Tag: android

Cyanogen. No more?

The Wileyfox Spark X we reviewed recently ran an OS based on Android called “CyanogenMod”. Think of it as an Android OS with extra goodness. We tested out the theming support and the privacy guard in our review but there’s also FLAC audio support, CPU overclocking, an unlockable …

Clarkson, Hammond and May guide you on your way

After watching two weeks of “The Grand Tour”, I’ve realised that both me and my son are calling it “New Top Gear”. It’s totally blown away any BBC attempt at the show, with the crazy antics turned up to 11 and the 4K footage beautifully filmed, it’s proving …

Nuu Mobile X4 Review

As we race towards the bottom price point, there are some amazing handsets available for a more bank friendly price heres my review of the Nuu Mobile X4.

Honor 8 – Review – Shiny!

Honor have come a long way in Europe since landing quietly almost two years ago. Under the wing of parent company Huawei, they have gone from strength to strength and now have a new affordable flagship in the Honor 8. I’ve been using the Honor 8 over the …

Yeah, thanks for that Microsoft. Solitaire on my phone. Whoop.

Years ago, before flat screen monitors, we had big chunky PC’s with big chunky CRT monitors. Laptops weighed half a tonne and smartphones were just a dream. The internet? You’re joking son. If you were at work in these times (which, granted, seems like something from the prehistoric …

Grow your own cute garden on your smartphone

VaragtP Studios have today launched a cute garden game called Planetera. The purpose of the game is to create your own virtual garden with cute creatures of various shapes and sizes called helpers. Even cute games have villains called evil critters, not the most menacing name! Game Features: Plantera …

Acer Iconia Tab10 – Review

It has been a few weeks now since the latest Acer tablet arrived on my desk at Coolsmartphone towers. In that time I have been using it as my main day-to-day device for media consumption. I have not really been using it for very much in the way of work …

Get festive with a FLAVR Christmas Jumper – For your phone

Phone cases are something that are a fact of life. We don’t really want to hide the fantastic style and shape of our shiny expensive phone, but we have to. This FLAVR case adds a bit of a twist, and they’re really only useful for the next few …

OnePlus 3T – Pre-order tomorrow to get it on O2

Available fully on November 28th, you can get your name down to buy the OnePlus 3T tomorrow with O2. As we mentioned earlier, the OnePlus 3T has a Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 CPU (quad core) and a massive 6GB of RAM. There’s 64GB of storage (no microSD slot that …

“So what Android phone do I buy?” – A conundrum

My friends and family know me as a tech enthusiast who is forever buying new devices and perusing the technology press. This has meant that I often I get asked questions on what devices people should buy. This is because (at least in my social circle) most people …

Moto M released, bringing bling to a premium low-tier thing

Earlier on this year, I recommended the Moto G 4th gen to someone. They were on a budget and they’d been using what I think was the original Moto G (the Moto G OG, if you will) quite happily for a very long time. Alas, no memory card …

Samsung Galaxy S7 nibbling nougat near you

Or, without that annoying alliteration about, Samsung seems to have finished testing Android 7 – AKA Nougat – and is starting to roll out a beta testing program for those folks with a Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge. It’s not important that the rollout for Samsung is something …

Blackberry to make one more physical keyboard device

It’s no real surprise that when to comes to mobile devices with physical keyboards, Blackberry were the industry leaders. But despite this the company slowly declined, beginning with the company ending the use their own Operating System, and then not even producing devices, but using rebranded TCL devices (well hello, …

Get a new mobile from Nuu Mobile

Good ‘ole Nuu Mobile eh? Good to see some smartphones from them isn’t it? No, we’ve not really heard of Nuu Mobile either, but they’re here and they’ve just launched three new handsets in the UK. They range from just £40 all the way up to £129.99 and they’re …

OnePlus 3T to be released next week

Cast your mind back dear reader, many moons ago when HTC furst released the “One” series of devices. Well just a few months after release, the company released a higher spec updated version of the same device. It well and truly upset the customers that had forked out …

Nomu S10 – Review

Here at Coolsmartphone we are approached by device manufacturers from all over the world. I must admit that it is the unheard-of devices from the far-east that intrigue me the most, so I jumped at the chance to review the unknown brand Nomu and their S10 device. ‘Who …

Android Auto now becoming a standalone app 

I’m a firm believer that drivers should have limited, if no access to mobile phones whilst driving. Having just returned from a family holiday in Florida, I saw many drivers using their phone and even texting whilst driving. It just shows how distracted drivers can be whilst fiddling …

Huawei Mate 9 Unboxing

The time has come to unbox Huawei’s latest and greatest phablet – the Mate 9. If you have read the launch article then you will know what to expect, but for those of you who didn’t then here are the highlights. Kirin 960 chipset, the world’s highest performing …

Huawei Mate 9 arrives

I’m sitting in Munich right now having just finished at the Huawei Press event. We saw the bigwigs at Huawei talk about their latest release, the brand new Huawei Mate 9. There’s been lots of speculation about the specs and looks of this particular phone. Some people have even suggested that it …

Huawei November event – Liveblog

Hello! We are here in Munich to cover the events of Huawei’s unveiling LIVE. We expect to see the Huawei Mate 9 in at least one variant with the possibility of a Pro version appear as well. Also expect to see Lecia on stage and a lot of …

Google Home found at Walmart, what a tease…

I’ve been in the US of A for a couple of weeks now. I came over for the Big Android BBQ, where I delivered a talk and met a lot of amazing people. I then went to the San Francisco Bay Area, where I met up with Jolanda …

Track your child without a huge cost

If you’re wanting to keep an eye on your child and want a no-frills way of finding out where they are, here’s a way I recently stumbled across. What you’ll need, in this particular setup, is a cheap Android phone for your son or daughter. These are everywhere …

Sengled Pulse Solo LED + Wireless Speaker – Review

If you’ve got a need for a lightbulb but you want some music coming out of it, welcome to the Sengled Pulse Solo LED light and Wireless Speaker. This one is an E27 screw-in fitting and puts out about 550 lumens. Now, if you compare this with regular …

Xiaomi Mi Mix – Who needs a bezel?

Overshadowing their Mi Note 2 somewhat is this, the Xiaomi Mi Max. It’s packing some wizardry from our friends at Elliptic Labs and, if you’ve been following us for a while, you’ll have known all about it way back in March. Before I go any further, you need …

The modular phone is dead.. for LG

We can talk about what comes after the smartphone until the thing is actually released. However the long touted next step towards the future has died a death before it even got started. According to the Electronic Times, LG is abandoning its modular approach that it launched with …

Xiaomi Mi Note 2 announced

A 5.7″ curved display which bends around the edges, a Snapdragon 821 CPU and a massive 6GB of RAM. Plus, t looks like a Samsung Galaxy Note7. Meet the Mi Note 2. For 2799 yuan ($413 or £339.51) you can get a 4GB memory version. This has 64 …

LeEco LePro 3 and Le S3 announced

Sorry but we are a wee bit late on this one guys, however as the phone is not destined for our shores (at least through the normal channels), I’m sure you will let me off. There was a big announcement in San Francisco on Wednesday from the Chinese …

Kasamba Psychic Readings – Review

Want to know your future? Got some questions that you need answering? Well, if you’ve been to Blackpool or another one of our seaside resorts you might’ve seen a brightly coloured tent with various promises of answers to your questions – whatever those questions may be. I’ve never …

Weird Easter Egg on Google Pixel SIM Tray

Got a new Google Pixel; or should I say Pixel, Phone by Google? You may or may not have noticed as you quickly shoved your sim into your new pride and joy… But there is a weird kinda easter egg on the SIM tray. If there was any …

Huawei Mate 9 pictured

It’s yet another leak courtesy of @evleaks, and this time it’s the Huawei Mate 9 that gets pictured.. What do we know about this ? Well, there’s rumours of a curved 5.9″ screen, a 20 megapixel dual-lens camera and possibly 6GB of RAM. We’re expecting a November 3rd …

Xperia XZ – Review. Is this Sony’s best smartphone so far?

Sony has had an interesting year so far. It’s seen the launch of several handsets, including two flagships – the Xperia X and Xperia XZ. The latter of these phones is the subject of this review. If you wish to find out a bit more about the former …

Bush Spira E3X – Review

The lower-end of the smartphone market has become very competitive of late. Not only that, but it’s also got better. The build quality is better. The specs are better. So, when I say, “the lower-end”, I generally only mean the price. Bush isn’t a brand that many today …

In-app purchases on Android. This is broken. Sort this out. Now.

I’ve just wasted an hour and a half trying to get a refund on an in-app purchase that my son mistakenly made within Real Racing 3. It’s a great EA game and you can improve your experience by purchasing items for varying quantities of cash. Writing about smartphones …

Pixel Timepiece – Set for launch in Q1

Serial leaker Evan Blass is rarely wrong when it comes to upcoming handsets and gadgets. He’ll get the pictures and the gossip ahead of time and today he’s revealed that Google will indeed be stepping into the Smartwatch ring very soon indeed. As we mentioned before, Google seems …

OnePlus tease Android 7 Nougat for the OnePlus 3

If you are a regular reader of this site, you will know that I’m a real OnePlus fanboy. I’ve owned every device that the company have released, and upon seeing the price of the new Google Pixel phones I’ll definitely be staying in the OnePlus stable. To be …

Doodling on messages coming to WhatsApp

Oh, you wish there was just one true cross-platform messaging app, don’t you? Oh hang on there is, and it’s called SMS. SMS has been truly cross-platfrom and also operating-sysem neutral for the past, I don’t know, 30 years. Yet no one seems to have grown the service, apart …