Category: General

Xiaomi MiKey

Today Hugo Barra has taken to the social networks to talk about a new ‘shortcut button’ they have developed at Xiaomi. He is asking for a name for the little device, but for now we’ll refer to it as the MiKey. This little button slots into the headphone …

CoPilot on test

So just to set my stall out, pre-Lumia and “Here”, I used CoPilot. It was one of the most feature-packed and reasonably-priced navigation products for Windows Mobile at the time. So here we are on a new platform – Windows Phone. It’s the same product and of course …

Three Rescue – New Insurance Option

“Whoops.. There it goes… Damn It”, are usually the words of some variety we use once we send our beloved piece of technology hurtling through the air at speed, before it comes into contact with the floor, grass, road or worse.. The toilet. What am I talking about? …

iPhone 5c 8GB pricing on Three

We mentioned the new 8GB version of the iPhone 5c recently and Three have sent along their pricing for the new handset. If you don’t mind diving into a 2-year contract then there’s some pretty decent deals to be had. You pay just £19 up-front for the phone …

Yet more Galaxy S5 deals. Get yourself some cashback

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EugL4W2FOBw We’ve already told you about the Samsung Galaxy S5 deals on EE. Yes, there’s the free return flight to Europe and yes, you’ll get getting double-data. However, how’d you like even more? Well, if you sign up for that Quidco and pre-order the Samsung Galaxy S5 with …

Tips to speed up the Chrome browser on Android

Are you a Android phones user? Do you use the Google Chrome browser on your device? I do and to be honest there is a lot of functionality but it certainly isn’t the fastest browser out there. I’ve found a couple of tips that you can use on …

Splash ! Ahhaaa! It’s a Bluetooth speaker

Whilst that was quite possibly the worst title for a review I could’ve come up with, the product itself is much better. First up, let’s have a look at the key selling points on this Bluetooth Splash Speaker. It’s available from Gizoo for £34.95 and, as the name …

What happens if you ignore “online”

My wife has been asking me about this and, somehow, I’ve ended up finding out more information about it. See, there’s this online fashion store called Zalando. They do lots of clothes, shoes and fashion items. Believe me, if you could see my bank account you’d see how …

Three now selling unlocked phones?

Three have been selling most of their phone range on PAYG for a while now. Normally only certain phones are on Pay As You Go from launch, perhaps to have enough stock for the contract customers who will be committing to a longer deal. Recently the company changed …

Xperia Z2 Tablet dock unboxing

Wireless charging is the in thing right now and when Sony released the Xperia Z2 and the Z2 Tablets they also rolled out a respective charging dock. Here we have the tablet version. It is fairly simple design with a slot for the tablet to fit into and …

EE announce their pre-order Samsung Galaxy S5 deal

It’s definitely the day when all networks tell us about their Galaxy S5 deals. Now it’s the turn of EE, who’ve got a 4G Extra Plan for the same price as 3G. The online exclusive deal also delivers that free return flight to 1 of 12 European destinations …

Virgin Media reveals Samsung Galaxy S5 pricing

Hot on the heels of everyone else, Virgin Media are also shouting loudly about their Samsung Galaxy S5 pricing. There’s some particularly good deals if you’re already a Virgin Media customer, however do have a look at our demo video and hands-on shots here. Existing Virgin Media TV, …

EE 4G continues to roll. 187 towns now covered

Well I have to mention this don’t I? Especially when a local town gets 4G too. Yes, the mighty Tamworth is now getting some EE superfast mobile data via LTE. Tamworth is part of 12 towns getting the EE 4G tech today, so you’ll be able to watch …

O2 taking Pre-Orders for S5 and Sony Z2

Following on from Carphone Warehouse, O2 are also taking pre-orders for the Samsung Galaxy S5 and the Sony z2 from today. The S5 will be available in either black or white from April 11th, and a little later for the other colours. The Z2 will be in store …

Galaxy S5 already on sale weeks early.

Samsung’s latest flagship device is due to go on sale on April 11 ( a date I will not forgot, not because of the launch but because its my wife’s birthday, and she doesn’t want a S5 but some handbag thing ). Now from today you can pre-order …

Microsoft Office Mobile free to Android phone users

Following today’s announcement of Office for the iPad, Microsoft also announced Office for Android completely free to use on phones. Office itself has always been free, but you needed to have a paid Office 365 subscription in order to make any use of it. As long as you …

Monitor your car from your phone with Carlock

I’m sure there’s some of you out there who know exactly where the diagnostic port on your car is. That OBD connector might’ve been used by yourself with one of those cables you bought off eBay (and that “iffy software” that “fell off the internet”) or the brilliantly …

Possible breach of security at Cerberus.

Are you a user of the Android security app/service Cerberus? I am and have reviewed the app here on the site in the past. I’m still convinced that it’s unparalleled for features that it gives. Now worryingly emails have been sent to users instructing them to change the …

Trying to get your PAC from Ovivo? Not heard anything?

The MVNO that was Ovivo went pop rather spectacularly last week. For those that transferred their number to the network there was at least the ability to get a PAC code and transfer your number back out again. A form on the now-closed Ovivo Mobile website let you request …

Three launch 4G dongle

Three have today announced a 4G dongle for their UK network which is their first to support the LTE technology. £19.99 a month will get you a generous 15GB allowance with an up front cost of £34.99. Nor only that but PAYG is covered too, with pricing starting …

EE reveal Xperia Z2 PAYG price

The EE website has just undergone a big refresh due to the new device launches and new price plans which are on sale from today. One of the big named devices of this year is the new Sony Xperia Z2. Until now we only had contract pricing from …

Sainsburys offer up a rather amazing mobile deal

I know. Sainsburys have a mobile network. Whatever next eh? Come on Aldi. This particular deal is Pay As You Go. Personally I’m not a fan of Pay As You Go offers because, quite simply, I don’t want to be faffing about topping up. However, you can buy …

O2 HTC One (M8) Pricing available

Following the launch of the all-new HTC One yesterday, every network and high street store got in touch to tell us about their deals. O2, as usual, were pretty quiet and we’ve heard nothing from their press team. However, after checking the O2 site this morning, we can …

The Travelcard smartphone charger

The new batch of flagship smartphones are coming out with great battery saving features, but what if you haven’t got a new fancy flagship device, what if your smartphone has a sealed in battery? Which is becoming the norm nowadays. Well either don’t stray too far away from …

EE deliver their own affordable 4G smartphone

In Barcelona we saw a couple of devices that Orange were making available to their various territories. However, here in the UK the Orange (and T-Mobile) brands are becoming ever more diluted into the big new EE network. So, I asked, will Orange or EE be announcing any …

EXCLUSIVE: HTC M8 PAYG pricing on Three

Yesterday we brought you the news live from London of the HTC One M8 launch. The new device also went on sale the very same day in many retail stores across the world. Three is known for their great data deals plus you can grab a SIM only …

EE announce new 4G plans

Morning. 😉 It’s a minute into Wednesday and EE have just announced a refresh to their 4G monthly plans. A new set of entry-level 4G plans mean that you can get a 10GB package for just £13.99 per month. That pricing, we must point out, is for all new …

EE offer fantastic HTC One (M8) deal

HTC have just announced the new HTC One just a few minutes ago. Yes, the NEW HTC One, which has often gone by the name “M8”. The official name is the HTC One (M8). Now we’re getting details from the UK’s largest 4G network – EE. They’ve got …

Vodafone get the exclusive on the Sony Xperia E1 in purple

The Sony Xperia E1 was one of those phones that Sony announced before MWC, it’s a pretty basic model with a loud speaker on the back and a Micro SD slot, so it’s ideal for those kids who listen to music on the back of the bus. Well …

Planning on buying an S5? Have a nose at these

Samsung are trying to grab a bit of the HTC spotlight today by announcing a range of rather nice accessories for the new Galaxy S5. The handset itself will be available to buy on April 11th, so it looks like the new HTC One will be getting a …

Downloads to possibly increase in price?

How many people paid attention to the budget last week? I mean fully because if you didn’t you might have missed this little bit of information, I know I did.   One of the leading accountancy firms in London reported that one of the changes in the budget last …

Co-founder of Wikipedia invigorating charitable MVNO

Continuing very much with what appears to be his personal modus operandum, Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales has recently taken a strategic stake in The Peoples Operator mobile virtual network operator business and been appointed to the board of the company as Co-Chair. This should mean he will ignite the fledgling companies …

Ovivo goes pop. Where should you go now?

If you don’t like paying much money then Ovivo were ideal. Some of their plans cost absolutely nothing per month, but just recently Ovivo unexpectedly went pop and their customers were left with no service instantly. So what now? Well, we’ve put some options together for you. They’re …

The demise of storage cards. I don’t want it. I don’t like it.

Yeah, yeah. Cloud storage. Bla bla bla. I’m one of those annoying people who actually prefers having a massive 32GB microSD card in my phone. Sure, if my phone goes missing I’ve lost everything, but I’ve got something physical and heck … I just don’t like change sometimes. …

Wanna be part of the madness?

We know you love technology, we know you love your smartphones, your accessories and everything in between. How’d you like to cover it? To add your opinion and post your thoughts on the latest games, apps and mobile happenings as they occur? Coolsmartphone is on the hunt for …

Ovivo Mobile shuts down. What happened? What now?

We’ve mentioned Ovivo Mobile quite a bit here at Coolsmartphone.com and we were big fans of their business model, even though it didn’t seem to work out in the end. Things seemed to be going pretty well. You pay up-front for the privilege of having an Ovivo SIM, …

EE customers still suffering after big outage – Update

Following the signal issues for EE customers last night, it appears that some customers are now getting service again. The classic “turn it off and on again” advice seems to be working for others. Twitter users in particular seem to have been annoyed by the EE response, which …

EE seems to be a bit busted

I could’ve come up with a more eloquent title for this post but hey, it’s a lot better than some of the posts flying around Twitter right now. The EE Twitter crew say that .. There seems to be some Gremlins in the system – we’re aware of …

Ovivo shuts down

Ovivo Mobile, the MVNO that offered free minutes, calls, and data for absolutely nothing per month, appears to have closed its doors in the past couple of hours. In a statement posted on its website, the company said: Dear OVIVO Customers, We are very sad to announce that …

A smartphone projector on the cheap

The Samsung Galaxy Beam is quite a cool phone. It’s got a built-in projector so you can project your favourite football match, TV show or movie onto the wall. However, if you want that functionality you’re going to have to switch phones, and that’s a whole expensive business …