Category: General

A week with the HTC One M9 – My final thoughts

Missed our “week with” articles? Here they all are… Day one – The criticisms Day two – The audio Day three – Up close Day four – The camera Day five – Making it your own Dan has also written up an extensive HTC One M9 review but …

Goospery Viva Case for Galaxy S5 – Reviewed

If you want to keep your Samsung Galaxy S5 in good condition, this Viva Window cover is worth a look. We’ve been using it on a Galaxy S5 and it sits over the battery cover – not replacing it as some do. This adds a small amount of …

EE runs out of Power Bars

A short time ago, we reported that network provider EE were giving away a power bar to customers, and would exchange a “empty” one with a “topped up” in store. Well, it appears that the promotional idea has been taken up by the bargain hunting British public, with the …

OnePlus Invite system is over.

On the 23rd of April 2015 the OnePlus One is one year old (to many ones there), and today OnePlus  announced that the hoop jumping invite system ( I know I was a hoop jumper, but to be fair I love my OnePlus one)  to buy the device …

The EE Power Bar – It’s not actually yours.

We had a bit of a dig into the Terms and Conditions of the free EE Power Bars and, well, it’s all a little strange. The PDF actually states that… A Power Bar is made available to you on a free to hire basis, under the terms of …

That free EE portable charger. Ticking lots of boxes

If you’ve followed us for a while then you’ll already know that EE are giving away free portable chargers to their customers. Yesterday was “go” day and queues formed in EE stores around the UK as customers. At this point I’m going to do a classic “local newspaper” …

What is iFIT and Does it Work

There are a vast number of fitness products available on the market, each trying to stand out from the crowd with its own target audience. I’ve tried a number of products in the past and had some success, but ultimately having to use a mix of ecosystems and …

EE Power charger available today

A couple of weeks ago we revealed that EE were to dish out powerbanks for nothing. If you’re an EE customer today is the day to get texting if you want one. All you need to do is text “POWER” to 365 to receive a promotional code, then …

ZTE Blade L3 now available on Virgin Media. Cheap too.

A 5″ 480×854 pixel (196 ppi) screen, quad-core 1.3GHz CPU, 1GB RAM and 8 megapixel camera with flash. Sound interesting? What about if I mention that it’s just £79.99 with £10 airtime included. How’s about that? The new ZTE Blade L3 has arrived in the UK today. There’s 8GB of storage on board, but …

TravelCard Plus mobile charger.

Last year I was sent through the TravelCard portable charger for review, which is a super slim battery pack designed to fit in your wallet and give your mobile device that all important boost when you need it. I loved the TravelCard charger and it sits happily in …

Apple Watch – Day one orders hit 1 million

That’s right. A million. On day one. There are always going to be some people who aren’t into wearables, and there will be others who can’t quite buy into the Apple way of doing things, but there are enough people who think differently. In a report from Sllice …

OnePlus One starts receiving Cyanogenmod OS 12 OTA

After somewhat of a delay, Cyanogen have finally began the roll out of  Cyanogen OS 12 the Android 5.0 based update for the OnePlus One.  The update has all of Google’s features introduced in Android 5.0 including Google’s new Material Design.   As always the Cyanogen team, have included tweaks …

Microsoft Band Hands On

Yesterday I was at a Microsoft  event in sunny Glasgow where I was lucky enough to get hands on with the Brand new Microsoft Band, which is launching on Wednesday. I am very impressed with it and in the short time I wore it, it felt quite comfortable. The Band …

UNU DX-6 review

Battery life on a phone is something we all wish we had more of, whether it be for more gaming time or for more camera shots whilst on holiday. For a while now many companies have made portable charger packs which charge your phone via USB and then …

What can you do with a SmartWatch…

And more importantly – what’s the point? I’ve personally never understood the need for a SmartWatch. Perhaps it’s because of the reported short battery life on some models, or it’s because I’m never separated from my phone, but I never really ‘got it’. However, I’ve become aware that the …

A look at the instaLens Magnetic SmartPhone Camera Lens 

The quality of camera phones is generally very good, especially on high end models. However, with a few exceptions, significant changes in magnification normally requires software-based image manipulation when on a smartphone. There are a few options available for altering lenses on phones, and one that impressed me …

Chromebook Pixel (2015) available in the UK from April 21st

Remember that new Chromebook Pixel we talked about recently? The one with the updated processor and also 2 x USB C ports? Well if the techlust takes ahold of you and you decide you can’t live without having that 3:2 ratio, 12.85” screen, 2560 x 1700 pixel at …

Samsung Galaxy S6 and S6 edge. Yes, they launched today.

James Cordon seems to be making a bit of a name for himself over in the USA and now Samsung have roped him in to promote their shiny new Galaxy S6 handsets. Basically, this is an advert coming up. We can’t get hold of either of the Samsung …

A Look at the Toast Wooden SmartPhone Cases

Following my visit to this years Gadget Show Live show, I’m going to share my views on those products that impressed me the most. As listeners to our podcast will be aware my favourite product came in the unexpected form of a smartphone case. Traditionally I’ve always preferred …

Tesco Mobile properly launches the Samsung Galaxy S6

Tesco Mobile is, like a number of MVNOs, offering some of the very latest handsets at the moment. Using an MVNO is no longer seen as a cheap and cheerful choice. Now it’s perhaps a clever alternative which is just plain better than the main four networks. The …

Getting an S6 today? Don’t forget your case

Today marks the launch of both the Samsung Galaxy S6 and the S6 edge. Whether you like it or not, it’s wise to put a case on the posh new Galaxy handset if you get yourself one today. The S6 is pretty much £600 or more depending on …

Win a free phone, if you’ve got a slightly weird name.

I really don’t know much about this whole Games of Thrones thing. To be honest, when I first got this press release, I thought it was a mobile game, not a TV show. Either way, I Googled and got this image, so I’m guessing that people aren’t just …

Podcast 135 – Listen in live

Hello there, welcome to the “listen in live” page for our podcast. Joining me this week should be John and Julie. Julie is our special guest this week. This weeks topics should be about John and his trip to Gadget Show Live, me really trying hard to get on with …

EE switches on Wifi Calling

We knew it was about to happen. Apple announced EE would be a partner for WiFi calling back in Sept 2014 and with the announcement of support for Wifi Calling on the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge from the 10th April, it was only a matter of time. …

Life without a signal. Actually, not that bad.

I’ve been somewhere magical this weekend. A place with absolutely no signal. I’ve been with a group of mates and between us we had all the networks covered. One had an EE phone and amongst us we also had an O2, Vodafone and Three device. Not one phone …

New tariffs for Vodafone

As one of the few remaining networks to still offer a 12 month contract, it always pays to keep an eye on Vodafone. So when they announced that new tariffs were being announced, I was intrigued to see what the new propositions were. And all in all, it …

The Gadget Show Live 2015 – Report

Over recent years The Gadget Show Live Exhibition has become one of major consumer technology shows on the calendar, attracting thousands of visitors through its doors. The appeal of the show is obvious – a great venue in the Birmingham NEC, access to the TV shows presenters and …

HTC One M9 now available to buy on Vodafone

Seen our hands-on with the HTC One M9? If not, the video is below. About a month ago Vodafone started pre-orders and now it’s available to buy on the network. A quick note though, if you did pre-order, you’ll be able to redeem one of 1000 pairs of …

Will smartwatches have the same range of apps as smartphones?

Well, that certainly didn’t take long. No sooner has the Apple Watch been announced and we’re already getting emails telling us about apps that’ll run on the thing. That’s expected I guess, but when betting apps also set to arrive on the thing, you know it’ll probably be …

Piper NV – Review

Home automation is something that is only really limited by your imagination, possibly what accessories you can buy and possibly also by how much money you have. You get the idea though…. One of the more intriguing things I saw at MWC was the Piper NV, it is …

EE launch WiFi calling

EE have today announced that WiFi calling will launch on 10th April with the introduction of the S6 and S6 Edge and also the Lumia 640 and 640 XL. Whilst Apple announced compatibility back at their iPhone 6 event, it is Samsung that are getting in there first …

Fancy some slightly cheaper smart glasses?

I do get some very odd emails here at Coolsmartphone, and daily you’ll find an email from some random Chinese manufacturer sitting in my inbox. Usually these are to sell Bluetooth speakers, keyboards or GPS trackers. For some reason they think I’m a buyer for a UK store, …

iFit Announce Integration with the Sony SmartWatch 3

iFit is one of the most popular fitness brands, and today they have formally announced that their services will be integrated into the Sony SmartWatch 3. iFit provides a complete fitness ecosystem to try and mentor you to a healthier lifestyle  and they partner with well-known companies such as …

Kickstarter mess up, Jide to the rescue

Some of you may be aware that I have been harping on about a Kickstarter project called Remix Ultra Tablet,  well it has been a huge success on Kickstarter so much that the actually sold out the entry level tier of $39 in seconds and the next one …

The Online Gaming Service OnLive is Shutting Down.

I’ve always been a fan of the OnLive service with its ability to stream cloud hosted PC games to mobile devices, computers and smart TVs. It seemed like a natural progression in gaming technology. So it was with a little sadness that I heard that it was announced …

KidzGear Headset Headphones

I am a father of a young boy and even though I do actively try and minimize his time using gadgets it is an inevitable part of live theses days that they will use them. The other day I came home from work and he saw that I …

EE giving out free PowerBanks with unlimited refills

EE has announced the launch of a new reward scheme for its customers – EE Power. The new scheme is available for all active EE customers, both mobile and broadband customers. According to a YouGov poll commissioned by EE: Almost 60% of smartphone users find their battery doesn’t …

Podcast 134 – Listen in live

Hello there, welcome to the “listen in live” page for our podcast. Joining me this week should be Dan and Ian. This weeks topics should be about Dan and his week with the new HTC One M9, me struggling without 4G, the Archos Platinum 52, Ian ordering a …

Honor 6+ pre-order from April 6th, buy on May 1st

This weekend, while you’re enjoying an Easter break painting fences / wallpapering rooms or perhaps even spending several days in the pub.. if you’re lucky. Today Honor, a Huawei owned company, have announced the pricing and availability. As you lovely people know already, it’ll have a network exclusive …