Author: James Pearce

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 …

Images of the new Nexus 7 leak out

A few days ago a load of leaks and pictures of the new Nexus 7 leaked out, if you missed them recap it here. Above is another image of the new Nexus 7 by Asus which has been leaked by @evleaks this time. You can see the rear …

Press images of the Motorola Moto X leak out ahead of launch

In this day and age we have come to expect products to leak out before they are released. The above image shows what is to come from Motorola very soon. The Moto X seems to be a mid range device with an average spec, designed to appeal to …

GDR2 update is now available for some HTC 8X

As is often the norm with with OS updates different manufacturers release their updates at totally different times. Earlier on in the week we saw certain users of the Samsung Ativ S are getting the update already (mine still hasn’t), but today it’s the turn of the HTC …

The Coolsmartphone Podcast – Episode 55

Episode 55 of the podcast is here, joining me this week were Daniel, Mark, Nirave and Ronnie. This weeks topics were Nokia and the Lumia 1020, the HTC One Mini, the new Nexus 7, the iPhone 5S, Mark buying another Pureview 808 and some other stuff. The options …

The Huawei Ascend Mate is now available exclusively from Vodafone

The Huawei Ascend Mate marked a new era of enormous oversized phones, along with the Galaxy Mega they push the limits of people’s pockets. Leigh reviewed the Ascend Mate a few weeks ago and now you can pick one up from £29 per month on Vodafone here. I’m …

Samsung post an official hands on video for the Galaxy S4 Zoom

The Galaxy S4 Zoom is an intriguing device, the one thing I’m mainly interested in is the camera UI and how fiddly it is. Luckily Samsung have posted a hands on video on their YouTube channel showing me how the thing works. Here it is, enjoy. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqiBdo22mrg

Are Nokia in danger of “doing a Samsung”?

Samsung seem to be attempting to get into the Guinness Book Of Records for “the largest number of screen sizes in their portfolio” record with a different phone for each and every increment from 3″ up to 11″. Nokia increasingly seem to be heading off down that worrying …

Nexus 7 successor images leak out

The Asus / Google Nexus 7 is probably the most successful Android tablet ever. It has become the one tablet I actually pick up every day and actually use, rather than just dust off and recharge, like my Surface RT. Google have historically updated their devices annually and …

Should it just be about the camera?

At what point in history did the camera become the most important on a new smartphones spec sheet? Don’t get me wrong here, I love a decent camera phone, but increasingly I’m seeing manufacturers chase the “best camera ever” type of tagline and other specs or form factors …

It seems that Oppo are going to make a Windows Phone at some point

Oppo are a little known Chinese Android handset manufacturer that we’ve recently become smitten with, via the reseller Oppo Style eager Europeans have been able to purchase the Find 5 which Ronnie reviewed here. But something interesting has occurred on Sina Weibo (the Chinese equivalent of Twitter), the …

Photo Editor by Aviary is now available for Windows Phone 8

Photo editors are ten a penny in the mobile app world, ranging from nice intuitive and easy to use through to something designed by an elephant with a hammer. I prefer the former myself and when something like Aviary comes to Windows Phone 8 it makes me happy …

Geeksphone announce the Peak+

A few months ago the first Firefox OS mobile became available. They were the Keon and the Peak. In response to the community Geeksphone have decided to release another model with a higher spec, the Peak+ After the success achieved by Keon and Peak Firefox OS Developer Preview …

Did you know that Gorillas like Fruit Ninja?

Marketing and promo videos are often a little surreal and this video from Asus advertising their FonePad is rather strange. Maybe they’re pointing out the ideal size of human to use the 7″ phone or maybe they’re just being a bit odd. Either way here is the video. …

More details about the HTC One Mini appear online

The HTC One Mini could possibly be the one to revitalise the fortunes of HTC. People do like a smaller cheaper version of a well known flagship. At first we thought that the HTC One Mini was going to be very similar spec wise to the One, but …

The Nokia Pro Camera app will be coming to other handsets soon

Yesterday I watched the Lumia 1020 wondering quite how left behind me and my recently purchased Lumia 925 were going to be. I had imagined that I’d be yearning after new hardware and new software and boys was I right. Nokia demonstrated the new Pro Camera app and …

Nokia announce the Lumia 1020

After what has to be the most leaky build up to a device unveiling ever Nokia have announced the Lumia 1020. It is their new flagship, their new PureView device and more than likely the thing they’re pinning their hopes on. As to be expected the Nokia CEO …

Vodafone to stock the Huawei Ascend Mate

The thought of owning a Huawei Ascend Mate is quite an appealing one, seeing our own Leigh Geary struggle to use it one handed in his review recently made me eager to get one. It’s just what you do with a large oversized phone. The good news is that …

The Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom is now available in the UK

Clove have posted on their blog that they have received stock of the Samsung Galaxy Z4 Zoom and you can buy one for £442.80 which is including VAT. The Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom is a smartphone-camera hybrid. Unlike any other device currently on the market, the Zoom offers …

The Coolsmartphone Podcast – Episode 54

Episode 54 of the Coolsmartphone marks a momentous occasion, Leigh Geary has made it onto the podcast for the third time ever. Along with Leigh this week we had Ian Furlong. This weeks topics were the upcoming Nokia Lumia 1020, our competition to win one of two Nokia …

Time for something a little smaller

Good things come in small packages right? I think that’s what they taught us at school in the eighties anyway. I’ve been going on about oversized giant phones and 1080p flagships for weeks now and it wasn’t until I sort of accidentally bought something rather small and also …

More pictures of the Nokia Lumia 1020 camera grip leak out

The Nokia Lumia 1020 will be unveiled tomorrow and it seems that it’s going to be quite an interesting device, what with fancy cases and fancy new software, it seems like it’s going to be the Windows Phone device to own. Yesterday we mentioned that there is going …

BlackBerry to release another BB7 device the Bold 9720

BlackBerry had their hopes pinned on the latest version of BB10. The new touch sensitive version of their messaging centric ecosystem was meant to be the answer to all of their woes. Things aren’t going to plan for them though, with sales and profits not exactly astounding. In …

Nokia updating Drive, Drive+ and HERE Transit apps

Nokia and their Here apps are a little confusing at times, with some devices and countries not getting the full suite of apps. Nokia are due to update them this week and they have published some info regarding which devices get what. By the end of this week, …

Flexishield clear case for the Nokia Lumia 925 – Review

When I got my Nokia Lumia 925 I was worried, worried about the metal sides of the phone, metal tends to scratch and lo and behold within minutes I had a tiny nick on the edge. I set about trying to find a case and barely anything existed. …

Paper Artist is now available for Android and iOS

Owners of recent high end Samsung devices have probably come across Paper Artist before as it has been included as a preload on a few Samsung devices over that last 6 months (the Galaxy S3 and Galaxy Note 2 among others). The developers JFDP Labs had an exclusivity …

The Nokia Lumia 1020 is nearly upon us

It is very nearly time for the Nokia Lumia 1020 to rear its head and end all of the rumours. On Thursday in New York Nokia will unveil their next Windows Phone flagship and in true 2013 style pretty much all of the details have already leaked out. …

Roxfit Bumper case for Sony Xperia Z – Review

Shortly after getting the Sony Xperia Z I decided that it just felt a little too delicate for my liking. I wasn’t happy taking it out until I had a case. The nice glass backplate of the Xperia Z shouldn’t be covered up really, so I looked for …

My time with the Sony Xperia Z

The Sony Xperia Z, to the masses it has been eclipsed by the HTC One and the Samsung Galaxy S4, to me it is the next logical step in my hunt to find my ideal “next generation” device. By next generation I mean compared to my Galaxy Note …

The HTC 8X gets even cheaper

Over the past few months any Windows Phones that aren’t made by Nokia are constantly getting cheaper and cheaper. The Samsung Ativ S has seen no end of price drops and now it’s the turn of the HTC 8X which has been reduced to £219.99 including VAT and …

Camera360 to come pre-installed on Nokia Lumia 925

Remember a few weeks ago I reviewed a Windows Phone camera replacement app? No well here is a handy link for you. Camera360 has announced that their app is being pre-installed with Nokia’s latest flagship Lumia 925, which means out of the box users will have access to …

Huawei Ascend P6 is now available SIM free

“Impossibly Thin” they said, I laughed when I heard that. But joking aside, the Huawei is basically the thinnest smartphone in the world. We were at the press event you know, if you fancy reading about the P6 have a read of this. Our friends over at Expansys …

Nokia post some videos bigging up their cameras

Nokia have some pretty damn good camera phones out at the moment. The latest the Lumia 925 broken down in this video from the Nokia YouTube channel. It doesn’t shown anything great but it’s interesting if you’re a Nokia fan. Precision: Inside your smartphone camera http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zj8mjC0PXgs Nokia have …