Category: Software (Android)
Two unstoppable forces. Two immovable objects. Apple and Android. They never seem to really work well together, and if you want a small piece of one OS then you usually have to jump in and sign up for the whole ecosystem. But wait. What’s this? Apple Music on …
Monitoring a phone might sound like a slightly strange idea, especially when people talk of “spy software”. However, there’s perfectly legitimate reasons for doing it, such as keeping an eye on your kids. XNSPY, which is available for both Android and iPhone, will let you know where your …
The Leo privacy guard for mobile devices is built for individuals who want to keep their mobile use private. Some of us don’t mind sharing our phones, but there’s probably a number of you who’d rather keep those personal photos and messages away from prying eyes. Sure, a …
So, the restaurant emailed me and asked me to promote their app. They didn’t give me the link to the UK version, so accidentally found the American version of the apps first (iPhone one here and Android one here). Trouble is, what bothered me was the fact that …
The developer of this game asked me to review it. However, you’ll notice that I don’t often review apps here on Coolsmartphone. Developer Divyesh Dungrani wants to tell you about his free Musical Drum Loops app. What he tells us is that it’ll let you “make your own …
I’m currently spending quite a lot of my evening helping my son with his homework. Part of that is maths, and things have either changed a lot since I was at school or I’m just incredibly rusty. I’m perhaps the lazy one, not my son. I pick up …
Google seems to have stuck out a beta app for itself recently. I only noticed initially when this was offered through the Google Now cards interface. There is a link below which will take you to a page where you can accept to become a beta tester to …
I like the Sony Z range. They look like well-designed and distinctive pieces of kit, but I was a little hesitant. I never knew what their upgrade strategy would be from handset to handset, so when I heard about this Concept for Android initiative, where Sony allows you …
There is an abundance of car racing games available on both Google Play and Apple App Store. Traffic Nation: Street Drivers reminds me of racers who terrorise your Saturday nights in town and a 80s racing classic where you had to dodge cars because your car was faster …
I’m not a massive fan of this time of year. The nights here in the UK are getting longer and the days are getting shorter, so I usually like to book a winter break – even if it’s a quick weekend away. Whether it’s a skiing holiday, a …
Taking a selfie. It’s a term that seems to have taken the world by surprise and, whether you’re at the beach, in the pub or at a restaurant, you’ll see people grouping together to take that all-important selfie shot. What’s great about this, of course, is that you’ve …
Oh, now we know there’s no love lost between the Android and iPhone fans. Chalk and cheese doesn’t even come close. So, to stick an Android app onto Google Play which is designed to get Android users over to iOS? That’s a dangerous move, even if it is …
With Apple now allowing ad-blocking technology into Safari browsers on iPhone and iPad, Adblock have announced their return to Android, with their ad-free browsing system now allowed back onto Google Play. The system kills revenue, even for websites displaying well-behaved advertisements such as ours, and means that content …
Are you a Amazon Instant video user? Well if you are there is an update coming to the app which allows you to download movies or TV shows to your device, so you can watch them off line later. You can only download over a WiFi network not …
Looked in the charts recently? I’ve just taken a look at the top Android games currently sitting in the “free” category. Some of the games you’re playing the most might be a little way down, but there’s a bit of a surprise in the top 10 because there’s …
Yes, there’s a leaked version out there, but now the Microsoft personal assistant is ready to download from Google Play. You can even have it replace your Google Now functionality if you wish. There’s a couple of caveats though. Firstly, it’s only a beta. Secondly, you can only …
iPlayer is one of the most popular apps out there. The BBC has had great success with it, with a staggering number of downloads per month. To its credit, the BBC routinely updates the app (albeit not the Windows Phone variant). The most recent version brings a series …
My house at the moment sounds insane. My wife and son are both obsessed by the new Angry Birds 2 game that recently launched. It’s not quite the hysteria of the first one, but it’s definitely proving to be a big hit. What I’ve also found, after briefly …
Add-on launcher Omni Swipe (previously called Lazy Swipe) has surpassed a milestone only achieved currently by 97 other apps. They’ve hit the 100 million download limit. The theory behind the app is simple. Once installed you get a quarter circle segment displaying the most recent apps you’ve used, …
Just like video conferencing changed the way you connect with your workplace, the increasingly popular mobile video conferencing is triggering an evolution in how and where you connect. Without the need for a stationary computer or a bulky laptop, you can meet with your co-workers and clients anywhere …
Everybody used to have Angry Birds installed on their smartphone at one point. Now things have changed a little, at least in my opinion. Anyway, despite a FEW Angry Birds versions in-between (y’know, like Angry Birds Seasons, Angry Birds Rio, Angry Birds Space, Angry Birds Star Wars and …
Whether you’re playing World of Goo, Candy Crush Saga, a full-on RPG, or the latest real-money casino games, every mobile user needs to be concerned about security. No-one wants personal details stolen, logins compromised, or credit card information hacked into, but the truth is that attacks are on the …
Gett is an app which lets you grab a black taxi. You can download it on iOS and Android. Now, with intense competition from the likes of Uber, Addison Lee and others, they’re diversifying by offering an on-demand delivery service too. It works thanks to drivers and riders …
Magazines are old hat now. Sure, you might slick through an old copy of “Readers Digest” at the dentist and perhaps have a quick nose at a Top Gear magazine sitting in the waiting room at the Doctors, but that’s about it. Traditional magazines are going digital, and …
If you’re an Android user and want to play around with the Windows assistant that is Cortana, you can now download the leaked APK and sideload it here. The voice assistant, which you’ve probably seen on adverts, may or may not be better than Google Now / Siri …
We’ve already covered a data-free way to get TV on your tablet this week, but if you want streaming TV shows you can also use the likes of TVCatchup or TVPlayer. Both have got mobile apps, but if you want to get access to premium (paid-for) channels, you’re …
I have literally no free time, so to get sucked into a 3D strategy game is a surprise to me. Here Galaxy Control appears to have done just that. If you’ve played Clash of Clans then you’ll feel at home here, because it’s a similar feel – albeit …
Prologue If you’ve ever taken a class on ancient literature, mythology, or even anthropology, you’ve probably run across “the oral tradition”, mankind’s earliest form of storytelling. Perhaps I’m getting to heavy here, but I’m basically saying that listening to stories rather than reading them was the norm at …
Cross-training? Out for a run? What you need is a bit of encouragement. Something that’ll make you break out into a sweat. You need to get worn out, and quick. You need to go harder and faster. You need to build your stamina. So how’s about…. Yes, the …
Google Music is great, but you need to pay for it. Booo. But wait, you can now get it free via an ad-supported version via the website plus it’s coming to Android and iOS. You’ll get adverts, but apart from that we can see absolutely no reason why you wouldn’t want this. …
When I applied for my first few jobs I had to sit in a stuffy office while some HR person clicked through my CV. I had a folder with all my qualifications in there too, but fast-forward to today and I’m instead getting job agencies using my LinkedIn …
Way back in the day we used to upload voices to our hacked versions of TomTom to Pocket PC devices. Remember someone having Yoda speaking out the directions? Now we’ve got Waze which, if you didn’t know already, is a rather clever community-driven traffic and navigation app. If …
Microsoft has revealed that a beta version of Cortana, their digital assistant (none of which I can get to work right), will be available for Android users sometime in July – as a Beta. This means that the Cortana version for Android won’t have all of the features of …
Getting streaming TV on your phone or tablet is great. You get to watch TV anywhere. However, if you’re out of the house and you don’t have a clever DVR or set-top box that’ll squirt the TV picture from your aerial to your device over your WiFi, you’re …
Did you, my friend, know that Sainsburys do eBooks? No. No. Neither did I. I just go in there for some apples and my special cream. Now there’s a whole new website on www.sainsburysebooks.co.uk filled with the things, and you can either take a preview or go to …
I spoke to a friend recently who is already selling products from home. They make a little bit of additional cash but, with a smartphone doing nothing now than advertising their business to friends on Facebook, they wanted to know if there was any additional way of getting …
Surprisingly, Google doesn’t quite know everything about you. Not yet anyway. Sure, your phone will be telling Google where you work, where you live, what you look like and perhaps those several cheeky trips to McDonald’s, but there’s probably a bit more detail they can get if, let’s …
Got TuneIn? Like using Google Now? Combine the two my good friend, because now you can simply speak to your phone and tell it what station you’d like to listen to. It’ll fire up the TuneIn app and start streaming the station in question. So, if you’re in …
Playboy, that great and venerable publishing powerhouse, have collected some interesting statistics about its readers. Apparently there are 19 million visitors to its website per month – that’s only marginally more than Coolsmartphone gets. Of those, 80% (15,200,000) use a mobile device or tablet. Playboy has clearly realised …
My main concerns, when snapping photos on my phone, is whether the photo is going to be backed up and just where it’ll be backed up to. Usually I store everything on an ever-filling storage card as I snap pictures randomly through the day. Those pictures, for the …
