …
The most annoying thing about trying to get a phone from OnePlus has been their insistence on using an invite system in order to allow you to buy one of their phones. It seems like there is some good news on that front as for the next few …
The rumour train has once again stopped by at Coolsmartphone Towers. It dropped off the usual detritus, however, whilst sifting through the rubbish we found this thread of info about the recently discussed Pixel C Android tablet. Dutch website tweakers.net are stating that Google plans to open the …
Have you been thinking to yourself, “It would nice to have a handset that didn’t require a backpack or a monolithic battery”? I had the thought occur to me the other day but then instantly dismissed it as nonsense and told my brain to behave itself. Of course bigger …
The latest craze to hit Britain is the Hoverboard/Self Balancing scooter (well it’s not really a Marty McFly Back To The Future-styled device. Think more along the lines of a skateboard with a buggy wheel at either end). Companies are trying to get cheaper and sleeker versions in …
