Xiaomi announce the Redmi Note 3

Today Xiaomi have announced the Redmi Note 3, a 5.5″ screened affordable handset which packs some serious specs for the price. The Redmi Note 3 is the third iteration of the popular and affordable Redmi Note series of devices. Coming hot on the heels of the Redmi Note …

Black Friday Madness – Pebble Smartwatch

Fancy yourself an original Pebble for really not-that-much cash? It might not look quite that beautiful now, but the Pebble is available from Amazon and Currys for just £49. This deal is only on the black one. If you want to learn more about this particular watch, have …

Online, offline, iMend now does a walk-in service too

This weekend, apart from getting stupidly drunk in my local (I’d like to apologise right now to everyone), I went to several local shops. During my walk around it kinda hit me just how lucky we are to have all these businesses on our doorstep. I got me …

Mini Amp Speaker review

Simple one this. It’s a small speaker which you can attach to anything with a 3.5mm audio port and amplify your tunes. It’s shaped just like an amplifier too, so should prove popular with anyone who like rock ‘n roll or guitars. There’s no Bluetooth here, no FM …

TravelCard Plus Mobile Charger Review

Last year I was sent through the TravelCard portable charger for review. It’s 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 my wallet with …

Embarrassed using a selfie stick? Here’s the solution.

Us Brits aren’t always good with self confidence. Taking a photo of yourself can, for some, be a bit embarrassing. Using a selfie stick, well, that’s another matter. So, Japanese Twitter user @Mansooon, who doesn’t really reveal a lot about himself, has come up with a solution. He …

Coolsmartphone update – It’s all about speed

Morning all. Well, it’s morning here in the UK at least. As you know, for the last 13 years (actually, more than that if you include the time before I bought this domain), coolsmartphone.com has reported on all the latest smartphone.. stuff. We’ve gone from Pocket PC, from …

Additional US numbers and a local presence from flyp

Yesterday I was banging on about making international calls and ways to keep in touch with people that are far away. This is flyp, an app which give you a free US phone number on your smartphone. The app lets you call and text any other American number …

CoolSmartPhone Podcast 159 – The Big Android BBQ Edition

Welcome to Episode 159 of the CoolSmartPhone Podcast. Is  this Episode Gary & Matteo join John for an early evening discussion and cover several exciting topics including: Matteo’s recent trip to the Big Android BBQ Gary’s opinion on the State on Sony following the release of the Xperia …

Samsung pay coming to UK

Samsung pay, which is the company’s mobile payment system, is reportedly coming to the United Kingdom, China and Spain in the first quarter of 2016. Currently only limited to a number of handsets, Samsung Pay, has not been as big as Apple Pay to date. However, one way …

YouTube kids coming to the UK and other regions

My little boy loves YouTube: he particularly loves watching people playing Lego video games. But I’m constantly worried he might come across something inappropriate for him. Seven months ago, I thought my prayers had been answered when YouTube announced its YouTube kids app. However (unsurprisingly, yet again) unfortunately …

Gartner reports another slide for Windows Phone

Figures released by Gartner make for yet more uncomfortable reading if you are involved in Windows Phone. The share of the smartphone market has now dropped to just 1.7%. The figures are for Q3 and compare to a 3% share from the same period a year ago. According …

Sony Xperia Z5 Premium now available on Vodafone

Remember our hands-on with the new Xperia Z5 range? If you want the Sony Xperia Z5 Premium, it’s now available to buy from Vodafone here. It’s powered by Android 5.1 with Marshmallow on the horizon. It has a Qualcomm MSM8994 Snapdragon 810 CPU – that’s quad-core 1.5 GHz …

EE offer to track your personal items

After raising a serious truck-load of cash on Indiegogo, TrackR was born. It’s a small, coin-shaped device which you can attach to your keys, stick in your wallet or put on your handbag. Working with an app, it shows you where your things are and also works in …

LG G Flex2 down in price yet again

I’ve been in bed for two days straight with a serious case of man flu. It’s a burden us men have to bear, but we plod on without moaning about it, despite the lack of sympathy. There I sat, in bed, trying to fight the dreaded man flu …