Category: General

Rumour – Oppo to launch premium, Cyanogenmod range

It seems that the team at Cyanogenmod are not content with just providing a limited edition N1 with special packaging and their own ROM preloaded but are already in talks with Oppo, the Chinese manufacturer of the Find 5 and R819, to produce a separate line of premium …

Goodbye Google Currents, magazines….Hello Google Play Newsstand

Read all about it, read all about it. Google Play Magazine is no more.  Google Currents is no longer current. The information gathering behemoth that is Google has replaced both apps with one that has been rumoured for some time.  Enter Google Play Newsstand. The app takes all …

Samsung’s proposed “Kill Switch” killed

Theft of mobile phones is on the increase both here in the UK and across the water in the US.  Those tiny little computers that most of us carry around with us on a daily basis, mostly carrying them in our hands and unprotected are worth a fortune …

Garmin Head Up Display – Accessory Review

Traditional Satellite navigation systems were once upon a time a must have for anyone that regularly undertook long journeys to far away places. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epSURT21hxs With the launch of Google maps, Apple maps and the vast array of other mapping solutions available for mobile phones the demand for Sat-Navs …

Giffgaff phone store is live, come on in

They run off the O2 network and offer easy-to-understand deals like £10 for 500 minutes, unlimited texts and 1GB of data. Giffgaff have also earned a reputation for offering unlimited data for £12 and, if you’ve got an unlocked handset and don’t want to be hooked into a …

Get rugged, get a Cat case

Those of you who are lovely enough, smart enough, handsome enough and intelligent enough to read our site regularly will know about the Cat B15 smartphone. It’s a rough, tough and solid Android smartphone by the people who make those big yellow diggers. Now, if you’re not ready …

More channels added to Sky Go

I don’t know about you, but I’ve been writing several furious letters to those people at Sky TV about the lack of TV channels such as Eden, Alibi and Animal Planet on their mobile TV platform – Sky Go. The system lets you watch a range of channels …

Samsung ad ends up being a bit pants

Samsung don’t appear to share my huge dislike of that media-hungry do-anything-for-fame “artist” called Miley Cyrus. They’ve recently mentioned her in an advert for their Samsung Galaxy Gear smartwatch. The picture, as you can see below, shows a pair of pants and relates to Miley and her semi-clad …

Qualcomm Toq – Slip it onto your wrist on December 2nd

A device that is light, easy to carry around with you. It’ll tell you the time. It’s thin and has a touch screen that’s bright enough to use in direct sunlight. Not only that, but you can see calls, texts and emails coming in. What is it? Well, …

Electric, water, what could go wrong?

Ahh wait, it’s not real water. However, it is real electric. Sure, you could buy any old charger, but you wouldn’t be getting one that looks like a tap now would you? This, my friends is, well… there’s no other way of saying this.. a charger that looks …

Driverless cars that work with your smartphone

If you drive up the M6 between Junction 11 and 14 you’ll see how this particular stretch of motorway is being converted to a “managed” road. What this means is that cameras will be fitted along the motorway and your speed will be tightly monitored and controlled. It …

Jolla phone launch date announced

Jolla, the Finish company formed from ex-Nokia employees, has announced the launch date for the first ever Sailfish phone. The launch will happen in Helsinki on the 27th November and they will have 450 devices ready to buy for those who pre-ordered. Marc Dillon, one of the founding …

Just give me five minutes..

Hello. I’m going to borrow your eyes for a minute. Don’t worry, I’ll keep it brief, but today it’s Children in Need. If you’re not aware, this is the BBC’s big charity event and it supports disadvantaged children all across the UK. As an example, just up the …

Hill Climb Racing – Android and iOS recommended app

Time wasting.  There are plenty of apps that can be classed as time wasters, games that you can dip in and out of, a quick read of social network feeds whilst waiting for the kettle to boil and so on. One such game that can firmly be put …

Flying high with mobile in flight

It has recently been announced that flyers in the US can now use their gadgets on all parts of the flight, all the way from take off to landing. Now, Europe is coming in to line with this ruling after the European Aviation safety Agency (EASA) issued guidelines to …

Vine officially available on Windows Phone

Vine, the six second video service that originally launched on iOS followed by Android is finally available for Windows Phone. Windows Blog made the announcement early yesterday saying “The popularity of Vine, a mobile service for shooting and sharing six-second looping videos, is nothing short of astonishing: In barely a …

Three confirm retina iPad Mini pricing

With the retina iPad Mini now on sale, Three have come out and announced their pricing on both monthly rolling and 24 month contracts. The new retina version of the iPad Mini features the same 7.9 inch display but with a much higher resolution plus the A7 chip and 64-bit version of iOS7 …

Lenovo announce The Vibe Z with Snapdragon 800 and dual-SIM unveiled

Lenovo has announced a new smartphone the Vibe Z. It’s got a decent high end spec using the mighty Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 quad-core CPU, 2GB of RAM, an Adreno 320 GPU, a 5.5 – inch 1080p display, a 13-megapixel f/1.8 dual-LED flash camera and a 5-megapixel front facing snapper. …

I’ve got the horn, and it’s double-ended

I think we’re getting to the point here at Coolsmartphone where nothing really surprises us any more. The HTC One is a beautiful thing and comes with the potent BoomSound tech. You know that, we know that. It gives those tunes a much-needed “whoomph”. So, your slender and …

I might look crazy, but I’ve got warm hands

Yes, that lady is talking right into her pinky. Yes, she has her thumb wedged firmly into her orifice. Oooo yeah, just think how waxy that thumb is going to be right now. So, unless you’ve not guessed already, these are the Bluetooth Gloves from Firebox.com and, as …

Tesco Finest tablet cases going cheap

The supermarket chain have slashed prices on their range of posh “Finest” tablet cases. There’s a fairly sizable range to choose from and they make rather nice presents too. Whilst looking for my “special cream” I found these. Firstly, this canvas iPad Mini car is down from £15 …

Goophone Smartwatch Goodness

Smartwatches seem to be taking off sharply recently with the advent of the Samsung Galaxy Gear and Sony Smartwatch series. So far we have seen nothing majorly “innovative” that has stood out with most of these wearable devices acting as an extension to your smartphone. Enter to the …

Carphone Warehouse to stock HTC Desire 500

Bringing the best bits of HTC at an affordable price, it’s the Desire 500 and it’s now available at Carphone Warehouse. They have become the first UK retailer to start this device and you can hook it into all the major mobile networks. If you enjoy HTC BoomSound …

iKettle – Making you that extra bit lazy

Come on, get off the sofa. Let’s go for a run. Yeah, sure, it’s cold and raining, but we can do this. We’re gonna feel the burn. We’re gonna flex those muscles! YEAHHHHHH Oh, OK. Let’s not, let’s just stay in and have a nice cup of tea …

EE expand 4G to rural Cumbria

EE have announced today they have expanded 4G coverage into rural Cumbria and over 2000 residents . For just £25 customers will get a promotional deal of 20GB a month Although other deals are also available In testing EE found average speeds of around 24Mbps, which is more …

OPPO N1 becomes the first official CyanogenMod phone

Everyone’s got a phone these days, and every third person is an expert telling you what to buy and why you’re on the wrong tariff. The vast majority of people will never have heard of CyanogenMod, and even those who have probably won’t have heard of OPPO. Why …

Otterbox Commuter case for the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 – Review

It has become part of my phone buying ritual now. Buy a phone, buy a cheapo case, buy a slim case for nights out and then buy a case that’s big, protective, dustproof and will protect my phone during my daily adventures, then repeat in a variety of …

New hassle-free data SIM providers rock up

Data. You want it. You want it right now. You want big, fat, sweaty piles of data and as quick as possible. You filthy, filthy monkey. You disgust me. How’s 99p per GB sound? That sound good? Huh? Got yourself a cheap enough deal there? How about a …

Three pull out of Carphone Warehouse.

Those Carphone Warehouse people will have one less network to offer soon. Three are pulling out and have chosen instead to focus on their own Three stores as a sales channel. The network has already stopped offering their plans to Phones 4u, and they’ve revealed that 89% of …

OFCOM raps Vodafone’s knuckles

When the 3G licences were dished out way back in 2000, the networks agreed that they would cover 80% of the UK population, this was then raised to 90% in 2010. The deadline for reaching this target was June 2013, however whilst o2, Three and EE managed this …

Sony announce update schedule for Jelly Bean 4.3 and KitKat

Sony have come under heavy fire in the past for not providing updates to its Android phones, but the release of its update schedule will come as pleasant reading to many Sony owners. Android Jelly Bean 4.3 will be rolled-out in December to the following devices: Xperia Z …

Firefox for Android pre-installed on more devices

Not content with launching Firefox OS phones via Ebay in the UK and USA and via mobile networks in Spain, Colombia, Venezuela, Poland, Germany and soon Hungary and Greece Mozilla have announced today that their Android web browser will come pre-installed on the latest batch of Kobo tablets …

Update to Android 4.3 with the HTC One on Three

Three have announced that their HTC One handsets will be getting Android 4.3 today, so go check for updates if you’re still waiting. If you have problems, check this Three support page for help and guidance through the update process. It’s also probably best to use WiFi to …

The Brick – Hands on

Remember when all mobile handsets were huge? Do you remember the big hairstyles from the 1980’s? Leggings? Yo-Yo’s? Wham? Aha? A short while ago we spotted this, which is suitably named “The Brick”. It’s designed to look like those early mobile handsets, but with a couple of key …

Samsung Flagships to have 16MP camera

With the launch of the Note 3 and Galaxy S4 only just fading from the memory, Samsung have revealed during an Analyst Day that their new range of flagship handsets will ship with a 16MP Isocell camera. The Isocell allows for better low light photography, something that all manufacturers …

Kransen Urbanears Review

There are product designs that have stayed the same since time immemorial and there are products whose design changes from day to day. The in ear headphone is a product whose design has been pretty much nailed on and despite slight differences in varying manufacturers designs, the all …

Giffgaff phone range announced – Buy yours this month

The network famed for hassle-free SIM-only plans has now announced their very own range of handsets and you can buy them later this month. The initial list includes the following handsets, and there’s a good mix of Android, iPhone and Windows Phone devices.. Samsung Galaxy Young Samsung Galaxy …

SwiftKey update brings new layouts and options

Swiftkey is the most popular third party keyboard replacement app for Android, and it’s easy to see why due to the uncanny predictions, swipe and standard input options, cloud sync and various themes. Now though, it’s got even more features! Fully paid up Swiftkey users will find an …