Remember earlier in the summer when I kept posting about my charity bike riding? If you missed it, I basically had too much to drink and kinda agreed to get fitter and do some mental rides to raise a bit of cash for charity. After riding a mountain …
Its that crazy time of the month – no, not that one, the other time. That time when Apple rumours start to go into overdrive and both Nexus and Galaxy Note stories spring up from almost nowhere… Almost nowhere. The Information ran a report stating that the new …
This weekend, following quite a bit of advertising by the company, I gave the Music Magpie app a try. The company buy DVDs, CDs, games and electronics plus clothes, but their app lets you snap barcodes and you get an instant price on your stuff. So, armed with …
Welcome to another episode of the Coolsmartphone Podcast, joining me this week were John and Khellan. John is new to the podcast and also new to the Coolsmartphone team we thought we’d get to know him first. Then tackle the big topics of the week. The “big” topics …
Paying for apps. Let’s admit, not many Android owners do it. So how would you feel if you could get some paid-for apps for nothing at all? If you’re quick, the Amazon app store is the place to be. This Thursday and Friday, 31 July – 1 August, …
The Samsung Young 2 and the Samsung Galaxy S5 mini are due to arrive here in the UK very soon indeed, so if that Galaxy S5 5.1″ screen is too much, you can have a slightly smaller one instead. Sasmsung tell us that the shrunk-down version of the …
This is an £8.99 metal credit-card-sized ..err.. card which has 18 different uses. A lot of those 18 are screwdrivering and nut tightening. In our tests it screws and tightens my nuts fine. Not a problem there. It’ll also open letters, which is probably ideal for those people …
Some good news and some bad news here folks. First the good: Last week I bemoaned the lack of any alternatives to the monster Lumia 1520 or Glance-less Lumia 930 for top end WP 8 phones. Clearly someone was paying attention as it would appear HTC are about …
One thing that Microsoft was certainly guilty of in the past but has since remedied is the speed by which it offers updates to its mobile phone OS. Windows Phone 8.1, released as a developer’s preview just a few months ago, has undergone a series of small revisions that fixed various …
Here in the UK it’s the big summer holidays. The kids are off school and the teachers are taking a well-earned break from their 200 days at work. With the sun actually appearing in the sky and kids wanting to play out, it’s a tough time for parents, …
Just yesterday we revealed the new app from Three which lets you make and receive calls over WiFi. It’ll use the same minutes and texts from your bundles, and it’s so great way to fill gaps in coverage or use your phone abroad. Yesterday the iOS version of …
A week ago we reported that the developer preview for Cortana in the UK should be heading to these shores in the next few weeks. It has now been confirmed from two Microsoft employees that when she arrives, she won’t be voiced by Jen Taylor, the actress who …
Despite what the Nokia Availability site says, the Cyan Update for Windows Phone 8.1 is out now on O2 at least. Since early July I have been using the “Settings & Phone Update” option to check and this morning it paid off. After a small Nokia Update I was …
When is free, not free? Or free, kinda, but not quite all the time. Except… mostly. Yep, we’re talking about those apps and games which are built around the freemium model. There’s more than one way to build a freemium app. The first way is to build a …
Well, this is a weighty thing. You may remember our review of the original Soundbook we looked at about a year ago. The first thing I noticed with this particular model was the weight of it. It’s something that isn’t mentioned in the specs, but after sticking it …
There is a great conspiracy theory around that Apple have planned obsolescence, ie their iPhones automatically become slower when a new iPhone is about to appear. It is, say the conspiracies, a clever way to get you upgrading. Whilst this would be illegal and would run the risk …
Getting a signal is critical for a smartphone, especially when we’re making those all important calls and text messages. Three have had an app in testing recently for Android which routes your voice calls and texts over a WiFi connection. It’s ideal if you have no or poor signal, …
This got pushed into my Twitter timeline and, despite it being in beta, it looks fairly promising. If you’re looking for your next phone and are considering a switch to another network, coverage maps are always good to check. They’ll let you know what the signal is like …
The Bluetooth speaker market is flooded with different devices, if you don’t believe me, just do a quick search on either Amazon or eBay and it will take about a week to trawl though all the offerings. Prices range from just a couple of pounds through to the …
Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last week or so, you’ll have seen a DeLorean whizzing across your TV screen in ad breaks. Now me, I rewound the TV when I first saw it, and thanks to the fact that it’s for Phones 4u, I …
