Author: Coolsmartphone Staff

Chrome for Android now available

In something of a surprise move, Google have today released a beta of Chrome for Android onto the Market. Unfortunately for you non-Nexus/non-flashing folks, it’s only available for ICS. At least for now. I’ve been having a play around with it and am really liking some of the …

Norton announce Safety Minder for Android

With childrens’ online safety a continuing concern for parents, Norton today announced their new Safety Minder app for Android. The free app allows parents to monitor their kids’ mobile phone activities in the same manner as they currently do for home PCs. Used in conjunction with Norton’s Online …

Editorial: Android User to Windows Phone – How Does That Work?

Upon opening the Lumia 800 quick guide, I’m pointed to the Zune software……..”Well that’s one plus for Android already” I quietly say to myself before navigating to Zune.net to get the aforementioned software. Firstly, I think it’s only fair to warn you all now before you continue reading. …

Dropbox Android beta 2.0.9 – auto photo upload

Dropbox have released beta of the latest version of their software for Android, 2.0.9 The big change in this version is the new ability to upload photos you take on your phone automatically to Dropbox. The service will upload photos and videos taken on your device, and you …

App GScript

If you find yourself repeating operations on your phone then this app is for you, I can’t recall exactly where I found out about this but now I can’t imagine using my android phone without it. This isn’t new to the market, it is an app I have …

Smartphone Sales Overtake PC in 2011

Smartphone sales grew by 62% in 2011 according to a recent report from Canalys with over 70 million more Smartphones being shipped than traditional PC/Laptop technology. The report indicates a staggering 488 million devices were shipped during the calendar year of 2011, compared to 415 million units of …

Ant Raid publishers release free soundtrack

In celebration of the success of their debut iOS game, Ant Raid, Finnish developer and publisher Prank have made the game’s soundtrack available as a free download. According to Metacritic, Ant Raid was the 8th best iPad game of 2011, and the top all-time iOS strategy game. If …

Sony & Billabong collaboration

Sony and Billabong have announced a new partnership, starting with a Billabong special edition of Sony’s Xperia Active phone, featuring “wet finger tracking”, and enhanced dust and water resistance. Other spoils of this union include a Billabong LIVE app in the Android Market, exclusive wallpapers and videos, and …

Fancy a free Blackberry Playbook? Just submit an Android app!

RIM seem to be getting more desperate to flog their Playbook tablet. AFter a string of price cuts, Alec Saunders of RIM tweeted yesterday to let Android devs know they can grab a free device by submitting their app by February 13th. Image courtesy of Engadget Could this …

RBS 6 Nations Apps for iOS and Android

The 6 Nations is nearly upon us, and for Rugby fans, there’s an app for that now – well a couple actually. The RBS 6 Nations official App giving news, fixtures and results, is available on the iTunes App store. The RBS 6 Nations Live Challenge app, which …

T-Mobile and O2 to sell Samsung Galaxy S Advance

T-Mobile and O2 have announced they will be stocking the new Samsung Galaxy S Advance, their new mid-range phone. They join Three in announcing they will be selling the phone. No word on pricing yet, but Samsung are aiming for the mid-range with this device, so hopefully something …

2012 year of NFC?

I am a big fan of cutting edge technology and have drawers and shelves full of gadgets that I’ve bought over the years. Back when it was launched in November, I bought the Samsung Galaxy Nexus – having defected from iPhone. This powerful Smartphone has the Near Field …

X Construction – An addictive puzzle type game for Android

I don’t generally play many games on my phone, usually saving that for my Xbox 360. Those games that I do play are generally puzzle games like Cut the Rope. This week a friend of mine got his first Android phone (the excellent Samsung Galaxy S2), switching over …

Google Docs – now with Offline mode

If you have Google Docs installed you may have noticed an update in the last day or so. The big news on this is that the Google Docs app now has an Offline mode. There are also enhancements for tablets and the combination means you can now download …

ICS: Coming to HTC Sensation

HTC’s Dutch office have issued a press release stating that an updated white version of the great HTC Sensation will go on sale from 1st March in the Netherlands and will be running ICS Android 4.x. This is good news for existing HTC Sensation owners as it indicates …

Netflix offering £15 for new sign ups

After finally launching in the UK earlier this month, Netflix are starting to get serious about signing up new customers. Which means that those of you who haven’t already taken advantage of their one month free trial offer can now also get £15 of cashback for signing up …

Changes afoot for Orange and T-Mobile brands

Since their merger in 2010 under the Everything Everywhere (EE) banner, Orange and T-Mobile seem to have been getting understandably closer as brands, with their network sharing and co-branded stores. Now EE are looking to distinguish the two, with their forthcoming marketing campaigns aiming to position each brand …

Three launch Web Cube

Three have announced a home broadband product, based on mobile broadband delivery. The internet is provided over Three’s mobile network using HSPA+ for the fastest mobile speeds, which is distributed over WiFi. Think of it as an extended range always on MiFi essentially, with range up to 30m …

HTC Evo 3D…Price Drop!

Remember all the hype around glasses-free 3D devices last year? Up popped HTC with a game-changing device which we reviewed on this site last year. Now that very same device has found its’ way to bargain bins at ASDA, priced at a very reasonable £249.99 Unbelievable bargain… and …

One tablet per person? No need anymore!

There have been lots of tablet bargains flying about recently. Some of you lucky people (James) have been snapping up more than one! But for some of us a tablet is a luxury. One is more than enough for the whole household. There is a slight issue with …

HTC Sense 4.0 features leaked

Mentioned in phone leaks already, HTC’s new version of their Sense interface, 4.0, is now doing the rounds on the internet. It would seem a version has been leaked before it has been announced or made it on to a phone. The big news (potentially) is 3rd party support for …

$25 Raspberry Pi outperforms iPhone 4S

I’ve been reading about the Raspberry Pi on various websites over the last few days and thought it was worth sharing with you, our amazing readers. Raspberry Pi is basically a $25 Linux Computer that has been developed by the Raspberry Pi foundation, (a bunch of people from …

O2 issues data breach information

O2 have issued a statement on this morning’s revelations regarding their sending your phone number to every website you browse on a phone connected to O2. There is a link to the statement below, but the key points are: this has been going on since 10th January 2012 …

O2 sends your phone number to webpages

O2 appear to have a major data breach that has been uncovered this morning. It appears that as you surf the web on an O2 or GiffGaff (which uses O2) connection, your phone number is sent to the webpage. O2’s twitter feed has been bombarded with angry comments …

Nokia Lumia sales looking promising

An estimate from 22 Bloomberg analysts puts Lumia sales to operators and retailers at between 800,000 and 2 million units globally. Not bad projections when the Lumia only went on sale in Europe in November 2011 and the figures are up to the end of the year. These …

Research In Motion Names Thorsten Heins President and CEO

Whilst not usually in our eye-line (being Blackberry and all), it is worth a fleeting mention that there are changes afoot at the Research In Motion (RIM) campus. Board Members at the smartphone manufacturer RIM have accepted the decision to displace their founding partners, and named Thorsten Heins as their …

Asus Transformer Prime – refund or extra warranty?

Got your Asus Transformer Prime tablet?  Me too – but apparently I’ve been one of the lucky ones with no GPS/Wi-Fi issues.  Well now it’s been confirmed – sort of.  Asus says users who have GPS fault will get money back, but denies an issue with Wi-Fi Asus …

ZTE Competition – win the ZTE Skate

ZTE have been in touch to let us know about their competition to win the ZTE Skate. The Skate is the same model rebranded by Orange as the Monte Carlo and runs Android Gingerbread with a 4.3″ screen and 800mhz processor. Full specs and details of the device …

ZTE Tania – Hands on

Last night we got to see the new handset from ZTE, their first Windows Phone, named the Tania. The full announcement has already been made but we went along to get a hands-on with this new Mango handset. The device sports a fairly mid-range set of specifications, but …

BabyPing!

The guys at BabyPing have been in touch to let us know about their upcoming product. BabyPing lets you view a video feed of your baby using an iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad. A baby monitor for the gadget heads among us, if you will. The system includes infra-red technology, …

HTC Flyer vs. Archos 80 G9 – thoughts and impressions

I didn’t really consider changing my tablet anytime soon, as I was quite happy with Archos 80 G9 which I got in October. But there was that ridiculous Christmas clearance of the HTC Flyer tablet at DSG stores (PCWorld, Dixons and Currys) here in the UK recently and … well, …

ZTE handset incoming!

We’ve been invited to a launch event for ZTE’s “latest, chic handset” on Wednesday the 18th January… We will obviously have more details then, but it seems from CES reports and this post on Clove.co.uk that it’s likely to be the Tania. The Tania is a mid-range device spec-wise …

Is it possible to migrate my business to Android?

Hi there folks. This article has been a long time in the making. For me at least. Anyone who does so, will know that running a business on your own, takes up so much time, time with your family and just general you time! Its a massive commitment, …

Sony Ericsson Xperia Pro review

Android-powered handsets sporting hardware QWERTY keyboards are a bit of underrated niche. Whilst there’s many form factors out there, just a handful of those were actually worthwhile. Sony Ericsson’s Xperia Mini Pro, although quite popular, never attracted me enough due to its tiny size. This made it look …

App Review – Scottish Clans

App Review – Scottish Clans Launched in 2004, the Scotclans website is Scotland’s largest site for information on Scottish clans and associated families. Now the makers are aiming to extend their reach to Scots around the world with their recently launched Scottish Clans iPhone app. Find your clan …

My thoughts on Ice Cream Sandwich

I’ve been using ICS for about a week now on my Nexus S and feel I have enough experience with it to note down my impressions. This isn’t a structured review by any means, just my comments on things I like and dislike. UI/Feel I love the new …

Samsung Galaxy M Style announced

  Samsung have just announced the Galaxy M, launched in South Korea yesterday. No news of when it’ll come our way, if at all, but it looks like a nice, capable mid-range smartphone. As you can see from the photo, it’s running Gingerbread and has a decent enough spec …

App review: IsoSketch for iPad

Worth mentioning first off that I am in no way artistic so when I first saw this I wondered, ‘what’s the point’? I do love isometric drawings and all sorts of 3D so was intrigued but not quite sure what I’d actually use it for. As most techie …

Which Android are you running?

Over at Android Developers, some interesting numbers have come to light. Do we all know what Android OS we’re running on our devices, and do we care? It would appear that more than half the worlds Android devices (54.9% to be precise) are TWO full generations of the …