Category: Gadgets & Tech
Back in the summer at the Samsung Unpacked press event in Berlin the Galaxy Note II and Ativ suite of Windows devices were announced in a flurry of excitement, but what they also announced on the same day was something they referred to as the ‘camera reborn’, the …
It’s fair to say that I’ve followed the mobile landscape for some time now. I sometimes forget that many of you may not remember a time before mobile phones existed, and some of you perhaps don’t even recall handsets without colour screens. Something struck me on a recent …
This is a topic that is close to my heart and with the announcement of the latest round of Lumia devices having this capability it’s back in the limelight! I wanted to just share my thoughts on a technology that isn’t really very new at all. I suppose the …
Yesterday was a little bit dominated by Everything Everywhere and their 4G announcement, but there was something else interesting announced yesterday and that was the VSD220. Viewsonic announced it back at MWC earlier on in the year. It is basically a mains powered 22″ 1080p tablet with a …
We’re all about the cool and funky here at CoolSmartPhone.com. It’s true to say we love a bit of innovation and being on the leading edge of news. But we also love the art of the possible and have stumbled upon what could quite possibly be the sexiest, …
Technology is all about the next big thing, so you should be upgrading your phones and tablets every month or so, right? Well, besides the sheer impracticality, most of us don’t have the budget to do that. So, how do you stay in touch without a second mortgage? …
Perhaps he’s got a little too much time on his hands. Perhaps he’s just a really big music fan. Either way, Bruce Willis, who featured in great films like “Die Hard” and utterly terrible ones like “Armageddon”, has apparently launched a legal battle against Apple. I know ! …
Samsung’s IFA event hasn’t even started yet. Already, part of it has been spoiled. Say hello to the Galaxy Note II. We expected that it would be coming along with Jelly Bean for the S3. We didn’t know much about it until now. The Samsung Galaxy Note II …
HTC devices have always had a premium cost, the quality of the craftsmanship has always made this mandatory when buying a HTC. This may no longer be the case if those Chinese sources are to be believed. It’s being talked about that HTC are planning to lower the …
CarphoneWarehouse and Expansys are now selling the Galaxy Note 10.1 Expansys models start at £404.99 for the Wifi only version (including delivery), whilst at CarphoneWarehouse the base 16gb model is £399.99 with free delivery. Expansys also have the 3G model for £484.99 including delivery. Links – CarphoneWarehouse and …
Last week on the podcast we touched upon our old phones and how little they did. We decided to document our history of mobiles. Over the next week or so a few of the writers here will publish something similar. Starting with me. My first ever mobile I …
The Exynos 5 is the new processor from Samsung and this is one very powerful System on Chip! The new chipset features a pair of Cortex-A15 cores for a new level of mobile power. The SoC itself is built on 32nm production techniques and this particular version rocks …
A WiFi Extender? Are we really going to review it? Yes we are. Last week I received an email like many others, advertising the Huawei WS320 WLAN Repeater. At first I went to delete it, I really couldn’t be bothered to get one and spend hours banging my …
The mobile security company Lookout have launched a new guide for parents whose children use or want a smartphone. The guide entitled “Generation Smartphone: A Guide for Parents of Tweens and Teens” has been produced in conjunction with The Online Mom and outlines the important steps that parents can take to prepare their …
The other week Jamie, Ravi and I were doing Podcast Episode 5 and as usual we were all just talking away. Jamie asked me how I felt the iPhone had changed the world (or something along those lines), I vaguely answered and added at the end of my …
TheVerge have posted pictures of an alleged iPhone 5, courtesty of one of the suppliers, ILabFactory. The device has all the features of the leaks we’ve seen previously, the centered FaceTime camera, the smaller dock connector, and the longer screen which will hopefully take it up to at …
You know what they say about third time lucky. Having made and then cancelled orders with Google and Currys, I decided to try my luck with Ebuyer yesterday afternoon as they were advertising the Nexus 7 as in stock and ready for delivery today. Roughly 16 hours later …
Take an Android phone or tablet with a powerful Tegra 3 CPU, 1GB of RAM and a HDMI outout. Now, take out the expensive high-resolution capacitive screen, the camera, the Bluetooth, GSM radio kit and battery. You’re left with something which costs a lot less to build. Put …
Earlier in the week I received a mobile phone to review. This isn’t unusual, but what I found on it was. There was a definite “pre-owned” feel to it. No, it wasn’t scratched. It wasn’t damaged in any way. Instead it had stacks of data on it. Someone …
5000 jobs are set to be axed by Blackberry maker RIM as the company announced a $518m (£334m) net loss in the three months to June 2nd. This, when compared to the $695m profit made in the same period last year, shows how the tide has turned. Sales …
For those of you who have a HP Touchpad, the Open webOS project came one step closer to fruition this week. The Open webOS team have released a package for the Touchpad that allows users to “learn how the TouchPad works, modify your TouchPad experience and then apply …
So, you have a quad core beast of a handset, and it seems a shame to contain all that power to one (admittedly rather large and beautiful) mobile phone display. Step in the official Samsung HDTV adapter for the Galaxy S3.. The included video demonstrates the capabilities of the …
NFC stands for Near Field Communication you may have seen it in shops now as contactless payment basically its a set of standards for smartphones that enables the transfer of data such as text or numbers between two NFC enabled devices. NFC tags, like stickers, key fobs or …
Following the recent releases of large screened super phones from the likes of HTC and Samsung there has been a lot of discussion over whether the mainstream phone market is ready devices of this size. So are we ready for larger screens? Well with the pre-orders for the …
The Gear4 StreetParty Size 0 is a small, thin and light speaker designed for ad hoc music listening. I’ve been using it over the last few days but is it any good? Read on to find out… The first thing I noticed when taking the Size 0 out …
As a CoolSmartPhone reader, there’s a very good chance you are already aware that on Monday, Microsoft announced their own Surface branded 10.6” Windows 8 family of tablets PC’s and accessories. Microsoft announced it at a surprising presentation. Not surprising that it was a tablet, more …
Just a few hours ago, as expected, Microsoft unveiled their own brand of tablets called “Surface”. They will be powered by Windows 8 and have 10.6″ (26.9cm) displays with built-in kickstands. They’re also built with magnesium cases, which Microsoft tell us are a first. You’ll be able to …
If any of you have heard the Coolsmartphone Podcast you will have noticed several of our writers mention the loss of a physical keyboard. Many moons ago I owned a Blackberry Bold 9700, the keyboard on the handset was fantastic, I seemed to type more and quicker. Now …
We here at Coolsmartphone are always on the lookout for new technology, technology that can enhance your lifestyle or make a job easier. One such technology that is currently looking for backing on Kickstarter is Plugbook, an innovative solution to the common problem of not having a charger …
Monday June 18, 3.30pm, A secret venue somewhere in Los Angeles. That is the time the Microsoft has set aside for a cloak and dagger operation where a big announcement is scheduled within which it is speculated that they will reveal their own branded tablet challenger to …
With the British summer becoming a bit of a wash-out, Vodafone have stepped up with a solution. It’s an umbrella. Sure, we’ve seen umbrellas before. I’ve got a collection of broken ones in the boot of my car, but none of those will act as a high-gain antenna …
We’ve had Ferrari and Asus, Porsche and Blackberry, and now the latest supercar manufacturer to enter the hi-tech world of computing and communications is Lamborghini! As well as a couple of rather lo-tech feature handsets, the maker of such classics as the Countach and the Aventador is launching …
LG has today revealed the worlds first “Full HD” handset screen. It is an Advanced High Performance In-Plane Switching LCD ith a 1920 x 1080 resolution. This means a pixel density of 440ppi and is equivalent to the resolution now found on most flatscreen TV’s. LG has been rumoured to …
NFC looks like the technology that has been slow to take off but that is now gaining momentum. After Samsung and Visa announced a tie up for the 2012 London Olympics, now Everything Everywhere and Stagecoach have joined forces in order to launch the UK’s first Government-standard commercial deployment …
Added to my rather long “I want one of those” list is the new Smart Wireless Headset Pro. This universal accessory offers premium stereo sound, MP3 player, FM radio and an Android remote that displays messages, caller names, media titles and more. You can even call a contact …
Three today announced their new budget version MiFi device, budget but just as good as the other HSPA+ MiFi on sale at the moment with the only real change being the display. Ignore that and you have a HSPA+ device which still allows for up to 21Mbs connections …
Reality check … is this true? Apple are readying a 4″ display on the next iPhone…. Well Reuters (and WSJ) appear to believe this to be true….. It is being quoted that production of the screens has already begun at LG, Sharp and Japan Display manufacturers…. we could …
Here we have a new entry into the market of audio accessories for mobiles and tablets. It comes in the form of a small cylinder about half the size of a drinks can, but with enough power to blow your socks off. So what is this almighty cylinder …
It seems odd to write a review for a solar powered product, based on the biblical amounts of rain we’ve had recently, but I’ve had this unit for a week or two and we did manage to have a little bit of sunshine during that time! The Eton …
The Olloclip falls into a category I’ve never reviewed or even used before. It’s a 3 function lense that clips over the camera on an iPhone 4/4S and adds three new functions, Wide Angle, Fish Eye and Macro. Read on for my thoughts and some sample pictures. The …