Category: General

Harman Kardon Bluetooth speaker – All-new Go + Play coming soon

Bluetooth speakers are available everywhere, but Bluetooth speakers that actually sound good? There’s not so many of those. Harman Kardon has tweaked their Go + Play speaker, with quad-drivers and “room-filling sound”. You connect to it like all other Bluetooth speakers, but then the Harman Kardon audio quality …

Bitcasa shuts their cloud storage offering

See? This is what gets me about cloud storage. You can spend hours, days, months and years uploading your treasured memories to an online drive, only for the provider in question to shut up shop. You’re then left scrambling around trying to find a new provider, or buying …

WiFi Calling on unlocked Galaxy S7 handsets

We love your mails. We love them. Lee Taylor has just got in touch because he’s got himself a Samsung Galaxy S7 edge from Amazon. Lucky him. He’s got £580 washing about and he’s bought himself a very swish smartphone indeed. Anyhoo.. once you’ve got one of these …

Spy Watch – Review

Check me out ladies. I got me a spy watch. I’m just like James Bond, but with an added belly and some questionable reasons for actually owning one. This, it has to be said, does exactly what it says on the tin. There’s two batteries inside – one …

EE to expand coverage further

EE have been in the news lately for their poor customer service. Today, they are back making (good) news, that of expansion and more UK customer service staff. The company is looking to clear away mobile black spots by extending its coverage across the UK’s soil or, in literal …

Choetech 3 port charger with Type C – Review

  The thing with new types of power standards and connectors is that you soon realise you need more than one charger, because all your old ones don’t fit your new phone or tablet. This is exactly the case with the switchover to USB type C socket for me, …

Netatmo Weather Station Review

The Netatmo Weather Station was reviewed back in early 2013. As technology improves I thought it would be a good time to look at the latest version of the Netatmo Weather Station to see how the product has developed. Especially as being British the start of every conversation …

YouTube starts live streaming 360 videos

As we all know, YouTube has been letting you watch and share 360 videos for a little over the year now. The search giant Google, which owns YouTube, is now going to start letting you live stream 360 videos, starting with California’s Coachella festival. In addition, it announced that videos …

OnePlus having a spring sale

Here at Coolsmartphone Towers we love a good bargain or two, and we have just had this land across our desk. If you an owner of a OnePlus device be it a OnePlus One, Two or X, head over to the OnePlus store. There’s discounts to be had …

Opera offering a free VPN for your secret web life

Opera browser has become the first to offer a free and unlimited VPN. Currently this is just available via the developer desktop version (direct download) to start with but will probably roll out to the full version soon. Opera is a minnow in the PC browser market but is more …

New data reveals contrast between Google Play and iOS app stores

Statistics can often be skewed to serve a particular purpose, but new data just released about the relative numbers of downloads and amount of money generated by the Google Play and Apple iOS app stores make for interesting reading.  The most obvious points from the above graphs, which …

Pebble Smartwatches down in price today

Fancy yourself a rather cool Pebble smartwatch? The entire range appears to have had a price cut today over on Amazon, where the Pebble Steel is down to £104.99 with a £4.09 delivery charge and the Pebble Time is down to £169.99. There’s other choices too, including the …

You’re only getting 4G 53% of the time.

According to a report published by OpenSignal and consumer watchdog Which?, smartphone users here in the UK only appear to get access to 4G data speeds for about half of the time on average. From the four UK networks tested, EE was found to have the best 4G …

Virgin Media – Data usage gets throttled

Would you class more than 3.5GB of monthly data as “excessive”? Well, Virgin Media doesn’t seem to think that. At least not when selling their SIM-only packages. As an example, you can buy a 4GB plan for £15 per month or an 8GB plan for £23 per month. …

Galactica – A VR rollercoaster reviewed

Way back in 2002 Alton Towers opened a ride called “Air”. It was their first ever “flying” roller coaster. You strapped yourself in and then the ride would tilt you forward, sending you face-down under footpaths, over trees and upside down. Some 14 years later, it’s still there. …

New Amazon Kindle – £270!!! – Enter the Kindle Oasis

Amazon has released yet another Kindle. This one’s the Bentley of them all, priced at £269.99 (What?! I see you ask with wide open eyes). Not only that, but the 3G version is £329.99 if you want to stay connected with all your expensive reading. This one is …

Wrike: Project Management Software for Mobile

Whether it’s a small task at home or a big assignment at work, Wrike’s project management solution has mobile apps to help you plan, organize, and collaborate so work gets done efficiently no matter where you are. Wrike’s online project management software has more than one million users …

Weekending – Just so we get this right..

Sorry. It’s Sunday though, so we’re allowed. Just to clear this one up. It’s Honor – For the brave.. ..and Doritos – For the Bold.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4R2RaOWb94 So that’s… Honor – For the Brave… Doritos – For the Bold.. OK. I’ve got that out of my system now. I’m …

Voda and EE at the bottom customer service scores

The latest Which Customer Service survey is out and two networks sit right at the bottom. 4,101 mobile customers were surveyed in February to compare the UK mobile networks.all the UK’s mobile suppliers. EE and Vodafone didn’t do well when it came to value for money or “ease of …

Grow your own weed, sell it and become rich

This awesome headline combined with creative gameplay makes growing weed something everyone can do, even if it is “just” a game! Now you can practice the cultivation and earning potential of your “empire” with Ganja Farmer, which is available for both iOS (over 17’s only) and Android (PEGI …

HTC 10 coming to Tesco Mobile

As you’ll have probably already heard today, Tesco Mobile have received some pretty high customer satisfaction figures. Not only that, but the network (which uses O2), is to offer up the HTC 10 with absolutely no upfront cost. All the plans below allow “Anytime Upgrade” as standard and …

Huawei VR headset incoming too

If you plan on getting yourself a Huawei P9 then perhaps consider the world of VR too. Whilst announcing the P9 and the P9 Plus at their Shanghai launch there was an unexpected addition – the Huawei VR. It look, and let’s be honest here, pretty identical to …

Are your kids on the phone too much? Try this, maybe..

I’ve been to America a few times. One of the first times I visited I paid a visit to a shooting range and made some comments on my personal blog about how, for a Brit, it was “different” to see kids with their parents firing live rounds on …

Milk VR From SAMSUNG

Milk VR, which has been knocking about for some time for the Gear VR headsets has now been published onto the Play Store for those who are able to download it. I say that because it only is available for a select few handsets. The likes of The …

Annke SP3 960P HD Wireless IP Camera – Review

We’ve head quite a few security cameras cropping up here at Coolsmartphone. This one is from Annke and you can control and move it from anywhere via your smartphone. First up, the plus points. Although you’ll spot an ethernet port on this, it connects very easily via WiFi …

iFit Classic has hit the UK market!

Last week we got to see the iFit Duo and Exec which are out Summer 2016 and Summer 2017 respectively, however we did see a glimpse of the iFit Classic. This is the first iFit smartwatch in the UK with the fashion and fitness blend as well as …

BBC launch iPlayer Kids app

If, like me, you have a little one in the house, you’ll know what a minefield it is keeping them safe while letting them having access to the internet. My little boy loves to watch people gaming on YouTube, but sometimes what appears to be a suitable clip …

EE TV Update goes wrong, new features rolled back

Customers of the EE TV service already have a few questions. Will BT TV eventually replace their box? Perhaps. More importantly though, where’s the promised March update? It’s still not here, and customers aren’t happy. The update is pretty promising, and the promised new features are very appealing …

Netflix price increase for long-term subscribers.

If like me, you have been a Netflix subscriber for quite some time, there is a good chance you’re paying a cheaper rate than new subscribers. This is because the company agreed to freeze your monthly subscription till May 2016. Well, believe or not, that date is now …

Blackberry to launch two more Android handsets

Well it’s looks like the death knell is well and truly ringing for the Blackberry OS, following a sales fall of almost $200m in the three months to the end of February. Further bad news included the announcement that Facebook and its WhatsApp messaging service will no longer …

Vodafone offer up a 30-day network guarantee

Those guys at Vodafone have already had their data test drive offer running for quite some time, but now they’re adding a 30 day network guarantee. It will, in essence, give you a 30 day no-quibble trial of the network and applies to all customers. Vodafone seem to …

D3O range exclusive at Carphone Warehouse

D3O have created a new GEAR4 Black range of ultra tough phone cases. This is the first case with injection mouldable D3O and is specialist grade with no holes. This type of D3O has not apparently been seen before and is the strongest on the market. GEAR4 are …

Venturer enter the affordable mini Windows Notebook arena

Venturer have launched the ‘BravoWin 10KT’ and the ‘EliteWin 11KT’ mini notebooks, equipped with Windows 10 and Office 365 or Office Mobile. The Venturer convertible tablets are equipped with a detachable smart keyboard that has a pressure sensing trackpad which clips on magnetically so it can be used as …

OnePlus Marshmallow Update

Yo OnePlus owners waiting for your Marshmallow update still…. It’s coming… it’s on its way… it’s nearly there!! I know this has been said before and has been due from earlier this year. But listen, the word from the company’s co-founder Carl Pei is that the update is in …

Syllable D700 Bluetooth Sports Headphones – Review

We recently took a look at the Syllable A6 Bluetooth headphones and now we’ve got the sportier D700 ones. They’re available on Amazon USA for $19.99 and here in the UK for £13.99. Initial impressions are very good. I tried these on at the gym and they hooked …

Moomin Emojis can now be used on your phone!!

Have you ever wanted to get a weird looking pig thing on your text messages? No, me neither. Then again I am a thirty-something years old. However, if you are one of the cool kids and you like Emojis then listen up. Something called “Moomiji” will now allow …

WhatsApp now fully encrypted.

Unless you have been living in a cave, with your eyes shut and your fingers in your ears, you will have heard of the recent hoo-ha over a certain company and a law enforcement agency request to unlock an iPhone. This has spiralled into a privacy debate, which …

Huawei P9 Plus coming to O2 too

We were told several times yesterday that the Huawei P9 Plus was going to be a Vodafone exclusive. However, after chatting to a number of PR people we think it’s actually just a colour exclusive. It seems that the P9 Plus Vodafone will be available in “Mystic Silver …

Huawei announce the P9 and P9 Plus

Today Huawei have just finished their press conference which we covered live with the help of Paul O’Brien from MoDoCo. The event was full of glitz and glamour as their events usually are, and if you wish to relive the blow-by-blow report from the event then take a look …

GSL 2016: eFoldi wins British Inventors’ Project 2016

Over the last month or so, we have been talking about the British Inventor’s Project and the famous inventions that came out of Birmingham. All the nominees were exhibiting at the recent Gadget Show Live event. I got to meet the fantastic Sumi Wang and experience a ride …