Category: Reviews
So, Samsung then. We should skip a few chapters straight off. It’s a Samsung handset, so you know it’s going to be a well-built thing and the UI is going to be a polished and elegant place to be. The Galaxy S4 got a huge amount of attention …
Don’t get me wrong, I love writing reviews, but of the large quantity of Android phones on my desk I was quite happy to at last see a tablet. The MediaPad is, for me, a perfect size. It’s easy to hold with one hand and weighs about the …
A few months ago I had a HTC One for review, ever since it went back my life has been different, I’ve been constantly looking for a new phone to fill the 5″ 1080p Aluminium unibody sized gap in my life. I’ve played about the Galaxy S4 and …
Apple have done something different this year, they’ve bucked the trend, they’ve gone and released two new iPhones. The slightly cheaper iPhone 5C and the premium iPhone 5S. We’ve got the iPhone 5C for the next week or so and to start things off here are our initial …
The people at MobileFun are lovely. They are. Really. Some two or three months ago they sent me the genuine Galaxy S3 Flip Cover to review. It’s only £19.99 and I slapped it on my phone. You fit it by removing the battery cover and, using a new …
Sometime ago I bought myself a shiny new retina display iPad, lovely I thought, that was until my wife saw it. ..I no longer have a retina iPad. Then Apple released the iPad mini. Great, I thought, I’ll treat myself, plus it will be easy to pop in …
Tablets are becoming more and more popular these days with new features and different screen sizes allowing for all types of customer. Small tablets are great for travelling and for taking to work, where as the larger ones can almost act as a laptop replacement for lots of …
The current generation of Acer devices are pretty impressive, at the top of the pile is the “S” range, which is the flagship device range. The Liquid S1 phablet is a great big thing with a 5.7″ screen and specs similar to the Galaxy Note II. I’ve had …
Earlier this year we were lucky enough to buy a brand new car. All bright and shiny it chugs along nicely doing 45 miles to the gallon taking us wherever we wish to go. When making our decision which car to buy we took many factors into account. …
Review contributed by Richard King I first become a follower of MIUI back in 2012 when I was searching for a stable rom to put on an HTC Sensation XE. I was fed up with constantly finding bugs in other development ROMs that I was using, so I searched …
The Acer Liquid Z3 could be called the “Liquid E2 Duo Mini” but not every manufacturer has to follow the Samsung rules. The Acer Liquid Z3 is a budget sub £100 dual core device and I’ve got one for the next few weeks. So to start off proceedings here …
The single biggest complaint with any smartphone from an iPhone to an HTC Wildfire is around battery life. The different apps that people are now using their devices for vary banking on the move to satellite navigation to streaming music on the move but the one thing that …
Yes. Fair comment, we do review a lot of Bluetooth speakers here at Coolsmartphone. It’s the new thing though. Gone are the days of kitchen radio, CD and tape players. Now it’s a speaker which you pair with your phone or MP3 player. What about FM radio though? …
Watches are making a bit of a comeback, but in a new form, they have Bluetooth, a range off odd buttons and loads of features that you didn’t know you ever needed. I’ve never owned a SmartWatch, I’ve looked at many though and wondered what life would be …
I saw what appeared to be a cracking deal on a decent spec’d smartphone whilst surfing the web a couple of weeks ago, took the plunge and ordered directly from China. I’d never seen or heard of the brand-name ThL or the W8s phone before and to be …
Case Mate recently offered to send me a selection of their cases for review, one of which I’ve done – the gold sparkly Glam iPhone case. Which is it’s great case with a fun look. I also got the Android Mike for the HTC One X. It’s another …
Truphone specialize in cheap or free international calls. A common claim in the current global telecoms market. But Truphone are a little different. They are an MVNO, they produce their own specialized sim card which can use multiple international numbers simultaneously and they make the oldest VoIP (voice …
One type of app that there seems to be a never ending supply of, on every platform, is weather apps. Some are better than others and some stand out. Umbrella 8 is a weather app for Windows phone that falls into the later category. Lots of apps illustrate …
Will the iPhone 5S come in gold? That’s the big question on someone’s lips, somewhere. Who cares, when you can have a gold iPhone 5 case and save yourself the hassle of changing phones? OK, so it’s not ‘champagne’, and it’s not aluminium, and it’s not subtle, but …
So I’ve mentioned this new handset already. Out of the box it’s a corking design. Glance at it from the sides and you there’s a whiff of iPhone about it. Before I start though, I should also mention something else. I’m becoming increasingly impressed with Huawei. Sure, no-one …
Level Up Studios have got into the app drawer market with the idea of revolutionising the Android icon grid. Have they made the must have launcher add-on of the decade, or are they trying to fix something that just ain’t broke? You may have heard of Level Up …
The original Nexus 7 was something special, up until then small 7″ tablets had either been awful or stupidly expensive. The original Nexus 7 showed us that you could have a well specified device at a reasonable cost. It quickly became the most popular Android tablet ever, I …
I’ve become a bit of a battery pack convert recently, choosing to charge up wherever I am and not worrying about where the nearest power socket is. I recently purchased one of those huge 13000 mAh battery packs which is fine when you can carry a large weighty …
I’ve always been a fan of large oversized phones and also dual SIM phones, so imagine what I was like when a large white device with dual SIM slots arrived on my desk. I opened it up and I did a double take, I was hit with a …
6tag, the new Instagram client for Windows Phone by renowned developer Rudy Huyn is now available from the Marketplace. Any Windows Phone user knows the ongoing saga of no official Instagram app on the platform, so 3rd party apps have to fill the gap for now. 6tag is …
The 7-8″ tablet market is a rather competitive one, with Apple and Asus at the top of the pile. The iPad Mini and the Google Nexus 7 are undoubtedly the market leaders and there are many other manufacturers trying to get in on the action, Acer, Amazon, Gemini, …
Good alarms are hard to find… If it doesn’t work properly, or have the necessary functionality then no matter how pretty the app is, or whether the app conforms to the Holo style guide, its dead to me. Enter Neon Alarm. Good Points It is pretty intuitive. A …
Touchnote is the popular send-a-postcard-from-your phone service. This article deals with the mechanics of the app, my experience of the app and some details of the company behind it including some feedback directly from Touchnote. This review is based on my use of the application on a Nexus …
Forget WhatsApp, leave Viber alone, and move along Google Hangouts. Yep, yuilop is here to let you talk, text, message and group chat as much as you want. For FREE! Wellll, almost. When you hear something that’s surely too good to be true, you have to wonder, so …
Many people are doing away with their digital cameras and are instead taking more photos on their phone. Samsung have decided to test the waters with this, the Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom. It’s a device which merges a digital camera with an S4 Mini. Unfortunately I didn’t have …
The upcoming US only Motorola Moto X has quite a few nice software features. In my eyes the rather fancy lockscreen notifications are a great idea, allowing you to quickly see what the latest notification is without having to turn your phone on. As I have a few …
Come Padawan. Let me talk to you about something. Phones, as you’ll probably know, are ruddy expensive. I know you really, really don’t want to, but whacking a cover on your device is the best way to protect it. But hey, it’s boring isn’t it? A little bit. …
A few days ago I posted an article about wireless charging. It was all about some receiver cards that attach to the battery in either your Galaxy S4 or Note II. I bought one for my Note II and I’ve spent the last few days playing about with …
I’ve not been the biggest fan of flip cases over the years. They tend to fall into two brackets, either cheap nasty leather things or stupidly expensive and supposedly premium quality. This isn’t the best frame of mind to be in for this review. Tech21 make a range …
A few weeks back I got my hands on a Sony SBH-20 stereo Bluetooth headset, and after using it for a little while I decided to jot down my views onto paper (or rather type them onto a laptop). Key features: Small unit with controls and built-in microphone …
Speakers. We’ve seen a few of them now. Slowly the idea of a radio sitting in your kitchen is becoming old fashioned and portable Bluetooth speakers hooked up to tablets and smartphones are replacing them. The is the Soundship Micro and immediately it’s a rather interesting design. Almost …
Videos, we love them. Take the HTC One for example. You’ve seen our HTC One overview and demo and a full look at how it’ll control your TV. It’s a fantastic phone and we’ve got a full HTC One review here. When the HTC One mini arrived we …
Morning all. I’ve got two bits of good news for you today. First, it’s Friday. Secondly, we’ve got a beautiful red HTC One for review. Yay! Now, I’ll let you into a secret. Come, follow me around the back of the Coolsmartphone servers and we’ll have a quick …
Now and again in life something makes it way into my hands that just feels amazing. The last time this happened to me was the day I held the HTC One for the first time. This week it was when two phone cases found their way onto my …
I do love a good hand sized tablet, which is probably why I use my Nexus 7 every single day and also why I’m probably going to get the new Nexus 7 when it appears in this country. Can an alternative manufacturers offering tempt me away from the Google …
