Category: Gadgets & Tech
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. …
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 …
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 …
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? …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
The BBC has analysed NHS data which shows an continuing increase in sleep disorders in children under 14. In the last decade hospital attendances have tripled and ten times more prescriptions are being written out to help kids get off to sleep. The reasons? Well, it’s not all …
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 …
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, …
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 …
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? …
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 …
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 …
Spring is coming and as such it is time for us to get out into the wild and explore our beautiful countryside. Now that is fine if it is just you and some friends or family. However, if you have small children, then you may find it somewhat …
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. …
Our house was built in 1975. Heating back then was fairly straightforward, if a little inefficient. For years though, things stayed pretty much the same. Sure, boilers got a bit better, but you’d still have the same pipework and the same radiators. In recent years things have really …
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 …
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, …
Let me set the scene for you. As I mentioned just a short while ago, I’ve got an Audi A4. It’s an entire decade old and I’ve absolutely nailed it into the ground. I’ve not taken a great deal of care of it and have failed to service …
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 …
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, …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
Over three years ago now we reviewed these Hyundai sunglasses. They had a “hidden” camera up front which meant that you could secretly record “stuff”. I tried it on a summers evening whilst cycling and the results were a little low-quality and bumpy. However, fast forward to CES …
Think your microSD card is big enough? Think again. Over in Las Vegas, SanDisk have just revealed their new 256GB Ultra microSD card. It boasts transfer speeds of up to 95MB/s and you can have the additional storage it provides presented as preferred or adoptable storage on Android. …
Christmas is over for yet another year but, over the New Year too, you’ll probably be keeping in touch with friends and relatives. The modern way to do this, even for those who aren’t technically familiar, is via a video call. On Android you’ll probably be using Skype …
Back in March at the Gadget Show Live event, I got to meet the Gamevice team where they introduced me to their Gamevice Live adapter for the iPad. At the time, they didn’t have an adapter for the iPad Air until the past couple of months. The adapter …
Having a security camera on your house can be a good and bad thing. Sure, you can keep an eye on things, but it’s also a sign that you want to keep something protected, and thieves might target your house because it’s got cameras hanging off it. So …
Yesterday we mentioned the new high-speed internet which has arrived in Hebron, courtesy of Three UK. The network gave away free “Home-Fi” routers to residents so that they could at last get the fast broadband they’ve long needed. We didn’t know at the time what make the routers …
You may have noticed a bit of a “theme” developing on Coolsmartphone this week, and it’s all to do with movie watching. Yes, you can watch TV and sports events too, but there’s a definite battle going on for your eyeballs right now. If you pay for cable …
So. I’m not totally sure where to begin with this one. I’ll sum it up in one sentence if I can. It’s a camera that you stick fairly low down on your wall that will let you video call your dog. Yeah. Not only that, but if you …
Back in the “old days” we used to have photos on film. We then sent them off to get processed and we’d get them back on nice paper and we’d put them into albums. Now, we have smartphones and we have our photos stored either in a “cloud” …
Unless you’re trying to use the M6 Toll, a lot of places will now let you pay for stuff using your phone. With 1 in 5 payments now made via contactless, it seems to be the future. Transactions of up to £30 can be “tapped” and won’t need …
