Category: Android

HTC One mini comparison photos

We’ve got a few precious days with the ever-so-slightly-smaller brother of the HTC One. Sure, the CPU, memory and storage on the HTC One mini is not quite as good as the bigger HTC One, but it’s still a gorgeous looking handset which packs the BoomSound technology, Beats …

Swiftkey Cloud Beta now available

The latest beta version of Swiftkey is now available, and it brings cloud support to spread predictions between all your devices. Swiftkey is a third-party keyboard that predicts what you type, as most Android users will know by now. The way it does this is by analysing what’s …

Sony Xperia U now in the bargain bin, dive in

We’ve got up-close videos, we’ve got pictures, we’ve got all the details. Sure, it was announced and shown off at Mobile World Congress last year, but the Sony Xperia U still has a fairly OK spec-sheet and now it’s down to just £124.99 SIM-free from the boys at …

Save on your car insurance as you drive with … an app!

There I was last night, watching the second-by-second Royal baby news (short version, she’s had a boy), and an advert popped up for Aviva insurance. Nothing new there. It features Paul Whitehouse being utterly unfunny, but at least he’s not Barry Scott (BANG! And the dirt is gone!) …

Nokia announce the Lumia 625

Remember the article from a few hours ago about the Lumia 625? Well it is all true, the Lumia 625 has been announced. The Nokia Lumia 625 is classed as fun, fast and affordable. I’m not sure which I’d agree with at this point, possibly “fun”. Jo Harlow, …

Microsoft release Fresh Paint for Windows Phone 8

Fresh Paint is an app that you’ve probably seen before, you know on the TV, Microsoft used the Windows 8 version of fresh paint in their recent TV ad campaign for Windows 8. Now it’s available for Windows Phone 8. Unleash your inner creative with Fresh Paint – …

The Nokia Lumia 625 appears just before it is announced

Nokia are apparently going to announce something big today, they teased about it on Twitter yesterday. Guess what? @evleaks has gone and posted the above image showing off the next budget Lumia from Nokia, the Lumia 625. The successor to the great but rather small Lumia 620. I …

Nokia tease something big, arriving tomorrow

The Nokia Twitter account has today teased a new addition to the Nokia family. Something BIG landing tomorrow. Tune in tomorrow at 9 am UK time http://t.co/Ow3Zy36Hn3 #Nokia http://t.co/JhTYSNfhxa It’s been a busy few days for Nokia, with the new 41-megapixel camera toting Nokia Lumia 1020 announced in New York City just last week. Nokia could …

My time with the LG Nexus 4

Believe it or not I’ve never managed to use a Nexus 4, I’ve been near a smashed one once but that’s as close as I’ve got. My recent manoeuvres have been with slightly smaller phones than my regular Galaxy Note II, I’ve bought a Motorola RAZR i and …

Rearth Ringke Slim case for the LG Nexus 4 – Review

Getting the Nexus 4 the other week left me a little nervous, I’ve seen more pictures of shattered back panels than any other phone ever. Needless to say I wanted something to protect it, whilst looking through the dozens of different styles I decided that this time I …

Spigen Ultra Thin Air Case for LG Nexus 4 – Review

Intro I’m a dropper, a slipper, a butterfingers, the type of person who knows if the phone can drop at the worst time, it will. So testing the snappily named Spigen SGP Google Nexus 4 Ultra Thin Air Case for my Nexus 4 was something I  took seriously. …

Want a Lumia 1020? There’s a load on eBay

Want to spend £399? Fancy buying a Nokia Lumia 1020 on eBay and maybe even receiving it…. possibly ? How about ten of them? This eBay listing is offering just that, although the description lacks any sort of.. eerrr.. description… LOT OF 10 Nokia Lumia 1020 Smartphone, 32GB, …

HTC One vs One mini – tech specs comparison

There are some of us who think that bigger is not always better. There are some of us who can remember back when the Ericsson T28 and T29, The motorola V70 and V90, even the Nokia 8800 family were some of the most luxurious and desirable phones going. …

Moto X specs leak alongside white press renders

Excitement over a new Motorola phone is something the world hasn’t experienced for many a year, but the Moto X is causing quite a stir. This is made all the more curious as it’s not exactly well specced. Unlike the impressive 3300mAh battery from the RAZR Maxx, the …

Images of the new Nexus 7 leak out

A few days ago a load of leaks and pictures of the new Nexus 7 leaked out, if you missed them recap it here. Above is another image of the new Nexus 7 by Asus which has been leaked by @evleaks this time. You can see the rear …

[Opinion] The Moto X is Motorola returning with a bang!

The Moto X phone should be great, an important evolution of the smartphone in some substantial ways and a resurgence for Motorola. How have I come to this conclusion? Let me explain… A couple of weeks ago I bought the Motorola RAZRi which we reviewed here. This phone …

Press images of the Motorola Moto X leak out ahead of launch

In this day and age we have come to expect products to leak out before they are released. The above image shows what is to come from Motorola very soon. The Moto X seems to be a mid range device with an average spec, designed to appeal to …

Moto X invites go out. The countdown begins

Evening my lovely people. Friday here in merry ‘ole England feels like Cancun. The heat is rising but luckily we’ve all got bottles of water to keep us cool. In no way is it beer. Back in Barcelona we chatted with Motorola and spoke to Senior Marketing Director, …

The Android machine plows on and on.

7.4 million phones in 3 months.  That is 2.46 million phones a month. The figure above details Nokia’s handset sales of Windows Phones in 3 months.  not bad going that eh!? Now lets take the city of Birmingham in the Midlands, UK.  At the last census in 2011 …

HTC One vs HTC One mini

You follow us on Twitter, right? What? You don’t?! Pish! Come on, whack that button, we’re @coolsmartphone and we’ve got all the juiciest reviews, news and gossip from the smartphone and tablet world. Last night we posted this tweet and it’s sparked quite a bit of interest, so …

LG Optimus L3 II – Review

The LG Optimus L3 was part of the surprisingly successful L-Series of budget Android phones. So successful that there is a second series now available. I’ve had the entry level Optimus L3 II for a couple of weeks to see what all the fuss is about. Tech Specs …

Huawei MediaPad 7 Youth announced

Oi! Youth! Wanna MediaPad? Huawei have just announced their new tablet and it’ll be available in Russia, China, Asia Pacific, Middle East and Europe in Q3. It’s just 9.9mm thick and runs a dual-core 1.6GHz processor alongside a GPU for fast and smooth gaming. Built using a strong …

Review – The Snugg real bamboo wooden case

A case made of bamboo. It’s not something you hear of every day, but that’s what he people from The Snugg have loaned us. It’s currently £29.99 or $29.99 (don’t get me started on that currency conversion) and here’s a look at it. First up. Yes, it’s very …

GDR2 update is now available for some HTC 8X

As is often the norm with with OS updates different manufacturers release their updates at totally different times. Earlier on in the week we saw certain users of the Samsung Ativ S are getting the update already (mine still hasn’t), but today it’s the turn of the HTC …

LG G2 revealed. No more Optimus for you

We mentioned back in March that the LG Optimus G was due to arrive in the UK but now the successor has been announced by LG, and we can say goodbye to the “Optimus” name. Their Korean office has just put this press release live along with the …

The Huawei Ascend Mate is now available exclusively from Vodafone

The Huawei Ascend Mate marked a new era of enormous oversized phones, along with the Galaxy Mega they push the limits of people’s pockets. Leigh reviewed the Ascend Mate a few weeks ago and now you can pick one up from £29 per month on Vodafone here. I’m …

Samsung post an official hands on video for the Galaxy S4 Zoom

The Galaxy S4 Zoom is an intriguing device, the one thing I’m mainly interested in is the camera UI and how fiddly it is. Luckily Samsung have posted a hands on video on their YouTube channel showing me how the thing works. Here it is, enjoy. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqiBdo22mrg

Are Nokia in danger of “doing a Samsung”?

Samsung seem to be attempting to get into the Guinness Book Of Records for “the largest number of screen sizes in their portfolio” record with a different phone for each and every increment from 3″ up to 11″. Nokia increasingly seem to be heading off down that worrying …

Nexus 7 successor images leak out

The Asus / Google Nexus 7 is probably the most successful Android tablet ever. It has become the one tablet I actually pick up every day and actually use, rather than just dust off and recharge, like my Surface RT. Google have historically updated their devices annually and …

HTC One mini official picture appears.. almost

HTC are unveiling more and more of their HTC One Mini. It’s a trend we’re seeing with lots of mobile handsets, a powerful and hugely advertised handset (like the Galaxy S4 or the Galaxy S3 from Samsung) is followed up shortly after by a ever-so-slightly-less-powerful version which has …

Benchmarks reveal a new Galaxy S4???

Think about all of the technology that the world could possibly need. Go on, admit it, the first thing you thought of was another Samsung Galaxy handset.  After all, there quite simply aren’t enough phones in the Galaxy range and another one is bound to improve all of …

Xperia Z Ultra coming your way in September

This is a phone with a ma-hoo-sive 6.4″ Full-HD “Triluminos” display. It’s waterproof, dust resistant and has a quad-core 2.2GHz Qualcomm CPU. Our earlier story shows some lovely pictures of this slim handset, which is just 6.5mm thick. Sony also have some great shots of the device here, …

Should it just be about the camera?

At what point in history did the camera become the most important on a new smartphones spec sheet? Don’t get me wrong here, I love a decent camera phone, but increasingly I’m seeing manufacturers chase the “best camera ever” type of tagline and other specs or form factors …

G Cloud Backup receives huge update

Morning lovely reader. Let’s talk backups. No, no. Don’t switch off. Yes, I know it’s one of those “things” that you really don’t want to do but, let’s admit it, this is something you should look at. The G Cloud Backup app has always let you protect and …

It seems that Oppo are going to make a Windows Phone at some point

Oppo are a little known Chinese Android handset manufacturer that we’ve recently become smitten with, via the reseller Oppo Style eager Europeans have been able to purchase the Find 5 which Ronnie reviewed here. But something interesting has occurred on Sina Weibo (the Chinese equivalent of Twitter), the …

Worldwide Availability For The Optimus G Pro

While the Optimus G Pro (we mentioned here) has been available since February in LG’s home country of Korea, it has made a slow but steady march out to other countries around the world and is ready to reach a whole lot more in Q3. LG is announcing …

Photo Editor by Aviary is now available for Windows Phone 8

Photo editors are ten a penny in the mobile app world, ranging from nice intuitive and easy to use through to something designed by an elephant with a hammer. I prefer the former myself and when something like Aviary comes to Windows Phone 8 it makes me happy …

New Play store launches on web

Overnight it looks like the Google Play store has been updated to match the look and feel of their latest Android phone and tablet app. We’ve all used the new-look app on Android got a while now. We saw a sneak peek at this new design back at …