Author: Coolsmartphone Staff

Wrappz.com custom skins

I have recently been looking around for a new look for my, now 12 month old, iPhone 5 and stumbled across wrappz.com. Wrappz.com make custom cases and skins for LOADS of different devices such as phones, tablets, laptops and even hockey sticks! The process of creating your masterpiece …

Thoughts on the iPad event – Opinion

Apple announced a plethora of new software and hardware at its event on Tuesday. While we don’t really cover laptops and desktops, there still plenty of mobile goodies to discuss. iPad Air As a massive iPad fan, I was particularly looking forward to seeing what the iPad 5 …

Apple announce Retina iPad Mini

Alongside yesterday’s iPad Air reveal, Apple also announced the long-awaited Retina iPad Mini. Apple’s smaller iPad no suffers in comparisons to the higher resolution displays on much cheaper tablets like the Nexus 7 and Kindle Fire HDX. Alongside the new  display, Apple have also seen fit to throw in …

Apple announces the iPad Air

Here it is. The newly announced iPad Air. New name aside, it’s pretty much exactly what we expected for a new full sized iPad. This year’s flagship iPad apes the iPad Mini design from last year. The bezels are smaller, it’s a full pound lighter and much thinner …

HTC working on a smartwatch and possibly even a tablet?

It seems like an age since HTC ventured into tablet territory, the last effort was the long forgotten HTC Flyer. Sadly it was the company’s one and only tablet, and HTC stated that they would only return if they could develop a tablet that would “shake up the …

Next Stop…Who Knows!

The world of smartphones never ceases to evolve, even if the pace of the innovations may have slowed a little. The big question is where next for smartphones? We have pretty much established who the key players are in the marketplace and although we do have choices of …

A Thing of Beauty!

Everyone loves a bit of individuality. We see it every day all around us, our clothes our accessories and now, even our smartphones are an extension of our personalities. Whether we admit it or not we all like a touch of something that differentiates us from the crowd …

Ubuntu A Winner?

    More famed as a Linux Distro, Ubuntu dared to venture into the Android & Apple dominated world of smartphone operating systems. By the looks of the demonstration videos I have seen so far it looks quite a refreshing venture! Yesterday Ubuntu announced the availability of a …

Halloween themed 3D Printed iPhone cases

Do you remember last year we reviewed a custom 3D Printed Coolsmartphone iPhone 5 case? Well, the company who printed it for us, Sculpteo, have some Halloween themed cases you can personalise and get printed for your iPhone. I’m not the biggest fan of Halloween, but these cases …

Google let slip an official Nexus 5 Press image

Well, here it is. The Google Nexus 5 You’ve seen it in the official Android Kit Kat reveal video. But here is an official Press Shot direct from Google. It’s now gone from the Google servers, but I think we can all take this as confirmation of the …

Tesco Mobile launches 4G

Tesco Mobile have just announced their 4G offering. With the slightly cheeky tag line of “cheapest premium on the market”, 4G on Tesco’s Mobile will cost you an extra £2.50 a month on top of your current contract. This 4G premium can be added at any time, or …

Wow Wee Xaiomi!

To the average person Xaiomi would mean nothing but a bunch of letters that shouldn’t be put together. Surely it’s just a word designed to hurt your tongue> But Xaiomi, a Chinese Manufacturer of some truly wonderful handsets, just announced they have sold out of their latest and …

Flex? Round? Neither?

The Galaxy Round & the LG Flex. Is it me or does it seem that over excited employees at Samsung & LG who cracked the curved screen conundrum have released seemingly “pointless” handsets? In my head it’s a battle of two warring nerd’s hell-bent on outdoing each other! …

Aviate – The launcher we’ve all been waiting for?

Homescreen launchers! You only have to search the Play Store to be presented with an abundance of them! So many seem to be the same so when one comes along to breathe life into a overly congested category you can be sure it will be a hit! Meet …

HTC Wandering into The Amazon?

It saddens me to see HTC struggling to post a profit these days, especially when they bring to the table handsets like the HTC One. It goes to show what a mammoth marketing budget like Apple & Samsung have can do for an organisations fortunes. So, if HTC …

Tesco Hudl Review

It would seem that they are all jumping on the bandwagon.  It started with Amazon and the Kindle Fire who had the place to themselves until Tesco came along with their Hudl and it was announced yesterday that Argos are to start selling their own version of an …

They’re back with a new tablet – The LG G PAD 8.3

After a pretty big gap, LG are back once again (like the Renegade Master) with a tablet. So, either in the black or white corner (depending on your shade preference), weighing in at 338 grams we have the LG G PAD 8.3. It’s powered by a Qualcomm 1.7GHz …

Twitter (finally) releases Android/Samsung tablet app

     A mere 34 months after the launch of Motorola Xoom, Twitter have finally released a tablet friendly version of their Android app. Tragically, in its current guise, it’s exclusively a Samsung tablet app. It’s a state of affairs that highlights everything wrong with Android on tablets, …

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 …

iPad Mini 2 Rumour: Gold and Touch ID

As we get closer to the rumoured iPad refresh (everything’s a rumour, even the launch!), we have another tip on what we might see. The details sound plausible and the tip comes from Sonny Dickson; who had some of the most accurate new iPhones pictures before launch. So …

Instagram gets the iOS7 treatment

Instagram has become the latest iOS app to be updated with a new flat interface to match iOS7. The most noticeable, and beneficial, change is images and videos now cover the full width of the screen, which is nice improvement, especially as it is coupled with higher resolution …

GMusic 2 for iOS released – 1 day discount too

GMusic is a Google Music client for iOS in case you hadn’t come across it before. It has just received a major overhaul in both back end and user interface, with the new UI being released as dedicated iOS7 app – GMusic 2. Existing users will benefit from …

Samsung announce gold Galaxy S4s

Now you may be noticing a trend here. Hot on the heels of Apple’s gold iPhone 5S, Samsung have today announced their very own golden edition(s) of their flagship Galaxy S4. Samsung’s Facebook and Twitter accounts are proudly displaying photos of both Gold Pink and Gold Brown devices …

Rightmove available for Windows Phone 8

A notable absentee from Windows Phone, Rightmove, have released the first version of their app for Windows Phone 8. Property apps in general have been notable by their absence from Windows Phone, and this was exacerbated by the Rightmove mobile website not working with IE10 either, but now …

Google makes Quickoffice free for all

  In a move that we predicted last week, Google have made their Quickoffice suite off apps free for all users. Apple’s decision to provide iWork for free on new iOS devices has more than like tipped Google’s hand. Quickoffice was previously free for premium Google Apps users, …

Cheap refurbished Nexus 7 tablets on Play.com

Would you like a cheap Nexus 7? No, we’re not talking about the new 2013 model. 🙂 If you want a cheap one, Play.com have some manufacturer refurbished 16GB and 32GB 1st gen Nexus 7s for £99 and £120. These are refurbished by ASUS and sold as “like …

Opinon – Thoughts on the Apple event

Now that the dust has settled, I’ve had a chance to think about the announcements that Apple made on Tuesday, without getting caught up in the heat of the moment. Overall, I think Apple did well, even if they left many disappointed. iPhone 5S Flagship phones are getting …

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 …

Instance v2 beta released

Popular Instagram client for Windows Phone Instance has had the beta of v2 released. Instance was the first Instagram app for Windows Phone to allow uploads and registrations, and is a very good Instagram app. V2 has seen the whole interface overhauled, and very nice it looks too. …

EE 4G 5GB 30day contract offer back at Currys

EE and Currys have their data Nano SIM (iPad, MiFi, Dongle) deal back on offer. The deal is £10.99 a month, with the first month free and for that you get 5GB of data. It’s a rolling 30 day contract, so you can cancel at any time (giving …

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 …

Google updates Keep for Android

Google have released an update to Keep which brings several noteworthy features to its up till now fairly bare bones functionality. Of most note (no pun intended), is the ability to add reminders to notes, which can be both time and location based. This is integrated with Google …

Facebook Beta for WP8 update with key new features

If you have come across it, you will know that Microsoft run an open beta program for their Facebook app for Windows Phone 8, which is always a few steps ahead of their official release. Beta is doing it a bit of a disservice, as its normally perfectly …

Blackberry about to be sold?

Are we about to see the sale of Blackberry? The company formally known as Research In Motion has had a bit of a tough few years, with people leaving the platform in droves and the launch of the company’s saviour – BB10 – yet to set the world …

Chrome stored passwords vulnerability exposed

Aren’t modern browsers great? They have loads of great features, like remembering your passwords and auto-filling them in for you whenever needed. But what if those stored passwords were easily discoverable by anyone with access to your computer?  That’s the situation with Google Chrome. Going through the Settings …

Sony Honami phone to have 20 megapixel G Lens [leak]

We all know by now that megapixels are not the be all and end all of smartphones and rather than go from what is on paper it’s best to get real world experience using it. But we all love to see those specs don’t we, this one is …

Moto X, a Droid by any other name [Opinion]

After months of waiting, Motorola yesterday unveiled… the same phone they did a week ago, but with a new name and casing. It’s not as slim as the Ultra, as small as the Mini, or as long lasting as the Maxx, but you can buy it in any …

Could you cancel your T-Mobile contact without penalty?

Several weeks ago, we received a Tweet from Phil Mottershead (@philicibine) regarding the April T-Mobile price hike. He stated that customers were winning their cases and had the right to cancel their contracts with no penalty. We were intrigued, as we had no clue what he was talking …

Instagram is deleting Instance uploads

Ok, this is annoying! It seems that Instagram is actively monitoring and deleting images uploaded from the excellent 3rd party Instagram app for Windows Phone. The developer of Instance is at a bit of a loss as to how Instagram are tracking the images, as can be see …