Category: Android

Palm – My thoughts on the mini-smartphone

This diddy smartphone is on Vodafone and you can get one here for £31 per month. In the USA this has been sold as a “companion phone” which I can sort of understand. See, I’m a little confused. It’s like Brexit in a way. There’s really no middle …

The Honor View20 – Look closely. Notice something?

Creating a phone that looks a bit “different” is definitely in the interests of most phone manufacturers, however if you do there’s the risk that the phone isn’t going to be as popular. So, there’s smaller but rather cool tweaks happening to new phones now, and although they’re …

Uni Moke – A classic electric bike with style

It weighs 29kg and it looks a bit like a motorbike, but this is actually a new electric bike from Urban Drivestyle. There’s a kickstand, a big 7″ headlight, hydraulic brakes and you get Shimano 7-speed gears. However, it’ll do up to 25km/h (around 15.53 mph) or more …

A look at the first foldable smartphone – the FlexPai

With smartphones looking more and more similar by the day, there’s always a keen interest in anything that doesn’t look slate-shaped. However, making it fun, different, usable to actually something that people will want to buy is a whole new thing. This, then is hopefully where the Royole …

Huawei P Smart 2019 – Unboxing

To kick things off for 2019, I have got a new phone from Huawei which went on sale with Vodafone (other networks are available) this morning. The thing that makes this phone all sorts of brilliant is that this is a perfect “New year, New you”-phone. It is …

Making your home a smarter home

Remember the old Apple commercials that came out to promote the release of the first iPhones? The slogan was, “There’s an app for that!” Nowadays, if you have your own home, there truly is an app for nearly everything you could want or need. Today I decided to …

Xiaomi launch Mi Mix 3 in the UK

Xiaomi have today announced its Mi Mix 3 device will launch in the UK on the 16th January, and if you are quick enough, can get a nice £50 discount off the price. The Mi Mix 3 features a full touch screen with no notch, this is tucked …

Top 10 apps based on TV shows

When I was growing up (which seems a long time ago now), I was a big fan of Knight Rider. I checked the Google Play store recently and it was great to see so many apps dedicated to it. There’s a Knight Rider Watch simulator, a car creator, …

Bored whilst travelling? Your phone can do much more

I went to Reading recently. Reading. It wasn’t that thrilling. The Holiday Inn is nice enough, but apart from the local Aldi and a business park, there wasn’t really anything to do. So there I was, in a hotel room, watching the free TV channels and getting bored …

OnePlus 6 – Down in price

Head over to Amazon right now and you’ll find that the OnePlus 6 is now going to cost you just £439. That’s £439 for a device with a 2280x1080p 6.28″ 19:9 ratio screen, 64GB of on-board storage (there’s a 128GB version for £489), a dual 20 megapixel rear …

The all-new Huawei P Smart 2019. Get it from Vodafone now.

Costing just £219 on Pay As You Go or for £25 a month on a Vodafone Red Extra Plan (1GB data, no upfront cost), this is a cheap and yet really very smart handset. The new 2019 version has a dewdrop notch 6.21″ 2340 x 1080 pixel (19.5:9) …

Being productive with your smartphone

It’s no secret that people are becoming more hooked to smartphones—and there are numbers to prove it. As of 2018, there are already 2.53 billion smartphone users around the world and it is projected to grow to 2.87 billion by 2020. China leads the smartphone industry with a …

Your phone is filthy, Let PhoneSoap clean it – Review

We all use our phones as fundamental tools in our day to day lives, and most of us will clean them from time to time. However, cleaning the visible dirt is only half the battle as there is also the microbial “dirt” that is always present on our phones. …

Fake gadget porn or new foldable Xiaomi device?

The jury is out on this one, but it comes via Mr Blass, who’s the kind of leaks round these parts. Is this real? Is this fake? It’s up to you decide. Even if it is real, would you use or want something like this? Or are we …

Essential Phone Discontinued.

News has arrived here at Coolsmartphone Towers, that according to Essential’s website and other stores that typically sell the Essential Phone, the device was showing up as “sold out.” ‘Strange,’ we thought, ‘maybe the Essential phone has had an upsurge in popularity’, but no. Essential has confirmed the …

Xiaomi – An early look at the Boxing Day offers!

Yes folks, it’s not even Christmas yet and we’re getting details of the deals you’ll be able to get after the event. Xiaomi have sent us their offers, which include the Redmi 6, Redmit Note 6 Pro, Pocophone, the A2 and the Mi 8 in their Westfield store. …

The Christmas gaming charts

Let’s face it, the PS4, Xbox and Nintendo Switch are hugely popular. The likes of Fortnite, Fallout 4, Overwatch, Grand Theft Auto, Tomb Raider and the like. Go into a gaming store over this last Christmas shopping weekend and you’ll find it rammed with people buying games and …

Xiaomi complaints result in Advertising Standards response

We were down in London last month for the UK Xiaomi launch. Their kit is absolutely top notch and they’re causing waves by creating flagship phones without the insane price-tag. At the launch, which we covered here, there was a lot of promotional activity going on. The launch …

Card games on your smartphone

When I was a kid, we didn’t go on holiday to exotic sunkist destinations. No evenings walking on the beach or playing in an outside fairground. Oh no, it we were in a VW camper van in Wales, freezing our bits off. I loved it though. I loved …

Vodafone donate to Leicester Counselling Centre

Vodafone have awarded £1000 to Leicester Counseling Centre to help locals who are in need of counselling for various situations. The company have helped over 170 local communities so far with generous donations thanks to their Community Connection Award scheme. Othet donations and feedback from recipients include Hyndburn …

Gionee to restructure as they struggle on

I used to work at the biggest online gambling company in the world. I’ve seen at first hand the speed that systems have to respond and how mobile phones are now pushing the industry to huge new heights. If you’re ready for online casino fun, find more casino …

Reviewing a whole bunch of Anker chargers

I am on the constant search for power in the form of transferring electrons from one device to another. This has now got the point where I am actually running my car on electrons (that is for another day!). I am also now following a new mantra for my …

Fancy a quick game of Pachinko?

Wait, what is pachinko ? Yeah, not many people outside of Japan have heard about it. However, you probably will have heard about pinball, and this is a vertical version. In Japan there’s traditionally been mechanical and noisy machines which use balls which are smaller than Western pinball …

The mobile wallet. Just as safe as your bank.

We went to London last week. It was part of our annual trip to the city to see the Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park. However, whilst my mates nipped to the nearest cashpoint, I decided to chance it and not use any cash at all. Now, going to …

Palm – A hands on overview

Getting hold of one of these, right now, today, in the UK… is… tricky. But we have one, and it’s in my car, so you know what that means. CAR VIDEO! The Palm Smartphone is available right here on Vodafone. As we mentioned just this morning it’s available …

Great brew. No queue.

At my previous employers they had free Costa Coffee on tap all day long. Truth be told, I’m kinda detoxing now and only have one every now and then. However, if you’re a Costa lover, you live or work in London and you have the Costa Coffee Club …

Get the Palm today

We told you about the upcoming Palm companion which appeared on the “Coming Soon” bit of Vodafone recently. It’s credit card sized and is great for slotting onto your bike, taking on trips, going to the gym or on nights out. Now available, you can get this one …

EE first in the world to range a 5G OnePlus phone

Read our EE 5G news recently? Well, it’s certainly coming thick and fast, with EE whacking up 9 sites already and a big push to cover all the busy areas with the new technology. In addition, 5G will enable mobile networks to compete with fixed line broadband providers. …

Pixel 3 – Review

I thought that I would always need a large screen phone, but this has changed my mind. Good Points: Great haptic feedback (really does feel like buttons are being pressed) Amazing camera Feels great in the hand Excellent front-facing dual stereo speakers Gorgeous screen Just runs so well …

Amazon Launchpad – Great Gadget Gift Ideas

Looking for gift ideas this Christmas? Yeah you are. Admit it, if you’re anything like me you won’t have even started buying stuff. So, before the panic sets in, here’s a list of stuff that could spark your interest. It’s all part of the Amazon Launchpad gadget range, …

A week with the Xiaomi Mi 8 Pro – Day 3. The interface.

Morning all. So, I had a lovely intro to this third day with the Mi 8 Pro. You can see our story so far here. This morning though, I woke up to find that the Mi 8 Pro had received an update, and the GUI looked remarkably different. …

A week with the Xiaomi Mi 8 Pro – Day 2. The camera.

This morning I woke up. It was a bright, sunny day and the birds were gently tweeting their morning chorus. It made me feel lucky to be alive. I couldn’t wake to spring out of bed and greet the day with big, open arms. Ah well, no. Not …

OnePlus team up with McLaren

If you’re going to imprint the feeling of speed into the minds of customers, it’s probably not going to hurt if you partner with an F1 racing team, right? That’s exactly what OnePlus have just done. They’re going to host a “Salute to Speed” event on December 11th, …

iOS vs. Android Battle: Which is better for gaming?

Many moons ago I had an Amiga A500. It was, at the time, the best piece of technology I could ever dream of. It was pitted against the Atari ST, and for quite some time we’d have a fierce rivalry between the two. In recent years we’ve had …

A week with the Xiaomi Mi 8 Pro – Day 1. A tour

I went a bit crazy about the Mi 8 Pro during the launch. Was it the free wine they were giving out? Was it the fact that it was 3 o’clock in the afternoon and I was drinking on an empty stomach? Well, perhaps some of that, but …

Strava problems on Xiaomi phones?

Remember the problem with Strava and Honor / Huawei devices? Well, just a few days ago I went on quite a long ride. I hopped on my bike and did about 2 hours, but Strava had been shut down, presumably by the HiSilicon CPU, at some point during …

Vodafone – Black Friday offers

The cool thing about running this site is that I get to see all the deals before they go live. This time it’s Vodafone and these deals are only on until November 26th, so you’ve got to hit them this weekend really. Again, the Samsung Galaxy S9 has …