Category: General

Buy a gift for yourself this Christmas

It’s that time of year again, so we’re on the hunt for deals and bargains on the internet. One that caught my eye, purely as a cheeky gift for myself, was this Hibsan Nano quadcopter. Bigger (and more expensive) versions equipped with cameras have been making the news …

Nexus 6 Review

It’s here. The latest generation of the Nexus lineup, the Nexus 6. We have finally managed to get hold of one of these unobtainable devices by buying our own review unit. The device we have here is the 32GB model in blue. There has been much said about …

Latest update to Hangouts brings new features.

Today Google revealed the latest update to their own messaging app, Hangouts. The update sees the addition of 16 sticker packs, new video filters for calls, the ability to add contacts with their phone number, smart location suggestions and a “last seen” timestamp that shows you when your contact …

Sky Fibre 38Mbps broadband for just £10 a month.

There is a 25GB limit though. UK TV/Phone/Broadband supplier Sky has announced a new broadband package. For those interested, it’ll cost just £10 a month for up to 38Mbps fibre internet. However, it’s really for those who don’t use too much data as it is capped to a limit …

Carousel by Dropbox update now recovers space on your phone.

Recently I moved to using my Nexus 5 as my daily driver again (just to use the pure Lollipop Android experience).. Thing is, with it being a 16GB version, space is at a premium, as it is with a number of handsets that haven’t got microSD slots. I …

4G Speed – Red-lining Vodafone

Whilst 4G speeds, in theory, are rather insane, the “real world” experience can be a little different. There’s a range of factors that’ll alter your experience. Location, of course, is the major one, but we must also consider the time of day. Trying to “nail” a speed testing …

Gaming on the Nexus 6

We’ve got a Nexus 6 into the testbed here at Coolsmartphone and whilst the review is ongoing we thought we would let you have a sneak peak. Well, it is the season of giving and all that jazz. 🙂 The game we have chosen is the old classic …

Power Cube – Tidy up your cabling nightmare

I’m always the guy who packs a 4-way extension lead in my bag when I travel. If you’re going abroad it means you just need one adaptor plug and it makes things a little tidier and more central. This, the Power Cube (£27 from Littlewoods) takes things a …

A little bit of patience goes a long way

Many months ago I took the plunge, I did what many phone enthusiasts do, I pre ordered a phone from a company with a history of buggy software, dodgy memory setup and questionable update policies. Yes I’m talking about Oppo and my Find 7a. So here I am …

ZAGGkeys Universal Keyboard – A closer look

It’s been a few days since I told you about ZAGGkeys Universal Bluetooth keyboard. The official site has it on sale for nearly £50 but eBuyer are doing it for £40. Anyhow, I’ve started to use it more and more and I’m currently using it to type this …

Android 5.0.1 being pushed to AOSP

It looks like Google are pushing out a point release to the latest version of their operating system Android 5 Lollipop, up to 5.0.1. Google has also released the factory images for the Nexus 7 (2013, Wi-Fi), Nexus 9 and the Nexus 10. Google has not provided any …

Samsung Galaxy S5 getting Android 5.0 Lollipop

In an unusually speedy move for Samsung, it has been reported that they’ve started rolling out the Android 5.0 Lollipop update for the G900F variant of the Galaxy S5 in Poland. Although not confirmed by Samsung itself, the rumour has been released by the folks over at Sam-mobile. …

Sony Smartband Talk available from O2

The latest wearable to come out of the Sony machine has now launched in O2 stores up and down the country. The price is £129.99, however if you get it with a new Android phone then it will cost you just £99.99. The Smartband Talk is the evolution …

Blow the dust off your old box and insert a tiny Android stick

It’s a few weeks before Christmas, which means I’ve got precisely 15 million emails in my inbox from various people wanting me to pimp things. Send me BEER people. I need BEER. My message doesn’t seem to be getting through, but either way this little gadget looks pretty …

Why I moved to a Surface Pro 3

I have been dabbling in tablets for a while now. It all started when the first gen iPad hit the shelves in the UK. Now, whilst all these tablets are great and they all performed admirably during the time I had them, my needs have quite simply evolved …

A terrible effort at a story covering the Tomb Raider II release

Right. Must focus. Must maintain composure throughout this news post. Got an iPhone? Wanna play with Lara Croft? DOAH! Well, that lasted seconds. DOAH! Yesterday Tomb Raider II launched on iOS devices. It’s $1.99 (£1.49 / €1.79). The lovely press people have sent me information about this, including …

Fix that busted phone or tablet. iMend Review

OK, I’m going to talk about it. In London recently I sat at Euston and generally watched the world go by. What was pretty amazing was the amount of people using broken phones. I saw three people with broken iPhones, and they were all cracks or busted glass …

giffgaff data down

Yup. It looks like it’s happened again. Twitter is slowly filling up with messages about the giffgaff data network being down and, if you reboot or switch data off and on, you’re getting a message asking you to sign into the network. After a quick scan of the …

ZAGGkeys Universal Keyboard Review

Using your phone for writing tweets, Facebook updates and brief emails is easy enough. There’s a variety of keyboards available and you can use Swype-style keyboards to improve the speed of your data entry if you wish. You can even use these on-screen keyboards for writing more wordy …

Take a PEEK at this

I don’t generally post about crowd funding projects but this one I’ll make an exception for. You may have already read about PEEK a smartphone attachment that is designed to allow a full eye exam both vision and health of the retina (the back of the eye) to be …

EE to fill in the rural gaps with a micro network

Getting connectivity when you’re in a rural area is a challenge. My weekend of train journeys only served to highlight the fact that beautiful countryside usually means a complete lack of signal. EE are to tackle this with a new idea that doesn’t require cabling, planning permission or …

Charge all your kit at once – Anker multi-USB charger on the cheap

Everything seems to charge off a USB port doesn’t it? Your phone, your tablet, your fitness band, your smartwatch, your Bluetooth speakers and more. There you are, with chargers cluttering up the place and every socket dedicated to housing one. There is a better way my friends, and …

Reviewed – My Doodles Wireless Speaker Dock

There is no doubt about it, children are becoming more tech savvy than ever before, even from a very young age. My four year old son certainly knows his way around a tablet and enjoys watching films or listening to music on his iPad, iPod and Hudl. This has …

Acer Liquid Leap Smart Band in action

I’m still sitting on the fence with smart watches and smart bands if I’m honest. There’s a piece of me that wants a “normal” watch that I don’t have to tap or faff with to check the time and date. However, there’s another part of me that secretly …

It’s 1AM, we’re on the sleeper train

Acer are sending me up to Scotland at the moment and I’m blogging this from the Scotrail Sleeper to Edinburgh.. I should be brutally honest though, and admit that I’m in the bar. The Scottish staff are giving me beer and I’m not refusing. It’s the way my …

Rail Travel. There’s still some challenges.

As promised, I’m writing all the Coolsmartphone content this weekend on my phone. It’s part of #acerliveblog2014. There’s a number of challenges facing rail commuters still, even in our modern world of 4G communications, HD video and on-demand content. It’s not always the trains themselves though. On the …

Black Friday – LG G2 just £150 on Voda

OK, I’ll be quick with this one as Aran is going to update you on all the Vodafone Black Friday / weekend deals in a moment, but you can bag yourself the rather nice LG G2 (which we lovingly reviewed here) for a mere £150. That’s not an …

Black Friday – Chromecast down to just £18

OK, here we go. Ready for the insanity? Black Friday, as you’ll all know, marks that horrific day, just 10 years ago, when the Coolsmartphone server went off-line for a day. People went mental, they put their phones down and went into stores, trying to find phones and …

Hey, wanna go into space?

Richard Branson is doing his thing with space flights, sure. It’s a nice idea but let’s be honest, I doubt I’ll be able to afford the journey. So, when I get an email telling me that a space flight can be done for less than £135 I’m already …

Forgot your headphones? How about a case that remembers them?

I have one rule. Don’t post about Kickstarter projects. We get several emails per day and I try not to mention them. However, this one looks like a very good idea. Picture the scene. You’re on the train, the bus or you’re walking down the street. You’ve got …

New Vodafone SIM only plans quietly slip out

If you’re looking for a SIM only deal, have a word with the dudes in your local Vodafone store. They’ve got some new offerings, which we’ve just had mailed to us, and they won’t be available online until next week. There’s new lower pricing and additional data available. …

Black Friday deals from Mobile Fun

That time is nearly upon when the internet goes crazy for one whole day to try an get you buThey the latest products at cut down prices. Now, whilst we won’t see the door buster deals that are present in the States, more and more companies are jumping …

Kabbee introduces a London superhero

Well OK then, I’ll give these guys some airtime as they’ve been bugging me to heck about their app. Kabbee is a licensed minicab price comparison and booking website for Londoners. There’s an app for iPhone, Android, Blackberry and Windows Phone too. You just whack in your pick-up …

Blogging like a train!

This weekend we’re doing something a bit different. It’ll involve one phone, a few battery packs and a lot of train journeys. From Friday all of my posts, pictures and updates across the weekend will be created and sent purely from my phone. We’re going to see if …

Xiaomi Mi Band – Review

Xiaomi are a big name, a big name across the world, they are the third largest phone manufacturer at the moment, behind only Apple and Samsung. They are from China and along with companies like Oppo, OnePlus and Huawei they are starting to show people you don’t have …

BT in talks to buy O2

If you’ve watched football on TV recently you’ll no doubt be aware that BT aren’t afraid of splashing their cash. They’ve already upset Sky TV by grabbing a big chunk of Premiership matches and viewers t’boot. So, if you’re gunning for the “quad play” market (broadband, TV, home …

The Green Cross Code Man makes a comeback, and you better listen son.

Ohmygodohmygodohmygodohmygod. How good is this eh? This man played Darth Vader. I mean sure, they got James Earl Jones to do the voice (y’know, with great lines such as “The ability to destroy a planet is insignificant next to the power of the force”). Anyhooo.. This, my friends, …

Browse and travel at high speed with EE

There are some of us who get to travel through the channel tunnel on a jaunt, whether it be a full-on holiday or just a day trip. Others have to pass through on a business trip, but whatever your reason for needing to be inside the tunnel, it …

Inateck TPB-IM iPad mini Sleeve Case Review

Do you use your iPad naked (ooooo missus, the iPad, not you) or do hide all of the Apple design inside a case ? I recently took my iPad mini out of its case and instantly remembered how thin and light the device was. I decided that’s how …

Xperia Z3 Tablet Compact review. Greatness delivered

Here we are folks, the long awaited Xperia Z3 Tablet Review. First things first, why has it taken so long to get this review done? It’s simple really. The first tablet developed a dead pixel line from top to bottom and needed to be replaced. I also decided …