Category: Software and apps

The gaming apps that blur the line between the virtual and the real

Our smartphone screens are getting bigger. The picture quality is getting better too, and mobile gaming apps are now able to deliver a more immersive experience than ever before. Most mobile apps have taken advantage of this technological progress by looking for ways to improve the detail and depth …

When a VPN isn’t enough

A VPN is something that we’ve written about numerous times here. They’re great and they will anonymise your browsing whilst also changing your location and getting around and location restrictions which may have been applied by streaming providers. However, if you’re using a VPN to access things like …

Advantages of mobile-based services for customers

Let’s say you’re a business or service provider who wants, or who even already is taking advantage of a mobile-based model for their services. You provide a service, your customers pay X amount every Y amount of time, and that’s more or less the end of it. You, …

Google Play to start auto-playing videos.

Following the white redesign of the Google Play Store another, and what I deem more annoying update, is due pretty soon. Yes, the Play Store will start playing promo videos in the app listings automatically. According to Google the videos in the app listings will “help more users …

Fingerprint unlock finally coming to WhatsApp.

Back In February this year, WhatsApp had rolled out the authentication feature for iOS beta users, making it possible to use Touch ID to unlock the app. Now finally after more than six months, the feature has finally been made available for Android beta users today. The Fingerprint …

5 of the most popular app categories

Unbelievably there’s now 4 billion people connected to the internet. That, though, isn’t the most amazing number. There’s now a larger number of mobile phone users, now amounting to 5 billion. Mobile phones and the internet are both integral parts of life now, with many people shuddering at …

Parental Control apps to monitor usage

The internet can be a dark place. As we have now transitioned into our digital world, we’ve also had to wrestle with its complexities. The number of children using the internet grows each day, and the younger children are, the more likely they are to use the internet. …

Microsoft xCloud to add to the smartphone gaming transition

You’ll no doubt already know how mobile gaming is turning the traditional world of consoles on its head. We’ve seen phones become more and more powerful, able to run graphically-intensive games locally and produce a gameplay experience that isn’t too far removed from the likes of PS4 and …

Go and Snatch. Win prizes and get fit too!

Fancy grabbing some Snatch action? Now you can thanks to a radical new AR free-to-play mobile game. This one has you engaging with your favourite brands and you get the chance to win some exclusive prizes! To get involved, you download “Snatch” from the App Store or Google …

Google Maps – Now with a speedometer

I’m probably going to open up a whole can of worms here, but your car speedometer, some of the time, isn’t right. For the most part, it only needs to be accurate to within plus or minus 5 mph at 50 mph. Here in the UK the law …

Played Fortnite recently?

If you haven’t, you probably know someone who has. The game has not only exploded across gaming platforms, but it’s remained “sticky”, with players coming back again and again to play. On your smartphone though, you may be playing a very similar game – PUBG Mobile. This has …

Earning rewards through exercise

I seem to be the only person I know who doesn’t get a great deal of surveys from Google Opinion Rewards. The app, for those who aren’t aware, delivers quick surveys to you. Once you answer one, you’ll get some Google Play Credit. I’ve got 92p so far, …

Huawei update the P30 series

I have been testing the P30 Pro for a few weeks now and in that time I have been very impressed with the phone. In particular, what the camera can do. There was, however, one piece of the phone that wasn’t yet available despite being shown off at …

Some of the best Monopoly smartphone games

  It’s the Easter holidays, so I’m doing my best to ensure that my son isn’t stuck to his smartphone all the time. Today it’s resulted in him bringing out a whole load of board games. We’ve had the infamous “Mousetrap”, plus “Buckaroo”, “Scrabble”, ”Trivial Pursuit” and, of …

Strategies for referral SEO

So, you’ve spent hours, days, weeks and months developing your mobile app. You’ve carefully crafted it. You’ve made a beautiful interface, and it’s really, truly useful. You’re rightfully proud of your creation but you’re about to hit your biggest problem. After uploading, adding a graphic, a video and …

Get yourself a virtual personal trainer

Wanna get fit? Well, you could join a gym, but that can be pricey (I’m looking at you David Lloyd Leisure.. £100 a month!? Waahh??). So today marks the launch of, according to Kaia Health the “world’s first virtual personal trainer”. It uses unique motion tracking technology to …

A fun way to get your kids brushing properly.

Kids love sweets, so ensuring that they’re brushing their teeth regularly is key. You can’t always monitor this, so PlayBrush is a great way to create a solid dental cleaning routine. Instead of making brushing teeth a chore, the 2 minutes task can now be made fun thanks …

Stricter rules for smartphone gambling introduced

It’s that time of year again when the Cheltenham Festival comes to town. This, like the Grand National, marks the time when people will be tempted to take a cheeky flutter on the horses. Indeed, if you’re using an Android phone, you’ll have no doubt seen an uptick …

Mobile Bingo – Where To Play?

I was sitting down this morning, straight from the school run, being subjected to the car-crash TV that is the “Jeremy Kyle” show. It’s sponsored by a Bingo website and it got me pondering, because it’s making bingo a more approachable and acceptable pastime due to it being …

Instagram is a child grooming hotspot

The NSPCC has today revealed that sex offenders are grooming more children on Instagram more than any other online platform. In 32% of the recorded police incidents, Instagram was used to send sexual communication. It was closely followed by Facebook, which was used in 23% of the tim. …

Huawei StorySign investment continues

Kids are the future and we need to keep developing technology that will allow them to develop. This case is even more poignant if children have a disability that will impede their learning. Examples of this include deafness, and this is an area where technology can be particularly …

Hotel Hideaway. Another home for online grooming.

Yes, it’s me again. Recently I wrote about the dangers of kids using smartphones. The truth is, if you let them have a smartphone, you’re opening them up to a host of dangers. There’s absolutely nothing you can do to protect them unless you sit next to them …

Passing IT Certification exams in less time with Prepaway

I work in IT. You may have guessed 🙂 One thing you always have to do in IT is learn. You can never sit still. The industry is continually growing, with new technologies appearing on a regular basis which you have to understand. If you don’t look at …

Cryptocurrencies explained

I get emailed about cryptocurrencies on a weekly basis. There’s now hundreds of apps for those using Bitcoin or other major cryptocurrencies. You can get a wallet to show your Bitcoin amount, you can convert into different currencies, use address books and – of course – send and …

Make a successful home business with this 2019 idea list

If you’re looking for a secondary job, want to make money online, or you want to do something part time, it’s now perhaps easier than ever. The guy that fixes and services my bike for example. He has a van. He has a mobile phone and a load of …

Free Aaptiv membership to get fit thanks to Three

OK, so this isn’t a gym but – instead of sweating your bits off in front of strangers, you get an app with professional personal trainers. They offer thousands of workouts and programmes, which have been specially created and guided by world-class certified trainers. You also get some …

Is Google Maps making us drive more sensibly?

Yesterday I made a slight error. It’s something I’ve done before, when I strangely only allocated myself 2 hours to drive from Heathrow Airport to Stoke. I did it again, but this time I was driving back from Reading. I knew I wouldn’t get back in time. I’d …

Fancy a quick game of Pachinko?

Wait, what is pachinko ? Yeah, not many people outside of Japan have heard about it. However, you probably will have heard about pinball, and this is a vertical version. In Japan there’s traditionally been mechanical and noisy machines which use balls which are smaller than Western pinball …

Google+ to close

I will have to admit, dear reader, that I am not a massive user of Instabook or Facetube. However, my social network of choice is Google+ ………. or should I say ….was. Google have announced that it is shutting down the social network. This follows reports of a …

ParcelBroker – Making it easier to send a parcel

If you need to send a parcel, there’s probably less and less of us actually going to a Post Office. Now there’s a myriad of parcel companies and couriers who can come to your door and pick up. However, there’s a problem. You need to know the dimensions …

Making money with your smartphone

Although we all use our phones to pass the time and check out the latest social media trends, we can also use them to make a bit of cash, or save it. Sure, it might seem too good to be true but there are some clever ways of doing …

Smartphone penetration continues to grow

A new survey, published today by Deloitte, has revealed that smartphone penetration has grown even further during 2018. After questioning some 4,000 smartphone users, they’ve found that there’s growth across all age groups, with the 55-75 category seeing the most growth. This age range has increased from 40% …

Newton Mail – Shutting Down End Of September

Several of us here at Coolsmartphone (including myself) are paid subscribers to the cross platform mail client Newton Mail by Cloud Magic. I for one loved the the way the client would integrate all my mail accounts in one easy interface and sync across all my devices from …

NOW AVAILABLE. Fortnite for Android. We go in! (VIDEO)

I know. I didn’t believe it either. Head straight to the video if you want the quick hit. So, this evening, as I was busy typing up details of the Galaxy Note9 launch, my son happened to say… Hey, Dad, you do know that Fortnite is available on …

The coolest Twitter apps for Bloggers

Despite some recent criticism, Facebook now has more than 900 million users. Twitter has over 500 million, LinkedIn more than 161 million, Google+ almost 400 million, and Instagram with over 80 million. These figures aren’t just numbers, but are concrete proof that social media really is stealing the …

Discord – Whats it about?

Discord is software primarily used for people to talk while playing games. So you may think well why is this relevant to me? Well Discord is something I use everyday and it is growing to be a social network of sorts to. There is an iOS, macOS, PC …

Solving subscription issues on the Sky Sports Mobile TV App

We are big fans of the Sky Sports Mobile TV App here at Coolsmartphone.com. It provides a way of legally watching 8 Sky Sports Channels and Sky News on your iOS or Android Device for a great price. However, on occasion, some users experience issues with subscriptions not …