Author: Garry Clark

Microsoft Lumia 950 XL Unboxing

We have one in the house – the infamous Lumia 950 XL from Microsoft. The kind people at Lumia Voices have decided to lend us a review kit with not just the Lumia device, but the full package. This includes a Lumia 950 XL of course, but in …

Remix Mini – Review

Mini PC’s are quite the thing at the moment and seem to be popping up everywhere. Now for a while, these were nothing more than Netbook components being shoved into a small box. However, with the recent developments in Android and, to a lesser extent Chrome, there has …

Coolsmartphone Awards 2015 and Podcast

Welcome to the Coolsmartphone Award Ceremony and Podcast, coming to you, prerecorded from Coolsmartphone Towers. Our team of experts got together yesterday and decided on the best and worst bits of 2015 in order to entertain you and reward/shame those responsible. As with all good awards ceremonies we’re …

“Alexa book me a flight please?” Wait who is Alexa?

Have you ever found yourself talking to yourself out loud and thinking it would be nice if I didn’t need to then dig out the laptop to do what you just said? Weirdly I have. Now, take this concept one stage further and make it useful. Say for …

Pixel C – was it meant to be a Chromebook?

There are some stories doing the rounds at the moment about the Pixel C. They aren’t just reviews and first impressions, but about the origins of the tablet. Let me explain. We know that the Pixel line has long been attributed to Google’s own high-end Chromebook range, and …

Cortana is bridging the OS gap UPDATE

Those of us who use Siri and Google Now will be familiar with the difficulties and idiosyncrasies of using a voice assistant. They sometime work and sometimes….. they don’t. They struggle with regional accents (if you are a Brummie or Glaswegian, you get me). Sometimes they are just …

Using the Sony Android 6.0 Concept

I have an exciting task this week. I get to test out the next version of Android from Sony, and it is really nice. I’m using the software on a Z3 that Sony has very kindly provided me with for the time being. There are some significant differences …

An insight into the future of Digital Payments – opinion.

Time for something a little different. The other week I had the pleasure of attending one of the ongoing Westminister e-Forums. These are a series of events in London where the various regulatory bodies that keep things working properly in the UK convene to discuss a wide variety …

OnePlus makes phones invite free

The most annoying thing about trying to get a phone from OnePlus has been their insistence on using an invite system in order to allow you to buy one of their phones. It seems like there is some good news on that front as for the next few …

Could we see a Pixel C launch next week? I hope so.

The rumour train has once again stopped by at Coolsmartphone Towers. It dropped off the usual detritus, however, whilst sifting through the rubbish we found this thread of info about the recently discussed Pixel C Android tablet. Dutch website tweakers.net are stating that Google plans to open the …

OnePlus X – Unboxing

Have you been thinking to yourself, “It would nice to have a handset that didn’t require a backpack or a monolithic battery”? I had the thought occur to me the other day but then instantly dismissed it as nonsense and told my brain to behave itself. Of course bigger …

Remix Mini – Unboxing

You may recall a little while ago I was raving about an Android PC Box that came from the Far East. China to be precise. Well, the time has come for the unboxing to happen and I’m of course talking about the Remix Mini. I have already had …

Nexus 6P – Review

Google’s latest handset has been garnering a lot of interest from the tech world over the last few weeks. In between all the reports of people not getting their orders delivered on time and Google delaying the launch, I managed to secure one for this review. With the …

Does the “butter side down theory” apply to phones?

You all know it the legend that states if you drop a piece of toast, it will land butter side down the vast majority of the time. It has even been scientifically proven by this guy. In a number of tests he ascertained that the majority of falls will …

Black Friday – Honor vMall deals

Honor are as you would expect haveing a bit of a thing for black Friday and are inviting people to claim vouchers through their vMall store to get some tidy discounts off the Honor 7. It seems like the sign-up bonus will discount the price of the Honor …

NVIDIA release an updated gaming tablet

Last year there were two big tablets released with NVIDIA on board. One was the Google Nexus 9 which we reviewed here on site. The other slipped under our radar as it was being pitched more at gamers. This one was called the “NVIDIA Shield Tablet”. It was …

Xperia Z5 & Xperia Z5 Compact Comparison – Review

The time has come to put Sony’s finest under a microscope and to see what you are getting when you plonk down £610* on the counter. We know that the camera is meant to be the best thing since they made the camera obscura back in the early …

Nexus 6P – Unboxing

Have you ever wanted to have an exquisitely made Android phone that will make those “friends” that have been drinking from the iPhone lake for so many years a little bit envious? Good news then, as you can now get one. The phone I am talking about does …

Huawei have new chip on its way… UPDATED

We are quite fond of Huawei here at Coolsmartphone. We also have a soft spot for Honor. Now what is these companies have in common? Well, there are several things. One is the daddy brand and the other the offspring, they use the same design language etc. The …

WoWee MiPosaur unboxing

It’s coming up to Christmas – apparently there are only seven weeks left until the day. Because of this, here at Coolsmartphone Towers, we are getting lots of emails about Christmas gifts. This one stuck out for me as it looked pretty cool (I posted a story about …

Moto X Force released

Did anyone else notice that Motorola had released a new phone in the USA over the last few days? Well they did and it was called the Droid Turbo 2. Now Motorola have decided that we UK buyers are also worthy of such a powerful device too, albeit …

OnePlus have a new device… The OnePlus X

OnePlus have been busy as of late and have just launched the OnePlus 2. They have just closed off the reservation list and are busy sending invites out to the millions of people who had registered. Not only that, but there’s flash sales to appease the masses of …

Nexus 5X also available from Expansys

I had the familiar ping of my inbox this morning as I awoke. In amongst all the usual detritus I had an email from our friends at Expansys. It seems that they have managed to secure some stock of the Nexus 5X. The are carrying the 32GB version …

Blackberry Priv pre-order now live

The day has arrived for Blackberry fans (all 10 of you). You can now pre-order the newest Blackberry… the Blackberry Priv. We have been tracking this one with a lot of interest here at CSP Towers. If you’re wanting to get one ordered, then head over to our friends …

Want a Huawei Mate S? Pre-orders now open

If you were impressed with the Huawei Mate S we reviewed a few weeks ago, then your wait is nearly over. Carphone Warehouse announced today that they are taking preorders for a release next Tuesday. The prices start at £31 per month or £419.99 for a SIM-free unit. …

Motorola wants to make you think

We just received this rather bizzare email from the Motorola PR team. Here is the first line from the email… Motorola has created a video with comedian Alfie Brown and a member of the public for the #PhonyJob challenge to see how tough a day in the life …

Blackberry Priv official!

Who’d have thought it, a desirable Blackberry? Well, that is exactly what has happened with the newly announced Blackberry Priv. This one has been in the pipeline for some time now, and it’s got a few of us at CoolSmartPhone Towers rather flustered. We have written about it …

Xperia Z5 – Unboxing

That time of year has come. It’s the time that all geeks look forward to every year. It is, of course, upgrade time. Those of you who are frequent readers will no doubt be aware that I am currently using the Xperia Z3 as my daily driver. Although I …

Huawei Mate S – Review

Huawei released their new flagship phablet last month – The Huawei Mate S. I was lucky enough to attend the launch event and got a hold of one of the devices. I have been using it over the last few weeks to see how good it was, and …

OnePlus 2 going up for 1 hour Open Sale

Did you have anything planned around about lunchtime on Monday 12th October? If so cancel it. Take an early lunch break and get ready for some intense F5 action! OnePlus are opening their store up to allow anyone to buy a OnePlus 2, regardless of whether you have …

Lumia 950 and 950 XL pre-orders open

Clove has opened up their preorders on those two new fantastic Lumia devices that we saw the other day. Yes, of course, I am talking about the Lumia 950 and 950XL. Both Lumia 950 and 950 XL pre-orders are now up and available. They don’t yet have the estimated …

Microsoft Lumia 950 and 950XL revealed

That day has come when we finally see a long overdue Microsoft Lumia flagship. Now, for those of you wanting a Surface Phone … you might as well stop reading. That is not what we have here. What we do have is two really nice looking Lumia devices …

Symetium “super phone” going into crowdsourcing

Here is something a little different. Symetium, which is a Swedish based company, are looking to crowdfund their latest smartphone to get it market. It has been designed to remove the lines between mobile and desktop devices. This is being done by delivering desktop-class performance in a form …

Nexus 5X preorders at Carphone Warehouse

Whilst perusing my favourite deals site earlier today, I spied this link which will take you into the land of Keith Lemon. No seriously though, head to Carphone Warehouse and you will find that they’re taking pre-orders for the Nexus 5X. Not only that, but they are cheaper …

OnePlus 2 – Review

The time has come to have a good hard look at the second outing from this underdog from the Far East. While I’m aware that these are very limited in supply and trying to get hold of one of these phones is very tricky, we at CSP Towers were …

ZTE Axon Elite now available to buy…. From Ebay!

One phone I have been keen to see, and that I missed seeing at IFA this year, is the Axon Elite from ZTE. This phone has been doing very well in the US market and it is now available in the UK via their eBay store. It’s just …

Sony don’t want you swimming with your Z5!

This one was a bit of a shock to see, especially given their marketing campaign. The latest news out of camp Sony is that they are advising not to use the phone underwater. This is a phone which is billed as waterproof in the specs WWWWHHHHaaaa…. ?! The …

Apple – Special Event 9th Sept 2015 – Liveblog

That time of year is upon us again when we are going to all be talking about the latest products from Apple. Rumour has it that this will be the biggest event yet, with the venue having space for up to 7000 occupants. That’s right, seven thousand. We …

IFA – Asus Booth tour

Asus were at IFA, and they asked me to head over and see them to see what they had on their booth this year. I had high hopes that I would see the long awaited Asus Zenfone Zoom alongside some other products. I was not expecting to see …