Tag: website
Welcome back everybody. For those of you who regularly visit the site, you may have noticed we were having some “minor” technical issues over the weekend. Well I am happy to say, despite the rumors we are still here and not going anywhere and everything is back online. …
So the time has come for us all to take a long earned rest after what has been a manic year. We have had some big changes here at the site and you will have noticed that we have not been as on top of things as we …
Just over two weeks ago I was my normal self. I had a bit of bloatedness, but nothing more. A bit more walking, it’s just some constipation. I always eat well, I exercise, I cycle lots and it’s the first time I’ve bought constipation relief. Boy, that worked. …
You guys, some of you, have been reading this site for over 17 years However, our output shuddered so a stop 2 weeks ago. This was not the database code or the backend. This is much more serious. I’ll be in touch adding a bit more detail shortly.
Not many are aware of the simply massive change that has happened on the web in recent years. It’s not too long ago that most sites has a completely separate mobile website. It was a cut-down version of the desktop version, with less functionality. Not only that, but …
With their smartphone business currently impacted by the Trump Trade Termination, Honor are slightly changing direction. Everything we’ve looked at recently has been highly rated. The Honor MagicWatch 2 was top class (and I wanted to keep it), and the Magic EarBuds are shockingly good. Today, more devices …
We’ve now been online for over 18 years and, it’s fair to say, we’ve seen quite a few things during that time. In the last few months we’ve seen our traffic increase dramatically – properly off-the-chart and like nothing we’ve ever seen before. This has led us to …
There’s no big IT team behind this site. We don’t have SEO specialists, marketing teams or designers. So, it usually falls to me to do all that. In addition to writing the stories, the server setup and the database back-end is something I’ve constructed. In the last few …
Websites, as you have most probably noticed, have changed immensely over the last decade or two. For us here at Coolsmartphone it’s been quite a transition. We had a separate website for mobile phone users, which was a slimmed down and low-tech version. To get the full experience, …
After my post on Friday I kinda took a walk down memory lane and ended up in the 90s. A time when there were no smartphones and, if you wanted to get on the internet, you had to block the phone line and crank up a modem that …
Once upon a time there was a smartphone manufacturer called HTC. Nearly everyone had one of their phones, but now there’s about 15 people buying their phones each month. It’s sad to see, it really is. I reviewed the HTC U11 and I’ve had a hands-on with their …
OK, so you’re a bit worried browsing to certain places on your phone. If you’re using the work WiFi then they’ll be tracking you. If you’re using the free WiFi at the local coffee shop then, yes, they might be snooping. You can’t be sure that the information …
Mobile phones have made it easier than ever to browse and buy things. Amazon and eBay are the most well-known, but you’ll regularly find my wife on Next, Very or another clothing website. They’re big, they’re well-designed and they’re full of choice. Not only that, but they look …
This particular newspaper seems to have perfected something that many want to emulate. Newspapers are struggling. The traditional printing presses are getting quieter and newspaper circulation figures are falling through the floor. Recent figures show some double-digit declines in the actual physical newspaper sales figures. The Sun is …
In the most recent report from Ofcom, we found that now, in 2018, the traditional desktop is a rare beast. In terms of devices accessing the internet, a PC takes just 9% of the pie. Whilst a further 24% is laptops, there’s an obvious and continued decline for …
I’m typing this on my old Chromebook. Man, it feels good. Like a pair of comfy slippers. Turn on, into a browser, type a bit, close the lid. No updates interrupting the experience. No 5 minute random unknown reboot times. No virus worries. Just productivity power. Love it. …
Publishing this in the middle of IFA is just insane really. If I was one of those click-bait websites, I’d add this to the site at some point in the next couple of weeks, but.. Nah, can’t be bothered. So, off the back of my rather epic ultra-cheap …
Over the weekend I got chatting with an old friend. The subject of my “strange hobby” came up they asked if I was still doing “that website thing”. Well, yes. Yes I am. The conversation went on for a while and it made me realise just how long …
We would like to thank the following people for their help and support in keeping us online. So far this week we’ve had donations from … Deborah Stringer Alistair Dent Mark Harper Bobby Wallace We’re really can’t quite put into words how appreciative we are. As we’ve done …
If you use an iPad to browse the site, you may have noticed that everything was a bit squashed. We’ve had a few emails about this so we approached the web design people and they said, “Yeah, we’ll sort it. Here’s an invoice for £2000” Then, after finding …
We’re not like engadget, Android Authority, Pocket-mint and The Merge. Oh no, we do things in a British style-y. We write all proper-like and we like to think that there’s more interesting items on here too. Less marketing, more honesty. As for me, I’ve written about phones and …
Just recently we switched to a new server but, despite our efforts (!), the site has continued to grow with more and more of you crazies joining in the fun on a daily basis. Today we’ve switched on a new caching system which will, if we’ve tweaked it …
This morning all of our adverts vanished off the site. After looking into it I’ve found that it’s because of our switch to a fully secure URL. We put a redirect from the old http:// pages to the https:// equivalents, however what we… well, what I didn’t do, …
Late last night we switched the site over from http://www.coolsmartphone.com to https://www.coolsmartphone.com. There’s a few reasons why we did this. Firstly, Google is pushing for websites to do this as it secures the connection between you there and us here. Any data flowing from the site or into …
In recent months we’ve seen a significant uptick in traffic. This has left us with a problem. We needed more funding to pay for better, faster and more powerful infrastructure. Last week I tried a quick-fix solution to this, which was to add some full-page website banners. You …
If you keep hitting Coolsmartphone pretty regularly then our social media presence is here for you. You can keep up with all the latest news and gossip easily by following, subscribing or hitting the Like buttons. If you’re on a PC then you’ll see our buttons on the …
Yes, we did it. Thanks to everyone who supported us ! We made it all the way from Lichfield to Edinburgh in just 3 days. Amazingly I didn’t use a portable charger once during the entire trip and the HTC U11 I have on test traveled the entire …
It’s 2017. The internet has been around for quite a long time and, I’ll freely admit, so have I. I’ve seen web pages go from simple blocky creations to Flash-heavy monstrosities. I’ve seen us go from huge CRT monitors and PC’s to tablets and mobiles. Here’s how our …
We don’t tend to have too many disagreements with our ad suppliers, but one thing we really don’t like is adverts that autoplay sound. Sure, we have to display adverts to pay for the increasingly large servers, but ones that start shouting some Daz washing powder at you …
A brand new waterproof phone without a 3.5mm headset? No, it’s not that one. This is a new handset from HTC, although I should call it new-ish because it has already been on sale in the USA as the HTC Bolt exclusively on Sprint. The phone arrives with …
Fame and fortune. We can promise neither, but you can get your name onto the t’interwebs and help us review some kit and cover the latest news about mobile phones. We’ve been around quite some time now, and we’ve seen the competition come and go. We’ve got a …
Hello all, hope you’re well. For the last few days I’ve been up on the Lake District. Not for a holiday, but for a rather grueling bike ride up 30% hills and a lot of very rugged mountains. It was a combined 20,000 foot climb in wind and …
The other night I had a sudden realisation. Since 2003 this lovely website has been on the t’interwebs. We’ve been around the world. We’ve seen smartphones grow from clunky devices with tiny screens and terrible battery life to bigger devices with terrible battery life. I’ve actually been writing …
As we get towards the festive season you’ll see us cranking up the number of reviews and gift ideas, all ready for those presents around the Christmas tree. Also, as you may have noticed this last week, we’ve had more traffic than usual and it’s resulted in the …
With Apple now allowing ad-blocking technology into Safari browsers on iPhone and iPad, Adblock have announced their return to Android, with their ad-free browsing system now allowed back onto Google Play. The system kills revenue, even for websites displaying well-behaved advertisements such as ours, and means that content …
I was recently watching a BBC documentary called “Britain at the Bookies” and was struck with one particular interview. It was at the races, and the bookies were all lined up to take any bets from the punters who were watching the race. Some had been in the …
With a lot of you no doubt nursing a very sore head I’ll try and keep this fairly brief. A lot of sites are already mentioning what’s “Next” and what to look out for in the new year, but I wanted to check with the important people who …
It’s still in beta, but it’s hope for those who can’t install the relevant Skype client. This should be good news for those wanting Skype on a Chromebook, but to be honest we’ve already sorted that one and I couldn’t get the Skype for Web beta working on …
We had a great stack of articles online yesterday, but unfortunately our magical Twitter rabbit failed to post any of them. If you’re following us on Twitter then you’ll have presumed that we were all asleep. Truth is, we actually added a stack of items. You can check …
You, the handsome, intelligent, Coolsmartphone reader, may have noticed some strangeness here at Coolsmartphone.com of late. It’s not the funny smell. No, it’s some rather weird bugs in the code. We spent several weeks testing our all-new look, but putting it live has caused some unexpected weirdness. We’ve …
