Category: General
Welcome to the Coolsmartphone Award Ceremony, coming to you, prerecorded from Coolsmartphone Towers. Our team of experts (and Simon) got together yesterday and decided on the best and worst bits of 2013 in order to entertain you and reward/shame those responsible. As with all good awards ceremonies we’re …
Those who purchased the Oppo N1 before the CyanogenMod news (we are talking about you here Ronnie ) will be excited to know that the official CyanogenMod ROM for the device is available to all users. As promised the official package is available for installation on any version of the Oppo …
When it comes to data access in the UK, many customers flock to Three due to their great pricing and high data allowances. Oh – plus the fact they have a very fast DC-HSPA network offering 3G speeds of up to 42Mbps. This new dongle, made by ZTE, …
Sorry, the competition is now closed and we’ll have the winners available soon. If you don’t win, why not get a Lumia 625 on pay as you go from EE.
ScreenshotCleaner is a handy little app for bloggers and developers alike. As a blogger I take a lot of screenshots on my phone which, obviously, always have the status bar on. This isn’t really a problem, but often it has notifications and icons that are irrelevant and messy, …
The world’s largest mobile provider is China Mobile but Apple have never had access to their customers… until now. The iPhone 5s and err.. that other one that some people have thought about buying (the 5c) are arriving onto their 4G network. We half-knew it was happening after …
The 4.4.2 update to the Moto G was originally promised for early 2014, but Motorola says it’s “thrilled to start delivering on that promise early”. The Android 4.4.2 KitKat update is now available to Moto G handsets purchased on Motorola’s website and Amazon in the US. Motorola says the Moto …
Oppo teased the N1 to death before its recent launch, and now it’s Cyanogen’s turn as the CyanogenMod Edition nears release. The newly launched CM YouTube channel is now sporting a taster video so we can see why we’d want to opt for this non-standard version. http://youtu.be/VV-BPYgWDqc Focusing …
Google Play Music development has always been ahead on Android, unsurprisingly, but the iOS version has taken a big step forward to catching up with the latest update. The first thing you’re likely to notice is the slightly updated user interface. This is to bring it in line …
Here’s a pretty interesting story from The Atlantic (no, me neither) with some revelations from Chris DeSalvo. He worked with Andy Rubin at Danger before switching to Google to work on Android. It was 2005 and Android was in the early stages, but by January 2007 and – …
The new Finnish company / phone Jolla announced yesterday that their first ever handset is ready to order if you’re based in EU, Switzerland and Norway. The phone was initially only available to pre-order earlier this year and the first production run orders ended in July. A second …
The Jolla phone is finally here! Despite an attempt to deliver to my home literally the day I moved out and missing me then being re-delivered to work when I had that day off I finally got hold of the new smartphone that the Finnish nation are tentatively …
Samsung and LG seem to be having a competition at the moment to produce weird and wacky phone designs, with the LG Flex and Samsung Galaxy Round leading the race at the moment. Samsung’s next step is to patent the design of a folding dual display smartphone, which …
The day has come when Nokia will stand up and be recognised as a force to be reckoned with. This stance comes in the form of the stunning Lumia 1520. This large (there is no hiding it really) phone is the one that has been designed to bring …
Blackberry haven’t fared too well in the handset game in recent times which is in direct contradiction to their newest partner LG. An announcement made by Blackberry today confirms that the two companies are teaming up in order to bring BBM to all new LG Android handsets starting …
Some more images of the rumoured Oppo R1 have surfaced. This time they are hands on from an anonymous source. GSM Insider picked up some images from Weibo they come below. Rumoured specs to go with the images are that the device will include an 8 MegaPixel Camera, …
The latest update to SwiftKey keyboard brings improvement to the installation process, but most importantly also brings a bit of winter cheer with a new keyboard theme. After switching over to the new “Ice” theme, you’ll be greeted by a deep blue background with snow-capped keys that drop …
British Airways is to become the first European airline to allow the use of electronic devices, including phones and tablets, during take-off and landing. Thus bringing the end to a 1960’s ruling. The decision was approved by the British Civil Aviation Authority according to a BBC report, and follows an earlier relaxation …
My lunch break has become increasingly interesting in recent years. I meet new people and literally bump into them as I head out to grab a sandwich. It’s the “phone zombies” – those people who walk down a street staring at their phones. They put walking and avoiding …
I must admit I’m a heavy Evernote user, I use it for everything – shopping lists, I take a picture of where I park the car, and when ever I buy anything on line I always clip the receipt/order confirmation page to Evernote. An update to the Evernote app is …
There has been an update today to the BBC’s iPlayer radio app for Android which sees several enhancements. The main feature to be added is support for widgets, now you can add your favourite station straight to your homescreen and scale the widget to the size that you …
The GamePad will launch in European markets for Android phones between 4-inches and 6.3-inches, and be compatible with devices running Jelly Bean or higher with Bluetooth 3.0. It goes without saying special attention has been made to Samsung phones, and the “most convenient features optimized for Samsung Galaxy devices running …
Coolsmartphone veterans will no doubt remember our review of The Brick. It’s a lightweight version of the large mobile phones we walked around with in the 80s. It’s SIM-free and was £50 when we included it in our festive gift guide. How’s less than £30 sound instead? If …
Getting Secret Santa, stocking fillers and table presents for geeks technology lovers can sometimes be a difficult task, but the HexStyli 6-in-1 stylus could be six answers all in one (cue Kinder Surprise jingle – other chocolate eggs are available). The HexStyli 6-in-1 is not only a bit …
If you’re looking for a good deal on an Android tablet for someone this Christmas, then Amazon might be worth a look. Currently you can pick up the white Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 7-inch for just £119.99. Sure, it’s not going to set your pants on fire, but …
HTC is continuing to keep their promise of providing updates to their recent handsets with an over the air (OTA) update to the HTC One mini. Android 4.3 improvements are well documented; the update includes improved multi-tasking, music player improvements and an updated user interface. However, the big …
Spending time with your new-born baby. What more could anyone ask for eh? Those precious moments when your child smiles for the first time, or looks at you with those innocent eyes. Ahhhh… ..well, if you’d like to strap your baby into a seat and distance yourself totally …
So, you’ve heard about EE and their 4G network. You can get double-speed 4G in Birmingham and some of my lovely scenic local towns – Sutton Coldfield, Walsall, West Bromwich and Wolverhampton. That’s all very clever, but whenever we run a story about the speedy 4G network there’s …
So, err.. how’s that 4G thing coming along eh? (Family guy reference) Hmm? Got a big, uh, big stack of papers there? Got a, got a, got a nice little story you working on there? Your big -big 4G thing you’ve been working on? Hmm? Got a, got …
Let’s talk Smart TV’s shall we? They’re pretty rubbish aren’t they? I bought one of these, thinking I’d be sitting there with my 3D glasses on watching some movies on Netflix or videos on YouTube. However, by the time the clunky interface has booted and you’ve sat through …
That’s right now due to a recent update to Google Play Books you can carry all of your digital library with you and easily access more of it when out and about. All you need is a web connection and an Android device and you are good to …
New in Android 4.0.3 and above it the ability to have USB On-the-Go (OTG). This basically alllows devices to plug into your phone through the microUSB port whilst your phone or tablet acts as a host. With a lot of phones now not having microSD card slot, despite …
A common bugbear among mobile users is that you can have all the free minutes in the world but it still costs you money to phone an 0800 number, so this and broadband are the often the main reason people keep a landline. With 4G on the rise, …
Having an infra red blaster on my phone has recently become something that I can really appreciate. The app offerings from HTC, LG and Samsung are a bit basic or they get bogged down with TV listings and the like. What I wanted was something I could fiddle …
Shopping days are running out rapidly, panic buying will soon be setting in. The festive period is nearly upon us and all of the shops are playing that peskily annoying Christmas music that we have all heard a million times before. The old ladies are saying “Oooo I …
No one realised the potential of the franchise when the original Grand Theft Auto launched way back in the depths of beyond. The top down splat them up was a great success and was swiftly followed by sequel after sequel with the latest installment becoming one of the …
It was hinted at a short while ago (here to be precise) but it is now official, Spotify users can now stream music for free on the iOS and Android apps, but not Windows Phone yet. This now brings the apps in line with the desktop version of …
Almost everyone knows of Angry Birds now and Rovio have fired out another game continuing the series. This one is a little different to the usual fling the birds at the pigs. The birds are driving cars. Check out the trailer below. The game has come to the …
One of the major unique selling points of the newer Nexus devices is the ability to charge wirelessly. The Nexus 4 had an orb shaped wireless charger which took an age to appear in the UK however the new version, a small slab of a thing has now …
One of the most popular third party launchers available for Android is Teslacoil’s Nova Launcher. The feature packed app has now seen a major update which brings it into line with Android 4.4 Kitkat after the release of the beta version a little over a month ago. Many …
