Category: Accessory Reviews

Christmas is coming and you need that knock-out present – well we’re here to save the day. Back in November, we looked at Oppo Digital’s new HA-2 portable amplifier and PM-3 headphones (Come in Major Tom? New Christmas Presents from Oppo), which boasted some great specifications. We have …

It’s the first time that I’ve properly tried Android Wear, and this is the watch I’m doing it with. The Huawei Watch. Truth be told, when I got it out of the rather lovely box, I thought it was a bit fat, but after wearing it for the …

I recently received a Plemo LG G4 heavy duty case from Avantek UK for review. So here is a run down of the case and my thoughts on it. The case comes in three parts, the first two of which are required and form the main case, the third …

We get a lot of these. Basically, when you’re walking around or away from a mains socket or far away from that cigarette lighter in you car, you can get a boost with a portable battery like this. Yes, it’s a bit heavy and a bit clunky but …

Charging your devices can lead to tangled wires and multiple chargers dotted around the house. During the last few months we’ve seen a lot of chargers with multiple USB sockets because, quite simply, people have more gadgets. This one is from iClever. It’s the 6-Port USB Travel Wall …

This is a different sort of wearable. It’s winter, the cold weather is on the way and most of us will turn to hats to keep our heads warm. Trouble is, hats make it difficult to listen to our music using traditional headphones. What’s that I hear you …

You know how it goes. You get home from a long day at work and, just as you sit down for your evening meal, the home phone rings. If you’ve got caller ID then you’ll either see a withheld number or an international number flashing up. The next …

The set-up. The days of relying on traditional (and expensive) photography film are long gone. Now precious memories can be captured using consumer device in high-quality video and pictures. To put some of the latest devices to the test, I set out with my son, his go kart, …

Simple one this. It’s a small speaker which you can attach to anything with a 3.5mm audio port and amplify your tunes. It’s shaped just like an amplifier too, so should prove popular with anyone who like rock ‘n roll or guitars. There’s no Bluetooth here, no FM …

Last year I was sent through the TravelCard portable charger for review. It’s a super slim battery pack designed to fit in your wallet and give your mobile device that all important boost when you need it. I loved the TravelCard charger and it sits happily in my wallet with …

An alarm system, fitted, can cost you around £500. However, for £249 you could try this Myfox Home Alarm and set it up yourself. It’s got bags of extra goodies for us smartphone lovers. It’ll work with Nest too, because this has a key fob and smartphone app …

Your phone will no doubt have all your tunes on it, but when you get in your car there’s just a few methods of getting those tunes pumping out of the powerful speakers in your car. First, you could perhaps use one of those FM transmitters. They’re usually …

I’m terrible with the whole car mount / phone holder situation. I get to my car, open the door, then throw my wallet and phone onto the passenger seat. If the phone is lucky, it’ll be plugged in and will perhaps reach the destination without sliding off the …

  The Boomtube speaker is definitely larger than the majority of units we get here at Coolsmartphone, although it does pack a 4″ subwoofer and looks like a proper piece of camping equipment. Inside there’s actually a few speakers, including a “horn” which kicks out 2W and the …

Some times a little bit of style goes along way in the consumer tech industry, and the new Executive Power Bank from Kit certainly has plenty of style but does it have the substance to go with it?   Styled to look like an iDevice, the Power Bank …

Filofax is a well-known brand name associated with traditional paper-based diaries and personal organisers. Filofax products were always high-quality but there may be a natural assumption that their target audience shrank due to electronic portable replacements. But in order to remain relevant, Filofax have diversified into tech cases. …

Good Points: Well made and lightweight. Ability to transfer data and charge devices. Solves the issue of of small number of USB inputs in your laptop. Plug and play no drivers needed. Bad Points: Not a powered hub. Short cable to plug into computer. Design: Made out of high …

Let’s just get this right out in the open from the off… I’m not a runner… so having been sent through the Inateck sweat-proof running waist pack belt with expanding pockets, I thought this wasn’t the product for me, but I found it was. It certainly didn’t turn me in …

Cases are ten a penny these days so it takes something special to make them stand out. First impressions count, even if we’re always told not to judge a book by its cover! The STM Dux case for the first generation iPad Air is marketed on the basis …

We have a couple more devices for turning what was once a cigarette lighter into a rather nicer USB charging point. The cigarette lighter, which you may see now called a power point in your car, can be used to charge your portable device. However, with lots of …

I’ve had the opportunity to test several KitSound devices over the past year and generally I’ve always come away with a positive impression. I listen to a lot of music and a good pair of headphones is important to me, so how will the KitSound Manhattan headphones compare …

Bluetooth headsets. There’s lots of them out there and you’ll usually notice that they’re usually bulkier than normal headsets, especially around the ears. A lot also have a cable attaching the two. Here, the D900 headsets from Syllable arrive in a rather clever box which doubles as a …

Boosting your battery back up is a daily task. Here we have a charger from aLLreLi. It’s ideal for travellers as there’s a stack of slot-in interchangeable plugs in the box. Here in the UK I’m obviously using the UK adapter, but you get the EU plug, Australian …

Some of the items we get to review area quite complicated. They need research and a fairly wordy write-up. This, on the other hand, not so much. The Suaoki car charger is everything you’d expect it to be out of the box. It’s portable, easy to use and …

Running out of power on our expensive smartphones is something that we have sadly grown to expect. Battery packs and mobile charges do help this situation, but you have to remember to keep charging THEM too. This is a very different sort of battery pack. It’ll will charge …

4 port USB wall charger. My night time ritual goes something like this.. Put the cat out Lock the doors Make sure all the windows are closed Walk around the house looking like Mr T from the A-Team with a multitude of charger leads and plugs round my …

I always tend to start these articles by saying, “we get a lot of Bluetooth speakers”. We do. We really do. This one is a bit different, because it’s got some additional talents. It’s also a rather nice LED light. The people behind this tell me that – …

Technology doesn’t have to be be dull, in fact it can become a fashionable accessory to your life, a little extension of your personality or just great to look at. A great example of a company trying to inject a little style into a our technology packed world …

Have you got a small child? If so you will be most likely aware that they have an uncanny tendency to get ill from time to time. Now ,like any good parent, we’ve got a digital thermometer. However, like any good self respecting toddler my son despises the …

This aren’t your usual Bluetooth speakers. You can’t carry them around in your pocket for a starter – they’re just too big. The box alone weighs in at 7KG when it arrives, so these are definitely home speakers which will take up space on a table, cupboard or …

Yes, I’ve got me another Bluetooth speaker. It’s fair to say I have been sent quite a number of these recently but this, out of the box, does look a rather polished and classy affair. That shiny mirrored effect around the edge is actually a zinc alloy shell …

I was recently contacted by EasyAcc and asked if I would like to review their latest powerbank. If you’re not sure what a powerbank is, that’s simply another name for a chunky battery that you carry around with you. It’ll charge your phone or anything else you might …

Well now, this is jolly clever isn’t it? A little gadget that simply plugs into the bottom of your Android phone or iPhone handset and literally lets you see heat. You’ve probably seen something similar on a sci-fi movie like Predator. It lets you see what’s hot, and …

Do you use your iPad naked (oooooh missus, the iPad, not you) or do hide all of the Apple design inside a case? I recently got sent through two cases to review from Caseit, these being the clip on hard case and a rotating case or Folio style …

There are a million and one phone cases out there, so it’s always nice to review one that is slightly out of the ordinary.  The Rock Dr V Protective Case offers something different, I’m just not convinced what the point is.  What is novel I hear you ask? …

I was hugely excited when this case arrived at CoolSmartPhone Towers. I normally go for wallet cases and having recently used a variety of cheap ones from eBay, the idea of reviewing a high quality case was appealing. The case itself is well-packaged and made of durable material. …

    I have been looking for a way to a carry more media on my trips without having to overload the storage of my devices. There have been various ways of doing this around for a while, including the standard-for-Android solution of USB On the Go. Now …

Although I don’t spend all day in my car, like a lot of mobile aficionado’s I’ve moved over to using my handset as the source of my In Car Entertainment (do people even use the phrase ICE any more?). Between using it for navigation and listening to music etc, …

Ahhhh, the British summer is here! What does this mean? Day trips to the beach, ice cream and loads and loads of photos. But, if you want to take your beloved smartphone with you, you’ll need some form of protection. Not from the sun, no, but from the …

You’re out. You’ve got your tablet and you want to watch a bit of TV. There’s one fairly straightforward and easy way to do it. You grab an app like iPlayer, NOW TV, Sky Go or something similar and you can watch shows – either live or on-demand. …