Category: Reviews

Acer Liquid Z3 Duo – Review

Small things have a place in life, small phones definitely do too. Not everyone wants a huge device and not everyone wants a super complicated device covered in widgets and shortcuts. Good Points DTS Audio Small and compact Several different launchers designed for kids and the elderly Dual …

Muvit Stick N Stand Case for Xperia Z Ultra

The Xperia Z Ultra is a great bit of kit but with the giant screen I am worried that I will break all that lovely glass in my bag or pocket (yes you can put this beast in a pocket). So the first thing I did after getting …

Tesco Hudl Initial Impressions

Tesco have worked quite hard in the recent past to increase their digital offering.  They have bought Blinkbox for video streaming, We7 for music streaming and Mobcast for digital books.  They have created Clubcard TV and merged their acquisitions in order to create an all in one streaming …

Olo Creatures Snap Dog iPhone 5/5S case review

So, you want a decent quality gel-type case for your iPhone 5, but you’d like to to have a stand function too. No problem, there are loads to choose from. You also want it to look like a dog?! I have just the thing sir… The Olo Creatures …

Hands on with the LG G2 at the UK launch party

    The LG G2 was announced on the 7th of August in New York and in true LG style the UK sort of got left behind, the G2 is only just starting to appear at retailers and networks. Last night we attended the UK launch party in …

Acer Liquid S1 – Review

I’ll come out and say it, I love enormous phones, call them phablets, small tablets, massive phones or just plain old stupid. I’m a convert, I’ve come to terms with the fact I’m never going to be able to wear super skinny jeans and own a large phone. …

Apple iPhone 5C – Review

The iPhone has become somewhat synonymous with quality, it’s seen by some as the ultimate status symbol. I’ve never bought into that idea, almost resisting it, just because rather than by choice. But now and again I do like to see how the latest iPhone shapes up. Whether or …

Samsung Galaxy Note 3 – Initial Impressions

The Samsung Galaxy Note 3 arrived on my desk a few days ago. The Note 3 marks the third generation of the Galaxy Note range, it also marks the third Galaxy Note that I’ve owned. So as is often the case with a new device here at Coolsmartphone …

Sony Smartwatch 2 – Review

Do you remember back to when you were a kid and you used to watch Knight Rider? Remember looking wistfully at the Hoff’s watch communicator that he used to talk with Kitt? I did anyway. Now we’re getting a step closer to this becoming a reality. I present …

Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini Review

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 …

Huawei MediaPad 7 Lite Review

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 …

My time with the HTC One Mini

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 iPhone 5C – Initial Impressions

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 …

Official Samsung Galaxy S3 Cover – Review

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 …

Lifeproof iPad Mini case – Review

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 …

Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0 – Review

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 …

Acer Liquid S1 phablet – Initial Impressions

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 …

Car Audio FM Transmitter for Smartphones Review

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. …

Xiaomi Mi2S Review

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 …

Acer Liquid Z3 Duo – Initial Impressions

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 …

Belkin 20 watt Dual USB Car Charger review

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 …

Bayan Audio Soundbook Review

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? …

Mykronoz Zewatch BlueTooth SmartWatch – Review

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 …

ThL W8s – Initial Impressions

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 Android Mike case for HTC One X – review

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 -an app, unique sim and MVNO

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 …

Umbrella 8 Weather app

  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 …

Do-it-yourself Gold iPhone 5. The Case Mate Glam – review

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 …

Huawei Ascend P6 – Review

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 …

Quad Drawer, the quick app drawer – Android App Review

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 …

Google Nexus 7 (2013) – Initial Impressions

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 …

Innergie PocketCell 3000mAh battery pack – Review

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 …

GOCLEVER FONE 570Q – Initial Impressions

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 – Instagram app for Windows Phone 8 now available

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 …

Acer Iconia A1-810 tablet – Review

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, …

Android App Review – Neon Alarm

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 …

Android app review – Touchnote

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 …

Yep, yuilop: messaging for free

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 …

Samsung Galaxy 4 Zoom Review

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 …