Author: James Pearce

Pre order the Honor 6 Plus SIM free today

Today is the day that me and many others have been waiting for, the rather fancy looking dual camera equipped Honor 6 Plus is going up for pre order. The phone is going to be exclusive to 3 for a while, but you’ll be able to buy it …

HTC announce the One M9+

HTC have this morning announced the much leaked One M9+. It’s to be sold in China, with no mention of other markets. Shame. The various leaks have all been spot on, including the peculiar fingerprint scanner beneath the display. Spec wise it’s a bit different to the One …

Piper NV – Review

Home automation is something that is only really limited by your imagination, possibly what accessories you can buy and possibly also by how much money you have. You get the idea though…. One of the more intriguing things I saw at MWC was the Piper NV, it is …

LG announce the human-centric UX 4.0

Every year LG announce a new flagship device and to accompany that they redesign the software running atop of it. This year seems to be no different, in the run up to the LG G4 being announced LG have come out and shown us some of the new …

OxygenOS for the OnePlus One now available

Today is going to be a good day for OnePlus One owners. The eagerly awaited Lollipop update for the OnePlus One is now available for download and manual flashing. This is the version that’s free of all the Cyanogenmod extras, it’s basically just like a Nexus Lollipop ROM. …

HTC unveil the rather familiar looking One M8s

I bet you can remember the above phone right? Last years HTC One M8 right? Wrong it’s the recently unveiled One M8s. Although to give you your due, it is the same phone, just a bit slower. It is best summed up by Peter Frølund the UK and Ireland …

Podcast 134 – Listen in live

Hello there, welcome to the “listen in live” page for our podcast. Joining me this week should be Dan and Ian. This weeks topics should be about Dan and his week with the new HTC One M9, me struggling without 4G, the Archos Platinum 52, Ian ordering a …

Alcatel Onetouch Pop D5 – Review

Alcatel have a wide range of devices and keeping up with exactly where each model sits in the range is at times a struggle, when I visited their stand at MWC it took me five minutes to gather myself and work out what was what. Alcatel have sent …

Microsoft announce the Surface 3

Microsoft have announced the latest in their range of Surface Tablets, the latest being the Surface 3 which is the successor to the Windows RT equipped Surface 2. This time round though it’s running Windows 8.1. It’s summed up by Panos Panay, the corporate vice president, of Microsoft …

Doro Liberto 820 Mini – Review

Doro have found themselves a niche, they have really really thought of everything that a phone should do in that particular niche. A few weeks ago I was introduced to the new Liberto 820 Mini and when I got back from MWC there was one waiting for me …

Speck cases for the Samsung Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge

Whilst at MWC I met the guys from Speck, we had a chat about cases, as you’d expect. They asked me what phone I had and what case I used, I pulled out my Note 4 in an Otterbox Defender case and they actually recoiled in horror. We …

Podcast 133 – it comes with some sticky tape!

Welcome to the latest episode of the Coolsmartphone Podcast. Joining me this week were Dan and Garry. This weeks topics were HTC and the M9 and M9 Plus, March of the Droids that Dan and I attended last weekend, having a play with the Honor 6+, the Jide …

Podcast 133 – Listen in live

Hello there, welcome to the “listen in live” page for our podcast. Joining me this week should be Dan and Garry. This weeks topics should be about the Remix Tablet, the O2 buyout, HTC One M9 reviews going live, Dan and his M9, me and my Doro, the …

Hannspree announce a Sports Watch

Hannspree manufacturer Android tablets, TV equipment, monitors, Windows 8 all in one PCs and now a wearable fitness tracker that they are calling the Sports Watch. It looks a lot like a Misfit and the key point is the price. £29.99. This could be quite good…. Key features: …

Podcast 132 – It’s time to March!

Welcome to the latest episode of the Coolsmartphone Podcast. Joining me this week were Dan, Garry and Matteo. This weeks topics were as varied as you’d expect, we talked about MWC, Samsung, HTC, Huawei, Honor, SkyScanner, Sony and their Lollipop update, March of the Droids this weekend and also …

Peter Chou is no longer the HTC CEO

HTC and their management structure attract a bit of attention, be it marketing managers leaving, various Execs leaving and starting new companies, Cher Wang being handed more responsibilities or Peter Chou threatening to stand down as CEO if the latest flagship doesn’t prove to be a success. So …

Podcast 132 – Listen in live

Hello there, welcome to the “listen in live” page for our podcast. Joining me this week should be Dan, Garry and Matteo. This weeks topics will catching up with Dan and Garry and their thoughts about MWC, the strange almost negative coverage of the HTC One M9 before it …

Arctic Sports Bluetooth headphones on offer

A few months ago I reviewed a pair of Arctic Bluetooth headphones, they sounded great, they lasted ages thanks to Bluetooth 4.0 and I was really impressed with the pricing. Well today Arctic have just emailed me advising that their latest Bluetooth Sports headphones are now available on …

Podcast 131 – MWC Deconstructed

Welcome to the latest episode of the Coolsmartphone Podcast. Joining me this week were Ian, James and John. This weeks topics revolved around MWC, our favourite things that we saw last week, our general thoughts on the big name devices from the likes of Samsung, HTC and Sony and …

Podcast 131 – Listen in live

Hello there, welcome to the “listen in live” page for our podcast. Joining me this week should be Ian, James and John. This weeks topics will mainly be about MWC and what we thought about the barrage of new devices on display. There will also probably be a bit …

Samsung announce something a little peculiar

Samsung have announced four new battery packs, available in two different capacities and four different designs. They are called the Animal Edition Battery Packs, they feature illustrations of four species of endangered animals as part of the company’s ‘Charge the Life’ campaign, which aims to raise awareness about …

Motorola announce the Moto G 4G and Moto Maker for Moto 360

Motorola and their devices are becoming rather predictable, don’t get me wrong their products are great, it’s just we saw the 4G version of the 2014 Moto G coming a mile off. Which is exactly what they announced yesterday evening, along with Moto Maker for the Moto 360. …

Android Lollipop rolling out to UK Motorola Moto G owners

I’ve owned a Motorola Moto G for a good while now, it’s recently become my rugged outdoorsy phone. I’m also keeping it to see how Lollipop runs on a lower spec slightly older device, well this evening my patience has been rewarded as my 1st generation Tesco Mobile …

Vodafone start taking pre orders for the HTC One M9

As you’d expect shortly after a large device manufacturer announcing a new flagship various networks decide to stock the phone, the latest being Vodafone and the HTC One M9. They’ve sent us a brief memo about it. Prices for the HTC One M9 start from £43.50 per month with a …

MWC – My top 3 things (James)

2015 was my first year of attending MWC. I really had no idea what to expect, Leigh and Dan have spent years going and covering a huge range of devices. This year was going to be no different, Garry, Leigh and I all arrived on the Saturday ready …

Cellhire offer a roaming solution for your holiday

We’ve just got back from a week in Spain, you may have noticed our coverage of MWC in Barcelona. Our coverage was made easier thanks to Cellhire, who lent us a Huawei MiFi unit with a data SIM and some Spanish data.   Cellhire offer a range of …

MWC – Piper NV Home Automation

One of the most intriguing things I came across at MWC was Piper NV, Piper NV is a product from icontrol Networks in the US, it basically is a network attached device that allows you to create a home automation or home security system to suit your needs. …

MWC – YEZZ and their Windows Phones

A lot of buzz surrounded YEZZ this week, mainly because they were discussing and displaying Project ARA components on their stand, but for me I knew they have a range of Windows Phones and I thought I’d have a play. On their display they had their existing Billy …

MWC – Alcatel and their latest devices

Alcatel make a wide range of well priced products, phones, tablets and watches. I had Alcatel on my list of manufacturers I wanted to visit at MWC and Wednesday afternoon I finally got round to it. There was an awful lot of devices floating around on their stand, …

MWC – Doro announce a smartphone for Blind People

The other day we went to see Doro and they showed us a variety of phones designed for the elderly, one of the phones was the Doro 820 Claria. It is a smartphone designed for blind people, it is controlled via a touchscreen, a custom launcher, a special case …

MWC – An afternoon with Kazam and their Windows Phones

Kazam have been touting there latest Android devices here at MWC this year, I was passing their stand and spotted something, it was a bright yellow phone. Yes I have found another bright yellow phone. It had me hooked and I just had to go in and have …

MWC – Hands on with the Honor 6 Plus

The Honor and Huawei branding is a little confusing. The Honor range was “meant” to be their budget range but this the Honor 6 Plus is a gorgeous device, it is similar to the Huawei Ascend G7 in design. But overall this is higher spec’d and built better. …

MWC – Hands on with the Doro Liberto 820 Mini

Yesterday Doro announced the Liberto 820 Mini and today we got to have a play with it and the services offered by Doro. So to recap the Liberto 820 Mini is an Android based device for the elderly or for people who want a really easy to use …

MWC – Slimport demo the Nano Console

The other day I attended an event where Slimport were in attendance, Slimport are the company who make your Micro USB port if you own an Nexus 5, LG G2, LG G3 or LG G Pad 8.3. Slimport is an alternative to MHL, but Slimport has taken things …

MWC – Hands on with the Asus Zenfone 2

Whilst I was trying to find the Asus Zenfone Zoom I found a whole stand of Zenfone 2 phones to have a play with, the Zenfone 2 is a great looking piece of kit, equipped with a 64 bit Quad CoreIntel chip, a fancy design and a rear …