Author: Ian Furlong
If you have a look at today’s modern media suppliers – the likes of Amazon’s Prime Video, Sky Go, BBC iPlayer and the all 4 app all offer the ability to download programs and watch them later offline. When quizzed earlier this year, one of the biggest online …
As the explosion of online shopping continues, more and more of us are having deliveries to our homes (I am now on first name terms with my local Amazon delivery driver, we have so many deliveries). Here lies one of our first world problems, i.e. making sure somebody’s …
If you are a regular reader of this site, you will know that I’m a real OnePlus fanboy. I’ve owned every device that the company have released, and upon seeing the price of the new Google Pixel phones I’ll definitely be staying in the OnePlus stable. To be …
You may have heard about TalkTalk this year. They’re a British television, telecommunications, Internet and mobile network service provider. They’ve just been handed a whopping £400,000 fine for what is classed as poor web security. It follows a cyber attack which occurred in October last year. This resulted …
Oh, you wish there was just one true cross-platform messaging app, don’t you? Oh hang on there is, and it’s called SMS. SMS has been truly cross-platfrom and also operating-sysem neutral for the past, I don’t know, 30 years. Yet no one seems to have grown the service, apart …
Following on the recent news of Samsung’s Galaxy Note 7 batteries catching fire, it appears that one of Apple’s latest flagships suffered the same fate. This time, it was the time for the iPhone 7, which exploded whilst being delivered to its new owner, according to the Reddit user who …
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 …
I’ll come right out and say it, I have a problem! My problem is phone cases; no matter which device I’m using I always end up purchasing a multitude of cases, in the various styles, slip, rugged, flip, TPU and so on. It just seems that putting my device …
British motoring association, the RAC, has carried out a survey of motorists. It’s revealed some rather worrying results. The number of motorists illegally using mobile phones while at the wheel is rising. After surveying 1,714 UK motorists it found… 31% of motorists says they used a handheld phone …
Let’s be honest, the Jet Black iPhone 7 looks …. absolutely gorgeous. Ooooo! Shiny shiny! Who in there right mind would want to shove that beautiful design and that polished finish in a case eh!? Well it appears that’s exactly what Apple want you to do after the …
Are you in the market for a stylish designed retro looking DAB radio with some added features? Well come on in and have a read of my review of the VQ MKII Retro DAB radio. Good Points: Fantastic sound quality. Well built retro design. Available in 11 colours. …
Meet the OBi MV1 Worldphone “Obi who?” Good question. They are a Silicon Valley smartphone manufacturer founded in 2014 by former Apple Inc and Pepsi CEO John Sculley. Obi Worldphone manufactures smartphones aimed at the emerging markets, rather than very competitive developed markets. Obi Worldphone launched two of their …
Following on from the news reports that a small number of Galaxy Note 7 handsets are catching fire, we’ve now got further details on how you get yours swapped out. A full worldwide recall is now underway. Estimating to cost in excess of 1 billion dollars, the Korean company have stated that …
Good Points: Easy Setup. Control from Android/iOS app. Dim-able. Used alone or in a group of bulbs. Innovative hidden way to increase WiFi coverage. Bad Points: Large Unit Size No ability to program on/off times Need to connected to same WiFi nerwork for app control. In today’s wireless …
A few weeks ago I was filling my car at the local petrol station and noticed that if you purchased a certain amount of fuel you could buy a dash cam for £20, which I promptly did. However, this camera can only be described as awful. It was …
Here at Coolsmartphone we love a good bargain, and when this news popped up we just had to share it with you. It appears that someone at Vodafone UK has gone completely mad, as the company is blazing a trail within the industry by abolishing the line rental …
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 …
I’ll come right out and say it, I’m a OnePlus fanboy (well more like old man). I’ve had every OnePlus device, I jumped through the companies invite system to get the early devices, and managed to order a OnePlus 3 within minutes of launch via the VR store. …
For the last few years, if you watched everything on demand using the BBC iPlayer rather than tuning in live, it meant you didn’t have to pay the age-old subscription – the TV Licence fee. The British government and the BBC have wanted to close this so-called “iPlayer …
Up to now, if you wanted to have your audio streaming throughout your home and garden, perfectly in sync with each other, there was only really one option: Sonos, and this can be an expensive option. I have visited a home with a synced system, and to be …
According to Japanese Newspaper “The Nikei” the end of July will see the last videocassette recorder (VCR) being produced. To be honest I though that production had already halted, but amazingly last year Funai Electri (which has been producing machines for the last 33 years) sold 750,000 units, …
Following on from, (what I always though strangely named) Gorilla Glass 4, Corning has officially announced Gorilla Glass 5. The company states that this latest generation of its strengthened glass will survive up to four times better than competing glass designs. Corning says that in tests the new Gorilla Glass 5 was …
Are you sick of coming up against a mobile signal black spot (first world problems and all that)? Take my house for instance, upstairs I get a 4G signal giving 40Mbps download speeds, go downstairs Nothing, Nada. Well this is where Anywhere SIM may be the answer. It’ll …
Today the BBC have launched a new app on both IOS and Android, the BBC+ app. Every day the BBC generates massive amounts of content, be it news, TV programmes or the radio shows, and to be honest all this fantastic content is scattered throughout the internet, and …
In today’s world, pretty much every gadget is connected to the internet. Alarms are no different, and I recently got sent this Wi-Fi enabled Home Security System, from Smanos. Whats In The Box: Upon opening the box I was met with the main control unit. It looks like …
According to the inter-web rumours, the next iteration of the Note series the Note 6…sorry the Note 7 (I don’t know either), is rumoured to have an iris scanner. Now it appears that this latest rumour may have a bit more substance,m and good old leaker @onleaks (who has a …
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 …
The Bluetooth speaker market is flooded with different devices – if you don’t believe me, just do a quick search on either Amazon or eBay and it will take about a week to trawl though all the offerings. Prices range from just a couple of pounds, through to …
I for one always have some sort of headphones stuck around my head, to be honest, I can’t even walk to the shop without popping a set on and listening to a podcast or two (the fantastic coolsmartphone podcast is one I happen to listen to). I have been …
Here at Coolsmartphone a number of writers use a Chromebook as their primary device. I’m one of them (I’m writing this very article on the fantastic Asus Chromebook Flip). Despite being cracking devices Chromebooks have never really hit the limelight… until now. It appears that the Google low-cost …
Yes I was one of those people that jumped on the invitation merry-go-round to buy the OnePlus One. Oh, and guess what. I did there same a year later for the OnePlus Two. I love OnePlus devices so, when here at Coolsmartphone towers we had a sniff of …
Bluetooth speakers? Where do you start? The market is currently awash with speakers which fill every part of the price point spectrum. I was recently contacted by Say it Loud to ask if I wished to review one of their latest Bluetooth speakers, the Riva S. At first …
Following on from a reported 15% rise in annual profits to £3.03bn, BT has announced plans to invest £6bn in faster broadband and mobile services over the next three years. The company plans to offer their “ultrafast” broadband to 12 million premises by 2020. With speeds of 300 …
UK carrier O2 has announced they are going to exclusively carry the new LG Stylus 2, which is the first smartphone with DAB radio support*, meaning you’ll be able to enjoy your favorite radio stations without using your data allowance. The device is available right now on O2 …
Here at Coolsmartphone Towers we love a good bargain or two, and we have just had this land across our desk. If you an owner of a OnePlus device be it a OnePlus One, Two or X, head over to the OnePlus store. There’s discounts to be had …
Pssst – have you heard the latest rumour that Apple is going to get rid of the 3.5mm headphone jack in the next version of the iPhone? Well, it appears that Chinese phone manufacturer LeEco has beat the US giant to the punch in ditching the conventional headphone …
According to a report published by OpenSignal and consumer watchdog Which?, smartphone users here in the UK only appear to get access to 4G data speeds for about half of the time on average. From the four UK networks tested, EE was found to have the best 4G …
If, like me, you have a little one in the house, you’ll know what a minefield it is keeping them safe while letting them having access to the internet. My little boy loves to watch people gaming on YouTube, but sometimes what appears to be a suitable clip …
If like me, you have been a Netflix subscriber for quite some time, there is a good chance you’re paying a cheaper rate than new subscribers. This is because the company agreed to freeze your monthly subscription till May 2016. Well, believe or not, that date is now …
Well it’s looks like the death knell is well and truly ringing for the Blackberry OS, following a sales fall of almost $200m in the three months to the end of February. Further bad news included the announcement that Facebook and its WhatsApp messaging service will no longer …
