Category: General

giffgaff flies high with new ad campaign

Back in the late 90’s I was using a clunky big Nokia phone and colour screens were just a pipe dream. There was a TV show on back then called “TFI Friday”, hosted by Chris Evans. He bought and sold a radio station, became a multi-millionaire, shacked up …

Bump uglies with a sexy wristjob

Woah, woah, flippin WOAH. Fitness bands, that’s fine. Wearables that show notifications from my smartphone, that’s cool too. But a new wearable that monitors your sexual performance?? Just wait right there. The new #LifeLoversWatch is now on the market for €99.90, which is £73.37. As with other fitness …

Lollipop, now pounding on a quarter of Androids

The release of a new version of Android always means a good look into how the versions are distributed. The ‘good’ news first: Android Lollipop is now up to 22.9% – almost a quarter of current handsets. Next up is KitKat (which is specifically Android 4.4) at a …

OnePlus X to be revealed on 29th October

  Despite the launch of the first two phones from OnePlus being, shall we say, less than smooth, (I know I had to jump through the invite hoops for both my OnePlus One and Two) the company are still struggling to to get the Two into customer’s hands. …

Orange list the HTC One A9

Yes, you’re right. This is a phone that hadn’t even been announced yet. HTC are trying to do a big build-up to their October 20th launch event. However, Orange France have just gone ahead and listed the thing on their website anyways. Details are there, plus pricing and …

Goodbye Sainsbury’s Mobile

Have you got a mobile running on the Sainsbury’s Mobile network? Well, sadly it won’t be working much longer. The supermarket has given a 90-day notice that all services will be discontinued and you’ll see the network completely snuffed out on January 15th. The reasons, it seems, revolve …

It’s an Apple Watch, honest. I paid less than £17 for it too.

Right, I’m not going to say anything. I’m not going to say APPLE WATCH or type it in capital letters. I’m not going to mention that this ZGPAX S79 Bluetooth Smartwatch is just $25.74. That’s £16.87. £16.87?! That’s a touch cheaper than the Apple Watch isn’t it? Take …

Rock on – Mini amp speaker for your smartphone

Simple and easy this. It’s a miniature speaker for £13.99 which you plug into via a 3.5mm audio cable. It’s just like those amplifiers you’ll see on stage at rock concerts, but this mini amp speaker is powered by AA batteries or a USB port instead of directly …

Driver decides to broadcast drive home on Periscope… whilst drunk

There’s a few things that Florida resident Whitney Beall did wrong on Saturday. First, she decided to hold her phone aloft to film herself driving. That’s a bad move. Fiddling with your phone whilst driving is never a good idea and is against the law here in the …

Vodafone Call+ in action

Following a quick demo from the team at Vodafone on their new Call+ features, I thought it would be useful to do a short write up before a full review in the coming weeks (should the loaner phone arrive soon). If you aren’t familiar with Call+, it’s a …

Z3 or Z3c owner? Want to test Marshmallow?

I like the Sony Z range. They look like well-designed and distinctive pieces of kit, but I was a little hesitant. I never knew what their upgrade strategy would be from handset to handset, so when I heard about this Concept for Android initiative, where Sony allows you …

‘Cute’ Smartphone – RoBoHoN

If you’re like me you probably spend more time with your phone than with any other person. My phone is my alarm clock, my personal assistant and my exercise coach all in one. But there’s a reason why most people wouldn’t consider it a friend, it looks nothing …

Vodafone get into the home phone and broadband game

Want broadband at home? Mine is from EE and the fibre broadband connectivity has been OK. Sadly I can’t say the same about the home phone service, which was completely broken for well over a month. Anyhoo, now Vodafone are getting in on the action with broadband and …

VR – Is now the time?

Remember my Google Cardboard review? If I’m honest that headset did, eventually, fall apart. Mostly because of my bad construction. However, on a recent holiday my son went on a new type of ride which featured an Oculus Rift, as you can see above. It’s a gadget which …

FreedomPop UK – An overview. £0 per month is back again.

Over the years we’ve seen a number of MVNO’s here in the UK attempting to give you something for nothing but, each and every time, they’ve failed. First we tried Ovivo, then we tried Samba Mobile but both went pop fairly quickly and customers were left without service. …

Huawei Mate S – Review

Huawei released their new flagship phablet last month – The Huawei Mate S. I was lucky enough to attend the launch event and got a hold of one of the devices. I have been using it over the last few weeks to see how good it was, and …

Lumia 950 and 950 XL pre-orders open

Clove has opened up their preorders on those two new fantastic Lumia devices that we saw the other day. Yes, of course, I am talking about the Lumia 950 and 950XL. Both Lumia 950 and 950 XL pre-orders are now up and available. They don’t yet have the estimated …

A look at the Zing Smartwatch – A different approach

Smartwatches are starting to diversify. Each manufacturer is trying to carve out their niche in the market, and the Zing Smartwatch aims to provide a fashionable, modern, and fun approach to the wearable market. Let’s get Social The Zing is an activity tracker designed for the social generation. …

Android 6 Marshmallow OTA rolling out.

Have you got a Nexus 6, 5 , 7, 9, or Nexus Player? If you have, it looks like now is the time for mashing the “check for updates” button. It appears that the latest version of Android is being sent out as an OTA update to those …

Windows 10, Lumia and Continuum – Have we been here before?

Heard about the new Microsoft launches yesterday? Sure, there was a new fitness band and a few new handsets, but it’s those high-powered handsets and the tricks they can do that matter. Microsoft, on the current Windows Phone platform, has a problem. No matter how you dress it …

HTC unable to commit to monthly security updates

Android security is once again in the news for all the wrong reasons after the latest round of vulnerabilities have made international press. The background problem is that Android is supported on multiple platforms via a wide range of manufacturers from Samsung to HTC, and all those in-between. …

Vodafone. Helping you browse, call and text while you get drunk

You have to question the logic behind this one. I mean, were the Vodafone executives on a country break when they decided that remote pubs should get better coverage? If you’re on Vodafone and you don’t get much signal indoors, get yourself a Sure Signal box. After hooking …

WiFi coverage problems? Try this Wireless Range Extender

Do you have a really big house and experience coverage problems from your WiFi unit? Well, invite me round. I’ll quite happily drink your beer and then fall asleep in one of your many bedrooms. You big show-off. If you’d rather not be out of range (and have …

Smart alarm products! When did we start covering this?

I can feel things slipping now. First this site covered Microsoft smartphones, then Android, Apple and perhaps a few accessories. Now we’re getting all manner of connected gadgets. This particular pitch is from an operation called Response Electronics, who want you to know about all their rather clever …

Symetium “super phone” going into crowdsourcing

Here is something a little different. Symetium, which is a Swedish based company, are looking to crowdfund their latest smartphone to get it market. It has been designed to remove the lines between mobile and desktop devices. This is being done by delivering desktop-class performance in a form …

How smartphones have changed the way we live

I’m old enough to remember a time when there weren’t a great deal of mobile phones. I also remember a time when a “smartphone” had never been heard of. What made me think of all this was when I met an old college friend. We sat down, drank …

Nexus 5X preorders at Carphone Warehouse

Whilst perusing my favourite deals site earlier today, I spied this link which will take you into the land of Keith Lemon. No seriously though, head to Carphone Warehouse and you will find that they’re taking pre-orders for the Nexus 5X. Not only that, but they are cheaper …

Amazon Fire 7″ (2015) – Unboxing

Today Amazon started delivering their new tablet models to customers who had pre-ordered in the UK. I received my £49 Amazon Fire 7″ (2015), and this is my unboxing. Yes, you did read that correctly, it’s just £49. Specifications: quad-core processor and 1GB RAM 7″ 1024×600 display 8GB …

Ulla – Reminding you to drink !

I’ve said this a few times before, but we really are starting to get some new and interesting things in the ‘ole Coolsmartphone inbox now. Today it’s this little magic water reminder thing (that’s my description anyway). It straps onto a water bottle and reminds you to drink …

Our comments system

Recently you may have noticed that our commenting system has changed somewhat. The new system allows you to add your comments much more easily than before and adds a newsfeed too. However, we’re having a number of issues with it. We’ve tried over the last few weeks to …

Vodafone launch the £50 4G Smart speed 6

Yup, 4G just got cheap. OK, so you’re not going to get bleeding-edge technology throughout the whole smartphone at this price, but £50 will get you Android 5.1 (Lollipop) and a 5 megapixel rear shooter. Other specifications include a strong-facing 2 megapixel camera, quad-core CPU running at 1GHz, …

Nexus, Nexus… 5X and 6P finally land

The Chocolate factory went all-in on one of their more interesting annual events. The speakers were tight, and the announcements flew by. We were expecting two Nexuses and boy did Google deliver. First up, there was the Nexus 5X. This was the second 5 inch phone made by …

Blackberry Priv by John Chen.

It’s no secret that Blackberry’s hardware and build quality are second to none, but as of late the manufacturer has lost its “mojo” and sales continue to falter. This has been blamed on Blackberry’s own OS (Now at Blackberry OS 10.3.2), recent devices like the Blackberry Passport won …

HTC One M9e passes through certification.

Today China’s official certification database — TENAA, passed a previously unannounced HTC branded handset from HTC. It’s believed to be the HTC One M9e, a scaled-down model of the standard M9. M9e Specs Aluminium unibody. 5-inch Full HD display as per the M9. 2.2GHz octa-core Helio X10 processor. …

New Microsoft Lumia 950, 950 XL revealed.

It’s well-rumoured that Microsoft have a new handset or two just over the horizon, namely the Lumia 950 and the 950 XL. It’s believed these will be shown to the world at the beginning of next month at an event in New York. Well, on Forever Nokia Latinoamérica’s Facebook, they …

All the iPhone 6s and 6s deals – Right here

As you know, this weekend people will be rushing out to get the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus. It went on sale yesterday so here is a rundown of the offers, pricing and additional value added extras available on the various UK networks. Vodafone If you decide to …

Vodafone WiFi calling available… shortly

If you’re inside and don’t have much coverage, a WiFi hotspot could be your saviour. Provided you’re a Vodafone user and you’re using the correct phone, the network will soon be letting you make calls via WiFi. The system, which launches in the autumn, will be accessible on …