Category: Android
A few years ago I bought a DAB radio. At the time it was pretty expensive but the guy in the shop told me it would offer more choice and a crisp sound. I took it home and quickly realised it was pretty rubbish. Only a small amount …
I have been looking at various different clock widgets trying to come up with one to recommend. This is an almost impossible task. There are so many different designs and styles out there. There are three main types of clock widgets “fully featured”, “minimal” and “ordinary”. I will …
A little bit self congratulatory this, but Cision has rated Coolsmartphone as number 4 in it’s list of top UK Consumer Technology blogs! Nice. So Well done to Leigh and Dan! Hopefully we can lift it to Number one! Thanks to Johannawhitaker for the tip, she is involved …
We took time out last month at Mobile World Congress to get a hands-on with the new Motorola Xoom. It packs a 10.1″ screen, dual cameras, HD / HDMI, dual-core 1GHz CPU, 1GB RAM and 32GB internal RAM. After a few ups and downs the WiFi-only version appeared …
Recent comScore and Gartner stats have seen Android growing rapidly and now Tesco Mobile have also chimed in on the continuing tilt towards the OS. In recent weeks they’ve seen sales of Android handsets outstrip iPhone sales. Graham Harris, Chief Executive Officer of Tesco Telecoms and Tesco Mobile …
Plug In Launcher is a neat little program that activates when you plug your charger in or when you plug your headset in. So when you plug your phone in to charge at night it can load your ebook reader, your desk clock, run angry birds or open …
Comscore recently released it’s updated figures for US Smartphone sales and it was good news for Android fans and bad news for Rim and Microsoft. Smartphone market share for Google/Android went up from 23% to 31%, just nudging ahead of Rim(Blackberry) on 30% a jump of 7%, a …
A couple of years ago I ran a story on some geocaching software. It was something I wasn’t familiar and I presumed it was some sort of geeky pastime. Fast-forward two years and, armed with an Android app called c:geo and the new Samsung Galaxy Ace we all …
“Wave Launcher is a unique, gesture enabled quick action bar for Android. It resembles a well known and loved feature on WebOS phones like the Palm Pre” that is what the developers say about this app on the Android Market. What I say about it is “it is …
I have just been sent this link to a video from a friend I met a few years back when doing some work for Nokia. Recently we saw a video based around Android activations in a map with loads of lights counting as activations and this video soon …
The guys at Three have loaned us the Samsung Galaxy Ace. It was seen hovering around the back of the Samsung stand at Mobile World Congress but, let me tell you, that doesn’t make it bad. With an 800MHz CPU it has iPhone-esque styling and comes with all …
I first used SPB apps many years ago on my T-Mobile Ameo. It came bundled with the original version of this app. In those days SPB were one of the premium app developers for windows mobile. In the last few months they have redesigned SPB Shell which is currently …
Right, stick with me on this one. Earlier in the week the Motorola Xoom appeared on PC World for £449.99. All was well until, after disappearing for a few days, it re-appeared £499.99. Now there’s 10% off on all “computing hardware” products over £299. The 10% reduces the …
Yep, expect to see BBM (BlackBerry Messenger) appearing sometime soon for Android and Apple devices pretty soon. BGR has news from “insiders” who state that, following a payment, non-BlackBerry handsest will be able to access the BBM service. It sounds like a “lightweight” version and the Android version …
Wifi Analyzer is an app that will graph out your wifi and your neighbours wifi. When it opens and scans your surroundings it will display a graph, the default graph is of Signal Strength and Wifi Channels which allows you to see if your network is clashing with …
A new version of Google Maps is available for Android users. It seems to add the ability to post ratings and reviews directly to Twitter. Google have also added a “ping” feature letting you contact nearby Latitude friends instead of having to call or text. To get the …
Sarah Harding (the blonde one from “Girls Aloud”) has been wheeled out to promote the new HTC Incredible S. According to my wifes’ description she’s pictured “in a black outfit with matching shoes and is sporting a new darker look”. The pictures will no doubt appear in various …
Google pulled 21 apps from the Android Market yesterday after many were found to contain trojan horse-style exploits. Many of the apps were re-packed versions of existing applications, including free pirated versions of paid-for utilities already in the Market. The root exploit used in some of these apps …
CircleLauncher is an app that gives you several shortcuts attached to one icon. Clicking on the icon brings up a circle on which the shortcuts sit. These shortcuts can be frequently used apps, contacts or bookmarks. There is a full version as well that costs £0.85 which allows …
Ask any geek why Android is great and more often than not the answer will include the word open. One of Android’s biggest purported benefits is it’s openness, which we’re told leads to more innovation and greater customisability. Unfortunately, I’d argue that in practice it’s also a big …
Just a couple of days back we revealed that PC World had slipped out their Motorola Xoom pricing. At £449.99 it didn’t seem to bad for the Wifi-only version, but shortly after the pre-order page we’d spotted vanished. Luckily the pre-order page is now back but.. err.. guess …
Dropbox is an easy way to synchronise files between your phone, your desktop computer, your laptop, your ipad, your iphone, your ipod touch or your blackberry, in fact most mobile devices or computers have software to suit. To sign up for an account is free, you get 2gb …
Apple event? What Apple event? 😉 A couple of weeks back we streamed the big HTC event in Barcelona live. It got a number of you watching but, if you missed it, there’s now a YouTube recording of the whole thing. HTC revealed several handsets, all of which …
Carphone Warehouse looks set to be the exclusive supplier of the Motorola XOOM in it’s 3G clothes. You can pre-register here. Expect to pay a little more than the £449.99 price-tag revealed yesterday. No exact pricing for this model is available as yet and it is expected to …
Last night I spotted a few tweets about the “ISS” being “bright in the sky”. If I’m honest I had no idea what everyone was talking about but, thanks to Google, I quickly found out that “ISS” was actually a reference to the International Space Station. You can …
What a trip! Well, as I promised a little while ago here is a review of some apps that I used while trying to navigate around Rome and Florence on a fantastic sightseeing trip. To make it easier (and shorter) I will list the apps and what I …
Three have now started to stock the Samsung Galaxy Tab on their network direct and give you a very healthy amount of data to get through in a month with two options available. The two options for the Tab available from Three are: £15.99 a month on a …
American retailer Mobilecity recently put up a page showing the 8.9″ LG Optimus Pad available for Pre-order at $699, and this is for the Wifi AND 4G version, basically undercutting the Motorola Xoom by $100! I know this is a British based site, but that equates to roughly …
Everyone likes free stuff, especially right now when everything is so ruddy expensive, so here’s a couple of competitions for you. Firstly Expansys have a competition to win an Xperia PLAY. It’s just a matter of doing some retweeting to be in with a chance of winning this …
A small HTC Hero update appears to be rolling out right now. Version 3.36.405.1 seems to update the HTC Peep app and xda-developers have seen some other files patched too. Check for updates on your Hero to see if it’s available, otherwise.. just wait longer. 😉 Credit – …
Keeping track of what is stored in our phones memory is at times a struggle. Newer phones like the Nexus S, Desire Z and Desire HD have a large internal memory and large memory cards. Keeping track of what is taking up space is becoming harder. I came …
PC World have just added pricing for the Motorola Xoom. Are you ready ? It’ll cost £449.99, which is actually a bit less than we were expecting (it’s $799.99 in the US for the 3G version). You can pre-order the sexy 10.1″ tablet now or, if you want …
The LG Optimus 2X was originally scheduled for February but now it seems that the release date has moved back a little. We had a look at the device whilst at Mobile World Congress and we were bowled over by the speed of the thing. The dual-core processor …
Imagine the scene, you’re down the pub and all around you people are playing games on their iPhone. There you sit with your Android phone, playing Angry Birds and hoping that something equally cool appear in the Android Market so that you can compete with your friends. If …
The o2 Coming Soon pages are now awash with Android handsets. In addition to their exclusive white Xperia PLAY and the Xperia Arc they’ll also be selling the HTC Desire S in April. Before that you can now expect to see the Galaxy Ace and Galaxy Mini. Link …
Swipepad is a fairly new app that allows you to hide up to 12 shortcuts behind your homescreen. You can add shortcuts to contacts, audio profiles, settings or apps. If used in conjunction with a program like folder organizer you can create many more custom shortcuts it also …
Blog post:These are my thoughts only and not the opinions of Coolsmartphone.com. Well, it’s Sunday and things are quiet on the phone news front, so I’d thought I’d share my thoughts on a few things that are annoying the hell out of me! Phone manufacturers, we understand you …
I have read no end of “top ten android apps” type articles and they are all very similar. Google maps is usually their top app, followed by some sort of task killer! These articles are great for beginners though, they show new users what is possible with their new …
During our close-up with the Sony Ericsson PLAY we felt that we’d somehow seen the phone before. We couldn’t put our finger on it, but tonight, thanks to ITV1 showing the old James Bond film “Tomorrow Never Dies”, it all became clear. Here’s the Ericsson device from the …
Today UK online retailer Clove put the Samsung Galaxy S2 up their site with a suggested release of mid to late March, much earlier than was initially expected. They also put some prices to it as well, the 16Gb version coming in at £510 + Vat and the …
