Tag: smartphone

Should we bring the forum back?

Today we had an interesting discussion amongst the brilliant writers here at Coolsmartphone. It’s a discussion that is still going on now, and emails are flying around pretty quickly. This got me thinking. I kinda miss the forum in a way. Discussions like the one we’re having via …

Three launch the Galaxy Y

The entry-level Galaxy Y may not be for everyone, but for the money this will get many onto the smartphone ladder and looks pretty swish too. Powered by an 832MHz CPU it’s got a 2 megapixel camera, 3.0” QVGA screen and it sounds like Three are chucking in …

HTC One S Review

The HTC One S is the slimmer, ever-so-slightly-less-powerful brother of the HTC One X. It’s got a 4.3″ screen with 960×540 pixel screen. I say “slightly less powerful” but heck, a dual-core 1.5GHz CPU is still ruddy good. Powered by Android 4.0 with HTC Sense 4.0, it uses …

HTC One X Review 1

The HTC One series was announced at Mobile World Congress in February and with so much to see I really didn’t get much time at all with the One X.  Add to that all the rushing around and not being 100%, I came away from Barcelona not really …

HTC One X in stock, but…

Well James. We used to like you. You were our friend once, but now you’re dangling the HTC One X in front of us but, due to an embargo, we can’t get it until April 4th. If you’ve ordered one (for £497.98) then you only have to wait …

Snapdragon try to tell us something about their CPU

Snapdragon have put out this promotional video showing one phone travelling around the world. It did the trip in one charge and filmed various wacky bits in between as you can see below. Now…. battery life is always a pain point for smartphone users, so initially we were …

Review – The Standeazy

Stands. They’re always a touchy subject here at Coolsmartphone. There’s usually a couple of things you have to put up with when you’re looking for one. For a start there’s a selection of stands and base units which you may have to carefully select to suit your specific …

Angry Birds vs Angry Birds – Windows Phone vs Android

Mobile World Congress always shows us just how the mobile OS’s are performing in the marketplace. We saw for ourselves that the Google Android stand was full of people and the Windows Phone stand was perhaps a little more subdued. Sure, it goes without saying that Windows Phone …

Windows Phone 7 now outsells Symbian

Back in February last year Symbian had a 12.4% share of the smartphone market here in the UK. Now, according to figures by Kantar Worldpanel ComTech, this has now dropped to 2.4%. The 10% drop means that Windows Phone 7 has now … just…. overtaken the Symbian OS. …

Don’t know how to text? Don’t worry, you’re not the only one

We get a few press releases and research results posted through our door here at Coolsmartphone towers. This one flashed up on our radar and well, we figured it was worth telling you about. The Geek Squad asked 1,837 people about their mobile phone usage and found that …

Samsung Galaxy SIII Pictured and ready for pre-order?

If you’re an online retailer looking to get some hits, you could try adding a slightly mocked-up Samsung Galaxy SIII and just wait for the clicks to arrive. Right now mobilecityonline have possibly done just that, with the phone now on their site ready for pre-order at $799.99. …

Data Security: Lock your smartphone

There’s a great article from Bloomsberg Business week that I wanted to share, involving a study with Symantec on what people do with your lost smartphone once they get their hands on it. As part of the study,  Symantec ‘lost’ a total of 50 phones in the US …

Three remove out-of-bundle data charges with new contracts

New plans will shortly be added to the Three offerings to stop out-of-bundle data charges. The network has already delivered “The One Plan” for those wanting the unlimited data experience, but now the “Ultimate Internet” offer something pretty similar – and plans start from just £18. The Essential …

Do you own a classic ?

It’s about 2AM here in Barcelona as I type this, but I’ve noticed something that keeps happening fairly regularly at Coolsmartphone. Every week or so, I get notified of a comment on a really, really, really old handset review we did years back. Today it’s the turn of …

MWC – A tour around the Alcatel One Touch stand

Imagine your next phone. Perhaps you’ve already seen it during Mobile World Congress. Now, let me try to guess what that phone will have. First, I’m guessing it’ll have a touch screen. Second, I’m thinking it’ll have a high-resolution camera, probably 8 megapixels. It’s probably got another camera …

MWC – Xperia P – Up close

It’s time for a bit of close-up photo-time with the Xperia P. We were there for the launch so we figured you’d like a few more pictures, just because we can. As we mentioned earlier, the Xperia NXT phones have different screen sizes. The Xperia S has a …

MWC – Xperia U – Up close

Although we were at the launch, we thought you’d appreciate yet more up-close shots of the Xperia U. The Xperia NXT range goes down in screen size. The Xperia S has a 4.3″ screen (720×1280), the Xperia P has a 4″ and this here is the baby of …

MWC – Sony Event Photos

Last night we saw the Xperia S, Xperia U and Xperia P in Barcelona and managed to get some photos of all three devices together.  Due to the WiFi problem we were unable to upload from the event live so here are the photos now The Xperia S …

MWC – ZTE ERA video promo

ZTE have announced the ERA this morning. It’s a 4.3″ quad core phone. Here is a quick video they have released also today. Further details on it can be found here

HTC Rhyme. Has it got the Rhythm?

I am a fan of big screen phones. There I admit it, so why I may here you ask do I have HTC‘s latest offering in the Rhyme sitting in front of me for review. Well the reason couldn’t be simpler, if you are a regular reader of …

Orange add the Xperia S to Coming Soon pages

Well, we knew that Orange were taking the Xperia S, but now things have moved a step closer with the new Sony Mobile proudly sitting on the “Coming Soon” section. We’re hearing very good things about this phone, and we can’t wait to take a look in Barcelona. …

Using your mobile abroad – Another way ?

When you go on holiday or working abroad you’ve got a couple of options for keeping in touch. You can either take your own mobile and keep every conversation really short, or you can buy a SIM card for a local network from eBay, unlock your phone, stick …

8 ZTE Phones At Mobile World Congress

It looks like ZTE are upping their game with 8 new devices to be announced or shown off at this years Mobile World Congress. The event kicks off in just a few days time in Barcelona and we’ll be on site with the latest news. ZTE really are …

Smartphone evolution

  Smartphones are pretty amazing. We can do a myriad of things with them from the obvious email and internet to something niche that somebody has written an app to do. The amount of technology crammed into these devices is staggering compared to where we were twenty years …

PowerTrekk – Charge your phone, with water

OK. Two words. Smartphone. Battery. Battery life, it must be said, is usually pretty bobbins if you actually use your phone for any length of time. Want to get from A to B? Get the GPS on, use the mapping feature, do a bit of browsing, record some …

Optimus Vu, now in video

Oh look it’s the Samsung Galaxy Note. Wait a minute, no, it’s the new LG Optimus Vu popping out for another video. Up-close, this is starting to look rather sexy indeed. The Vu has a 5″ screen with a 1024×768 IPS resolution and an 8 megapixel camera. We’ll …

Panasonic Eluga coming to Europe in April

Panasonic have been saying they were planning on entering the phone market again. With Android handsets. Well know they have actually released a load of information and pictures about their upcoming device the Eluga. Strange name, but hey look at it and you soon forget the name. It …

Galaxy S Plus In White Coming To Virgin

Virgin Mobile have said they are exclusively taking the Samsung Galaxy S Plus in white on their UK network and it is available to buy from their website right now. Virgin Mobile are one of the UK’s ‘Virtual Networks’ and have access to the Everything Everywhere network so coverage should …

The Countdown To Mobile World Congress

Next Sunday (26th) we have the unofficial start to Mobile World Congress in Barcelona…. why unofficial? Well the real conference starts on the 27th but every year more and more manufacturers want to show off their new gadgets a day early, and this year is no different with …

Moto Intel Atom Android 4.0 phone rendered

This unnamed smartphone from Motorola is said to be the first using the Intel Medfield Atom platform. Running Android 4.0 it’ll be “graced” with Motoblur. We expect to see this at Mobile World Congress in just a few days time, so we’ll get more details then. Link – …

Samsung Galaxy Nexus available in white

The people at Unlocked Mobiles have now taken delivery of the white Galaxy Nexus and, if you’ve got £494.98, you can have free delivery. Clove also have the handset on sale or you can check our deals if you’re after a white Galaxy Nexus on contract. Specs include …

HTC Explorer Review

The Explorer is a fairly diddy device. It feels almost square in the hand and is a petite 102.8mm (about 4.05″) by 57.2mm (2.25″). The screen is 3.2″ but the resolution is only 320×480. I say “only” because I’m a techy geek at heart. To be honest that …

Sony Ericsson Xperia Smartphones Receive Four iF Design Awards

Yesterday Sony Ericsson announced that they had won four iF awards in the telecommunications category, these awards were for the design of the Xperia active, Xperia ray, Xperia mini pro and Mix Walkman. The Xperia active smartphone receives highest level gold award. The ceremony actually took place in Munich, …

Review – Aporto Speakers from OTONE Audio

A few weeks ago we received these rather lovely speakers from OTONE. They’re “modular” speakers and actually disconnect from the main unit. Using retractable cabling, you can position the speakers some distance apart for the full stereo effect. It’s simple and easy to get going. The speakers sit …

HTC Q4 Results. Celebrations put on ice

It’s been a tough old year for HTC. Their fourth quarter results were down 2.49% year-on-year. Worse still, they’re down 53% since January 2011 and total revenue looks set to drop by another 36% in the first quarter of this year. The problems? It seems that during 2011 …

Is Amazon working on a Microsoft smartphone?

This weekend Brandon Watson, Head of Developer Experience on Windows Phone 7, has left Microsoft and is headed to Amazon. He joins a chunk of people leaving the team but his arrival at Amazon has already got the web gossips mentioning an Amazon smartphone. It will, according to …

White Galaxy Note now at Expansys too

Well, so much for the “big exclusive” at John Lewis. The white Galaxy Note is already available at Clove and now eXpansys are dishing it up too. Prices start at £499.99 for the 16 GB version. Oh, and if you’re looking to get one on a contact, try …

T-Mobile Rapport still cheap to buy

We first saw this deal before Christmas and it looked to be a short-term deal. Not so, it’s still only £40 and you get 6 months of free internet and £20 worth of apps too. The Rapport is also known as the Ideos X1 or U8180 and you …