Author: Coolsmartphone Staff

Editorial: What’s “Nexus” for Smartphones?

OK, ignore the pithy title a second and let’s be serious. What is next?  Where do we go from here? Let’s look at the background. Apple and Google have created and sustained the smart phone market respectively, since it’s coming-of-age era around a 5 years ago.  We can …

How to access Google Music if you’re not in the US

Alongside the release of their new music store last week, Google also took the opportunity to take their Google Music service out of beta. I previously wrote a hands on about the service, which lets you upload up to 20,000 tracks to stream and download to your Android …

Motorola Defy+ gets a JCB edition, gets even tougher

The new The Motorola Defy+ has just got tougher. Now there’s a limited edition of the Defy+ – the JCB. It’ll sell for £268.80 SIM free and is pretty much the same apart from a JCB case. They’ve also chucked a JCB app on the device too, which …

Samsung Galaxy S gets Android 2.3.5

So it’s now official, Samsung have announced that there will be an update for the Galaxy S to Android 2.3.5 via Kies, so if you live in the UK you’re lucky. It’s apparently rolling out right now, so if you’ve got the original Galaxy S, give it a …

Galaxy Nexus: My first Android phone

On a whim yesterday I ordered the Samsung Galaxy Nexus from Phones4u and it arrived first thing this morning much to my surprise! I’ve been using iPhones since the 3G came out so this is a major change for me and I have to admit I’m a little …

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 …

Gmail for iOS reappears on the App Store

After initially appearing on the App Store and quickly being pulled because of bugs, the long awaited Gmail app for iOS has now reappeared. This time in a somewhat more stable form. Those of you familiar with the (pretty fantastic) Gmail mobile web apps will feel right at …

Lumia 800 first impressions

Lumia 800 with included case Like Leigh I have also been a smartphone user since the SPV and still have that first phone and despite its failings been loyal to Windows phones ever since. My head got turned by Apple last August and rather than waiting, jumped ship …

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 …

First BBX device rumour: Blackberry London

Back in October at the BlackBerry DevCon 2011, RIM announced the next gen platform entitled BBX. This new OS will take advantage of HTML5 and will support RIM’s Cloud Services. Now the lucky guys at The Verge have the first pictures of what might be the first BBX …

Gingerbread update for LG Optimus 3D coming next week

The Optimus 3D will be making the jump to Android 2.3 Gingerbread starting next week. The update brings not only the usual set on Gingerbread enhancements over Froyo but a number of extra improvements too, like faster data speeds and improved multimedia experience. The update will push the download speeds …

Blackberry Torch 9860 hands on and full review.

It was Friday when I received a rather large package addressed to me. Inside, the Blackberry Torch 9860. First up, I’ve got to admit that I absolutely love this handset. I have had plenty of time to have a little play and a fiddle with this device, so …

HTC Droid Incredible gets another Gingerbread update

It doesn’t seem so long ago that the HTC Droid Incredible was added to Verizon’s growing Android line up, offering some in-house competition to the original Motorola DROID. And while the original DROID closed out its successful long run at Verizon with Android 2.2 aboard, the HTC Droid Incredible was updated to Android …

HTC Zeta, spotted – Upcoming flagship, boasts quad-core processor.

Another HTC superphone has been spotted loose in the wild, but this time it’s the HTC Zeta. This is supposed to be HTC’s upcoming flagship Smartphone and boasts a 2.5GHz quad-core next-gen Snapdragon processor. It does sound too good to be true, but the leak states it will have a …

Review – Pocket Boom Portable Vibration Speaker

I love gadgets. Any kind of gadget pretty much, and I’m interested. So imagine when I saw the blurb for this little box of tricks..  “Turn anything into a speaker!” It works too.. which is pretty crazy. The quality of the sound depends what you’ve “turned into” a …

Springpad for Android – Review

Pros This is a cross platform app – iPhone/Android and the internet Notebooks, tags, flags Can look-up items e.g. books 3 types of widget Widgets customisable Easy sync   Cons Search is US centric No editing options within a note       I’m always on the look …

LG Nitro HD coming to AT&T’s new LTE network, pretty soon.

Here is the first official photo of the LG Nitro HD, although it’s not really that exciting because it is just the US version of the LG Optimus LTE with a fancy name which is heading over to AT&T sometime soon. As its name suggest, the Nitro HD …

TOKEN2SHELL Remote Shell for Windows Phone

I’m not a heavy shell user but I’ve just loaded up the 24 hour trial of Token2Shell on my HD7 and connected it via SSH to a mac and TELNET to my Windows 7 PC with no problems. It has some nice features such as the semi-transparent on-screen …

Archos 80 G9 tablet review

Despite being declared gadget maniac, somehow I never really got into tablets. When the first iPad came out and whole hype began, I regarded it as overly-expensive gadget having virtually no practical use to me. Yet quite recently I’ve started changing my mind towards tablets. I thought they …

HTC Rezound Hands On.

First Thoughts and Specifications HTC and Verizon Wireless have jointly announced the HTC Rezound, an LTE-enabled smartphone with Beats Audio integration for the US market.HTC said that the new device delivers a powerful entertainment experience with audio and multimedia capabilities highlighted by a 4.3-inch 720p display. The new HTC …

Where do I go now?

So where do I go?  I should explain… The last time I upgraded, I plumped for the HTC Desire.  If I recall correctly, there wasn’t a huge amount of choice (feel free to flame me in the comments…) and it was the sister phone of the Nexus One, …

HTC Sensation XE headed to Orange

Well.. look what we have here. Thanks to somobile for the tip here, Orange now have the Sensation XE on their “Coming soon” pages. It’s a bit like the standard Sensation, except a bit faster and with better audio via the Beats technology. You may remember that we …

Mobile flash is dead..well dying.

Adobe appears to have thrown in the towel regarding the mobile version of Adobe Flash. It now looks like HTML5 will become the defacto standard for websites going forward. This is good news for everyone really. Standards are a good thing, although it does mean more adverts on …

Panoramic Camera hidden inside iPhone….

Most of us love snapping away with our beloved phones, and many Android phones have apps for taking panoramic pictures, and there are some in iTunes that will help you stich photos together. However, did any of us think that simply installing iOS 5 we would have this …

Spotify comes to Windows Phone

  Windows Phone users now have the option of another subscription service in addition to Microsoft’s own Zune Pass. Having recently launched in the US, Spotify have now also released an official app for Windows Phone. As expected, it makes full use of the Metro UI and let’s …

Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc HD coming?

GSMArena has an interesting post, detailing a new handset from Sony Ericsson as a successor to the impressive Xperia Arc we reviewed. This handset is said to include a 720p HD screen, and plays catch up with 1080p video recording. The most interesting feature is the ability to …

Siri – on the move.. part 2

After sorting out using Siri whilst walking..  See here.. I decided to turn my attention to the car.. Sure, there are various solutions that enable you to do simlar things in the car, but they’re all quite expensive. I wanted to use Siri, be able to do hands free …

Siri – on the move..

Ever since I started using my iPhone 4S I’ve been using Siri more and more. It’s incredibly useful. Almost immediately I could see great benefits. Walking to work – pick songs / playlists, make calls, read and compose text messages etc.. all without removing your phone from your …

Apple admits battery issues with iOS5 – fix incoming

Apple admitted today that a number of bugs have been identified in iOS5 which have caused battery issues for some users.. the full quote is as follows “A small number of customers have reported lower than expected battery life on iOS 5 devices,” Apple said in a statement …

Samsung Galaxy Note – released tomorrow

Carphone Warehouse on Oxford Street are hosting a launch event for the much discussed and anticipated Galaxy Note tomorrow at 12:30 according to the official Facebook channel. I’m going to pop down to my local store tomorrow and see if they have any that I can play with …

O2 BoostBox

Femtocells have been around for a while, Orange have permitted users to connect their Blackberry’s via VOIP (home WiFi) for a while, and Vodafone launched there SureSignal box a while back. Following on from our earlier story we can now reveal that the O2 solution will be called …

iPad / iPhone App – The Weather Channel

One thing the App Store on iOS is not short of, is weather apps. As no doubt you’re aware, us brits are obsessed with the weather, so I’m certain at least some of you will find this app review useful. I say review, but it’s pretty hard to …

iPhone 4S battery problems? Try this fix

As previously reported, many users of the iPhone 4S have been reporting poor battery life. Now Oliver Haslam at iDownloadBlog has come up with a fix. It seems the problem lies with the “Setting Time Zone” option causing the location services to run constantly, sucking the battery dry …

Ice Cream Sandwich coming to S2 and Note

It looks like Samsung have confirmed that they will be releasing Android 4.0 to the Galaxy Note and the S2 as well as the Galaxy Tab reports The Next Web. Good news if you were worried about getting left behind after the release of the Nexus in a …

iPhone 4S battery problems reported

According to the Guardian there have been cases of Apple contacting iPhone 4S owners to try and ascertain the problem amidst reports of poor battery life being reported. Have you been affected by this? Let us know!

Samsung Galaxy Note coming this week!

I have a dilema at the moment where my contract has run out and I’m itching to buy a new phone. I was holding on for the iPhone 5 and was a little miffed at the 4S. For me I use my smartphone as a portable information, resource …

Motorola Q3 results – iPad killer fail

Motorola have just announced their Q3 results and their supposed iPad killing Xoom tablet accounted for a tiny slice of sales during the quarter. They shipped a total of 11.6 million mobiles devices of which the Xoom represented a mere 100,000 units. In contrast, Apple sold 11.12 million …

NuGuard Silicon Case for iPhone 4/4S

  I don’t know anyone who uses a smartphone without a case; a phone is (usually) something of an investment, and so in order to protect said investment, a case is needed to keep away any bumps, knocks and scratches.  For years I’ve preferred the ‘wallet’ style case …

Enter the v-JAYS

We’ve been in the market for a new set of earphones recently and had the opportunity to review the v-JAYS Headphones over here at CoolSmartPhone.com. Here’s a link to a little bit of an unboxing for you …. v-JAYS unboxing (to download and view at your leisure) For those in the …