Category: Gadgets & Tech

Samsung to release curved display on a smartphone

OLED (Organic LED) televisions with curved screens were first demonstated at CES in 2012 and the technology has hit the market this year for anyone with curved walls to buy. Samsung have confirmed that they will be releasing a smartphone based on the same technology with a plastic …

Amazon announces Kindle Fire HDX tablets

Amazon has announced two new Kindle Fire HDX tablets, one with a 7-inch 1920×1200 screen and another with an 8.9-inch 2560×1600. These screen sizes and resolutions are enough to give Google’s Nexus tablets a run for their money, and their 2.2GHz Snapdragon 800 SoCs and 2GB of RAM …

Have mobile phones stopped evolving?

There is, if we’re honest, a bit of a problem with phones now. They’re all a little bit too good. Personally, sitting here, apart from making me a cup of tea or driving me to work, I can’t think of much else that I want my phone to …

Happy Birthday Android

I can’t believe it’s been nearly half a decade since I got my hands on the the HTC G1, and I’ve been hooked ever since. Today marks the 5th anniversary of Android. The initial release was on September 23rd 2008 and we covered the launch and the new …

iOS 7 waterproofs your device.. erm…Not.

A fake Apple advert claiming the new iOS7 software makes iPhones and iPads waterproof has apparently fooled some users into destroying their devices. The “advert” circulating on social media sites claims that updating devices with the operating system installs a “smart switch” that cuts off the phone’s power …

Old-school cases for your iPhone

If you intend buying a shiny new iPhone 5s and want it to look really old then it’s simple. Just post it to me, I’ll scratch it to flip, crack the screen, install loads of apps and send it back. The best bit? I only charge £400 for …

A dock for every device you own

Looking through the crowd funding site Kickstarter I think my prayers have been answered with the Everdock. Well-made and nice-looking, universal docks that work with a variety of devices are hard to come by. The folks at FUZ Designs are hoping to solve that problem with EverDock. The …

Lifeproof iPad Mini case – Review

Sometime ago I bought myself a shiny new retina display iPad, lovely I thought, that was until my wife saw it. ..I no longer have a retina iPad. Then Apple released the iPad mini. Great, I thought,  I’ll treat myself, plus it will be easy to pop in …

Will a completely digital library really work?

A lot has been said about the digital library that has just opened up in Bexar County, San Antonio. There’s no real books and no encyclopedias. It’s more like an Apple store and is equipped with hundreds of 3M Cloud Library e-readers, 48 iMacs and 200 Nook e-readers …

Cars in the Cloud, Here has arrived.

Cars are becoming more clever by the day.  Head-up displays, 3G connected satellite navigation systems, Bluetooth connectivity and even self driving vehicles. As with our smartphones, we are demanding more and more from our vehicles and the onboard computers are only too happy to oblige.  From the PS3 …

Samsung Smartwatch Pictures Leaked

Venture Beat have leaked pictures of a prototype of Samsung’s upcoming Galaxy Gear smart watch. Leaked specs for the watch is said to be about 3-inches diagonally, with an OLED display and a 4MP camera and speakers built into the strap. On the function side, the watch is …

The Bluebo Beast – A Galaxy Note by any other name

Selling for around £137.34 from places like Ali Express, this is the Bluebo Beast B6000 MTK6589T. Yes, it does look a lot like a Samsung Galaxy Note. In fact, in the hands-on I was quite surprised at the build quality and speed of the device. It’s slightly thicker …

Worlds First 4x HD Display from LG

Here at Coolsmartphone Towers emails zip back and forth like ants in a jam jar.  A good 80% of those are from fellow writer Ronnie Whelan boasting about how good the display on his latest Oppo is. Well, Mr Whelan is about to be silenced as LG have …

Feed and watch your dog – from anywhere

“I’m a huge fan of your site”. Always a good start that. Well done PetziConnect. They launched an IndieGoGo campaign and had a goal of $30k. They’ve blown past that now and are at nearly $59k. What is it? Well, it’s a magical doo-hickey that’ll let you interact …

Beats looking to remove HTC involvement

When the Beats audio first starting appearing in HTC kit we saw, and still do, a lot of promotional material from HTC about the new sound technology. HTC at one point owned a 51% share of Beats, but that dropped down when Beats bought back 25%. A reported …

Sony DS-QX10 and DS-QX100 clip-on cameras manual leaks with specs

Earlier in the week we posted an intriguing article about a pair of clip-on 18MP optical zoom Sony camera attachments for mobile phones. We spoke about them at length on the podcast and couldn’t decide whether they were practical, silly, a hoax, or all three! Today we’ve got …

GlassUp – PayPal withholding start-up funds (Update)

Sometimes, just sometimes, PayPal decide to do something a little strange. Sometimes it seems that they’re gone to the Google School of Customer Service, where either no emails are responded to or rules are suddenly enforced that no-one was really aware of. Sadly this story involves those GlassUp …

You can’t see me…

We had a question from a reader why no-one seemed to be covering a transparent phone which promised to also allow the owner to build their own phone by selecting the processor, screen size, memory, camera almost as if you were building your own PC. Somewhat intrigued by the …

Wrappz – Personalised mobile phone cases, skins and covers

Come Padawan. Let me talk to you about something. Phones, as you’ll probably know, are ruddy expensive. I know you really, really don’t want to, but whacking a cover on your device is the best way to protect it. But hey, it’s boring isn’t it? A little bit. …

Ubuntu about to fall off the crowdsourcing edge?

Back in July we reported that the people at Ubuntu, the open-source operating system alternative to Windows or Apple, had launched a crowd-funding campaign (via Indiegogo.com) to create a new mobile phone called the Ubuntu Edge. This phone would showcase the newly developed Ubuntu phone OS and dual-boot …

Samsung Galaxy NX Android camera get UK price

Are you after a professional quality smart camera? Well the world’s first mirrorless Android powered camera with interchangeable lenses, the Samsung Galaxy NX, now has a price in the UK. I suggest you sit down… £1299.99 If you go to Jessops or Wex Photographic Warehouse werbsites and hand …

Xperia Z Ultra First Impressions

The day has arrived….. That magic day when you get your hands on with the object you have been lusting after since it was announced in all the glitz and glamour that go with product announcements. This device which is very firmly in the Phablet range with a …

Ubuntu Edge – a new phone and home computer?

The Ubuntu PC operating system has been around for a good while now, the free computer OS that is open source and helps make cheap pcs possible, especially for developing countries. They have been working on a smartphone OS for some time and now that work has been …

Buying your next phone – a third option

Let’s be honest, times are hard. The next smartphone you buy will probably be bought in one of two different ways. You’ll either get an unlocked phone or you can get a contract handset and sign up for two years or so. Getting out of that contract, by …

Review – The Snugg real bamboo wooden case

A case made of bamboo. It’s not something you hear of every day, but that’s what he people from The Snugg have loaned us. It’s currently £29.99 or $29.99 (don’t get me started on that currency conversion) and here’s a look at it. First up. Yes, it’s very …

TV viewing now involves a TV a lot less

A survey of 2,000 Americans has revealed that our TV viewing habits are definitely changing. The “Television and Advertising Survey” shows that more than a third (34%) of TV “viewership” is on a mobile device now. It also shows that 47% of Americans now watch TV programming on …

Break the seal and charge your phone

Batteries in phones are still a massive weak point in mobile phones and in Bristol they’ve started to really take the p*** with their new invention – a charger powered by urine. It all works by using microbial fuel cells which, when peed on, produces enough charge to …

Ultra Fast 64GB MicroSD Card

Global leader in flash memory storage solutions, and memory manufacturer SanDisk has a new product in their line of microSD cards, the SanDisk Extreme microSDHC and microSDXC UHS-I cards. These cards have been designed for users who need fast storage for their smart phone, tablet or camera, the …

Making money on the move

What do you use your smartphone for? Well, if you’re anything like me it’ll probably be to check Twitter and Facebook, perhaps the odd email. You may do some browsing and you may even upload photos to the web. However, why not use it for making money? In …

Sony Smart Watch 2 Available Next Week

Remember this link where we reported that the next version of the Sony Smart Watch is available for pre order with a delivery date of September.  The Web site Clove have announced that there are expecting stock on 15th July. The watch can be pre-ordered here from Clove …

Nokia Lumia 925 Wireless charging shell review

A rather nondescript envelope arrived at my house at the weekend. Now it had been a good night on the Saturday to say the least so I had forgotten arranging this delivery. With some trepidation as to what I may have bought in a Corona fueled haze I …

Top up your Sony Entertainment Wallet with your mobile

We received this email yesterday and it may be of interest to you PS3 owners out there. It basically means you can use your monthly mobile bill to top-up your Sony wallet. It is no doubt part of the preparation for the arrival of the PS4. Dear Sony …

Smartphones. What have we done to ourselves?

Hello Monday morning. This is a strange article for me, because it actually criticises the very thing I love and write about on a daily basis. The other day I was in Pizza Hut. Classy huh? I spotted two people come in and they sat directly in my …

Parrot Minikit Smart Bluetooth car kit – Review

The Parrot Minikit Smart car kit is more than just a mobile phone car dock. It’s intelligent, doing the same job as a Bluetooth enabled car. Will the £49.99 price tag save me the hassle of buying that Mercedes with the fancy stereo? Let’s hope so! Good Looks …

Do you text in sick? You’re not the only one

We’ve had an email from a company called Intercity Telecom. They’re trying to get us to mention their Orbit system, which lets you access your desk phone, mobile, instant messaging and email all in one place. A lot of companies do this, but they add a survey in …

Bluetooth-enabled gloves could see you speaking into your finger

Could this be the future of mobile communications? Could we all soon be wearing one glove like Michael Jackson? Well, it’s an idea at least, and one that has been thought up by Sean Miles of Designworks. He was approached by O2 Recycling to try and highlight possible …