Category: Reviews

Coolsmartphone recommended Android app – Wallbase

Android wallpaper apps are a nightmare. There are loads of them. In the main they are just front ends to a website full of qvga wallpapers. Which when you use on you nice new tablet or qHD phone the picture looks horrendous. The Wallbase website has a large …

T-Mobile Vivacity video overview

It’s quickly turning into another big “review day” here at Coolsmartphone. Next up is this, the T-Mobile Vivacity. We’ve actually already reviewed this a few weeks ago but I’ve got one right here and figured that you’d like a video overview too. The T-Mobile Vivacity is actually built …

Monaco Extreme Car Charge Review

OK, big news people. YouTube has a new video editing option called “Stabilize”. That’s it, no more one-handed wobble-cam videos… well, maybe just a few eh? Today we’ve had some more stuff to review. This is the Monaco Extreme Car adapter from the guys at WirelessGround.com. It’s normally …

App Review – Scottish Clans

App Review – Scottish Clans Launched in 2004, the Scotclans website is Scotland’s largest site for information on Scottish clans and associated families. Now the makers are aiming to extend their reach to Scots around the world with their recently launched Scottish Clans iPhone app. Find your clan …

O2 BoostBox Review & Setup

UK network O2 have a new product in testing and that is a Femtocell.  If you do not know what one of these is then consider it a portable mast you plug into your home WiFi network to give you fill 3G signal all around your house even …

My thoughts on Ice Cream Sandwich

I’ve been using ICS for about a week now on my Nexus S and feel I have enough experience with it to note down my impressions. This isn’t a structured review by any means, just my comments on things I like and dislike. UI/Feel I love the new …

App review: IsoSketch for iPad

Worth mentioning first off that I am in no way artistic so when I first saw this I wondered, ‘what’s the point’? I do love isometric drawings and all sorts of 3D so was intrigued but not quite sure what I’d actually use it for. As most techie …

Motorola RAZR Review

Motorola have been around for a long time now making phones, everyone will remember the iconic RAZR phone which went through a few different phases including the V3i, V3xx and the Maxx which the later ones were 3G versions back in the days of 3G first launching here …

Jil Sanders Windows Phone – First Impressions

So, after this post from Leigh, some of you might be considering purchasing this phone. We have one of these in the house, so I thought I’d share with you my first impressions. The phone seems to be a slightly remodelled version of the LG Optimus 7. A …

Orange Barcelona – Review

The guys over at Orange have kindly lent us an Orange Barcelona to review. The Orange Barcelona is a low priced Android handset in the candy bar format with a hardware keyboard and touch screen. Think Blackberry (or just look at the picture below). The spec highlights are …

Coolsmartphone Recommended Android App – File Expert

One of the things I like about Android is that you can install a file manager. Something where you can look at all of the files and folders on your phone and on your phones sd card. I like the weekly of scrolling through and deleting the orphan …

ZTE Skate Review

ZTE have come a long way since they used to make the £10 phones on Three which had the SIM card glued into place to prevent box breaking, these were the phones sold on Three via Superdrug. So considering we are now looking at an Android device packing …

Motorola Pro+ Review

I am a huge fan of hardware QWERTY keyboards in mobile phones. My affection towards such devices started with the i-Mate K-Jam (better known as the HTC Wizard) back in 2005. It iterated through many different handsets ever since, up until the HTC Desire Z which I currently own. …

moTweets Review

MoTweets – Panoramic Software I always like to use generic software whenever possible. So, when I switched over to WP7 from the iPhone, I started using the official Twitter app. It soon left me very frustrated because I couldn’t find a way to “Reply to all”, which I …

Sony Ericsson LiveSound Headphones – Review

We’ve had a number of headphones sent our way to review recently. These are the Sony Ericsson LiveSound hi-fi headphones and they sell for around £49.99. They don’t work with all phones or MP3 players, these are designed to work with Sony Ericsson Xperia handsets like the Xperia …

T-Mobile Vivacity review

The other week I bought the new T-Mobile branded Vivacity. It is a repacked ZTE Crescent and also a variant of the Orange San Francisco 2. I have been using it as my main device since then. My main problem with it is that my normal phone is …

Xbox Companion review

Installation: this is just a matter of going to the marketplace and downloading the app as normal but once installed you won’t find it listed as initially you have to access it via the Xbox Live tile, but once there you can pin it to your start screen. …

Review – Mobile Multi Stand 360

We’ve seen a few phones with stands around the back. They’re on some of the larger devices and are usually designed to prop your phone up for prolonged video or film watching. What if you want to fit one on your existing phone though? Well, we got sent …

App Review – Writepad

Writepad is a text input method for tablets and phones. Oh great another keyboard app, Android really could do with a few more of those. This one though is different, it uses either your finger or a stylus to capture your handwriting. Yes like you could do in …

App review – World of letters

Our son is three and, when he gets hold of my phone, I’d like him to be using an app that’s educational. There’s loads on the Android Market, but unfortunately I’ve not seen a great deal that are good. They all try, but here in the UK we’re …

Review – Digital Silence DS321D Noise Cancelling Headphones

I’ll be honest with you now. I’ve reviewed phones for many years now and I’ve seen a lot of in-ear headphones. You know the sort, they’re provided with every phone and usually end up staying in the box. Why? Well, put simply, they’re bobbins. Why do I say …

HTC Sensation XL Review

This handset was kindly provided by Three. They’ve been big fans of the site in the past so, when they offered me a chance to review the Sensation XL, I was looking forward to getting my hands on it. You can also see some up-close shots of the …

Have you bought a bargain-bin Android tablet?

Top Coolsmartphone veteran Bobby Wallace went on eBay one night and bought himself a cheap Android tablet. You know the sort, it looks good on the eBay item description, it seems like a good price but … is it? Here he’s given us his views on this “Rola …

App Review – Llama Location Profiles

I had a bit of a thought this morning. For weeks I’ve been using an app which just sits in the background and does exactly what it’s supposed to. It’s easy to work and fantastically clever. It’s called Llama and, although these screenshots won’t exactly blow you away, …

App Review – The Good Pub Guide 2012

I’ve been known to frequent a few pubs in my time, so when word came through of the Good Pub Guide’s new app I was keen to give it a whirl. Created by the makers of the well-established and bestselling Good Pub Guide book, the app contains all …

Nokia Lumia 800 Review

So here it is, the Nokia Lumia 800 – the “first real Windows Phone” phone made by Nokia. I’ve had virtually no experience with Windows Phone 7 before and was looking very much forward to the Lumia 800. Is WP7 able to impress me as much as Nokia …

Review – The Ericsson A2628 from Lekki

“Yeah, send it over, we’ll take a look”. ..that’s usually my response when we’re offered a phone to review. This time it was the guys at Lekki on the phone. They get “vintage” mobile phones and video games, get them working, in tip-top condition and then give them …

Samsung Galaxy Note Review

OK, this is a little big. Many moons ago we reviewed the Orange SPV M2000. We thought that was big. It’s not. Not when compared to this. The style and design is still there and it does look a lot like a larger version of the rather glorious …

T-Mobile Vivacity initial impressions.

Yesterday I got hold of the new T-Mobile Vivacity, which is a ZTE Crescent or Orange San Francisco in a different case. I thought I would give you a few first impressions and photos now and a slightly more in-depth review next week once I have really got …

Three WiFi Router Review

Being registered on the Three PR list means that I often get emails about new devices. Recently one device which took my fancy was the new WiFi Hub. Three have a massive share of the Mobile Broadband market with an award winning HSPA+ network in the process of …

Acer Iconia A100 – Review

We have recently received an Acer Iconia A100 and boy what a great device it is. So enough of the introduction, lets get down to the nitty gritty. Hardware The Acer Iconia has a 7″ Capacative screen, Android 3.2, Tegra 2 chipset, 8GB built in memory and a …

Android App Review – AVG Antivirus Free

So word on the street (and when I say street, I mean the good old information super-highway) is that viruses and malware are becoming quite a big threat for Android users, but that is a story for another post. I want to have a chat about one app …

Hands On – O2 BoostBox

A while back we talked about the impending trial from O2 around their femtocell technology – well the box finally arrived and I’m going to show a couple of pictures of the mythical beast. Firstly we’ll note that IT IS A TRIAL !… this is not for the …

A shooting Ray of light

There has been quite a lot of activity from the Sony Ericsson design team this year and the latest device to be brought forth from their creative minds is the Xperia Ray. This phone is not your usual fair from SE in that it does not fall into …

Nokia N9 review

The Nokia N9 is a weird beast. It runs the MeeGo Harmattan OS and has been released after a so-called elopocalypse when Nokia’s new CEO Stephen Elop controversially turned towards the Windows Phone platform, ditching both homegrown smartphone platforms – Symbian and Maemo/MeeGo – into gloom. The decision …

Review – HTC CR S490 Desktop Cradle for HTC Sensation / Sensation XE

This cradle device synchronises and charges the HTC Sensation / Sensation XE. Plonk the phone in and it’ll angle your phone at the right angle for watching videos, checking the weather or using the phone as a bedside alarm-clock. Drop the phone in while the special video button …

Coolsmartphone Recommended Windows Phone App – Red Bull TV

Red Bull TV is one of those apps that I am amazed does not appear on many other platforms (only WP7, iPhone and Ovi). It is a great way of watching videos from a variety of adrenalin fuelled sports. The marketplace says that it “brings a world of …

Coolsmartphone Recommended Windows Phone App – New group*

Windows Phone uses tiles for the home screen. You have no doubt seen what these look like. Grouping these tiles is time consuming having to move each tile around and grouping things together. I usually group apps such as web items, social apps, shopping apps or tools. With …

Cocktail Flow – Review

Cocktail Flow released for Android Phones and Tablets “Thanks to computer savvy alcoholics, there’s an app for that” – Big Bang Theory Cocktail Flow, the 2nd highest rated application on the Windows Phone Marketplace has been released for Android in both a phone and a tablet version. Mobile …