Tag: iphone

A week with…

  I’ve always been a two handset user whenever possible for more years than I’d like to think about. It helped me balance any deficiencies in any one handset, and whilst I’ve had a preference for one type of handset over the other for certain things, there was never a …

My 2013 wishlist – Ravi (the iOS edition)

Putting together an iOS wishlist isn’t actually too easy. Year after year, Apple has slowly been filling in the little gaps, to the point where iOS is now a fairly mature offering. That said, there are still a few things I’d love to see from Apple come WWDC’s …

Magnetic Smart Cover and Stand Case for iPhone 5 – Review

Apple’s smart cover case for it’s iPad lineup is one of the best pieces of accessory design in recent memory. But does a similar paradigm transfer over to the considerably smaller iPhone? Guoer have given it a try and here’s what I think Let’s jump straight into one …

Google Maps for iOS is back!

Do we really need to give you the history on this? Oh, OK. I’ll do it briefly then. If you had an iPhone a few months back then you’ll have used Google Maps as the default mapping solution. Apple changed all that though, and along cam Apple Maps …

Will.i.am iPhone camera add-on – more details revealed

If you happen to be drinking tea whilst you’re reading this.. I’d stop now. It may end up all over your monitor. As we reported a few days ago Will.i.am has shed some more light on the iPhone camera attachment. There are two models, a contemporary (named C.4) version …

Apple give Maps boss the boot

Early on September 19th we tried the new Apple Maps and found it to be pretty lacking. Apple later apologised and are now said to be booting out the manager responsible for the mapping mess. Richard Williamson is to be sacked and a new leadership team is to …

Apple vs Google – Let battle commence.

We all know that feeling.  The moment when your heart leaps out of your chest and thumps at a thousand miles per hour just as your phone hits the floor. I’m fairly certain that each and every one of us has dropped our handset at one time or …

iPhone 5 now on Three PAYG

If you are an existing customer on Three here in the UK and have not been able to get your hands on an out of contract iPhone 5 yet due to Apple stock reservation system being ‘tricky’ at best, the great news is the official Three site has …

Will.i.am announces iPhone camera add-on

Yes, Will.i.am – famed for the Black Eyed Peas and persuading Mick Jagger to appear in that god awful song about getting hard and going home… or something. It seems the iPhone 4S and 5 having one of the better cameras in the smartphone world, is not enough. …

Wallet TrackR now available for pre-order

Are you prone to losing your wallet? Do you use an fairly recent iOS device? If so, Phone Halo have a solution for you that they have dubbed “Wallet TrackR”. It consists of a super-thin Bluetooth device (reckoned to be the thinnest Bluetooth device in the world, as …

Climatecars – The eco-friendly car service, reviewed

Editors note – We get a lot of apps sent in for review. This one had a twist, they guys from ClimateCars wanted to show us their new iPhone app with a free drive around London. Well, we decided to offer this out to one of our readers, …

iPhone 5 Shell/Holster Combo

Over the last few weeks I’ve tested numerous cases for the iPhone 5 and today is no different. This is one of my favourites so far however. It’s a “Verizon Original” and comprises a snap on shell and holster. The case is made from soft touch plastic and …

iOS App Store reaches 1 Million apps submitted

    Apple has reached a rather large milestone this week, according to Appsfire. Appsfire is an app discovery service who monitor the iOS (and Android) app stores and they believe from their data that the iOS app store  has now reached the 1 Million total apps mark. …

Ballmer calls Android “Uncontrolled” and Apple “Highly Priced”

He may be the top dog at Microsoft, but Steve Ballmer has never held back when asked about the competition. Today he must’ve been feeling even more relaxed, shooting bullets at both iPhone and Android. Ballmer firmly believes that Windows Phone can sit somewhere in between the “highly …

David Gilmour! App!

Right, RIGHT… that’s it. This has been doing my head in for days. I’m sure that they’re lovely people, but the PR team for this app have been badgering me for ages about this particular app and I’ll admit, I’ve caved in. But, I have no idea who …

Datasquasher – Reduce data use, speed up your mobile browsing

Data, whether we like it or not, isn’t as plentiful as it should be. In an ideal world we’d pay £5 a year for unlimited internet, but sadly that’s not how things work. So, the dudes at datasquasher have come up with an iPhone app which will reduce …

QDOS Metallics case iPhone 4/4S

Companies get in touch regularly asking us to take a look at their products. It’s part of the job I favour. Recently I got a QDOS Metallics case in the post. I had an iPhone 4S which has now made it’s way to a new home, my Dad. …

iOS 6.0.1 released; iOS 6.1 now available for developers

Apple has today pushed out the first minor bugfix to their recently released iOS 6 mobile operating system. The bugfix resolves several issues with the OS including, the camera flash not going off in some cases, a bug where the iPhone may not use the mobile network and …

My iOS experiment – Part 4

Regular readers might remember my plight to see what all of the fuss regarding iOS is about, one night a few months ago during one of our podcasts I had an idea. An idea that has cost me several hundred pounds so far, I bought an iPhone 4S.  Just …

Tapatalk gets an update

Tapatalk has been around for a while now and updates keep coming. Using an iPhone 5 I welcomed this one. Now the app uses the full resolution of the new iPhone. Along with optimisation for the iPhone 5 they have also included stability and bug fixes. The improvements …

Roll up, roll up, get an exclusive 10% off cases

We get a number of companies approaching us daily, trying to get a mention of their latest app, handset or accessory. They’ll try a number of tricks to try and pursuade us but, apart from the promise of free donuts, we rarely cave in to these tempting offers. …

"Borderlands Legends" Is Coming To iOS October 31st

Have you been itching to do some Vault hunting on the go? If so, good news! Gearbox has announced Borderlands Legends, a spin-off of the Borderlands series for iOS. The game will not be a first-person shooter; rather the player will control all the original Vault Hunters from …

Definitive proof: Galaxy SIII is better than iPhone 5

Why? Just why? There are many scientific experiments that have gone a long way towards advancing the human cause.  There are those that sacrifice everything they have in order to achieve their lifetime goal and along the way humankind benefits.   There are those that do something never …

The new iPhone 5 doesn’t look the same in the flesh

We’ve seen the adverts and the pictures, but somehow – up close – the iPhone 5 looks a lot different. It almost looks a little… “Samsungy”. Yup, we spotted the Galaxy SIII sitting on an iPhone 5 stand in the window of a local Vodafone store this morning. …

Galaxy SIII Leads in battery browsing tests

Battery life. You can’t get through the day without someone in your office mentioning .. or cursing it. Now those clever people at Which? have tested battery life on a selection of smartphones whilst browsing. Screen brightness was set to “maximum” during all tests and they used their …

Add some novelty passes to Passbook on iOS

Passbook is slowly gaining traction on iOS and if you haven’t used it before and you’re curious to see how it works then you can add some novelty passes from historic events courtesy of Flon solutions.  You can download passes for such memorable journeys as Titanic’s maiden voyage …

Time to steal the time? Apple borrows Swiss Clock’s image [updated]

There’s been a lot of interpretation of Steve Jobs when he referenced Picasso and his quote of “good artists copy, great artists steal”. Its been discussed before on our podcast (which by now most of you are listening to), and the general sentiment is that Jobs meant take …

Genuine Apple Lightning cables – coming soon

Got a shiny new iPhone5?  Need to charge it at the office? Then you’ll need one of these.. The lovely people at Mobilefun have contacted us to let us know they will have official Apple Lightning Cables in stock next week (expected Tuesday / Wednesday) For more information …

PONG case for iPhone 4/4S – Review

If like me, you get a little heavy handed with your iPhone and need it well protected. I suggest you try one of Pong’s Rugged Cases. Pong have made cases for a while and with the research that has gone into these cases, their age and expertise shows. …

iPhone 5 delays for up to 4 weeks

It’s the 6th generation of the handset (iPhone, iPhone 3G, iPhone 3Gs, iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPhone 5), its probably generated more column inches than any other phone this year, and to cap it off, the online Apple store has announced a delay of up 3-4 weeks. That’s …

Starbucks iOS app adds Passbook support – in the US

When iOS6 was announced, Passbook was one of the main new features, with Starbucks being one of the biggest names to be associated with it. An update to the app on the US app store now brings the functionality which was demonstrated at the iOS6 launch. US users …

EE 4G – Coolsmartphone Goes Hands On

Tucked away in a leafy part of London yesterday I was given the opportunity to have a play with EE’s new 4G handsets running on the brand spanking new 4G network. The handsets on show were the newly announced Samsung Galaxy S3 LTE, the Huawei Ascend P1 LTE, …

My iOS Experiment – Part 3

What started out as a light hearted discussion during our weekly podcast has turned into something of a monster. I’ve changed, I’ve become something I’ve always strived to avoid. I’m becoming a bit of a fan of Apple. You may be wondering what on earth I’m on about …

Aluminium scratches you know, that’s normal!

The latest way to bash the iPhone 5 is about the Aluminium sides and back plate getting scratched. 9to5Mac have posted what is apparently an email to Phil Schiller (Senior Vice President of Marketing) at Apple asking him what to do about scratches on new iPhones. His reply …

Coolsmartphone Handset & Accessories Supplier Profile: MobileFun

Here at Coolsmartphone each of the writers goes through an inordinate amount of handsets and accessories that go with them. We each have our own favourite suppliers that we find to be reliable and prompt. We therefore thought that we would bring a profile of the ones that …

Mobile Wars – Is the customer losing out?

It really doesn’t seem like a day goes by when we’re not hearing about yet another lawsuit. You know how it goes by now. It’ll involve Apple and either Motorola or Samsung. The Apple Maps criticisms are just the thin end of the wedge. I won’t blame anyone, …

Apple are updating iOS 6 Map errors pretty quickly

You may have heard this week that the Maps app in iOS 6 is not as good as it was in iOS 5. We discussed it on this weeks podcast. Whilst I agree that the app is poor against the defacto market leader Google, there is something users …

Review – Apple iPhone 5

So the iPhone 5 has finally arrived. Is it just an incremental upgrade?  Is the larger screen and performance worth the extra cash? Is the maps application really that bad? Having had time to experience what it’s like to actually own this phone, I’ll share some thoughts with …