Free Apple?!

Regular readers may know that I’m a bit of a free and open source software advocate. Fundamentally I believe that if the code for software is open then its is more secure and useful. Many eyes make good code! It also advances technology. Android is based on the …

QICENT Cable Management Container – Review

Even with supposed “wireless charging”, you’re still going to have a whole heap of cabling kicking around. If could be behind your desk, it could be behind your TV, it could be under your bed. A cable for charging, a power adaptor for this, another for that. And …

The iPhone 8 Plus.. in bits!

Taking your brand new, £800 iPhone 8 Plus isn’t something you’re going to do. Is it? Well, not unless you’re a bit bonkers. Luckily we’ve been in touch with some bonkers people, and SOSav have dismantled the iPhone 8 Plus! You remember SOSav, right? They’re the guys offering …

Tesco launches Tesco Pay+

I’m getting in the habit of not carrying cash much now. There’s several benefits to this. For starters, everywhere I go there’s the “tap to pay” machines and I tend to use my phone. Also, there’s the added benefit of using the, “Oh lads, can you get the …

Want to launch your own tech start-up? Get some tips from these companies.

Although tech can sometimes be a little imposing, it can supply the tools and the solutions for endless business opportunities. Some of the UK’s greatest start-ups have technology to thank, and this is especially true with companies like Uber and Swifkey. The mobile app industry has grown to …

nCube – Making your Smart Home, Simple!

The nCube hub, is a very simple looking hub which can help control all your smart devices in your home including heating, lighting, security, entertainment and other smart devices into just one App using ZWave, Wi-Fi, LAN and Bluetooth communication. It also fully compatible with Alexa, but no …

Need a 3.5mm audio port in that iPhone 8 Sir?

We all knew that this problem was coming the minute that the 3.5mm audio port got dropped on the iPhone 7. Of course, despite our cool Bluetooth headphones, we have to admit that battery life will always fail just when you need it. So, how about using traditional …

NTONPOWER Charging station and organiser – Review

Having lots of gadgets is seemingly the norm nowadays. Likewise, we’re seeing more and more solutions for charging them. Most of you will probably have one charger per device, which is great until you start getting a second phone, a tablet or you’ve got other members of your …

Voda to carry the Moto Z2 Play

Yes, that’s pretty much the entire content of this story, right there in the title. Still, I’ve read the Daily Mail website and, if we now throw in 40 very similar photos with 4 paragraphs of text, it will apparently constitute a story. The Moto Z2 Play, which …

Coolsmartphone Update!

In recent months we’ve seen a significant uptick in traffic. This has left us with a problem. We needed more funding to pay for better, faster and more powerful infrastructure. Last week I tried a quick-fix solution to this, which was to add some full-page website banners. You …

Modobag – Motorized, Rideable … err… luggage

I don’t know about you, but having a small carry-on suitcase with wheels on, one that glides effortlessly around an airport, can be a very, very, very, very .. minor irritation. So, welcome to crowdfunded item number 25251613. The Modobag. A motorized suitcase that’ll make you look like …

Sony Xperia XZ1 Compact now available on Vodafone

Fancy a new handset with the Sony design skills and a 5.2″ 1080×1920 pixel screen? Want it to be dust and waterproof? Want it to measure 148 x 73.4 x 7.4 mm and weigh in at 155 g? Sorry. I can’t help you with that. ONLY KIDDING! Coming …

Amazon drops new toys into the Alexa playroom

The Amazon Alexa offering got an added bonus yesterday. The Amazon Echo, Echo Plus, Echo Show, Fire TV and Fire HD 10 will all be arriving here in the UK on, of course, Amazon UK. There’s a new version of the Amazon Echo, which will be £89.99, and …

Twitter full of big, fat tweets…. thoughts?

So we all live in a socail media age, and one of the main protagonists of this age is Twitter. Since its inception many years ago, Twitter users have been restricted to getting their musings across in 140 characters. This was both a blessing and a curse. It …

AmpliFi – The unboxing

Well, I don’t normally get excited about wireless extension system, but there was something cool and futuristic about AmpliFi that certainly caught our interest at Coolsmartphone Towers. We covered the unit’s release not so long ago, and now we have one to review. The box was huge and …

Bill Gates goes Android

It’s not something I talk about much, but I’ve actually met Bill Gates. He’s a bit shorter in real life and had a lot of bodyguards following him around at the time. We spoke about the Microsoft Smartphone because, way back when, Microsoft was actually pretty successful at …

Specialist app store opens up for Android customers

Just last month we covered the fact that Google Play is now listing real-money gambling apps. For quite some time before, the iPhone and Android stores have differed in this respect. On the iPhone, you could download gaming apps that let you transfer your own cash into an …

Coolsmartphone Podcast 215 O

The Coolsmartphone Podcast Editing Jawas are a strange bunch. They’ve picked up the slack and have now started churning out some of the finest podcast episodes since the days of James Pearce. Really, they are doing a stellar job. Here is the Coolsmartphone Podcast Episode 215. It is …

Honor 9 wins big in T3 awards

Right now I’m carrying around the Honor 9. It definitely ticks a lot of boxes for me. The battery life is decent, it takes great photos, it has a great screen, there’s 64GB of on-board storage and it’s pretty nippy too. The blue or grey one is available …

Sony Xperia XA1 now available on Vodafone

It seems a long time since we first saw the Sony Xperia XA1. It has a bigger brother, the XA1 Ultra, too. The XA1 has now popped up on Vodafone has a 5″ screen 720×1280 pixel screen. It’s powered by Android 7.0 and has a 64-bit MediaTek Helio …