Category: Gadgets & Tech

The Stratus – A wireless gaming controller to get your thumbs twerking

So, we’ve got really good mobile games and we’ve got the odd Android-powered console that plugs into your TV. The latter hasn’t quite taken off as yet, but how about a wireless controller for your iPhone? One that’ll give you the classic gaming experience? This is the Stratus, …

LG announces wearable technology

LG today announced a pair of wearable technology; the Lifeband Touch and the Heart Rate Earphones.   The Lifeband Touch is a wearable band that clips onto your wrist in a similar way to the Jawbone Up or Nike Fuelband. It is designed to monitor the users activity …

Tough on microbes, gentle on primates

Hands up who washes their hands after using their smartphone? What about, who uses an antibacterial screen cleaner or wipe on their smartphone or tablet? Anyone, anyone at all? Given that the average smartphone has more germs on it than the average toilet seat it might be worth …

Android App Review – Skiplock

If you’re using today’s super powerful smartphones like me, you are now carrying everything in your pocket, your bank details, your social networks and normally some irreplaceable photo’s of loved ones. So your phone should have some kind of password/PIN/pattern/facelock protection to stop unwanted eyes to getting to the …

Nvidia unveils the K1 chip at CES

Nvidia have started CES a little early by announcing the K1 family of chips for mobile devices. However, they won’t just be in mobiles, they will also be appearing in 4K TVs, consoles and cars (more on those later). The K1 is Nvidia’s attempt to reclaim lost market …

Keeping ahead of the scammers

Yes, I’ll confess to watching a TV show about scams last night. A lot were scams that you’re probably already aware of, such as the card skimmers on cash and ticket machines and 419 scammers trying to fool you out of your money. However, I’d not heard of …

Christmas, online.

The festive season is definitely a good time to “people watch”. On Christmas Day you’ll see tablets and smartphones getting unwrapped and, as the new owners get online, you’ll see a surge of traffic onto major websites around the internet. This year and last I have witnessed a …

Can you fall in love with your phone?

Yesterday I went to watch the Harry Hill Movie. It is, I’ll confess, utterly insane. The kids seemed to like it, although there weren’t a great of laugh-out-loud moments. I was just utterly puzzled about the whole thing and how on earth it had got into a movie. …

New Advanced 3G Dongle on Three UK

When it comes to data access in the UK, many customers flock to Three due to their great pricing and high data allowances. Oh – plus the fact they have a very fast DC-HSPA network offering 3G speeds of up to 42Mbps. This new dongle, made by ZTE, …

Nokia Lumia 1520 unboxing

The day has come when Nokia will stand up and be recognised as a force to be reckoned with. This stance comes in the form of the stunning Lumia 1520. This large (there is no hiding it really) phone is the one that has been designed to bring …

Tease me tease me Oppo

Some more images of the rumoured Oppo R1 have surfaced. This time they are hands on from an anonymous source. GSM Insider picked up some images from Weibo they come below. Rumoured specs to go with the images are that the device will include an 8 MegaPixel Camera, …

British Airways to allow use of gadgets during takeoff/landing

British Airways is to become the first European airline to allow the use of electronic devices, including phones and tablets, during take-off and landing. Thus bringing the end to a 1960’s ruling. The decision was approved by the British Civil Aviation Authority according to a BBC report, and follows an earlier relaxation …

Phone Zombie takes an unexpected dip

My lunch break has become increasingly interesting in recent years. I meet new people and literally bump into them as I head out to grab a sandwich. It’s the “phone zombies” – those people who walk down a street staring at their phones. They put walking and avoiding …

Samsung officially announces GamePad

The GamePad will launch in European markets for Android phones between 4-inches and 6.3-inches, and be compatible with devices running Jelly Bean or higher with Bluetooth 3.0. It goes without saying special attention has been made to Samsung phones, and the “most convenient features optimized for Samsung Galaxy devices running …

The Binatone Brick – now just £29.95 SIM Free

Coolsmartphone veterans will no doubt remember our review of The Brick. It’s a lightweight version of the large mobile phones we walked around with in the 80s. It’s SIM-free and was £50 when we included it in our festive gift guide. How’s less than £30 sound instead? If …

Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 7-inch under £120 at Amazon UK

If you’re looking for a good deal on an Android tablet for someone this Christmas, then Amazon might be worth a look. Currently you can pick up the white Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 7-inch for just £119.99. Sure, it’s not going to set your pants on fire, but …

Fisher-Price go insane. Strange iPad baby contraption now available

Spending time with your new-born baby. What more could anyone ask for eh? Those precious moments when your child smiles for the first time, or looks at you with those innocent eyes. Ahhhh… ..well, if you’d like to strap your baby into a seat and distance yourself totally …

LG announce the marriage of Smartphone and Smart TV

Let’s talk Smart TV’s shall we? They’re pretty rubbish aren’t they? I bought one of these, thinking I’d be sitting there with my 3D glasses on watching some movies on Netflix or videos on YouTube. However, by the time the clunky interface has booted and you’ve sat through …

Christmas Gift Guide 2013: RHA MA-600i

Shopping days are running out rapidly, panic buying will soon be setting in.  The festive period is nearly upon us and all of the shops are playing that peskily annoying Christmas music that we have all heard a million times before.  The old ladies are saying “Oooo I …

Qualcomm announces LTE for the masses

Chipmaker Qualcomm has announced its new Snapdragon 410. The new SoC chip is to be sub £200 bringing LTE technology to the budget line of handsets as well as the flagship devices. Bringing with it 64-Bit power, built on a 28nm manfacturing process, coupled with the Adreno 306 …

USB to go topsy-turvy at last

Just a short while ago we had various handsets and roughly four thousand different types of charger. Some of you might still have an old Nokia, and you may be familiar with the, “charger hunt” as you search drawers and desks for “one of those with a small …

Shoppers seek spontaneous splurges

As we head towards Christmas we’re getting sent a number of surveys which relate to the festive season. Today it’s a shopping survey which reveals that we’re more impulsive when using our mobile. Gone are the days of shopping in actual shops and, instead, people are trying “showrooming”. …

Are we failing the next generation?

Many months ago I watched this YouTube video showing a baby using an iPad. The baby seems to have grasped the iPad interface pretty well, but is then presented with a magazine. Expecting it to work the same, they tried to swipe the pictures around the magazine. Sure, …

Nokia Coloud Boom headphones – Review

Yellow is the new white ok, in my world it is anyway. So imagine what I thought when I saw the new Nokia Coloud range of Lumia colour matching headphones, I was excited as there are three different headphones to choose from. In the end I went for …

An affordable smartwatch – the Go Watch

Hey you. Want to buy yourself a watch? Fancy getting yourself one of those clever smartwatches? How’s £109 sound? I know! Good right? This is the Go Watch. It’s actually powered by Android 4.3 and there’s a whole developer portal where apps can be published out. The 1.54″ …

Looking for a gift idea this Christmas?

The festive season is about to hit us head-on, so if you’re looking for present ideas you’ve come to the right place. In the last few weeks we’ve already added a number of reviews and features, but there’s more to come. If you’ve missed the ones we’ve published …

Testing my sobriety .. with a smartphone

With the festive season fast approaching it’s important to remember that drinking and driving really don’t mix. For those that have had a few the night before, or who’s job requires regular testing, there’s now a new breathalyser which is small enough to hang off your keys. Not …

Hey Google, you missed a trick

Those Google Streetview cars have definitely given us all a valuable new tool. TV shows and news broadcasts always tend to use the Streetview images to get a quick visual and they supplement the existing top-down maps very well indeed. Sure, there was a fair amount of controversy …

Samsung ad ends up being a bit pants

Samsung don’t appear to share my huge dislike of that media-hungry do-anything-for-fame “artist” called Miley Cyrus. They’ve recently mentioned her in an advert for their Samsung Galaxy Gear smartwatch. The picture, as you can see below, shows a pair of pants and relates to Miley and her semi-clad …

Driverless cars that work with your smartphone

If you drive up the M6 between Junction 11 and 14 you’ll see how this particular stretch of motorway is being converted to a “managed” road. What this means is that cameras will be fitted along the motorway and your speed will be tightly monitored and controlled. It …

Lenovo announce The Vibe Z with Snapdragon 800 and dual-SIM unveiled

Lenovo has announced a new smartphone the Vibe Z. It’s got a decent high end spec using the mighty Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 quad-core CPU, 2GB of RAM, an Adreno 320 GPU, a 5.5 – inch 1080p display, a 13-megapixel f/1.8 dual-LED flash camera and a 5-megapixel front facing snapper. …

The Brick – Hands on

Remember when all mobile handsets were huge? Do you remember the big hairstyles from the 1980’s? Leggings? Yo-Yo’s? Wham? Aha? A short while ago we spotted this, which is suitably named “The Brick”. It’s designed to look like those early mobile handsets, but with a couple of key …

Gadgets in flight. Now they can go all the way.

Flying with a smartphone or tablet is always a confusing affair. In some parts of the world you can use gadgets during certain parts of the flight, but in others you can’t. It’s a slightly confusing mish-mash of rules, but now US aviation regulator – the FAA – …

Motorola looks to be developing a Phonebloks-style phone

Recently you may have seen the Phonebloks idea, which basically involved a lego-style phone that you connected together and replaced depending on what you wanted or what had broken. Repairing phones, even though they cost as much as your TV, usually means a direct swap of your handset …

Follow my bra.. on Twitter..

Lads, lads, lads. Calm down now. Yes, it’s a bra. Yes, there’s a video below but it’s all in a good cause. It’s to remind ladies to take their monthly breast exam and, when it’s unhooked, it’ll send out a tweet to the twitter.com/tweetingbra Twitter account via a …

Show me yours and I’ll show you mine. It’s 27 feet wide

Y’know, some people think I’m bonkers, but I just think I’m free. I’m just living my life, there’s nothing crazy about me. Now I’ve given you a personal insight into my life, come and have a look at my 27 foot-wide Windows Tablet. I wake up everyday, it’s …

Chromecast App available in the UK, is Chromecast imminent?

Google released the Chromecast in the US back in July where it has been rather well received and as such it is a point of consternation that it cannot be obtained worldwide direct from Google. That however could be about to change, at least here in the UK, …

Get yourself a proper classic telephone, with something extra

Many, many years ago people used these things to make calls. People used to have them on special telephone tables in their hall. Think back to your childhood and you might perhaps remember one sat next to a tub of pens and some paper. To make calls you …

HTC working on a smartwatch and possibly even a tablet?

It seems like an age since HTC ventured into tablet territory, the last effort was the long forgotten HTC Flyer. Sadly it was the company’s one and only tablet, and HTC stated that they would only return if they could develop a tablet that would “shake up the …