Windows Phone loses ground again

ComScore figures for January 2013 are now available and it seems that Apple are gaining ground. Meanwhile Android (named as “Google” above), has always increased share in these numbers, but dropped to a 52.3% share from a 53.6% share of American smartphone subscribers. Although Android are still in …

Loyalty, Not on Your Nelly – Editorial

Today I received my price increases letter from Orange.  It informed me that my tariff will be increasing by 3.3% in the near future.  I have been a customer of Orange for over 5 years and one of my contracts is due an upgrade. Bearing this in mind …

O2 offering 4GB data on new plan

Data use is a subject that often gets people talking especially as data use is at it’s highest ever on mobile devices and shows no sign of slowing down anytime soon. O2 have recently revamped their contract plans and now have a plan available with a generous 4GB …

Nexus 7 dock lands in the UK

Anyone with a Nexus 7 here in the UK and who wants to get the desktop dock for it, well you are now in luck as Google are selling them direct from the Play Store for £24.99 plus delivery right now! Which we reviewed here. Whilst now available …

What’s next for the Coolsmartphone Podcast

Our podcast has seen a few changes over the last 36 weeks since we started. We’ve had awkward silences, pots and pans being bashed in the background, we’ve had Ravi trying to watch the football during the podcast, we’ve had our move to a companion live video feed …

New firmware for Note II available on Three

Three have rolled out a firmware update for the Samsung Galaxy Note II, which is said to bring with it a number of bug fixes and enhancements. This went under the radar mostly because it brings device stability to Samsungs other flagship handset rather than a large number …

Disqus app launched – Windows Phone exclusive

  Lots of you are probably familiar with the Disqus comments system, which powers comments on many sites including Coolsmartphone.com Well Disqus have developed their own app in house, and it’s exclusive to Windows Phone. The app has some great features, allowing you to: Get notifications on threads …

Globalgig reduces prices, adds more data-roaming countries

If you intend to go abroad and use data then you usually need to either remortgage your home or take out a roaming data plan. Three do unlimited data for a daily charge of £5 and other networks are starting to offer smaller allowances at a daily charge, …

Android Gingerbread is slowly on the decline

Every month Google publish data about the current user base and what versions of Android is being used. It usually makes for interesting and worrying reading. The most recent figures have turned something interesting up. Version Codename API Distribution 1.6 Donut 4 0.2% 2.1 Eclair 7 1.9% 2.2 …

Adventures of a Blackberry virgin part 2 – the Z10 keyboard

My first fumble with the BlackBerry Z10 hub was uninspiring, but what about the fancy new keyboard? A revolution of data input, or a typo waiting to happen? BlackBerry are pushing this hard as one of the must see features of BB10, so today I’ll adjust the anglepoise …

Google Play celebrates first birthday with another sale

Can you believe that it’s already been a year since Google relaunched the old Android Market as the Google Play Store? To celebrate this momentous event, they’ve decided to have (another) big sale. It’s already started over in Australia as I write this and should hopefully be on …

Lumia 920 available on O2

Hey you. Fancy a bit of Lumia 920 action on O2? You do? Well, you’re in the right place my friend. The 920 has an 8.7 megapixel PureView camera (with Image Stabilisation and Carl Zeiss lens), 4.5″ display and a Snapdragon S4 CPU. There’s also a 3.5mm audio …

Acer Iconia W700 – Review

Windows 8 has been one of the most intriguing OS launches that I have ever seen. Manufacturers have been given an OS that lends itself to any shape or form that they can think of. Off the back of that we have seen a variety of different shapes, …

Virgin Mobile introduces speed caps

Virgin Mobile have become the latest network to cap mobile data speeds, to a lowly 2mb/s. Rumours had been circulating, but Virgin admitted the 2mb/s cap last night and tried to put a positive spin on the situation, saying “to ensure all our customers can continue to enjoy …

MWC – Alcatel One Touch Idol X and Idol Ultra

Top of the tree, this is the Idol X and Idol Ultra from Alcatel. I’ve gotta be honest, the Idol X is easily the best handset I’ve seen from the company in a long time. The One Touch Idol X is painfully thin at just 67.5mm thick and …

BBC iPlayer finally coming to Windows Phone

One of the most popular apps on Android and iOS has been really conspicuous in its absence so far on Windows Phone – the BBC’s iPlayer. Well we won’t have to wait much longer, as Auntie has just announced that they have done a deal with Microsoft to …

MWC – The One Touch Star

Another Alcatel handset with a dual-SIM version and it’s this – the One Touch Star. Shock, horror, there’s only one version of this particular device (Alcatel are famed for making several flavours of each device). This one is a sort-of mid-range puppy with a 5 megapixel shooter (plus …

HTC Tiara leaked

A mid-range HTC handset called the “Tiara” is said to be heading this way pretty soon. It’s a mid-range device and will run the upgraded version of Windows Phone 8. Rumoured specs include a 1.2Ghz Snapdragon CPU, 1GB RAM and a 4.3″ 800×480 pixel screen. An 8 megapixel …

MWC – The Alcatel One Touch Scribe Easy and Scribe HD

I usually approach the Alcatel stand each year with a sense of foreboding. They usually have a humongous selection of new handsets and they’re as confusing as heck. This year, it’s slightly less confusing. There’s still a couple of different versions of the same handsets such as we …