Category: General
Smartphones. Usually high powered. Usually pretty pricey. Usually they tie you into a long contract where you’re paying a bit more per month for the latest shiny thing. Vodafone got in touch with us to promote their “Affordable Smartphone Campaign”. They didn’t send us any money. They didn’t …
In October last year Virgin launched Smartcall. The app, which you can download for iPhone or Android handsets let’s you use your home Virgin Phone talk plan on your smartphone. It’s effectively the home phone you can take anywhere and works on pretty much any WiFi hotspot you …
The advent of superfast 4G connectivity comes as a double-edged sword. For the customer this is the ideal solution for that traditional “last mile” issue. For the provider, you have to provide a service which is priced to discourage it being used as an always-on fixed-line broadband replacement. …
EE as a brand have been around for 2 years now. They hit the headlines after launching 4G services nearly a full year ahead of the competition. Both Orange and T-Mobile brands have had quite a few devices made for them by manufacturers already, but with 4G being …
The world of music and entertainment has changed significantly over the last decade or so. Before that, we saw vinyl getting replaced by CD’s and then MP3’s. In the last decade people have switched from traditional brick-and-mortar shops to downloading tunes online. However, streaming music services like Spotify …
You could be seeing a 10% monthly price hike on Vodafone soon. It’s not the actual contract cost but the cost of the out-of-bundle charges that are going up. The network will be working out how much costs will increase based on a “three month profile” and will …
Alright my lovelies? Fancy a tablet for £125? Well that, my friends, is called a “hook”. It’s an 8″ HD tablet with 3G connectivity courtesy of Vodafone. The Smart Tab 4 includes a 2GB data bundle if you splash out the aforementioned £125 for the PAYG model, or …
The streaming TV and movie service, Netflix is to be offered up by Vodafone on their Red 4G plans priced over £26. The deal, which adds to their existing Spotify and Sky Sports offers, dishes up a six-month pre-pad subscription to Netflix. The 4G network from Vodafone is …
For those desperate to catch up on the latest episode of the Archers on BBC Radio 4, but unable to listen to it on the tube because there is no signal, your dreams have finally come true. Announced via its twitter feed, the BBC have finally revealed that …
EE have also today announced a new tablet today. It is “The UK’s most affordable 4G tablet” which is this, the Eagle. It’s a rebranded 8″ Huawei tablet and comes with a quad-core CPU, 5 megapixel shooter, 16GB of storage (plus you get a microSD for more space) …
Getting 4G is one thing, but turning that ultra-fast 4G speed into a WiFi hotspot is another. Today EE have revealed a number of options for getting yourself a mobile WiFi cloud to hop onto. The first is something called “Buzzard”. It’s a little widget that basically plugs …
In March we told you how O2 were rolling out 4G for free to selected customers. Now it looks like they’re taking it one stage further, with texts rolling out to further customers to offer free 4G upgrades. The odd phone call to O2 also seems to be …
Was my previous post just a cheap way to get donations to the Douglas Macmillan Hospice? Well yes, it probably was a bit, but they provide care for those with progressive diseases and a limited life expectancy. It’s a bloody good cause and I’ve only had 11 donations, …
Okay so it isn’t a smartphone but I still think it is an interesting development in the phone market. The London based company OwnFone have released what it claims to be the world’s first Braille phone and what’s more the front and back are 3D printed to allow …
For those of you out there who are lucky enough to have picked up a brand new Xperia Z2, well I’ve done this one just for you. Roxfit have been specialising in covers for the Xperia range for the past few years and I have tested several of …
I now have 3 very good smartphones with awesome cameras in my possession, so it would make sense for me to do a “camera face off”. We are going to compare the Nokia Lumia 1020 and Xperia Z1 against the new-comer – the Huawei P7. The test is …
There’s been more than a few rumours splashing around about an Active version of the Samsung Galaxy S5, as there have been about a ‘Prime’ version. An anonymous, and very kind person has sent a pre-production Samsung handset to video blogger TK Tech News that seems to be …
Whilst EE have got the exclusive on the gold HTC One mini 2, Three have the Samsung Galaxy S5 in gold on their network. It’s available on one of three 24 month plans or you can choose a Pay As You Go plan and pay £549. If you …
Google Maps is something we’ve all used daily. The initial thrill of viewing our homes in the “satellite view” changed recently to the popular “street view”. However, actually getting those initial satellite views (many of which are actually supplemented with shots from planes) takes time. So step forward …
The interwebs are constantly chattering about the new high speced device from the fledgling company OnePlus. Their OnePlus One phone is amazingly high spec for a low price and now their CEO Peter Lau has revealed how they’ve been able to bring high-end features with Nexus-like pricing. The …
The HTC One mini 2 (which we’ll call the mini M8 for sanity) is already coming to Three, but now we’re hearing that EE will be taking it also. EE however, will have an exclusive on the “amber gold” version. Available in June, you can pre-order the gold …
Parrot have really improved their AR Drone and this is the new Bebop flying machine. It comes equipped with a fisheye lens and uses clever software to chop out bits of video to give you a lovely stable image. A controller can work with an Oculus Rift headset, …
Will Carphone Warehouse now change to a more modern name? Or will the two companies merge names? DixPhone? DixWarehouse? Well no, actually. Dixons, who own Currys and PC World, are to merge with Carphone Warehouse in a £3.8bn deal and they’ll be known as… (drum roll please..) Dixons …
The Nokia half-nine (aka the Lumia 930) is, according to the Vodafone blog, going to be available on the network very soon indeed. Their coming soon post states.. The Lumia 930 will offer Nokia’s trademark design prowess and PureView camera know-how. That’s alongside the new Windows Phone 8.1 …
Starting today, Google Glass is available for practically anybody in the USA, as long as they are over 18 and have $1500 to spend. The Explorer version of the Google Glass wearable was sold only to developers who intended to write apps for the device, this was changed to a invite …
Not happy with your white, black, blue or gold versions of the Galaxy S5? Well if you’re living in Japan, today is your lucky day. Japanese carrier NTT Docomo has just unveiled a pink color variant of the Galaxy S5. Other changes include the NTT Docomo branding at the front and …
In just a few days time I’m planning to do a cycle ride for charity. It’s in aid of the the Douglas Macmillan Hospice. I have a grand total of £0 in sponsorship on my JustGiving page. I’m dedicating it and doing it in memory of my father. …
For some time now Google Maps has shown Transportation info for the USA. However, Google has now updated Great Britain too. You can now get directions for travel using public transportation. The app update is available now for iOS and Android, as well as on the web on …
You’ll no doubt have seen our new look by now but, as we do every few years or so, here’s a quick update on how you can get involved here at Coolsmartphone.. If the video wasn’t enough, here’s the rundown.. Podcast You can get a full listing of …
A new promotional video for the LG G Watch has popped up on the internet. We don’t have a great deal of information on the new Android Wear watch, other than what’s mentioned in the video itself.. No news on pricing as yet, but we do know that …
Some very official looking shots Motorola’s new device the Moto E, have turned up online over the weekend ahead of it’s launch on Tuesday. The images show the new phone will look similar to the Moto G in design and be available in black and white, and renowned …
Ari Partinen, the man who introduced Nokia’s “PureView” and had been the head of the company’s photography unit since 2007, has been hired by Apple to work on its iPhone camera systems. We all know that Nokia has been famous for both it’s camera software and hardware. And …
A couple of days ago documentation was leaked showing Samsung’s progress in bringing Android 4.4 KitKat to their older generation devices. These documents unfortunately indicated that the official KitKat update for the International Galaxy S III GT-I9300 had been “canceled for now.” This documentation stated that the hangup …
Nasty price rises. Nobody wants that. Nasty unexpected price rises? They’re even worse. Recently we’ve seen the uproar caused when mobile operators crank up prices mid-way through contracts, and – like utility providers – fixed-price offers could help to reassure potential and existing customers alike. Vodafone have today …
Friday. I think something is happening to me. At work, during my lunch hour, I did my usual trip to the supermarket to get a sandwich. Like many, I filled the period of “dead time” by faffing about with my phone. Twitter, Facebook, the news, checking email. The …
Recent problems with Spotify subscriptions and accounts for Vodafone customers now appear to have been fixed. We ran a story yesterday highlighting the issue and Vodafone have been working hard to resolve the matter. Some customers had seen their inclusive Spotify Premium accounts getting switched down to free …
Beats are perhaps best known for their presence on HTC handsets. The logo, the chunky headphones and the beefy sound quality plus the clever on-board sound technology on many HTC handsets won them plenty of fans, but sadly HTC and Beats went their separate ways. According to multiple …
I have now had the Huawei Ascend P7 in my hands for a little under 12 hours and in that time I have had a play with the device properly. This includes that new “Panoramic Selfie” feature. All in all I think it is a very nice handset. …
In everyone’s life a stage is reached whereby everything seems to have been better in the past. I’ve now hit this milestone. The music in the 1980s was better, as were films. There’s no one today who is a patch on the great Terence Trent D’arby (not that today’s …
Sheesh. Networks really get some abuse at times. The EE Facebook page seems to be overflowing with negative feedback, and every time EE post something there seems to be a barrage of complaints and barbed comments. Honestly, check out their Facebook page. To be honest they’d be better …
