Category: General
UK mobile phone provider O2 has announced an up-coming price increase. It’ll affect their Pay Monthly Airtime Tariffs. They have announced a tariff increase of 2.7% from March 1st 2014, which they say is in line with with the current Retail Price Index (RPI) rate of inflation announced on …
I’m not a Nokia fan boy but I really like the new Lumia device’s and windows phone operating system. I thought, along with loads of other people, that this combination (plus being bought by Microsoft) would signal the beginning of a turnaround for the ailing company. Today Nokia …
Recently we showed an early peek into the Three 4G network. It was a test under almost lab conditions and we managed to get around 50Mbps download speeds on the all-new 4G network. However, just like my home fibre connection, there’s a lot of factors that can alter …
The wearable device market is hotting up. What with SmartWatches, fitness wristbands and eyewear being the current favourites. Garmin the well known and long established GPS device manufacturer have branched out into the fitness wristband arena. Which isn’t too far from the GPS watches they’ve been making for …
Smartphones and tablets can be complicated, but the cables to connect them all up have got a little easier to understand in recent years. Generally speaking, if you’ve got a smartphone or Android tablet it’ll have a microUSB cable and that’ll plug into a wall socket. However, if …
Social media is a big thing these days, finding a way to fit Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram and Google+ into the working day without contravening the workplace rules is sometimes a struggle. But we’ve sussed the latest social media craze and we now have an account on Google+. …
When Google launched its new flagship device the Nexus 5 the writers here at Coolsmartphone thought that getting our sticky little mits on the device was going to be the same debacle that the Nexus 4 launch was ( in stock, out of stock, no stock, no one …
Well that’s my New Years Resolution busted. I promised myself that I wouldn’t post another random Kickstarter project, but heck, I’ve lasted 21 days. 🙂 First though, a bit of a back-story. Mobile World Congress kicks off next month and, in my opinion, it’s more difficult than ever …
We’ve seen funky iPad cases before. We’ve seen cases that look like cassette tapes too, but we’ve not seen an iPhone 5 / 5s case which also adds a USB stick. This one is ideal for budding DJ’s, musicians, photographers or anyone who wants to store and move …
Hello, it’s me Gears. Call me Leigh. I’ve had the man flu for a month solid and this is perhaps the first article I’ve written without tissues (steady), so you may notice an ounce of exuberance in this particular missive. Spam. It’s a pain in the flippin sausage. …
Here is a little something different. A thin and light laptop on Coolsmartphone. What’s going on? Am I reading the correct site do I need an eye test? Whoa there before you run off to Optical Express, relax because even though this is a laptop it share a …
There are currently a multitude of streaming music services Spotify, Rdo, Mog, Sony’s music unlimited, Pandora, and Deezer to name but a few. But due to licencing some services are only available in certain parts of the world. Here in the UK there is Blinkbox music (owned by …
Amazon UK was voted number 1 for customer satisfaction over the Christmas period, and to celebrate, any of the Kindle Fire range can be had for £25 off list price. The offer only runs until January 20, and the discount will be applied at checkout with the use …
There’s a wide selection of streaming music services here in the UK. Some are monthly subscription services and others are free but ad-supported. Now Sony have entered the fight for your listening ears by offering all the music you want for just £1 a month as part of …
Straight off the bat I need you all to be aware of something…these are in no way like Google Glasses, sorry. When I read about them I got really excited, the idea of a HUD and camera built into a contact lens was the coolest thing I had …
You’d have thought that if no one knew how to pronounce your name it would make things a little difficult. It kinda makes it tricky to spread news if no one can remember what your company is called. Hoo-wa-way? Hoo-way? Either way, Huawei aren’t letting that hold them …
We’ve all either been on the receiving end of that line, or said it to someone else, you hear it all the time. It’s often used as a reason that our society is getting more unsociable, or cited as reasons young relationships break down! I know I’ve been …
With Mobile World Congress (MWC) fast approaching, the rumour Mill is starting to turn. Samsung, according to what we’re getting, is planning for a successor to its Ativ S Windows Phone device in the coming weeks. The upcoming Samsung device named SM-W750V will have a 5-inch 1080 x …
Some time ago I reviewed the Lifeproof case for my iPad mini, which was a fully armoured case which offered unprecedented levels of protection, and provided the much needed piece of mind while it was being used by my little boy, but with the drawback that considerable bulk was …
A short while ago E.ON emailed me. I did the first thing that most people do when a utility company contacts you directly. I hid under the bed and shouted, “We’re not in, we never use the tumble dryer, honest!” 😉 After a while I emerged and found …
Three might be the last of the UK networks launching 4G, but many people have chosen to wait for them. It’s especially due to the fact 4G on Three costs no more than your existing deal and you don’t need to swap any plans or SIMs. Also, you …
Last September HTC announced the Desire 601. It’s a mid-range device with a 4.5″ QHD display and the video montage feature we also saw on the Desire 500. The handset also includes a dual-core 1.4GHz CPU, which – despite the fact it’s called the Desire 601 – actually …
Leigh wrote in October about offers from Cash4phones not being what they ought to be (to put it mildly!), but things have gone from bad to worse. The company is now officially in receivership and the police are looking for the director. If you sent your phone in …
Remember that ludicrous sequence from the first Mission Impossible film – where disaster is averted by a train going into the Channel Tunnel and losing phone signal? Well its going to need a rewrite thanks to EE. EE have announced this morning that they will be providing the UK …
Motorola have sent out press invitations today to an event being held in London next Tuesday (14th January). As is common with these invites, they haven’t told us what the event is in aid of. There were rumours floating about in September about a new Motorola tablet to …
Lets start with a short story. Nokia was circling the drain at the beginning of 2011 and the good ship Symbian was struggling to stay afloat. The anchors of the hefty N8 and E7 were pulling it down into a whirlpool of dispair. The liferaft of the the …
Yahoo! have announced today that they have acquired Aviate, the context-aware smart launcher for Android. The deal was announced by Marissa Mayer during the Yahoo! keynote at CES, and posts were made shortly after on both the Yahoo! and Aviate blogs. Aviate launched their product into closed beta to …
The update draws nearer. Apple today sent out their latest iteration of iOS 7.1 beta. This iteration contains some bug fixes as well as a few UI tweaks. The bug fixes aren’t as visual as the other changes, but they are most definitely there. We can show you …
Today Apple announced that the AppStore has generated $10 Billion in 2013. Guess what, $1 Billion of that was in December alone. That’s some serious spending on the users part. Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of Internet Software and Services said the following about the whole exciting …
Whilst Sony did announce the new Z1 compact, they have also continued the trend of CES 2014 by announcing more wearable tech to go with their Smartwatch 2. The new Smartband and Core are similar in idea to the LG Lifeband but aren’t just about fitness and like the …
The network originally wanted to get one million customers before the end of 2013, but now it looks like growth is accelerating, with two million 4G customers now using EE. The second million has only taken four months to achieve, compared to 10 months for the first million. …
We recently covered some alternative point of sale systems which used your phone as the payment device. Using your mobile, you can effectively shop anywhere, but how about a solution that’ll let you take payments AND manage your entire store – both online and on the high street.. …
So, we’ve got really good mobile games and we’ve got the odd Android-powered console that plugs into your TV. The latter hasn’t quite taken off as yet, but how about a wireless controller for your iPhone? One that’ll give you the classic gaming experience? This is the Stratus, …
Pebble have announced a second model at CES tonight – the Steel Pebble. Containing the same internals as the first Pebble, the outside has had a complete overhaul. Out goes the plastic case, and in comes stainless steel, Corning Gorilla glass and a tricolour LED. Importantly the new …
LG today announced a pair of wearable technology; the Lifeband Touch and the Heart Rate Earphones. The Lifeband Touch is a wearable band that clips onto your wrist in a similar way to the Jawbone Up or Nike Fuelband. It is designed to monitor the users activity …
Hands up who washes their hands after using their smartphone? What about, who uses an antibacterial screen cleaner or wipe on their smartphone or tablet? Anyone, anyone at all? Given that the average smartphone has more germs on it than the average toilet seat it might be worth …
If you’re using today’s super powerful smartphones like me, you are now carrying everything in your pocket, your bank details, your social networks and normally some irreplaceable photo’s of loved ones. So your phone should have some kind of password/PIN/pattern/facelock protection to stop unwanted eyes to getting to the …
Nvidia have started CES a little early by announcing the K1 family of chips for mobile devices. However, they won’t just be in mobiles, they will also be appearing in 4K TVs, consoles and cars (more on those later). The K1 is Nvidia’s attempt to reclaim lost market …
We recently heard how O2 saw a 62% increase in data usage over the New Year festivities. Vodafone have now been in touch and they’ve seen an even greater increase – their smartphone customers used 80% more data than New Year last year. It seems that texting, although …
Following our full HTC Desire 500 review last month, Three have announced availability online and in-store. Prices are pretty good too, with just £18 getting you 100 minutes per month, 5000 texts and unlimited data (24 month contract). You can choose to notch up to 500 minutes and …
