Author: James Pearce

Podcast 114 – Listen in live

Welcome to the live edition of our podcast, this is the listen in live post which will become live at about 7.30pm tonight. There will be a Play button below. Topics this week will revolve around the Nexus pre-orders, the devices we’ve been using this week and the …

Sony Xperia Z3 Compact – Review

Iterative products are just a way of life these days. We get a new slightly updated device every few months, sometimes every six months, sometimes even every year, Sony have mastered the iterative product cycle, releasing new products every six months ensuring they stay current. A manufacturer finds …

Oppo update the Find 7/7a with KitKat

Can you remember the Oppo Find 7/7a? I had one earlier in the year and whilst being fairly impressed with it, it only ran Jelly Bean with the Color OS skin on top. Well Oppo have pushed out a new ROM for the Find 7/7a which is KitKat. …

Podcast 113 – that Nexus feeling

Welcome to another episode of the Coolsmartphone Podcast. Joining me this week are Dan, Khellan and Matteo. This weeks topics predictably revolved around the recently announced Nexus devices, the new Apple iPad Air, my Tesco Hudl 2 and my Lenovo Yoga Tablet 2, a chat with Matteo about …

Podcast 113 – Listen in live

We’re back, after a short break we are back. The Coolsmartphone Podcast returns. This is the listen in live post which will become live at about 7.30pm tonight. There will be a Play button below. Topics this week will revolve around the newly announced Nexus devices and also …

Lenovo Yoga Tablet 2 – Initial Impressions

Lenovo are gradually becoming a household name in the UK. Thanks somewhat to their rather nice looking and great value for money laptops and also thanks to their range of tablets. Last week they announced a new range of tablets, the Yoga Tablet 2 and the Yoga Pro …

EE now also do a cheap 4G tablet as well

Yesterday we heard that Vodafone were offering a cheap 4G tablet for pay as you go customers, today not to be outdone EE have announced that they’ll be selling the slightly cheaper and slightly smaller Alcatel One Touch Pop S. Which can be yours for £99.99 and it …

Tesco Hudl 2 – Initial Impressions

The tablet market is as competitive as the phone market, with many manufacturers releasing devices in all different shapes, sizes and colours. Tesco are on their second device now, the original Hudl was a small seven inch tablet that seemed to be designed for kids or people who …

Surely it’s about time for a new 41 Megapixel camera from Nokia

In my eyes the modern camera phone market things are becoming a little bit stagnant. Most new phones arrive to a fanfare of propaganda about how the camera performs amazingly in low light, when being moved around and that it takes video unlike any other device, ever. But …

ZTE announce the Kis 3 Max

ZTE and their UK release schedule seems a little bit one sided. It’s all budget budget budget and they’ve got another one to add to the UK portfolio. The Kis 3 Max. ZTE and Virgin Media have announced the UK release of the ZTE Kis 3 Max, the …

Tweetification brings Tweet notifications back to third party apps

A while ago I covered an app which helped third party Android Twitter app users kind of get push notifications for their accounts. The app is called Tweetification and it’s recently been updated to work with the latest version of the Twitter SMS API. It’s all a bit …

Motorola Moto G 2014 – Review

  The original Motorola Moto G was a great phone, it redefined a genre, it showed people that a reasonably cheap device could offer performance and an experience similar to phones costing way more than it did. Not only did the Moto G offer a whole load of …

Podcast 112 – isn’t it nearly Nexus time?

Welcome to another episode of the Coolsmartphone Podcast, joining me this week were Garry and John. This weeks topics revolved around the Apple crisis, the Sony pre-order situation, the Sony Xperia Z3 Compact, listeners questions, the new Motorola Moto G, John and his retro gaming slot, me getting …

Podcast 112 – Listen in live

Welcome to the live, raw, unedited and often broken version of our podcast. Joining me this week is John. This weeks topics revolve around Apple, Motorola, my Sony Xperia Z3 Compact, readers questions, John’s thoughts on the iPhone bending thing and our usual chit chat about our mobile …

Podcast 112 – Ask us a question

Tonight we will be recording our podcast and to help us out each week with topics we get you the listeners to ask us some questions. Which we’ll include in the show later on. Be it about our thoughts on the bendy iPhone, the Sony Xperia Z3 Compact …

The new Moto G gets an update to add Google Now

The new Motorola Moto G arrived in the shadow of the fancy new Moto X, not much time was spent telling us about the successor to what was possibly one of the most exciting Android devices of recent times. Well I’ve got one of the new ones in …

The Motorola Nexus 6 seems to be a thing

Rumours fly around about the next iteration of the big name devices. Be it an iPhone, a Nokia Lumia, a Sony Xperia and yes of course the Nexus devices. This year is no different, but they seem to have gone a little too far this time. Android Police …

Key points about the Samsung Galaxy Note 4

The Samsung Galaxy Note 4 is going to be an absolute beast of a phone. I for one am toying with the idea of getting one and seeing infographics like this from Samsung aren’t helping me. Source – Samsung

Podcast 111 – All things Sony

Welcome to the latest installment of the Coolsmartphone Podcast, joining me this week was Garry and our topics this week revolved around the Sony Xperia Z3 Compact, Z3 Compact Tablet and the normal Z3, small phones, waterproof phones, innovation, modular phones, bendy iphones, dodgy software updates, a little …

Sony Xperia Z3 Compact – Initial Impressions

Sony have carved themselves out a niche in the world of modern day smartphones. A niche for great looking, powerful, waterproof and damn good fun to own smartphones. The latest generation having only just been unveiled at IFA in Berlin a few weeks ago, when I saw the …

Podcast 111 – Listen in live

Welcome to the live, raw, unedited and often broken version of our podcast. Joining me this week is Garry. This weeks topics revolve around some shiny Sony phones, readers questions, the iPhone bending outrage and our usual chit chat about our mobile goings on. To listen live it’s …

Some strange HTC camera thing leaks out

Now and again I’m left confused by leaks and rumours. I get that companies have to push their innovation onwards in the hope that they discover the next lucrative niche. The latest being HTC, they’ve got an event happening on October the 8th and no one is really …

Podcast 111 – Ask us some questions

Another week another podcast and yes I’ve got a new phone to talk about tonight. As last week’s listeners questions article went so well we thought we’d throw it open to you guys again and ask you to ask us some questions. Be it about the shiny new …

Some interesting facts about iPhone manufacturing

Infographics are often just annoying, made up to show how amazing a product is, or to compare to another product. This one we’ve been sent was actually quite interesting. It shows a lot of information about the iPhone manufacturing process. Such as who makes the various elements of …

Apple sell 10 million phones in a weekend

The Apple iPhone is probably the most popular phone ever, it creates such urges within people once a new one is released, almost a compulsion to buy one. No other phone ever has created such irrational mass purchasing. One could say there was witchcraft involved, I’d go with …

OnePlus to try the pre-order route next

A lot has been said about OnePlus over the last few months. Some of it good and some of it bad. Most conversation revolved around people trying to get an invite. Amazingly I managed to get one and I subsequently sold it on. None the less I was …

The latest Pebble firmware update adds emoji support

Emoji are a part of life now, in the past I’d have just replied “this makes happy” but nowadays your obliged to reply “lol :)”. But if you have a Pebble and someone sends you a message containing an emoji previously you’d be lost, wondering what that blank …

Podcast 110 – the week we tried something a little different

Welcome to the Coolsmartphone podcast, joining me this week were Ian and Nirave. This weeks topics revolved around Phones4U going into administration, Apple iPhone 6 pre-orders selling by the millions, me being unable to decide which small phone to get next, Nirave and his iPhone pre-order experience, Ian …

Podcast 110 – Listen in live

Welcome to the live, raw, unedited and often broken version of our podcast. Joining me this week are Ian and Nirave. This weeks topics revolve around Phones4U, readers questions, the iPhone pre-order stampede and our usual chit chat about our mobile goings on. To listen live it’s dead …

Those fancy looking OnePlus One covers won’t ever be released

When I bought my OnePlus One one of the things I was itching to get hold of was the replaceable backs, they were going to be available in several different materials, such as kevlar, denim and bamboo. Upon receiving mine I set about trying to order the back …

Podcast 110 – Ask us some questions

Our weekly podcast is just about getting into its stride, we’ve been at it for over two years now and we’d like to involve you guys in it a bit more. So we are going to try something we did ages ago, we want some questions from you …

Android One starts with India

Android One is an idea, an idea that is starting to grow into something that could be huge. The idea of a low cost Android device, with hardware hand picked by Google and the latest software, could be seen as a way for Google and Android manufacturers to …

The Oppo N3 starts to make an appearance

The Oppo N1 was one of the most intriguing devices of recent times, with its rotating camera, enormous display and touch sensitive back panel, many people round the world got one, thanks somewhat to the Cyanogenmod support. So it makes sense that Oppo are going to release a …

Podcast 109 – the iPhone 6 is finally here

Welcome to the Coolsmartphone Podcast, joining me this week were John and Matteo. This weeks topics predictably revolved around the Apple iPhone event. The big one, the little one, the watch, paying for stuff with your phone, Johnny Ive and his ludicrous videos and our usual chit chat …

Podcast 109 – Listen in live

Good evening and welcome to another episode of the Coolsmartphone Podcast. This is the live unedited complete with awkward pauses and my ill thought out jokes. Joining me this week are John and Matteo. The topics as you’d expect are rather iPhone based this week. To listen just …

Hannspree move into the smartphone market

Hannspree have today announced their intention to enter the budget Android smartphone market. They already have a range of Android tablets and monitors under their belts so the move into smaller devices makes sense. Also considering that their sister company Hannstar make a range of displays as well, …

Apple didn’t call their watch the iWatch after all

The Smartwatch has become something rather popular over the last year, every manufacturer wants to make one and every consumer has been wondering what the Apple Watch would look like. Well the wait is over they’ve gone and announced it, complete with three different styles and a whole …

Apple announce the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus

This afternoon Apple have staged an event in the US, where they showed us the latest aspirational products that people just have to own this year. Rumours have been flying around for months now surrounding the different size screens and of course the Apple SmartWatch. Now finally those …

What’s next for innovation?

Innovation is a much abused word these days, manufacturers toss the word around like many other clichéd words and phrases in their press releases and promotional materials, sales reps blurt it out regarding every last tiny feature whatever they are trying to sell has. Even I’m contributing to …