Category: Software Reviews

Gmail gets to update to Material design

This morning Android owners will have awoken to the news of Nexus 9’s being unboxed around the world (ours is here). Even if you don’t have a Nexus device you will be pleased to hear that you too can enjoy the new Gmail app from Lollipop as it’s …

FIFA 15 Ultimate Team Launches on smartphones everywhere

With little fanfare, the latest instalment of FIFA has crept onto the app stores a little earlier than expected, bringing with it the usual high expectations. FIFA has much to live up to, but does it live up to the hype? Featuring the Ultimate Team format, FIFA 15 …

Reviews – Get Notified of Reviews for your favourite apps

Reviews is an iOS app targeted towards developers. It allows you to monitor reviews for apps from all App Store territories. The creators clearly have an eye for design: leaving out all unnecessary chrome and features. Reviews first opens without any apps added. This is probably for the best …

Qcktag – Android app review

Qcktag is the solution to a problem you probably didn’t realise you had. Once used it becomes a bit addictive and can be damn handy as well. What is it about and what does it do? Read on… Contact lists on mobile phones. They grow and grow as …

Tracking your Activity using Endomondo

In this article I looked at how it’s possible to manage your fitness using your smartphone and the My Fitness Pal App. My Fitness Pal is used to track your food intake against the amount of exercise you perform, which is great but to give you maximum control …

Fields of Battle – Paintball without the Pain

Fields of Battle is a FPS with a slight twist, rather then being a simulation of modern warfare of a historic battlefield it’s a simulation of everyone’s favourite ‘knee deep in mud’ pass time activity – Paintball. Paintball has always enjoyed immense popularity, combining pseudo battle tactics, teamwork …

Take vocal control of your phone with Commandr

There’s just something about the idea of being able to talk to your phone to make it do stuff which captures the imagination. It’s the sort of thing that makes you want to test all the things which are to do with voice commands… if only it would …

UnoTelly – Streaming service review

One thing we are not short of is apps or services that stream TV channels. The problem is that many of these are tied to your location. For instance, I can easily watch live World Cup games using TVCatchup, the BBC iPlayer or ITV players apps. Upon visiting the US a …

Dubstep Hero Review

I’m sure we’ve all had those visits to the services on the motorway. Usually, in between a coffee and a quick “comfort break” you’ll see one of those “Dancing Stage” machines. Perhaps, if you’re on a night out and had a few “shandies”, you’ll probably try and have …

Clauncher – The new “Beautiful Launcher” for Android

Did you wake up this morning and think… My phone isn’t as beautiful as it could be, old fashioned icons, boring skins and themes from your phones manufacturer.  Well if you did then “CLauncher” could be for you. CLauncher is a relatively new launcher for android phones (Android …

Tipping Point for iOS – is there a point?

Tipping Point is a game show on ITV. This app is the game of the show, released on both Android and iOS, though this review refers specifically to the iOS version, priced at £1.49.   The object of the game is really rather simple – contestants have to …

Breaking News: The WP app gap is over as McDonald’s release app

If, like me, you’ve got a Windows phone and have been concerned by the lack of an official McDonald’s app in the UK the wait is finally over.  Just think, no longer will you have that problem of walking down the street, stomach rumbling, but without the slightest …

CoPilot on test

So just to set my stall out, pre-Lumia and “Here”, I used CoPilot. It was one of the most feature-packed and reasonably-priced navigation products for Windows Mobile at the time. So here we are on a new platform – Windows Phone. It’s the same product and of course …

Recovering lost data with MobiSaver.

Everyone must know that horrible sinking feeling when you’ve accidentally deleted something. It’s worse on phones, as there’s usually some pretty personal information on there such as photos, text messages and music. Imagine you’ve just lost some data. Whether it be an accidental deletion or someone resetting your …

Android App Review – Recent (file manager assistant)

Naming an app must be a difficult task, if I was tasked to do that I’d be there for weeks thinking and thinking what to call it. So I can entirely understand what the confusingly named Recent is all about. Picture the scene, you have taken a load …

Android App Review – Focus photo sharing

Don’t you just hate it when you hand your phone to a friend to have a look at a picture you’ve taken and they then start looking through the rest of your shots? Well there’s an app for that now. Focus photo sharing deals with this exact problem. …

Android App Review – Skiplock

If you’re using today’s super powerful smartphones like me, you are now carrying everything in your pocket, your bank details, your social networks and normally some irreplaceable photo’s of loved ones. So your phone should have some kind of password/PIN/pattern/facelock protection to stop unwanted eyes to getting to the …

Review – My iStory

If you’ve read my review of the HTC One or HTC One mini then you’ll know how much I love the “video montage” feature. It bundles together photos you’ve taken into a fun movie that will help you remember all those little moments from your day. If you’ve …

Android app review – ScreenshotCleaner

ScreenshotCleaner is a handy little app for bloggers and developers alike. As a blogger I take a lot of screenshots on my phone which, obviously, always have the status bar on. This isn’t really a problem, but often it has notifications and icons that are irrelevant and messy, …

Android App Review – Smart IR Remote

Having an infra red blaster on my phone has recently become something that I can really appreciate. The app offerings from HTC, LG and Samsung are a bit basic or they get bogged down with TV listings and the like. What I wanted was something I could fiddle …

Cuebox 3D Pool Game Review

As if playing pool in two dimensions isn’t hard enough, there is now 3D Pool. This is definitely a game that will test your mental acuity and give that redundant geometry knowledge a workout. As you can imagine from the title, the game is based around a regular …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

Android App Review – ActiveNotification

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 …

Despicable Me: Minion Rush App Review

Fans of Despicable Me, listen up! As is so common with new movie releases nowadays, the makers behind Despicable Me have released a mobile game. Do you also like Temple Run? Blimey, this is your special day! Gameplay The game see’s your character taking on loads of obstacles …

Windows RT & Windows Phone game review – Halo – Spartan Assault

For what may be the first time ever in the history of Windows Phone gaming, Microsoft have an exclusive. Halo – Spartan Assault has arrived on Windows Phone and Windows 8/RT before any other platform. In the same way that previous Halo games only ever appeared on Xbox. Whether …

Order from local restaurants online with JUST EAT mobile app

Something wonderful seems to have happened here in the UK. The British summer has arrived. No, I’m not talking about that 15 degrees Celsius when the local teenagers start riding their bikes without tops on, this is actual, real, heat. At this point a lot of people will …

Android App Review – Yandex Shell

Many many years ago SPB used to make apps for Windows Mobile. The had something called SPB Shell, it was basically a launcher for Windows Mobile. Me and millions of others enjoyed it. Fast forward a few years and SPB have been bought out by Russian Search Engine …

Windows Phone App Review – Simple Calendar

I like to be organised, sometimes a little bit too organised. I add allsorts of things to my calendar, from reminders to go home, my holidays, the weekly podcast and some other stuff. The basic Windows Phone Calendar tile doesn’t really show much info and at times it …

This Call May Be Recorded

For training purposes or just to be generally nosey….. Here at Coolsmartphone we’ve been contacted by copluk. They wanted us to review their call recording app – “Free Call Recorder – ACR“. It is available for free from the Play Store, then you have the option to pay …

Windows Phone App Review – Shrink Storage

Orphaned files and folders aren’t a new phenomenon. For hundreds of many years people have been uninstalling apps only to find that the uninstaller hasn’t quite done it’s job properly. I’ve seen this bug in umpteen versions of Windows on my desktop PC, I’ve seen on every version …

Windows Phone App Review – Camera360

I use the phone on my camera a lot, capturing moments in time to share with others at a later date. With Windows Phone Camera Lenses you can do a lot more with your photos. I’ve tried lots of different lenses out some just make pictures look rubbish …

Windows Phone App Review – [+] Lockscreen Style

My Lockscreen on my Windows Phones is the one place you can truly express yourself and have pretty much any picture you want displayed. This in itself isn’t anything new and nor are the new features that Windows Phone 8 brought to the Lockscreen either. I like wallpapers …