Category: General
Here in the UK it’s the big summer holidays. The kids are off school and the teachers are taking a well-earned break from their 200 days at work. With the sun actually appearing in the sky and kids wanting to play out, it’s a tough time for parents, …
Just yesterday we revealed the new app from Three which lets you make and receive calls over WiFi. It’ll use the same minutes and texts from your bundles, and it’s so great way to fill gaps in coverage or use your phone abroad. Yesterday the iOS version of …
When is free, not free? Or free, kinda, but not quite all the time. Except… mostly. Yep, we’re talking about those apps and games which are built around the freemium model. There’s more than one way to build a freemium app. The first way is to build a …
Getting a signal is critical for a smartphone, especially when we’re making those all important calls and text messages. Three have had an app in testing recently for Android which routes your voice calls and texts over a WiFi connection. It’s ideal if you have no or poor signal, …
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 the …
Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last week or so, you’ll have seen a DeLorean whizzing across your TV screen in ad breaks. Now me, I rewound the TV when I first saw it, and thanks to the fact that it’s for Phones 4u, I …
Priced at an amazing £26 the Karbonn A50S is set to launch in India. The Karbonn A50S features the Android operating system and has access to the Google ecosystem including Gmail and Maps. It also has a touchscreen display, front and rear cameras (no details on megapixels, although …
If you’re looking to get the back-of-your-TV dongle that is the Google Chromecast, Vodafone are now offering it up for a mere £25 with their 4G plans. The gadget, which we took a look at in detail here, will let you watch YouTube, NetFlix and iPlayer media on …
The Tube. It’s the only place where you can firmly plant your nose into someone elses’ armpit without them even flinching. Don’t make eye contact though, and if you do, just hope you don’t turn to look at the window and accidentally re-make eye contact in the reflection. …
It’s not often that you’ll see the owner of a website saying this. It’s even more rare to see that person explaining what happened or going into detail about how the site got compromised and what steps were taken to rectify the situation. However, I wished an article …
Google is rolling out a new feature in Google Maps with “Explore”. Once updated you’ll notice a small location pin button in the bottom right next to the location button — tap it, and you’ll be taken into the new Explore interface with information tailored to your location. …
This is a device that we talked about only recently and runs Android KitKat. It’s 4G ready and you can now actually go out and buy the thing too – it’s priced up at £175 on Vodafone Pay as you go, or from free on a £26.50 Vodafone 4G …
Are you the owner of the universally liked Moto G handset ? If so it looks like this your lucky day. The latest update to the Android OS – KitKat 4.4.4 – is rolling out to devices. The KitKat update has mainly been patches and bug fixes, but …
Smartphones are becoming an integral part of our life, and the phrase companion is frequently used to to describe how we interact with them. The barrier between what a phone can and can’t do is reducing all the time as apps and technology becomes more sophisticated, and the …
Nakamichi have today announced the launch of their new portable and wireless NBS 10 Bluetooth speakers. Featuring a spherical design each of the 2W speakers that form the NBS 10 can fit into the palm of the hand, and can provide a 3D effect by splitting your music …
Hey. Are you living in the middle of no-where? Have you got a choppy signal or, even worse, no signal at all? Vodafone want to talk to you. They’re looking for mobile “notspots” and are giving the opportunity for 100 rural communities to get piped up to proper …
It looks like O2 are about to join other networks in launching a roaming plan to help cut down your holiday horrors. Pay monthly customers will soon be able to get as much data as they need whilst abroad in Europe for a mere £1.99 per day. If …
It’s not quite the full-on Android Wear watch you’d expect, but it is somewhere quite close. This, the Kronz watch, will let you take and reject calls from your smartphone and it’ll also alert you when your phone is out of range so that you don’t forget it. …
Remember the Gionee Elife S5.5? (Me neither!) Well that device was a ridiculously thin handset at just 5.5 mm thick. Now China has certified an upcoming Android handset from the same company, codenamed the GN9005,. It reportedly measures only 5mm (0.2in) thick; that’s half a millimetre less than …
The Apple iPad Air and Mini with retina display have proved to be another hit for the Cupertino company, with most networks offering them as bundled deals with a SIM card with included data. Now O2 have announced they are going to be joining the club announcing they …
Beer. Great isn’t it? Especially in this weather. Lovely, lovely beer. However, if I do ever manage to get a bottle into our house undetected I usually end up on a long hunt for the bottle opener. The same thing happens if we’re out camping, and it’s never …
Are mobile phone sites safe? We’ve quickly moved away from desktop PC’s and, instead, we’re browsing mobile sites on tablets and smartphone more than ever. These sites are no longer a simple gimmick as they provide a vital source of income, business and simple traffic for those businesses …
Made by a company called “Yulong” (no, we’ve never heard of them either), this is the rather cheap (£75 on Pay As You Go) Vodafone Smart 4. Inside there’s a dual core 1.2GHz CPU and just 512MB RAM. It has a pretty decent amount of on board storage …
With the name “Nokia” now forever connected to Windows Phone, Microsoft are having to make some pretty big decisions. One of the first is to layoff a massive 12,500 staffers from the Nokia team. Yes, 12,500. The cuts from the mobile business form the bulk of the 18,000 …
We all know about the ongoing issues with getting Google services on your Windows mobile, and that includes Google Maps for your satnav needs. Luckily Nokia Drive/Here Maps is available now, but there’s another entrant in the ring. Copilot was one of the original people who developed Satnav …
The press release on this one starts off with quite a positive vibe… In case you hadn’t heard, it’s currently hotter than Barbados outside Well, yes. According to the news this morning it is, but I’d still rather be in Barbados. Never mind though, you’ve got my attention …
Back in 2011 TFL announced plans to put Virgin Media WiFi hotspots in a selection of London Underground stations for the 2012 London Olympics. This was then rolled out to the rest of the network, allowing everyone to use them for a while before then restricting it based on …
The new Lumia 930 is going on sale tomorrow here in the UK (Thursday 17th July) and many of the networks have decided to stock it, including EE on their 4G brand. What is amazing is the PAYG deal they have managed to put together, the only condition …
My night time ritual goes something like this, put the cat out lock the doors make sure all the windows are closed and then walk around the house looking like Mr T from the A-Team with a multitude of charger leads and plugs round my neck, as I …
You read our LG G3 review, right? If you liked it, bought one, want to keep it in good condition and you’re looking for a case, give this a whirl. The highly sought after official QuickCircle Snap-on case has arrived at Mobile Fun this morning and this is …
I got asked a quite simple question last night, and it got me thinking… @gears is Three a good network now? I remember you could never get a signal. I only want to renew with networks that offer unlimited data. — Sean Dale (@SeanDale) July 15, 2014 Changing …
Smartphones are great, no argument there, but there’s a bit of a problem. Most people like a phones with a screen between 4″ and 4.7″, then you’re edging into phablet and then tablet territory. Devices of this size are great too, but you end up with a bigger …
Ever since I saw the demo video at Google I/O back in 2012 I have been amazed by Glass and what it can offer. Sure, it is not for everyone, but there are so many possibilities not even imagined yet. Until recently you had to live in America …
Ask any Coolsmartphone reader and they’ll tell you that they love playing with their bulbs. Fiddling with them until they go a funny colour is a particularly popular pastime, so MIPOW have created this, the “PLAYBULB”. Ta-daaarrr!!!! For £59.99 you get more than just a light bulb. This …
A little while back I was emailed asking if I would like to review a leather case for a company. My initial reaction was a bit “Meh”, but then I got sent pictures and I suddenly changed my tune. I jumped at the chance. The Blacksmith Labs cases are beautiful. …
Three UK has today launched a new range of SIM-only contracts. In a way this mirrors how they relaunched their contract plans recently. Customers will be able to start at just £7 a month for 200 minutes, unlimited texts and 500MB of data. This includes free 0800 calls. …
In case you’re wondering, these are definitely made by JBL and they shouldn’t be confused with the perils at JML who make mops and strange foot massage things … Further details below, or get it next month from Currys, John Lewis, Amazon UK and the JBL website.
Tesco have sent me something. I think it’s because I’ve started shopping in Aldi more. Who knows, but they are trying to grab my attention. They own blinkbox music, which is another offering alongside their blinkbox TV and movie streaming service. Considering they’ve not sent the Coolsmartphone team …
No! Must resist the urge to mention another Kickstarter campaign! Oh wait, this one has already been featured here and they’ve now reached and breached the funding goal, so it’ll be in production and you should be seeing it soon. The Megalo Mini is basically a tiny charger …
A few days ago some pictures of the next Sony’s leaked online. The Z3 has now appeared in yet more blurrycam images, this time showing off the design and subtle changes in this new model. Sony appears to be retaining the “OmniBalance” design language, with just some minor tweaks. The sides …
