Category: Gadgets & Tech

Review – LeapPad Explorer

So, we’ve got a tablet here that you’ll probably not see on any other tech website. It’s the LeapPad! This doesn’t run Android or any other OS we’d normally cover here but, back in July 2011 the LeapPad started something new. Does your child play with your smartphone …

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 …

ZTE Tania – price drop, now just £199!

Clove report the ZTE Tania has dropped in price, from £249 to just £199. After our recent hands on we came away reasonably impressed, save for the 4gb of onboard memory.  There really isn’t another sim free Tango handset around in this price bracket, although the Nokia 710 has …

Technology Review: Sonic Notify

Sonic Notify describes itself as ‘a platform that enables media to be delivered to a smartphone or tablet based on presence’. The technology here involves broadcasting an inaudible signal over an audio source that can be picked up by a suitable app on a device. The Sonic Notify …

Gripsta smartphone holder review

The Gripsta is a smartphone holder made by a company who have been making foam products for twenty years. I had a look at their website and I realised that they were VERY brightly coloured phone holders. The Gripsta team nicely sent me a box of the brightly …

iPad 3 event coming in early March?

It’s rumour and speculation time! According to All Things D, Apple will be holding a special event in the first week of March to announce the eagerly anticipated iPad 3. They’re not quite sure when exactly it will hit stores but are guessing that it should be a …

Three Web Cube Hands On

We just had a Web Cube arrive from the team at Three UK to test out, review and put though its paces.  Data is something we cover a lot on the site from the AYCE Challenge to other data news you might have seen recently. So when I …

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 …

Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7 16GB Wifi Review

Here is a quick question for you how do you make of the most successful Android Tabs in the sub ten-inch category even better? Well the answer is an obvious one. You put it on a diet send it for a lobotomy and then take it back to …

Sky Anytime, soon available to all broadband customers

I’ve followed the developments of mobile products at Sky for some time now but, at home, I’m unable to use the Sky “Anytime+” service. This service let’s you watch on-demand programming at a time suitable to yourself, but it’s only available to those taking the Sky Broadband package …

$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 …

What have we all become?

OK so maybe not all of us. But there is a worrying trend appearing on Twitter and the web in general. That trend is for buying end of line devices at a massive price reduction and the hysteria surrounding them. Take the HP TouchPad, the HTC Flyer, HTC …

EDF Make Your London Eye Viewing A Little More Interesting

EDF have decided that a trip in the London Eye to see the sites of London isn’t enough. They have introduced a new “interactive guide” which allows you to access information about the sites you can see from in the Pod during your rotation. The highly functional interactive …

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 …

CES – Sony introduce a range of “Smart” products

Can you remember the Sony Ericsson LiveView? It was a clever bluetooth device that you could wear as a watch that would show you alerts from your phone. Great idea, full of bugs and initially too expensive. Well Sony have updated the Liveview and come up with a …

Currys sale already on – Cheap tablets galore

We live in an age where sales begin on Christmas Day. Over on the Currys website they’ve slashed the price of many items including tablets. The deal that particularly caught our eye was the Dell Steak, down to less than £100. Click on for more offers, including a …

Want 10% off Netbooks?

 Yes, we know, the sales have started already and today is likely to be the craziest day to shop but, if you’re looking for that last minute gift to yourself our a loved one, crank up the Currys Christmas Deals app today for 10% off a netbook. …

Editorial: What’s “Nexus” for Smartphones?

OK, ignore the pithy title a second and let’s be serious. What is next?  Where do we go from here? Let’s look at the background. Apple and Google have created and sustained the smart phone market respectively, since it’s coming-of-age era around a 5 years ago.  We can …

First BBX device rumour: Blackberry London

Back in October at the BlackBerry DevCon 2011, RIM announced the next gen platform entitled BBX. This new OS will take advantage of HTML5 and will support RIM’s Cloud Services. Now the lucky guys at The Verge have the first pictures of what might be the first BBX …

Review – Pocket Boom Portable Vibration Speaker

I love gadgets. Any kind of gadget pretty much, and I’m interested. So imagine when I saw the blurb for this little box of tricks..  “Turn anything into a speaker!” It works too.. which is pretty crazy. The quality of the sound depends what you’ve “turned into” a …

Siri – on the move.. part 2

After sorting out using Siri whilst walking..  See here.. I decided to turn my attention to the car.. Sure, there are various solutions that enable you to do simlar things in the car, but they’re all quite expensive. I wanted to use Siri, be able to do hands free …

Win a FurCode tag!

Right, bear with me on this, but when we get offered stuff to give away to you guys, we rarely say no. FurCodes are high-tech ID tags that will connect your pet to the web. On one side you’ll find a QR code with your pets’ information on …

Turn your existing mobile broadband dongle into a WiFi hotspot

Share your Three mobile signal with up to five different devices using this, the new Mobile Broadband WiFi hub. Also known as the ZTE MF10 Dongle Adapter it will convert an existing USB mobile broadband dongle into a hot-spot. So, instead of plugging your mobile dongle into your …

iPhone 4S vs Samsung Galaxy S2 – FIIIIGHT!

Ok, so the iPhone 4S has been out since Friday and much has been covered on lots of different sites about Siri, the various speed improvements etc.. However, whilst all these things are great, the thing I use most on my phone is the camera.  I wanted to …

5 Essential Gadgets for the mobile professional

Working whilst travelling means having to adapt to a wide range of technology barriers, such as a lack of charging facilities, patchy WiFi / 3G coverage, limited packing space for every gadget, and bad data back ups. Although most travellers wouldn’t think adding to their stack of gadgets …

Helicopter. Smartphone. Video camera. Want.

I have no reason to, but for some reason I suddenly want one of these. Put simply it’s a helicopter that you control .. with your phone. The Parrot AR Drone is quite expensive (£259.99) but, when combined with the iPhone or Android app you get to use …

Amazon announces Kindle Fire

Amazon have today finally unveiled their long awaited Android tablet, and newest addition to their Kindle family, the Kindle Fire. The device itself is a 7″ dual core tablet with an IPS display running Amazon’s heavily reworked version of Android 2.3. However the standout feature is the price: …

IFA – The booth babes

So, those of you who have read coolsmartphone.com for a while may remember a site called msmobiles.com. It’s been sold on now and redirects to another site. The guy behind msmobiles.com was Edward, and he’s sent us a report from the IFA Electronics Show. We weren’t going to …

Three Launch HSPA+ MiFi

Three have just launched their new MiFi device here in the UK with the biggest upgrade being access to the new high speed HSPA+ network which supports speeds of up to 21mb/s and gives you 40% faster speeds than the older device. It also comes with a nice …

Bargain frenzy – The HP TouchPad at dabs.com

If you’re still looking for a HP TouchPad then quickly check out dabs.com. They’ve just dropped prices down to £105.. although their site appears to have buckled under the load.. and, when it does load, shows a higher price. (Update – It’s now showing the new lower price) …

HP TouchPad continues to fill bargain bins everywhere

Prices on the HP TouchPad continue to tumble, with Dixons now knocking down the 16GB version to just £89, or £115 for the 32GB variant. This isn’t just a normal price cut, this is a massive price explosion. The 32GB TouchPad used to be a stonking £429.99, now …

HP TouchPad TouchDown Prices!

So HP announced that they’re pulling out of the PC Market (via sell off like IBM did a few years back to Lenovo), and also killing off their WebOS devices. We’ll leave the why’s & wherefore’s to another Samsung/ Apple industry crushing debate another day… However – who …

Is technology to blame for the riots?

The recent riots here in the UK have scared many and caused the destruction of property, livelihoods and homes. The media has been quick to blame technology – “social networking sites” and BlackBerry handsets are mentioned time and time again in new bulletins and reports. Yes, technology allows …

Make yourself a free mobile phone holder

We get a lot of companies trying to promote their gear. Chris from ur-mobile.com emailed in about a totally free mobile phone holder. Sure, we were interested, but after watching the video we’ve decided not to try with our brand new handsets .. just yet… Link – YouTube

Ripping – Soon to be legal in the UK

Got yourself a CD or a DVD ? Want to rip it to MP3 or an MP4 video file so that you can play it on your phone ? Woah.. wait a minute there soldier, you’ve probably just broken the law. At least, that’s the way things used …

The JCB Phone testing lab – It’s a bit mental

A couple of days ago we were sent one of JCB’s Toughphones to test. No, we didn’t know that JCB made phones either, but they told us to chuck it in some water so we just had to give it a try. 🙂 There’s a whole range of …

Soundbug2 Speakers on test

Recently we had an email about some funky wireless Bluetooth speakers by FeONIC. They turn any resonant surface into an thunderous entertainment system. It’s a simple matter of pairing and then, provided the speakers are on and within range, they’ll output your media. We gave them a try …

Orange Liveradio

I’ve always liked internet radios. These are boxes which look and operate like normal FM or DAB radios with audio instead coming from audio streams on the web. This is the Orange Liveradio, which is available from the Orange Accessories website and on eBay. With DAB radio coverage …

Do you still wear a watch?

I was out for most of this weekend. Being the geek I am I noticed what phones people were using as I visited shops, a restaurant and a few pubs. There’s a lot of HTC Desire and HTC Wildfire phones out there, but I noticed something else too. …

Now your children can have a tablet too

Tablets, we love them. The electronic ones too. Today an email popped into my inbox about a brand new one, but it’s not powered by Android, iOS or Windows. This is the first tablet aimed squarely at children and, whilst my three-year-old is more than happy playing with …