Category: Software and apps

It has been a while in coming, but Spotify have finally released a client for the updated Windows Phone 8. The functionality for an offline mode and syncing on mobile data is still in place, but it has been reported that as Spotify had an exception from MS, …

It is pretty darn rare that you will see me post anything positive about the iPhone. BUT, this little bit of news is rather cool and it can help make that locked down, non-customizable, lack of features, iPhone of yours a little cooler and more functional. All you …

I don’t know about everyone out there, but I have not found a very easy way to sync my phone’s notifications to my desktop both easily and reliably…..until now. Android Desktop Notification is super easy and reliable. It doesn’t push things immediately, but I am sure that the …

Apps that make you go ‘ooh, that’s pretty’ are a rare breed on Android, but the newly released Carbon Twitter client is one of those apps. (Free here on Google Play) It has a dark theme, with bold, contrasting large fonts which are most definitely easy on the …

It hasn’t been available for long but Vine is already taking the app and Twitter worlds by storm. What is Vine you may ask? Simply put, Vine is an iOS app which allows you to record six second videos that are then uploaded to Twitter. It’s basically a cool …

Before the term ‘smartphone’ really meant anything to the mainstream other than using an S60 device and long before Skype or WhatsApp were the forces that they are today, this company Truphone was launched. The fact they’ve stayed true and consistently put out apps for BlackBerrys made me …

TVCatchup has been around for a while on various other platforms. It basically allows you to watch live TV on your phone. Obviously it’s all down to the quality of your data connection as to how good it looks. It is for Windows Phone 8 users only which …

For years people have sat around listening to others chat about a varied range of topics on the radio.  The invention of the podcast changed the way that many listen to such conversations  and gave us the ability to hear said recordings where and whenever we want. Of …

PhatPad has been around for a while on Android and iOS and it let’s you use a stylus or your finger to write on your tablet screen and it will convert your scribble into real words. This will really add a useful and practical use for Windows tablets …

WhatsApp is a wonderfully simple to use and hugely popular messaging app for pretty much any mobile phone platform. How many people who use it know that they maybe giving out other people’s private data, only for it to be stored on WhatsApp’s servers in a potential breach …

Nokia have announced their turn-by-turn navigation software, Drive+, is no longer a Lumia exclusive, and is available on all Windows 8 handsets in the US, UK, and Canada. It is specifically noted that the software is in Beta, so don’t expect perfection just yet (*cough* Apple maps *cough*). …

Based on the answers of 3,400 developers across Europe, North America and Asia, the “Developer Economics” report offers some insights into what developers are after and what’s proving successful. Android and iOS are still the big hitters, with 72% of respondents developing for Android (up 4% from the …

Mobile security specialists Lookout have today announced some new features for their award winning mobile security suite. The new features bring additional functionality to an already feature packed app. First on the list is a feature added to the free version, Lockcam. Lockcam offers the user the facility …

I never thought that I wouldn’t be using the stock Google dialer. But, I am now using the Simple Dialer Widget instead. Simple Dialer Widget (or SDW since I hate typing the whole name!) is a very straight forward widget and is surprisingly convenient. It has the dialer …

The notification bar is one of the key strengths of Android. It is the main place where we keep track of what is going on in the foreground and it is also where we are notified of, you guessed it, notifications. We are able to put information in …

Tile Launcher Beta is an awesome app! I absolutely love it! And, yes, that is how I am opening this post. I am too excited :-). Tile Launcher Beta is a replacement for your good old stock home screen. The basic idea of it is using tiles for …

Many of you have heard of Google Now, but for those of you who have not, Google Now is an application designed to quickly display personalized location and time pertinent information for you. It can quickly search your phone or the Internet for whatever you are looking for, …

Different people want different things from their smartphone. There are those that view their device as purely functional.  It is there purely to make calls, do a little surfing and reply to emails. Then there are those that cannot be separated from their mobile device, who feel that …

The BBC have today launched an app for iOS specifically for their extensive sports coverage. Unsurprisingly called BBC Sport, the app is curated by the top BBC sport journalists and is “the sports fan’s guide to live sport news, stats, fixtures and results” The BBC’s Head of Interactive’s …

Wowzers trousers. Google Maps has reportedly been downloaded for iOS more than 10 million times in 48 hours.That’s 5% of iOS 6 devices in under two days. Most impressive. Jamie and myself discussed the app briefly in this week’s podcast. In short, it’s great. It looks terrific and performs …

Grokr, lauded as a ‘Google Now for iOS’, has been launched in the U.S. App Store. Feedback from the trial has been widely positive, so we’re anxious to see how it performs in real world tests. Hopefully it’ll show up in the UK app store. We’ll update you …

BBC iPlayer was updated late this evening so that it now works on Android devices running version 4.2 Jellybean. Whilst users who already had the app installed then upgraded to 4.2 had a working version, those who had a fresh install or new device couldn’t download either iPlayer …

Wallbase is one of my favourite websites for tracking down wallpapers for my phones, tablets, laptops and desktops. In the Android world there is quite a nice third party app to serve up some wallpapers to me. In the Windows Phone world it’s something I’ve always missed. Having …

One of the major drawbacks with Android 10″ tablets is the complete lack of apps specifically designed for them. Google has recently issued a call to arms for developers to try to get them coding tablet specific apps and has decided to lead the way with a version …

Let me be blunt. The old GMail on iOS was horrid. It was slow, it only supported one account at a time and it wasn’t very pretty. Well Google has fixed all of those issues and many more with the 2.0 update released today. It’s still a web …

Google have just released the latest version of Gmail for Android onto the Google Play store. Those of you with Android 4.2 will already be familiar with the major changes it brings, namely pinch to zoom (finally!) and the ability to swipe messages to archive/delete them. The features …

If you don’t like the stock Android keyboard you download one to replace it. Easy. But which one? Not so easy! Whilst there are dozens to choose from, the two leaders by a long way are SwiftKey and Swype. Both offering different methods of fast input – until …

We here at Coolsmartphone have a long tradition of bringing the latest mobile tips, news and reviews to you – 10 years, in fact. Recently, with the introduction of Windows 8 and, a bit further back, Ubuntu 12.10 and OSX 10.8, the mobile and traditional computing worlds are coming …

  Christmas is nearly upon us and sometimes it can be a struggle to find a present to give for that one particular person. As mentioned in our first Christmas Gift Guide, we have teamed up with some of the leading retailers in the industry to bring you …

Android 4.2 Jelly Bean came with a bucket load of new features, most noticeable was the ability to add widgets to, and access the camera from the lock screen. Whilst some people (me included) thought that was a great idea, others weren’t too impressed and headed to settings …

If you’re a fan of Google Maps and use it for getting around, the great news is that Google have now turned on the new indoor mapping feature. There’s dozens of locations now indoor enabled here in the UK. The indoor mapping project is being updated all the …

Great Britain has been at the forefront of technology for hundreds of years.  Since the industrial revolution the British have led the way with technological innovations that have improved the quality of life for billions of people around the world. From the steam engine to the television to …

One major complaint around almost every smartphone currently available is battery life. Unless you have a Motorola Razr Maxx or the Galaxy Note 2 with their giant batteries or have every data service turned off then battery life is almost certain to raise its head as an issue …

Don’t tell the kids, but Google has done what the Grinch couldn’t – stolen Christmas! OK, they haven’t actually stolen it, but if you’re an Android 4.2 Jelly Bean user you better not have been born in December, because Google have dropped (another) almighty clanger by omitting the …

As discussed on our latest podcast, Google Music has finally arrived here on the shores of the UK and finally for all of those who didn’t know about or care to use the workaround can get a taste of what those on the other side of the pond …

Earlier we reported that the CyanogenMod team were being held to ransom over their domain by an unscrupulous member of their team. Spurred by the news, the wider community have come to the rescue, and the situation is now under control. Cyanogen himself took to the blog in …

For the uninitiated, CyanogenMod is probably the most widely used custom ROM suite in the Android community. The team work as a non-profit group of programmers that provide fully open source, freely available ROMs for dozens of devices for nothing. Nice people, doing great things for the common …

Some of you may have been aware that Sony have been busily working away with Google to try and develop the Xperia S as a quasi Nexus device for developers to tinker with. Well there has been some good news from the Sony camp as they have got …

During a scour of the Google Play Store and review on here the other day I came across Vscreens from Sony. I had a little look at the description of the the app and what it does. I also found that our esteemed editor has done a review of …

  There has been much chagrin and consternation around the removal of Google maps from iOS. Reports of Apple’s new mapping app vary from excellent to useless and the outcry was enough to provoke a public apology from Apple and also contributed to the removal of Scott Forstall …