Author: Leigh Geary
This entire site started way back in 2002 when Orange launched the SPV. It was an own-branded smartphone manufactured by a little known (and little-mentioned) company called “HTC”. Now EE, who have swallowed up Orange (and T-Mobile), are launching two new smartphones – the Harrier and Harrier Mini. …
It’s been a problem for some time now, and to some extent it still continues. I’ve been banging on about the fact that the “family computer” is now a distant memory. You can’t really keep an eye on your kids when they’ve got small connected gadgets which …
Available next month and using Three for the infrastructure and masts, Carphone Warehouse, Currys and PC World are looking to disrupt the mobile landscape by offering cheap plans and free roaming to more countries than their host network. Called “iD”, details are still being polished, but they tell …
It’s been some time since we published our Sony Smartwatch 2 Review. If you wanted one they were still holding out at £149.99, but now Amazon have slashed the price right down to just £68.92 here.. It’s billed as a “wireless smartphone notification device” and will also act …
Missed our “week with” articles? Here they all are… Day one – The criticisms Day two – The audio Day three – Up close Day four – The camera Day five – Making it your own Dan has also written up an extensive HTC One M9 review but …
If you want to keep your Samsung Galaxy S5 in good condition, this Viva Window cover is worth a look. We’ve been using it on a Galaxy S5 and it sits over the battery cover – not replacing it as some do. This adds a small amount of …
This is a small and very portable Bluetooth speaker which will fit fairly easily into your pocket and very easily into the likes of a handbag or small bag. First up, the design makes it look like one large black paracetamol caplet but (in the case of this …
You won’t be able to understand a word of the Sony press release, but what we can tell you is that the Sony Xperia Z4 has been officially announced in Japan. It comes equipped with a 5.2″ IPS LCD 1920 x 1080 display and is just 6.9mm thick. …
Remember the Atongm W008 Smartwatch I reviewed? Well, here’s a very similar one for a mere £27.30 – that’s just $40.80. As for the specs, the actual promotional shots state that this one has a “HD Camera” which is apparently “As table 300,000 camera” to “Catch the beauty …
We had a bit of a dig into the Terms and Conditions of the free EE Power Bars and, well, it’s all a little strange. The PDF actually states that… A Power Bar is made available to you on a free to hire basis, under the terms of …
If you’ve followed us for a while then you’ll already know that EE are giving away free portable chargers to their customers. Yesterday was “go” day and queues formed in EE stores around the UK as customers. At this point I’m going to do a classic “local newspaper” …
Getting your phone setup is quite easy nowadays. If you’ve previously had a Google device, you just stick in your account details and all your apps, email and calendar appointments will appear. Your contacts will too, and your phone is setup in just a couple of minutes. The …
Gahh… I think I have a problem. I should be out buying food but I’m still sat here looking at cheap phones. Perhaps there’s a “Phones Anonymous” I should join? Either way, with one of our special discount codes, you can get the Asus ZenFone 2 we spotted …
The price of the Moto 360 has dropped in the USA recently, but here in sunny Britain we’ve only just been blessed with a price drop. It’s only on the light finish Moto 360 but it’s £40 off and you can’t argue too much with that. You can …
In my head it’s already the weekend, so I’m spending this afternoon looking for deals. Amazon are having another one of their giveaways via their Amazon freebies. You need to go and get the Amazon app store for your Android phone first, then – until Saturday at noon …
If you’ve misplaced your Android handset and you’re a bit worried about all those risque photos and “iffy” emails, have no fear. You can find it pretty easily now that Google have switched on a rather nifty little feature – you just Google it. Provided your browser is …
I’ve been having a look through the Currys sale and, like the little bargain hunter I am, I’ve found a few goodies that could tickle your deal-bones. If you’ve got the Samsung Galaxy S5 they’ve reduced the S-View case to £9.97. It was, apparently, £44.99, which is just.. …
A couple of weeks ago we revealed that EE were to dish out powerbanks for nothing. If you’re an EE customer today is the day to get texting if you want one. All you need to do is text “POWER” to 365 to receive a promotional code, then …
A lot was said about the quality of the new 20 megapixel rear shooter. There’s a raft of options including the ability to adjust the ISO, EV and white balance settings. Not only that, but if you dive into the camera settings further there’s a stack of capture …
A 5″ 480×854 pixel (196 ppi) screen, quad-core 1.3GHz CPU, 1GB RAM and 8 megapixel camera with flash. Sound interesting? What about if I mention that it’s just £79.99 with £10 airtime included. How’s about that? The new ZTE Blade L3 has arrived in the UK today. There’s 8GB of storage on board, but …
HTC tell me that their new model has a “dual-tone” design. It’s not immediately obvious when you put it next to the M8, and you can see just that in our MWC gallery, but there is a subtle difference in the edging and the colouring. Yet again we …
I’ve been banging on about this in tweets and posts for some time now, but the BoomSound system on the HTC One M9 is something that I appreciate. Despite the proliferation of Bluetooth speakers and headsets you’ll still find me listening to tunes via the external speaker on …
The people at GearBest have sent us yet another special coupon code for our readers, so here’s the offer. The Elephone P3000S has a 5″ 1920×1080 pixel screen and two cameras – a 13 megapixel rear shooter (F2.2 and flash) plus a 5 megapixel front camera. It supports …
This, my friends, is a Jaguar XF. It’s a great car. Below is the facelifted Jaguar XF. It looks roughly the same, but the headlight assembly alone means that you can tell the difference between new and old. It’s not a massive change, but the older design was …
I honestly don’t know what to make of this. It starts off as a mildly amusing idea but then, at least for me, quickly becomes a bit of an advert for Microsoft products. At least, I think that’s what it is. Who knows. Either way, some dudes who …
James Cordon seems to be making a bit of a name for himself over in the USA and now Samsung have roped him in to promote their shiny new Galaxy S6 handsets. Basically, this is an advert coming up. We can’t get hold of either of the Samsung …
Tesco Mobile is, like a number of MVNOs, offering some of the very latest handsets at the moment. Using an MVNO is no longer seen as a cheap and cheerful choice. Now it’s perhaps a clever alternative which is just plain better than the main four networks. The …
Today marks the launch of both the Samsung Galaxy S6 and the S6 edge. Whether you like it or not, it’s wise to put a case on the posh new Galaxy handset if you get yourself one today. The S6 is pretty much £600 or more depending on …
Microsoft fans! Remember the Lumia 640 and 640 XL announcement? One of them is now available to buy right here in the UK. We went to get a full hands-on with both in their rather bright shades and you can get the Lumia 640 right now. The Lumia …
I really don’t know much about this whole Games of Thrones thing. To be honest, when I first got this press release, I thought it was a mobile game, not a TV show. Either way, I Googled and got this image, so I’m guessing that people aren’t just …
For many of us using Android, our apps will magically update themselves whenever the developer adds new features or fixes bugs. However, the official Twitter app, which has always been a little buggy on every phone I’ve tried (try sharing an image directly from the gallery for example), …
I’ve been somewhere magical this weekend. A place with absolutely no signal. I’ve been with a group of mates and between us we had all the networks covered. One had an EE phone and amongst us we also had an O2, Vodafone and Three device. Not one phone …
Honestly it seems like we’re getting some sort of taxi app every week here at Coolsmartphone HQ. Today it’s the turn of SPLYT, who’ve raised our eyebrows by offering shared taxi fares to reduce the cost of getting around and 99p rides for a week, beginning next Monday …
Seen our hands-on with the HTC One M9? If not, the video is below. About a month ago Vodafone started pre-orders and now it’s available to buy on the network. A quick note though, if you did pre-order, you’ll be able to redeem one of 1000 pairs of …
I do get some very odd emails here at Coolsmartphone, and daily you’ll find an email from some random Chinese manufacturer sitting in my inbox. Usually these are to sell Bluetooth speakers, keyboards or GPS trackers. For some reason they think I’m a buyer for a UK store, …
Getting Office documents working on your mobile device can be a hit and miss affair. Sometimes you’ll find an app that opens certain documents but won’t let you edit them. Sometimes you can edit some document types but not others, and you can find that the document will …
Right, April Fools is now over… unless you’re in America, then it’s probably definitely still on. Either way, I’d like to state up-front that this is definitely an April Fools joke. This is the First Direct Swear Jar app. An app that runs in the background and detects …
If you use WhatsApp then I really don’t need to sell this thing to you. It’s a cross-platform messaging app that cuts out the need to use text messages. Instead you send everything over your data connection and you can also keep in touch with people in other …
Invites have been sent out for the next LG launch. We’re suspecting it’ll be the LG G4 and it’ll be launched at events in New York, London, Paris, Seoul, Singapore, and Istanbul next month on April 28th and 29th. Other than this invite and the phrase “See the …
According to the specs on the HTC China website, this E9+ has a 2GHz 64-bit octa-core MediaTek CPU, 16GB storage plus a microSD card slot for another 128GB. WiFi, 4G and dual nano SIM card slots are included plus an UltraPixel front-facing camera with a 13 megapixel rear …
