Author: Leigh Geary

Twitter leaker @h0x0d has just given us a new look at the Z Flip and, well, you have to wonder about all these leaks. With a smaller MWC this year, phone manufacturers might be resorting to alternative methods to reveal their new handsets. Today it’s a rather weird …

Mobile World Congress, the usually-massive mobile trade show in Barcelona, is getting quieter by the day as various exhibitors either ditch press briefings, reduce their attendance or cancel completely. This is all due to the continuing coronavirus outbreak, with more than 40,000 cases of the virus globally. LG, …

With BT swooping in some time back to buy EE, it’s unsurprising that they’re pushing hard with 5G – both as “EE” and “BT”. This morning BT announced that they’re making 5G available for all customers, with 5G BT plans and 5G smartphones from Samsung, OnePlus and Huawei …

Coming soon to a store near you, this is the G8 Power. It comes with a 5000mAh battery for a full two-day battery life plus an AI-powered quad camera setup. Powered by Android 10, there’s 64GB of storage built in and you can add up to another 512GB …

Want a phone that looks a bit different? Check out the reborn Motorola RAZR. It’s available to pre-order now on EE and we’re still trying to borrow one to review. It folds guys. It actually folds.  Spec-wise this one has a main 6.2″ P-OLED capacitive 876 x 2142 pixel touchscreen …

Been browsing on Chrome recently? If you were trying to find a number or call a business, you probably did the same as me this morning. At the weekend, and with the aid of alcohol, my filling fell out. So, I had to call the dentist this morning. …

Well, this happens every single time. I’ve literally just added the SIM-only Vodafone deal and you lot have been in touch to let me know that there’s better options out there. This one is available via MoneySuperMarket and it sees you getting unlimited everything (yes, everything – data, …

Not bad this and another SIM-only offer that you should definitely take a look at. Grab yourself a phone and then slap this SIM in. If you’ve already got a contract or a deal with someone else, just do the text to switch thing – it’s really easy. …

Although LG is missing the big Barcelona bash this year, there’s still going to a flagship launch. It’s the V60, and leaks from the ever-brilliant @evleaks show four rear cameras… The quad-camera arrangement seems to be similar to the Samsung Galaxy S10, and it seems to be pushing …

There’s no big IT team behind this site. We don’t have SEO specialists, marketing teams or designers. So, it usually falls to me to do all that. In addition to writing the stories, the server setup and the database back-end is something I’ve constructed. In the last few …

Another offer this morning, and this time it’s a SIM-only deal with O2. There’s 100GB of data to be had each month, plus unlimited texts and calls. It’s £20 per month over 18 months, but you can get £50 cash-back with TopCashback, bringing the total £360 total cost …

Some 9 years ago I performed a test of radio streaming over the internet. I was fed up with the slim choice of very “samey” FM radio station so, with the aid of some cabling (or a smartphone FM transmitter) I fed the audio output of my smartphone …

The massive mobile show that is Mobile World Congress is now just days away. This year it kicks off on February 24th, with over 109,000 attendees and the best of the mobile industry displaying their latest phones, gadgets and accessories. Trouble is, two big companies have already cancelled. …

Yet again EE have grabbed the top spot in performance as part of the RootMetric’s testing results. The network, now owned by BT, is obviously pretty happy about all, with BT CEO Marc Allera telling us.. We’re continuing to invest in our network to help keep our customers …

I vividly remember rushing across the Mobile World Congress halls to see the rebirth of BlackBerry. Chinese firm TCL had a agreed a deal back in 2016 to make BlackBerry-branded phones, which ran on Android. In 2017 the KEYone appeared on the Barcelona stands. There was a definite …

These are £99.99 and available right now from the boys at JBL. They’ve got a good pedigree too as Harman are the company behind them. They offer a “Pure Bass” sound and the ability to switch tracks by merely tapping the button on the left or right earbuds. …

There’s quite a few geeky things that interest me still. Making music is one. Today it’s so much easier to make a track and you can get it out to eardrums throughout the world in seconds. However, back in 1998 things were decidedly different. Fatboy Slim released his …

Google Maps, without doubt, is fantastic. After the company bought Waze for a huge amount of money seven years ago, it’s integrated a lot of the Waze crowdsourced driving features into Google Maps. The result is definitely beneficial for Google Maps users and we’re now used to seeing …

Each year the entire mobile industry gets together in Barcelona to meet, eat and launch. It’s in Barcelona and we’ve been on the ground every year since it first landed in Spain. In 2018 our HQ was a boat and the year before that it was a van …

This is a handset that’s more than a couple of years old now. The Moto G6 Play has a 5.7″ 720×1440 pixel screen and it’s running a slightly older version of Android (Oreo), but it’s now down to just £89 with Tesco. There’s 32GB of storage (plus a …

The mighty Huawei and Honor have been properly stuck over the last few months. The delightful and totally sane Donald Trump has put the company into the USB security bad books, and has banned them from working with any US company. That means that upcoming Huawei and Honor …

This project has been rumbling on for months now. You can read all about the various stages either below or get the story in our review section. Basically, it started when my wife showed me this picture and said, “Could we get something like that?”.. This started a …

Websites, as you have most probably noticed, have changed immensely over the last decade or two. For us here at Coolsmartphone it’s been quite a transition. We had a separate website for mobile phone users, which was a slimmed down and low-tech version. To get the full experience, …

Here in the UK these things have a bit of a vague legal stance for most people. If you’ve got a non-electric one, you’re probably scooting along the footpath. Likewise, if you’ve got one with an electric motor inside, you might assume that it’s fairly OK to hammer …

I’ve been wanting to take a look at the Realme 5 Pro since getting a hands-on with it last October. That phone is available to buy for €199, which works out at £168.45. The “Pro” has a 6.3″ screen with a 2340×1080 (409ppi) screen and measures in at …

So, we know what this is, right? Last year Vodafone recruited Lewis Hamilton to promote their 5G network (because Lewis is fast and – durr… so is 5G, right?) Anyhow, now they’ve got him testing out virtual reality games and it’s pretty cool to see the results if …

Whilst browsing through my tweets I noticed this exchange between Phones Show producer Steve Litchfield and the Vodafone Twitter account. It relates to a Pay As You Go handset / SIM and the fact that it’s been unexpectedly disconnected… The disconnection of an apparently unused line might seem …

With so many similar-looking phones available on the market, it’s good to see EE picking up the new Motorola RAZR. It’s a classic-but-seriously-modern flip-phone, with 128GB of storage, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 710 CPU (octa-core with 2×2.2 GHz and 6×1.7 Ghz), 6GB RAM and a dual 16 megapixel rear …

Every now and then it’s really quite refreshing to get a press release which isn’t about a smartphone. This one is a bit smart, granted. It has an on-board (non Android) app store and there’s WhatsApp and Facebook pre-loaded, plus there’s WiFi and 4G too. It’s a mere £109.99 on Amazon and …

The boys at giffgaff (operating on O2 masts) have had a bit of a refresh with their £6, £8, £20 and £25 “Always On” goodybags. Whether you’re a customer / members or not, you can now get unlimited texts and calls on all goodybags plus double data on …

I’ve had a number of fitness bands over the years. As the months go by I somehow kill each one. It either drops off, stops charging or breaks down in some other way. Over the last month I’ve been checking out something new – the Honor MagicWatch 2. …

I’ve gotta admit, I’d love a Google Pixelbook. It’s got an Intel Core i7, either 8GB or 16GB of RAM (depending on the model), a big hard drive and a 12.3″ 2400×1600 (235ppi) panel. Trouble is, despite all my saving, I’m not getting close to affording one. Even …

With Christmas and the entire festive season just a dim and distant memory now, people are planning to escape the dark, cold and wet winter nights by booking a summer holiday. After getting the right deal, you’ve got to consider saving the money to pay for it all …

A few years ago the EU tried to get all phone charging cables the same. It was pretty successful, and the USB-C format is now widespread. The USB-C format works well because you don’t need to worry about which way up it’s inserted (let’s ignore the other end) …

Well, if you’ve been around these parts for a while, you’ll know that Huawei (and therefore Honor) have had a rough time of late. America really doesn’t like Huawei right now, and they’re of the opinion that Huawei are bad in every way. It’s all cobblers of course …

Sitting on the O2 network, Sky Mobile have today announced that customers will be getting 5G for no extra cost if you’re on their Sky VIP loyalty programme – this is a free perk for existing users. Sky Mobile is promising to deliver 5G in 50 towns and …

Looking for your next insurance quote, you’ll find that there’s a number of comparison sites online. These will usually be your best bet if you’re trying to find the best deal and, even if it does seem like a bit of hard work, it’s worth it when you …

Right now I’m wearing the Honor MagicWatch 2. It’s a familiar bit of kit because it’s pretty much a replica of the Huawei Watch GT2. Now, whilst doing a bit of research whilst writing the review, I stumbled across the original Huawei Watch GT Active on Amazon for …

The US imposed a trade block on Huawei and stopped US companies doing anything with the company. This prevented Google from delivering Gmail, YouTube and Google Play plus many other apps to about-to-appear Huawei and Honor Android handsets. In short, all the Honor and Huawei handsets on sale …

So, you thought the super-slick screen on the OnePlus 7T was smooth ? That’s 90 Hz and slides along like butter on a hotplate, but now OnePlus want to go further. The company have just finished off a 120 Hz Fluid Display and they’ll be introducing it this …