The madness begins

I’m sitting in a rather damp car park in Birmingham. Right now I could go to the Apple shop and buy the iPhone. Hey, if I’m lazy I could go onto the Apple website and get one there instead. First though, I should tell you the iPhone prices …

Popping the lock – It’s easier than you think

There’s various reasons that people want to get phones unlocked and, although some networks are now supplying unlocked handsets as default, many people make the choice to unlock on a daily basis. Let’s go through some of those reasons. It could be that you’re looking to exit a …

Get the new iPhone 6 and 6 Plus on giffgaff

How does a brand new iPhone 6 at £29.89 a month sound? Good? Well, on giffgaff they split the cost of phones and talk plans (aka, “goody bags”) so you need to add on the goody bag you’d like on top of that. If you go for a …

A big thing happened this morning

Scotland narrowly chose to stay part of the United Kingdom this morning. The Scots showed that an unprecedented level of citizenship is possible with an 87% turn-out – more than any General Election for decades. Despite the “No” vote, today could mark the beginning of a new shift …

Admit it. You need this.

Yes, I recently dropped my phone into a pool. I tried to dry it out, but alas the damage was done. I didn’t have one of those clever EVAP pouches to try and get the moisture out and I quickly learned to be a bit more careful. Trouble is, …

The latest Pebble firmware update adds emoji support

Emoji are a part of life now, in the past I’d have just replied “this makes happy” but nowadays your obliged to reply “lol :)”. But if you have a Pebble and someone sends you a message containing an emoji previously you’d be lost, wondering what that blank …

Podcast 110 – the week we tried something a little different

Welcome to the Coolsmartphone podcast, joining me this week were Ian and Nirave. This weeks topics revolved around Phones4U going into administration, Apple iPhone 6 pre-orders selling by the millions, me being unable to decide which small phone to get next, Nirave and his iPhone pre-order experience, Ian …

Podcast 110 – Listen in live

Welcome to the live, raw, unedited and often broken version of our podcast. Joining me this week are Ian and Nirave. This weeks topics revolve around Phones4U, readers questions, the iPhone pre-order stampede and our usual chit chat about our mobile goings on. To listen live it’s dead …

New Kindle Fire HDX 8.9 comes to town

A slight improvement in specs, but not a great deal else from what we can see here. The new Kindle Fire HDX 8.9 is still the same price as last year but with an uplift in specs (2.5GHz quad core Snapdragon 805), Dolby Atmos surround sound and a …

Kindle Fire HD gets a makeover

New Kindle Fire HD devices have also been announced today. There’s some funky colours and 6″ or 7″ versions with quad-core 1.5GHz CPU’s, dual cameras and Dolby Digital audio. Price-wise, they’re attractive – the 6″ is £79 and the 7″ is £119. You can pre-order on the Amazon …

Two new Kindles announced by Amazon

Three new Kindles have been announced today. Some may sound familiar but have extra grunt, whilst others are new to the market and have more storage. They are…. Kindle Voyage Costing jsut £169 it’s 7.6mm thick and weighs less than 180 grams. This one has a Paperwhite display …

Those fancy looking OnePlus One covers won’t ever be released

When I bought my OnePlus One one of the things I was itching to get hold of was the replaceable backs, they were going to be available in several different materials, such as kevlar, denim and bamboo. Upon receiving mine I set about trying to order the back …

Phones 4u – Could it rise from the flames?

Could Phones 4u still be saved? A last minute plan is being put into motion to swap some of the money owed to creditors for equity. If EE and Vodafone agree to the plan and start supplying contracts again, it could mean that all jobs are saved. If …

Podcast 110 – Ask us some questions

Our weekly podcast is just about getting into its stride, we’ve been at it for over two years now and we’d like to involve you guys in it a bit more. So we are going to try something we did ages ago, we want some questions from you …

Seasonal Cities – Your New Travel Companion

City Guide Books are big business and an almost essential purchase for those visiting a new place on vacation. However like all paper based products they have one major downside, in that they are only as up to date as on the day that they were printed. Therefore …

Meet your Moto Maker

Hot on the heels of the Moto Store opening virtually in the UK, Moto Maker has now become available here in the UK too. As predicted when the store opened up, Moto Maker, Motorola’s online phone customisation tool, has become available to us here in the UK. As …

Camera’s ready, prepare the Flash

For £49.99 this may look like a watch, but it’s not. This is the “Flash” and will be available mid November from Currys / PC World. It’s a really easy-to-use fitness and sleep monitor. It’s waterproof (for up to 30 metres too) and is made from a soft-touch …

EE refresh SIM Only 4G plans

Today, EE have updated their SIM only pricing here in the UK with data now offered up to 10GB a month. Before now the maximum data allowed on a SIM only deal was just 4GB, a massive drop from the largest 50GB package offered with a handset, however …

Dropbox Suspends Auto-Upload for iOS 8 Launch **UPDATE*

UPDATE Dropbox has released updates to their Dropbox and Carousel apps that fix compatibility issues. Tonight Dropbox announced in a blog post that they are suspending the use of their Camera Upload feature for iOS 8. For those unaware, the feature allows users of their iOS app to …

EE Cash on Tap now available for London Underground

EE are really pushing forward with their NFC payment service they call ‘Cash on Tap’, and what might be one of the most exciting and most convenient services has just been added. EE customers with the Cash on Tap service can now use this for the London Underground. …