Category: General

Google Maps – Now with a speedometer

I’m probably going to open up a whole can of worms here, but your car speedometer, some of the time, isn’t right. For the most part, it only needs to be accurate to within plus or minus 5 mph at 50 mph. Here in the UK the law …

Vodafone 5G – Mobile gaming on test

The new, faster 5G network will, when combined with connected gaming, create a whole new world of mobile games. Vodafone have tested their 5G network in Birmingham with Gaming Expert, “Syndicate” and has been checking out some of the cloud-based games from Hatch. The new, faster 5G network …

Xiaomi ROIDMI NEX Incoming. More suck. Added mop!

Last year we reviewed the rather cool ROIDMI cordless vacuum cleaner. We did it in two parts, here and here. Put simply, it’s a high-powered lightweight vacuum (available on Amazon UK and Amazon US) with a 2500mAH battery, multiple attachments and Bluetooth connectivity. You can use it as …

Xiaomi Announce the Mi Smart Band 4 coming to Europe

In continuation of my current obsession with all things wearable, I have just seen that Xiaomi has announced their latest Band product in the form of the Mi Smart Band 4. This is a departure from the previous designs in that it now has a full-colour AMOLED display. …

Alexa will now make calls for you

If you’ve got yourself an Amazon Echo and you’re a Vodafone customer, this is definitely for you. Customers can now make or receive hands-free calls through Amazon Echo with your existing mobile plan. All you need to do is link your mobile number to your Alexa account. This …

Sky Mobile adds free unlimited data for all customers this weekend

Last year in the UK we experienced an absolutely stunning summer. This year, however, it’s done nothing but rain. Sky Mobile customers can at least drown their sorrows this weekend (June 15th and 16th) because the network is giving away unlimited mobile data. Sky Mobile customers can stream …

Played Fortnite recently?

If you haven’t, you probably know someone who has. The game has not only exploded across gaming platforms, but it’s remained “sticky”, with players coming back again and again to play. On your smartphone though, you may be playing a very similar game – PUBG Mobile. This has …

Hyundai testing the transmission of injury information after collisions

We’ve seen cars which auto-dial emergency services when they’re in accidents, but now Hyundai is working on a system which will send across details of the injuries sustained in road traffic accident. All within just within seven seconds of a crash happening. They’re working with a company called …

Three announces 5G launch date, complete with loads of spectrum.

It’s the “Need for speed” according to Three, and they’ve announced that their 5G network will arrive in August. By then there’ll be just London, but things look to be spinning up very quickly, with 25 towns and cities going live by the end of this year. Using …

TicWatch Pro reduced for Fathers Day

So you may have seen the TicWatch Pro unboxing that I posted a few days ago, and thought that might be a good present for your dad – or maybe you just fancied one yourself. Well, the good news is that if you fall into either of these …

No, really. That IS the new BT logo

I was actually emailed by a number of people after we ran the BT logo story. Some thought it was a joke. No people. It’s very, very real. Costing (apparently) almost £1 million, it’s been ridiculed on social media as you can see above, but – after £50 …

More Samsung Galaxy Note 10 Leaks Emerge.

Yet more leaked images have emerged of the highly anticipated Samsung Galaxy Note 10, and these latest renders have come from Steve Hemmerstoffer and 91Mobiles. Looking like a change in direction for Samsung’s Galaxy Note lineup, the upcoming flagship ditches the horizontal camera setup found on previous devices …

Groov-e Launch Wireless SoundBuds With Assistant.

Here at Coolsmartphone Towers, we have reviewed Groov-e headphones on a few occasions, and have always been impressed with the sound quality at their competitive price point. Today Groov-e has announced their latest product; the SoundBuds. The SoundBuds feature a ” push to talk feature” which give users …

TicWatch Pro – Unboxing

I have been testing the TicWatch S2 for the past few days whilst I have been away on holiday and I have been mightily impressed with it in general. There has however been one thing that has been slightly annoying me and that was the battery life of …

VOXI add more data to plans

New and existing VOXI customers have now had more data added to their plans. The network runs on (and is part of the) Vodafone network and they’ve boosted the £10 package from 6GB to 8GB, the £15 package has gone up from 15GB to 20GB and let’s not …

Compared – 4G vs 5G

There’s no doubt about it, 5G is going to make an amazing difference to your data speeds. The throughput is astonishing and we’ve seen examples of entire movies being downloaded in seconds. There is, though, two very important changes that 5G will cause. The first, rather obviously, is …

Top Instagram hashtag tips for social media managers

Are you heading up the social media part of your company? Gone are the days of just casually putting some posts on Facebook. Now you have to come up with really innovative ideas to promote your brand name. In addition to Facebook, there’s also Twitter, YouTube, Instagram and …

Earning rewards through exercise

I seem to be the only person I know who doesn’t get a great deal of surveys from Google Opinion Rewards. The app, for those who aren’t aware, delivers quick surveys to you. Once you answer one, you’ll get some Google Play Credit. I’ve got 92p so far, …

Universal Translator – One Step Closer With Pocketalk

Today saw the launch of Pocketalk. It’s a portable, AI-powered instant voice translation device which is able to seamlessly translate 74 (at present) languages bidirectionally in real time, making it easy for users to understand others and be understood by others. The Global SIM embedded, “Built-in Data” model …

Honor 20 Pro – Hands on

So, the launch has happened and it’s now time to get up close and personal with the Honor 20 Pro. Now, before we get into this fully, I would like to thank Ricky West from TechTalk. He has provided us with the close-up shots of the device. I …

Honor 20 Pro announced

Today we have had the pleasure of being in London again. This time Honor have announced their very handset. This phone is actually part of a new collection of phones called the “Honor 20 Series”. Within the series, there will be a Pro version, a Standard version and …

EE – Down for whatever

If you’re an EE customer then you could be having problems making and receiving calls right now. Problems appear to have started at 8 this morning and have progressively got worse as the day has gone on. EE have just added this update to Twitter… https://twitter.com/EE/status/1130811180723970048 …which has …

PuroQuiet™ active noise cancelling children’s headphones

As a father of two and as someone who has listened to far too much rock ‘n’ roll over the years, finding headphones suitable for my kids is not as easy as you might think. Before World Hearing Day in March this year, the World Health Organisation (WHO) …

Honor 20 Series live stream

We are on the ground at the Honor 20 Series launch event and will be doing our best to update you as we on our Twitter account. However, as is the case at the major event’s reception is normally patchy at best. If you want to follow along …

Following years of work, here’s the new BT logo. Err..

They say that less is more, but this is possibly taking things to the extreme. This simple logo is to be the new branding for telecommunications giant BT. Work started back in 2016 on this one, which appears to be not much better than my own logo design …

Network operators to provide end-of-contract alerts

It’s something we don’t like you guys doing. Paying too much for a phone or a mobile contract is just wrong. So, if you sign up for a contract, ensure that you move at the end of the deal, because continuing to pay is just bonkers. The reason? …

Virgin Mobile service restored after sizeable outage

Yesterday many customers of the MVNO, which runs on EE masts, found themselves unable to use the network fully. Problems seemed to be pretty wide-ranging, and included making calls, sending text messages and using mobile data. The network took to social media late last night too blame a …

Vodafone 5G to go live on July 3rd

No additional cost and 5G roaming into four European countries, it’s all to come on Vodafone and they’re the network to announce a go-live date. The company will be switching on the new 5G service for all their customer on July 3rd, which is just over 7 weeks …

Three to range OnePlus handsets

Next week will see the launch of the new OnePlus 7 Pro. It’s already slipped out and you’ll be able to play with the thing yourself at a range of pop-up events. However, today we’re hearing that Three UK will be picking up the “OnePlus premium smartphones” very …

The Vodafone Connected motorhome

Over the years we’ve had a couple of mobile HQ’s. In Barcelona we’ve reported from a boat and also from this rather epic camper. Now Vodafone are getting in on the act, adding lots of the their clever connected technology into a motorhome. Vodafone employee Dirk Ellenbeck created …

Huawei P30 Lite now available at Vodafone

If you want a lot of phone for not much cash, the new P30 Lite could well be on your radar. We’ve covered it last month and you can buy the handset direct from places like Argos or Amazon for £329.95. You can also get it from O2, …

Start your DJ career with a DJ Mini Mixer

In my head I’m a talented DJ like Fatboy Slim. Sometimes I try the djay 2 app on my phone and the results are, well.. mixed. Now, however, you can get the app running on two phones and use this Mini Mixer to switch between the two devices. …

Sitting down? Why? Work standing up!

I sit in an office for the best part of the day. Let’s face it, being parked on your posterior isn’t healthy. However, if you drive a computer all day you can choose to stand up instead. So, you just need to buy an entire new desk right? …

Huawei update the P30 series

I have been testing the P30 Pro for a few weeks now and in that time I have been very impressed with the phone. In particular, what the camera can do. There was, however, one piece of the phone that wasn’t yet available despite being shown off at …

Anker Powerport+ Atom III anounced

Anker has for a long time been working to make charging our devices easier and faster. They have also been striving to make their chargers more universal by utilising their IQ technology in the universal chargers that they make. For someone like myself who is always on the …

Diggit XL Bluetooth speaker. Ideal for your outdoor adventures

I went camping this weekend and, as usual, took a fairly rugged outdoor speaker. However, after seeing this new Diggit XL speaker pop into my inbox I’m fairly impressed by the helpful little addition – a stake. It’ll push into the sand or ground to keep the speaker …

Is this the best camera phone? Huawei P30 Pro – Review

The time has come, the testing has been done, the verdict is brewing. Is the phone I currently hold in my hand the best camera phone of 2019, and is it worth you shelling out nearly £1000 for one? These are the two questions I intend to attempt …