Category: Google

Honor Magic 4 Pro – Review

I was a great fan of the previous generation flagships that came out of the great behemoth that was Huawei of old when it still had a smaller scale sibling of Honor under its wing. Those days are gone and the likes of the Huawei P30 Pro got …

Pixel 6a None US Prices Revealed.

Google has announced pricing for the Pixel 6a outside the United States. The “a” line of Pixel devices seems to be more of a hit than the actual Pixel flagships, so following on from its announcement last week, at Google IO pricing for the eagerly awaited Pixel 6a …

Pixel 6 Prices Leaked

The Google Pixel 6 is expected to be released on October 19, and the latest rumour claims availability will start from October 28. Interestingly, the Pixel 6 flagships will only be available in 8 countries, including the UK, the US, and Germany. Google has been very picky as …

YouTube Music gets a transfer update as Google Play Music shuts down

Ahead of plans to shut down Google Play Music later this year (so unlike Google to just shut down services isn’t it?), starting now, Google Play Music users will be able to move their libraries, personal taste preferences and playlists to the newer YouTube Music service. To do …

Use a Google app or product? Brexit could change your GDPR rights

OK, the letters “GDPR” will probably spark confusion here. If you’ve had any involvement in it at work, you’ll probably have a cold sweat right now. However, for everyone else it’s a really good thing. Set out by the EU, it stands for “General Data Protection Regulation” and …

Google Stadia now available.

Hey, we almost forgot to mention this one, but Stadia from Google is now available. Ideal for Christmas, this is now £119 with free delivery. What is it? Well, imagine a PS4 or an Xbox, but without the actual console. You get a controller in the box and …

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 …

Is the death knell sounding for Google Play Music ?

On 30th April this year, Google is planning to close down the “Artist Hub” of the Google Play Music service. “What’s the Artist Hub?” I hear those of you who use Google Play Music ask. The Artist Hub is a tool that allows smaller/independent artists to stream and …

Pixel 2 & 2 XL official sales cease

If you are hankering after last year’s Google flagship from official channels i.e. Google’s own page, well it appears this can longer be done. If you pop over to the Google Store and search for either the Pixel 2 or the Pixel 2 XL, the devices are no …

Dell Chromebook 11″ 2-in-1 – Review

I have always liked Chromebooks, as they offer a lot of computing power and bang for your cash. Dell has been making these laptops for while, and in this latest iteration of the Chromebook 11″ they have taken the skills they have learned from the enterprise range and …

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 …

Google Pixel 3 Launch – Watch Live

OK so we’re here. Believe me, we’re being watched very carefully so we can’t reveal too much. However, in just one hour from this post going live, you’ll be able to join in on the fun. The Google yearly hardware launch should, if our sources are correct, unveil …

Huawei Mate 10 Pro – Unboxing

Now that the madness of the launch event is over and all the tech world has crawled back into their respective offices, it is time to get down to the business of seeing what is beyond the shiny Huawei exterior. Before I get into the unboxing of the …

MadeByGoogle event is streaming now.

If you want to get the latest info on what Google have in store for us then you can now tune into their live stream below. We will be keeping our eyes peeled to see what they have instore and we will report back to you once we …

New Chromebook by Google leaked – The Pixelbook

Google have an event planned for October 4th this year. It’s believed that the next Flagship phone is due to be announced along with a number of other devices. One of those is a new high-end Chromebook. Well, as is now the norm, nothing is kept a secret …

Google Drive App for PC/Mac to shut down next March

Google has announced via a blog post that the Google Drive app for desktop both PC and Mac will cease to be supported from December 11th this year, and the app will shut down completely on March 12th, 2018. Users who are still running the Drive app will start …

Chromebook ‘Eve’ likely to be uncovered at Pixel Event, Oct 5.

OK, those of us at Coolsmartphone towers have an unreasonable level of fascination with Chromebooks. Yes, they’re a browser wrapped around a Linux based OS. But paradoxically, they’re also so much more than they should be, to the level where both Garry and Leigh use them as daily …

The “i” in Google

Descartes wrote ‘i think, therefore i am,’ or he would have done had he been using Google Gboard for Android with auto-correct turned on. This bug, where the letter “i” for the first-person singular pronoun failed to default to the upper case “I”, has recently been fixed with a …

Chrome Browser to get native ad blocking.

  According to the Wall Street Journal tech giant Google is mulling over the idea to add a native ad blocker to the Google Chrome browser. It’s a strange move you might think, considering Google’s primary source of income is advertising, but Google say this is to provide …

SMS integration to be removed from Google Hangouts.

According to an email being sent out by Google, Hangouts SMS integration will stop working after May 22, 2017. The company will presumably roll out an update on the day that will disable the SMS integration functionality on the app. Google will start showing an in-app notification to …

Google Maps to add two new interesting features.

Right back in 2008 I got my hands on my first Android device, the fantastic T-Mobile G1. One application stood out above all the rest – Google Maps. Back then it was just a very simple mapping tool giving users a fairly simple view of the world. Google …

Rich Communication Services: why we should care about RCS.

Most phone users have used the Short Message Service at one time or another. Nowadays, we just call it texting people. Then came the promise of MMS (Multi Media Messaging), or picture messaging. That never really took off in the same way as texting people, since the costs …

New Chromebooks released – for the education market.

Yeah, Yeah. A couple of Chromebooks, but who cares, they’re for the education market. Why is this a thing? You’re probably right in your thinking. If you were going to get a Chromebook and money was no object, you might decide to grab the Chromebook Pixel, or even …

Lenovo Yoga Book – Unboxing

It’s not that often that a device comes along that is truly a game changer. That is until now.  Today I had the pleasure of unboxing an item that in my opinion is truly groundbreaking, and could potentially change the game in its field. I am, of course, …

What’s the point of a Chromebook? Chromebook myths explored.

Look, I’ll be the first to admit it. A Chromebook can be a weird thing to a techhead. They’re underpowered. They have like this huuuuge dependency on being online. And when all the other arguments have been discussed, they aren’t anything more than a browser. Then again, they’re …

Google employee suing company over spying programme

It’s often said that in current years, everything leaks. It is now rare not to find out everything about a product long before it launches. Even the uber secretive Apple now suffers leaks from product lines and even people that leave the product in a bar! One Google …

Android Auto now becoming a standalone app 

I’m a firm believer that drivers should have limited, if no access to mobile phones whilst driving. Having just returned from a family holiday in Florida, I saw many drivers using their phone and even texting whilst driving. It just shows how distracted drivers can be whilst fiddling …

Video mix give the Nexus 6 Pixel Tricks

Old is good too This is a bit of weird and wonderful I think, involving the Nexus 6. Someone remixed the recent Nexus Pixel ad to show off their love for Google’s now-defunct Nexus line. Someone called Superior Sandbox created a wonderful combination of the last time Google …

Weird Easter Egg on Google Pixel SIM Tray

Got a new Google Pixel; or should I say Pixel, Phone by Google? You may or may not have noticed as you quickly shoved your sim into your new pride and joy… But there is a weird kinda easter egg on the SIM tray. If there was any …

Voice Navigation “OK Google” coming to Google Maps 

  Are you an “OK Google” superuser? To be honest, I’m not. I keep forgetting that it’s there, but today Google has announced an update to the Google Maps app which I think that I will use and be an extremely useful addition. “OK Google” and voice commands …

Google Trips — A New App to Sort all Your Travel Plans!!

Google has recently announced a new app that helps you sort all your travel plans. It’s a free app, and available both on Android & iOS. What with it being a travel app and all,  it comes with an offline mode, allowing you to download all the info you …

‘Allo, Allo’, Monsieur Google!

Allo yes, this post may have the worst title but I couldn’t help it. Back at the Google I/O Developers Conference in May, they announced two new applications, Duo and Allo. The Duo app was released about a month ago, which is the simple video chatting application if you’ll recall, and …

NatWest gets abreast of Android Pay

Well, they took their time, but it’s happened – Android Pay now works for NatWest customers. We heard reports from a couple of our readers that they received an email from NatWest to announce that Android users can finally use Google Pay at tills and checkouts across the …

2016 Google Nexus Phone Rumours

It’s coming to that time of the year when the rumour mills start spinning for this year’s Nexus phone lineup. After having gone through the emotional roller-coaster for the Samsung Galaxy Note 7, and still going through it for the next iPhone, it’s the chance for the Nexus …

Google Duo coming soon, maybe…

Google have just announced that their new video calling app, Google Duo, will start a phased release globally as of today. Google Duo is a video calling app which the Mountain View headquartered company teased at their Google IO developer conference in May. Until now Google Duo still …

Google Maps update brings WiFi only mode and save to SD card function.

I’ve been an Android user since my first T-Mobile G1 way back in 2008, and as such watched and used Google Maps through its iterations and updates: the introduction of free navigation, the ability to download certain area’s for offline use, etc etc, with each iteration making improvements …

HP 11 Chromebook – now with Touch

Those of you that are regular readers of this fantastic site, know that a number of the staff use Chromebooks, including my own self. I am currently using the Asus Chromebook Flip, which now allows me to use Play Store Apps natively, which I can only describe as …