Category: Gadgets & Tech

Fitbit activity tracker explodes on users wrist.

ABC News  is reporting on a woman in Wisconsin who’s been the victim of another exploding device. This time it’s a fitness tracker, and happened whilst the wearer – Dina Mitchell – was sitting reading a book. The Fitbit Flex 2 caught fire and explode, causing burns to her …

Galaxy S8 manufacturing costs revealed.

Someone who is far braver than I am over at IHS Markit decided to get hold of the latest flagship from Samsung the Galaxy S8 and take it apart to have a look-see what’s inside. While ferking around, they have decided to do a quick cost breakdown of …

Rejoice! It is World Record Day!

No, this isn’t a post about folk building the highest tower using Nokia 3310 handsets or how many phones they can throw at a cat. In fact, this is a day where we celebrate vinyl records. Yes, a little odd for a website dedicated to mobile phones! Well, …

Leophile Eel Bluetooth headphones now available in the UK too

Remember the Leophile Eel headphones we reviewed? I love the things. Bluetooth headphones that actually work. They’re comfortable, waterproof and stay in your ears properly. The sound isn’t bad either. I still wear them daily. Here’s me wearing them at the beach this morning.. Yes, that was a …

Apple to offer GarageBand, iMovie, and iWork, free to everyone

In the past if you wanted to get your hands on 3 of Apple’s biggest software packages; namely, iMovie, GarageBand, and iWorks (which includes Pages. Numbers and Keynote),  there were two ways. The owners of older Apple devices i.e. pre-2013 had to purchase the apps from the App …

Huawei P10 rugged cases available from Urban Armor Gear

If you’ve got yourself an iPhone or a Samsung Galaxy S7 you’ll find it relatively easy to find a case for it. However, if you’ve got a phone made by another manufacturer then it can sometimes be a little tricky to get hold of one. Take, as an …

Hermes testing robot deliveries

So, I’ll let you into a secret here. Getting hold of your eye balls and selling you something is a tricky job. So press teams up and down the land are always dreaming up ways of getting their client on pages like this. Here it’s delivery firm Hermes, …

Samsung Galaxy Note 7 to return as a refurbished device.

According to a statement released by Samsung Mobile, some of the ill-fated Galaxy Note 7 devices will be sold as refurbished devices. Samsung also has plans to salvage each other components such as cameras and semiconductors. In addition, they intend on extracting the metal parts from the remaining …

Yes, more Galaxy S8 leaks

If the rumor mill is to be believed, and take it from me it’s in full swing, the reveal of the latest Samsung flagship the Galaxy S8 is less than a week away. And to be honest, it’s pretty hard not to have seen a leak of the …

Venturer PrimePro 12 TS 2-in-1 notebook – Review

A short time ago I carried out a review of the EliteWin S 11KT mini 2-in-1 notebook. It was also created by Venturer, and you can view the full review here. Now the company have sent me through the their latest device, the PrimePro 12TS Good Points:  Good …

Headphones explode on user mid-flight

Using a battery powered device on a flight? It’s not just phones you need to be concerned with. In Australia authorities are now issuing warnings for powered headphones​. It comes after a passenger on a Beijing to Melbourne flight suffered burns and blisters as her headphones exploded mid-flight. …

The future is Perspex

Two devices have recently launched aimed at the sizeable retro, or nostalgia markets. One is the Nokia 3310, a kind of glossed-up redesign of a classic dumb phone, snakes and all, which was so popular and ubiquitous back in its day that even people who didn’t own one …

My phone is now held together with sticky tape

I like to think that I’m quite careful with my phone. I have an LG G5 at the moment and, although it’s perhaps not as nice to look at as some smartphones, I still prefer it to be case-free. Until yesterday I was quite proud of the fact …

Want to charge your phone? Just look in the mirror

Usual introduction to this. You know the story. Smartphone batteries aren’t great. We don’t want fat batteries, but at the same time we don’t want to be running back to a power point to juice the thing up every few minutes. So what are you going to do? …

A remote controller actuator. What could be greater?

So, I’m pretty geeky guy with the home automation gadgets. I started off with a Nest thermostat, which a lot of even my non-geeky friends are getting into. It’s a simple and clever way to save cash on your heating bills. Put simply, it knows when you’re not …

More Galaxy S8 info leaked – specs galore.

We’re approaching the rumoured Samsung Galaxy S8 flagship announcement, so here we go with some more Galaxy S8 info for the faithful and eager. This is currently believed to be March 29th with a date for pre-orders on the 10th of April. As usual, the internet is now …

MWC – Hands-on with the Arlo Go 4G mobile camera

This one is still on pre-order but you can get it first in the US for $449.99, then you’ll need to put a SIM card in. It’s a camera that will monitor movement and, if you want, live stream from anywhere with a 3G or 4G signal. Created …

EasyAcc Power Bank Review

At a whopping 20,000 mAh capacity, the latest EasyAcc Power Bank is a bit of a behemoth. I’ve been using one for the last couple of weeks and must admit it does exactly what it says on the tin; it provides a whole load of power in an …

MWC – A year on. FlexEnable and their bendy screens.

To be honest I was quite surprised that the flexible screens we saw last year are still being made on the same production line and not by a big smartphone manufacturer. FlexEnable tell me that they’re now looking to include their screen in factories, production lines and distribution …

MWC – The Deconnect Gloo

No! Don’t make me leave Barcelona! It’s warm and sunny here! OK so this one isn’t a smartphone, but it is a rather cool charging unit. You can charge it up and then unscrew the bottom to reveal charging points for your devices. Inside, depending on the model, …

New tougher mobile laws live today for drivers

Whether you’re a new driver or a more experienced one, it’s really worth paying attention to this. From today, if you’re caught using your mobile phone at the wheel in the UK, you’ll get 6 points on your licence and a £200 fine. New drivers who have passed …

Seriously Boston Dynamics. Stop now, you’re scaring us.

Those rather clever robot makers are getting a little too good at their job now. This latest robot is called “Handle” but look a little bit too “alive” for me.. What next? Will it start watching TV and reading books really quick like Johnny Five in Short Circuit? …

Remix OS is coming to your phone… Kinda

We here at Coolsmartphone like Remix OS. I have personally used it in the form of a tablet, and also a set top box. I have also seen a prototype of their next tablet (which sadly seems to have stayed as a prototype). Now along with their recently funded …

UPS Test Drone Deliveries

Things didn’t go all that well for the initial press event but it looks like courier firms are also looking to drones to help with parcel deliveries. This YouTube video shows how UPS are envisaging the process, with the drone able to assist the delivery driver on normal …

Microsoft hike Surface prices and blames Brexit vote

Following the Brexit vote last year, it appears that Microsoft has jumped on the “Let’s hike the prices in the UK and blame Brexit bandwagon“. It always intrigued me that in the past when we had a strong pound, we had the 1 dollar = 1 pound pricing. …

Beats X finally released in UK

A long five months after initially being announced at the iPhone 7 launch, Apple’s Beats X are now available in the UK. The new Beats X, designed by Dr. Dre of course, earphones are priced at £129.99 and are on sale now in white and black, although the black …

The Nintendo Switch – It’s coming!

My son and, to be fair, my wife, are both big Nintendo fans. My wife used to have a Game Boy Color and my son has gone through the Nintendo 2DS, 3DS, Wii and the Wii U. Even though he’s now moved onto the big world of Playstation, …

First look – The EBox T8 V Streaming TV Box – Version 5

We’ve received another Android TV box to test today so I thought I’d give you a quick overview as it’s an improved version of an already very popular box. This is from EntertainmentBox – it’s the EBox T8 V and is powered by an Amlogic S912 64bit octa-core …

Lenovo Yoga Book – Unboxing

It’s not that often that a device comes along that is truly a game changer. That is until now.  Today I had the pleasure of unboxing an item that in my opinion is truly groundbreaking, and could potentially change the game in its field. I am, of course, …

Using your phone whilst driving? Points and fines to double

Despite it being law for a number of years, people are still continuing to use their phone whilst driving. The RAC has released some rather worrying statistics from a recently commissioned survey. There’s been an increase in drivers owning up to using a handheld mobile phone – from …

Netflix now allows content to be saved to SD Card.

Remember some time ago we brought you the news that finally, Netflix was allowing customers to download some of their content and store it to the device?  The good news is that the latest update to the media streaming app allows content to be stored on the SD …

BeeLine – Cycle navigation made easy

I like the sound of this little doo-hickey. Just strap it to your bike and it’ll provide a simple guide to your destination. An arrow shows you the direction you need to be heading and below it’ll show how many miles remain. You can then make the best …

The paper aeroplane gun. I want one!

My brain works in strange ways. Last night, as is usual, I put my phone into “Airplane mode” before going to sleep. It’s a little habit I’ve fallen into because, deep down, I don’t trust that “silent mode” won’t silent my morning alarm too. So, I put it …

Who needs a drone? Get your packages delivered on this!

At Christmas my nephew had a drone. Just a few days later it seemingly latched onto another signal and, whilst he was flying it across a large local park, it decided to fly in one particular direction – never to be seen again. Part of me can understand …

Poweradd USB Rechargeable LED Bike Lights – Review

Yes, bike lights. Welcome to the never-ending list of stuff that we’re reviewing here on Coolsmartphone. I’m hoping that we’ll have some sports cars in next. These are LED lights. Back when I was a kid I’d have a huge battery in each of my bike lights and …

Huawei Mate 9 to get Alexa. Let’s test it.

Over the last few days I’ve been faffing about with the voice-controlled Amazon Echo Dot. It’s got an invisible lady inside called “Alexa” which will do your bidding. The device itself is a magical disc-shaped unit which will wake up and then answer your questions. It’ll also play …