Category: Editorial

Welcome back everybody. For those of you who regularly visit the site, you may have noticed we were having some “minor” technical issues over the weekend. Well I am happy to say, despite the rumors we are still here and not going anywhere and everything is back online. …

So the time has come for us all to take a long earned rest after what has been a manic year. We have had some big changes here at the site and you will have noticed that we have not been as on top of things as we …

Hi guy’s and girl’s this going to be a difficult piece to write but it is time that we cover it. Some of you may have noticed that the site went a bit quiet over the last few weeks. This has been due to a unforseen and devastating …

Each year I tend to sign off for a couple of days over Christmas to unwind. This year, for all of us, has been one to remember – and perhaps not for the right reasons. Things started off quite well at Coolsmartphone HQ. We’d put the final touches …

Forgive me for stepping back into the world of “personal blog” for a moment but many of you may remember my cancer diagnosis. The short version is that, in the space of a week, I went from feeling fine to being told that I was about to die. …

I have no way of linking this video to smartphones in any way. I just stumbled across it on YouTube and, although I know there’s some clever editing, a whole load of production and safety checks, it’s just so damned cool that I had to include it here. …

In the last two or three weeks I’ve had a massive life event which I cannot even try to make light of. I know you’re not here to read about cancer. If I was you, I’d be pretty apprehensive about even thinking about it. Nobody wants to think …

Hello everybody, after a brief period of time where I was being swamped by the other things going on in my life I have now returned to the site. I have unfortunately been one of the many victims of the unemployment caused by the “virus”. So I have …

Britain is now spending billions on Brexit. Those in charge and the British elite have now been given free reign – without EU oversight – to dodge tax regulations and to force businesses into spending £13 billion every year to continue trading with the EU. Those costs, of …

I’ve spoken previously about my annoyance with the selection of music available when you’re out and about. In the “old days” we’d perhaps get in the car and have a crummy selection of FM radio stations which all sounded very similar and very dull. Heart FM, Free Radio, …

Yesterday Donald Trump threw his toys out of the pram and signed an executive order aimed at removing some of the legal protections given to social media platforms. It came after Twitter highlighted that his tweet on mail-in voting might, like many of his other tweets, be complete …

Following the revelation that he’s taking the unproven drug hydroxychloroquine, and after calling nearly every verifiable fact a “hoax”, man-baby Donald Trump has now threatened to close down social media platforms. It came after Twitter dared to question the accuracy of the raging orange mentalist, as shown below… …

Some of you may have noticed that I have been less active on the site lately and now it is time to fill you in on the reason. I have taken on new employment and, with the demands of the job and learning new skills, it’s been all-consuming. …

As you may know, I’m trying to sweat it out at the gym right now. It’s a constant battle to just get up. A nice warm bed at 6AM, or a freezing cold gym with the music cranked up? Anyways, TCA approached me and said, “Hey can you …

Here’s how the different age ranges voted in the Brexit referendum… But here, by age, is how many actually voted.. If more of the “smartphone generation” had gone to the polls, things would have been so much different. But wait – the older generation will change your future …

During the last few years I’ve seen an erosion in trust of traditional media. I’ve seen politicians happy to see this happen and they’ve pushed hard with their “fake news” accusations, spreading their own “version” of what’s real. Now – with general election campaigning well underway, we’re being …

You may remember how I detailed just how much fake news we’re now reading. Printed newspapers are dying and, with smaller budgets, resort to padding out 5-line tweets. Pinch a tweet, add a few random paragraphs, don’t bother with any fact-checking and watch the click-bait money coming in. …

Whilst obvious to many. Using a phone when you’re driving a car, bus or truck is never cool. Here in the UK it’s been illegal to use the phone at the wheel for some time, but some drivers have managed to hop through a legal loophole to escape …

I write about this topic fairly regularly because the internet gives you strange mixture of perspective and pessimism about well, everything really. Real journalism, journalism that costs money and takes time, is dying. Real printed newspapers are seeing their circulation falling off a cliff, and with the internet …

Don’t get me wrong, part of me likes the whole “instant nature” of being able to grab a cab, an Uber, a meal or a cinema ticket on your phone. When I was on holliday this was helpful when trying places to eat as we could book a …

In my spare time, or when I’m writing articles for this site, you can find me listening to music. Whether it’s via MixCloud, SoundCloud, Spotify or YouTube, there’s a lot to choose from. I’ve written this site for over 17 years now and I remember how I used …

Even if you aren’t a follower of all things interesting, technological and mobile, there’ll little chance that you aren’t noticing the ongoing spat between China and the U.S, with Huawei phones using Android being a casualty. Huawei has been going from strength to strength over the past few …

This was going to be a look at a slightly bizarre gadget. However, I’ve lost all concept of the word “bizarre” nowadays. To be honest here in Britain we’re so far down the rabbit hole right now, everything else kinda seems normal. Boris Johnson? Seriously? The guy flat …

I was very lucky today that, thanks to David Wildman of Btekt, I was able to spend the afternoon with a Tesla Model X in stunning blue. The car is a true technological marvel, and it’s fair to say that I was very impressed with all the gadgetry and …

Things are moving uncomfortably quickly here in Britain. It doesn’t matter whether you voted to Leave or to Remain, this mess is not what anybody was promised or expected. The situation, as I type, is that the “Theresa May Deal” is to come back, for a third time, …

On a daily basis you’ll find that, like many people, I’m wearing a fitness band. It doubles as a watch / notification device and the battery lasts for quite some time. You’ll no doubt be familiar with devices like this – they’ll keep track of your step count, …

It’s true. With Tim Berners-Lee recently stating that the world-wide web is in a “downward plunge to a dysfunctional future”, there’s doubts about how much we can trust what we read. Data can be manipulated, misinformation can spread easily and it’s skewing the results of elections and referendums. …

The NSPCC has today revealed that sex offenders are grooming more children on Instagram more than any other online platform. In 32% of the recorded police incidents, Instagram was used to send sexual communication. It was closely followed by Facebook, which was used in 23% of the tim. …

I’ll jump into this once more, but in reality I’m fighting a losing battle. As we’ve seen in recent years, people have started to believe any old crap. Facebook and other social media sites now seem to be the font of all knowledge, despite them usually being a …

Hello again. Now, you may remember, in years past, how I tried to fill the lengthy commute with some music that I’d actually enjoy rather than the bilge that was being offered on my car radio. It was a fair few years ago now, so I had a …

A lot has been said in recent days about children and mobile phone use. A number of recommendations have come out, ranging from banning mobile phone use in schools, limiting screen time and banning phones at the table. In all honesty, it can be tricky. Parents secretly like …

Brexit is an unmitigated clusterfuck. I’ve never, in my life, seen something handled so badly. The referendum was full of lies and illegal spending. Money came from off-shore and, with media organisations living in a world where clicks matter and truth does not, people were sucked in by …

People of the world, I’ve been doing this for almost 17 years now. Writing about smartphones started as a mad hobby and has slowly taken over my life. I have the privilege of talking to you lovely lot though, and that does tend to keep me going 🙂 …

So, as you’ll know, I smashed my last phone in quite a spectacular way. It fell out of an open-sided bus and I’m still trying to find someone clever to actually repair the thing, or at least get the precious photos of it that I took (and sadly …

I love Honor kit. Well specced, well priced. Check my Honor 8X review as an example. I love this phone and should have given it back by now. But haven’t. Anyway, on Saturday Honor unveiled their new logo and asked the Twittersphere if they liked it. Thing is. …

I started off with a Spectrum 48k. That’s how I walked into the world of geek. Then, after I’d worn down the keys by playing “Daley Thompson’s Decathlon” I managed to save and got an Amiga 500. Just look at it. 512KB of RAM (yes, KB, not MB!) …

I get it, I really do. I get that a manufacturer will build slightly different products for different markets. There are different LTE bands to consider, and maybe the charger will be different. You may even want to change the packaging, depending on how big of a push …

Yesterday Amazon bid and won the rights to show 20 Premier League matches a season for three years from 2019. Another 20 games were purchased by BT Sport for £90m, whilst Sky Sports shows 128 of them. I’ll start at the top of this story by stating that …

Over the years I’ve grown to love the Huawei and Honor handsets. Right now I have the Honor 9 and it’s a fantastic device for the money. Great camera, great performance and great looks. Love it, I really do. Trouble is, there’s one thing it won’t do. For …

Yesterday I was allowed to leave the confines of Coolsmartphone Towers and escape into the depths of London for a few hours. During my brief sojourn into the real world, I was able to attend a small gathering of phone enthusiasts and bloggers (okay it wasn’t that small, there …