Author: Tom Ranson

WileyFox Storm, available today!

Our review of the WileyFox Swift is coming soon (I promise!!) but in the mean time, you can now get your hands on their other device, the Storm! Going on sale today for £199, the Storm is their premium handset. Rocking the Snapdragon 615 Octa-core processor, 3GB of …

Blackberry’s Android powered ‘Venice’ becomes ‘Priv’

This Android powered Blackberry seems to have been teetering on the edge of existence for a while now. First someone caught wind that it was in the works. They spoke of a Blackberry built, Android powered QWERTY slider. It certainly sparked my interest. Then there were small video …

Nexus 5X full spec leak?

The eagerly anticipated refinement to the Nexus 5, the (very likely-called) 5X was prematurely listed before being swiftly pulled from the Amazon India website. Naturally, someone managed to grab all the details and there is a Reddit article floating around with the full run down of this devices …

WileyFox will be swiftly available

Remember those two affordable handsets we talked about last week? The Swift and the Storm? The manufacturer, WileyFox, today announced a release date for the smaller of the two, the Swift. On the 22nd of September you’ll be able to buy the Swift directly from the WileyFox store …

Google, now with less ‘serif’!

Google, it seems, is having a big overhaul. First they split their company up to sit under the new Alphabet name, and now they’ve updated their logo. Since it’s launch in 1998, the company logo has been in constant evolution. You’d even be forgiven for not remembering exactly …

Oppo R5s, the slimmest of upgrades

Oppo are stepping things up! October last year saw the introduction of the R5, the slimmest smartphone on the market. At just 4.85mm it’s a wonder they can fit anything inside the chassis. This year they have given the device a facelift (I can’t find the old R5 …

WileyFox sneak up on us with affordable smartphones.

We’ve all heard the story, an impressive specification at a low price. Oppo does it, Honor does it, OnePlus does it… Now WileyFox do it too! This is the Storm, the ‘premium’ version. Rocking a Snapdragon 600 at 1.5GHz it will be relatively snappy. Helped by the 3GB …

EasyAcc 3rd Anniversary sale!

We all love a sale, so I’m just going to direct you all over to our friends at EasyAcc for a 7 day long spree of savings! Starting today (Monday 13th July), and running all the way to Sunday 19th July, you’ll be able to get up to …

Keeping to the Beat, LG has a new G4

LG has lifted the lid on their latest creation, the LG G4 Beat. The smaller sibling of the G4, obviously. The Beat is supposed to be a cheaper alternative to the G4, rather than simply just smaller like the Z3 and Z3 Compacts of the world, as is …

Get (vivo) Active with Garmin

Smartwatches: they now exist in a crowded market. It’s difficult to make a case for a new device but here we are, looking at a new device. The Garmin Vivoactive slides in at the top of the Garmin wearables range. Taking advantage of the GPS pedigree that Garmin is …

Is that a PC in your pocket? Or are you just pleased to see me?

Archos are the latest company to enter into the pocketable PC craze. Intel got the ball rolling with their Compute Stick built around their Quad-core Atom processor and then Lenovo threw their hat into the ring to follow Intel’s lead. Well now Archos have built their own and, …

EasyAcc Energy Cube Bluetooth Speaker – Review

Bluetooth speakers are ten a penny, if you need one you have an enormous selection to choose from. While this is quite a good position to be in (chances are you’ll be able to find exactly what you need) it can be a bit a bit of an …

Compare the (super)market

Don’t get me started about politics. One group tell you that things are great. The other guys say that things are still rubbish. Me? I’m voting Monster Raving Looney. I think they’re marginally better and my local MP is dressed as a chicken. Brilliant. If you’re not feeling …

Sky partnering with O2 to enter the mobile market

Sky (BSkyB) this morning have announced that they will be entering the mobile market in a deal with O2. The deal should see the Sky network powered by O2 but have no impact on O2 customers allowing Sky to offer Phone, TV, Broadband and now Mobile packages. This …

Android Studio is out of beta

If you are an app developer you’re probably familiar with Eclipse and the Android SDK. Back in 2013 Google announced Android Studio which was to be a more integrated and smarter way to build apps. It’s been available to use as a 0.1 Alpha version since May 2013 …

Fitbit Charge, Charge HR and Surge

A few weeks ago news spread out across the digital waves about three new products from Fitbit, well now they’ve gone and unveiled them publicly. First up is the Charge, the ‘basic’ activity tracker. This device tracks all the things your standard Fitbit tracker will right now: steps, …

New devices coming from FitBit

Those of you that love to strap new activity trackers to yourself are in for a treat in the next few weeks. Information sent in to The Verge shows the company is gearing up to launch 3 new products. My bank account is already quivering… The first two devices, …

13 Cool Android/Nook apps that Geeks will love

Software developers are, by definition, geeks, so it should come as no surprise that many of the apps they’ve come up with are tailor-made for people who share their interests. After all, “geekiness” has become something of a badge of honour. Smartphones and tablets offering the full Android …

Meet your Moto Maker

Hot on the heels of the Moto Store opening virtually in the UK, Moto Maker has now become available here in the UK too. As predicted when the store opened up, Moto Maker, Motorola’s online phone customisation tool, has become available to us here in the UK. As …

Motorola’s online stores make it to our rainy shores

Firstly, if you have still decided to indulge in this article after reading my terrible rhyming title, thank you. Motorola has, for a short while, been selling their latest generation phones through their own website in the US. This current generation has been met with open arms and …

I demand a refund!

Back in the good old days you could buy an app from the Android Market, as it was then, and have a whole 24 hours to make your mind up if you wanted to keep it or not. If it turns out that is was actually totally useless …

ZTE Kis 3 launching in Europe

ZTE have made a name for themselves in this ‘budget handset’ sector and the Kis 3 looks build on that success. A handset designed to be ‘versatile’ rather than ‘groundbreaking’ the Kis 3 features a 4-inch WVGA screen and checks in at a chubby 10.7mm thick with smoothed …

Samba Mobile shut down

In the world of MVNOs, nothing is certain. Ovivo seemed to be going quite well, giving away airtime as long as you watched some adverts. Then a few weeks ago, boom, they were gone. While that was going on, Co-op were announcing plans to enter the arena, clearly …

QuickClick app – Pressy alternative

A few days ago I wrote about some clones of this new Pressy device that is coming to market soon. Pressy is a button that plugs into the headphone jack of any Android device, you can assign a series of button presses to specific actions on your phone. …

Bitmado – Wallpaper shuffling app

I get bored really quickly when it comes to my phone. I have an LG G2 so it’s capable of keeping up with any app that I throw at it so, for now at least, my hardware desires are being met. However whenever I interact with the phone …

Google Opinion Rewards

Would you like to earn credit in the Play Store? Google just made it quite easy. A few months ago Google launched an app in the US called Google Opinion Rewards. Every now and again the app notifies you of a survey you can take to earn a …

Xiaomi MiKey

Today Hugo Barra has taken to the social networks to talk about a new ‘shortcut button’ they have developed at Xiaomi. He is asking for a name for the little device, but for now we’ll refer to it as the MiKey. This little button slots into the headphone …

Sony unveil ‘Digital Paper’ tablet

Sony have lifted the lid on their latest tablet, Digital Paper. A 13.3″ E-Ink tablet, this thing is aimed at the office. The display is the same flexible technology they showed off last year, but this device doesn’t flex, apparently that trick is being saved for a new …

Virgin Media reveals Samsung Galaxy S5 pricing

Hot on the heels of everyone else, Virgin Media are also shouting loudly about their Samsung Galaxy S5 pricing. There’s some particularly good deals if you’re already a Virgin Media customer, however do have a look at our demo video and hands-on shots here. Existing Virgin Media TV, …

Hands on with the new Samsung Galaxy S5 at Phones 4U

Impressed by the new Samsung Galaxy S5? Leigh got to try one out when it was officially announced back in February, and tomorrow is the pre-order launch of the handset. However, if you can’t quite make your mind up you might want to head down to one of …

Google Contact Lens

Straight off the bat I need you all to be aware of something…these are in no way like Google Glasses, sorry. When I read about them I got really excited, the idea of a HUD and camera built into a contact lens was the coolest thing I had …

Arsenal FC make a new signing…

You’d have thought that if no one knew how to pronounce your name it would make things a little difficult. It kinda makes it tricky to spread news if no one can remember what your company is called. Hoo-wa-way? Hoo-way? Either way, Huawei aren’t letting that hold them …

Get off that phone!!

We’ve all either been on the receiving end of that line, or said it to someone else, you hear it all the time. It’s often used as a reason that our society is getting more unsociable, or cited as reasons young relationships break down! I know I’ve been …

4.4 KitKat Nexus Factory Images now live

If you’re anything like me you’ve been refreshing the official Google Stock Images page since the announcement of KitKat, well the wait is over. If you head over to the developer pages you’ll find all you need to update your Nexus 10, 7 (2012 and 2013 model) and 4 …

Arctic Blue Samsung Galaxy S4 – Exclusive to Phones 4U

Been on the fence about the Galaxy S4? Perhaps it just isn’t blue enough for you. Maybe it just doesn’t go with that new blue Lamborghini you’ve just bought. Happens to all of us. From today though you can head over to Phones 4U and order the S4 in an, …

Android App Review – Fitbit

There’s a new breed of human walking this Earth. The ever connected, technology addicted ‘smart’ person. We can answer phone calls and texts with our watches and glasses while our every move is collected and analysed by fitness experts. Much like Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes F1, we can …

Issentiel Leather Nexus 4 case – Review

I own an LG Nexus 4, so as you could imagine I am always concerned I’ll damage it. Not so much because it’s fragile, but because it looks so nice I don’t want to spoil it. I have a ‘bumper’ for it but it just doesn’t feel like it’s going …

Sony Xperia ZR – The Xperia Z’s little brother

We like the Xperia Z here at CoolSmartphone towers, it looks gorgeous and performs just as well. Dan had one for a while and wrote about it here, we were all jealous. What if you had small hands and struggled with the screen size though? Well Sony has …

My choice of apps – Android Edition #1

So you might have noticed that a few of us here at CoolSmartphone want to give you a bit of help selecting apps from the billions available on the Play Store. Most of us have been using our respective ecosystems for quite a while and built up a …

Advertising companies to steal our Instagram photos! Probably not…

You’ll remember a little while ago Instagram tried to amend their Terms Of Service and the whole internet went crazy. Indeed so did I! The mistake I made though was that I hadn’t properly read the wording for myself and had laid all my faith in another sites interpretation. Aforementioned …