Category: Hardware Reviews
I’ve used the HTC One M8 for a week now. It’s been my primary phone, so it’s had to put up with my daily abuse. As a heavy smartphone user, that’s no small ask. First up, I’m an existing Android owner, so out of the box I …
Samsung are known for pumping out device after device from their design factory, and one that was rather unique but caught a lot of attention was the Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom. The handset packed an S4 mini and a Samsung camera into a single device and we reviewed …
In this day and age now and again you have to take a punt on something, just in case you’ve found something special. That’s exactly what I did with the Oppo Find 7a. But is it a dud? No its not, you’ll have to read on to find …
Windows RT is an interesting creature, some wonder why it exists, some love it for its limited nature and some like me now and again get a device running Windows RT and just try to get on with life using the tools provided. The Surface 2 4G price (£539 …
Over the years I’ve not really had much time for Sony, I’ve had a play with most of their devices and I’ve never really been that impressed. Yes the build quality and design on the Z, Z1 and the Z1 Compact is rather splendid, but something always ruined …
I recently received the Acer Z5 budget smartphone through for review, and despite there being a dual-SIM variant, this is the single SIM version. After unboxing my first impressions were… “Hang on, someone has put a Nexus 5 in here by mistake!” Good Points Good feel in the …
Whoway? Who are they? The answer of this question is really a simple one. Huawei are the people who have been, and continue to, make the equipment that powers our mobile networks. It’s the kit that keeps us all talking to each other, but it’s mostly hidden in cabinets. They’ve …
EE as a brand have been around for 2 years now. They hit the headlines after launching 4G services nearly a full year ahead of the competition. Both Orange and T-Mobile brands have had quite a few devices made for them by manufacturers already, but with 4G being …
I now have 3 very good smartphones with awesome cameras in my possession, so it would make sense for me to do a “camera face off”. We are going to compare the Nokia Lumia 1020 and Xperia Z1 against the new-comer – the Huawei P7. The test is …
The Galaxy S range has become a bit of a Marmite thing. Many many people love the Galaxy S range, with the S3, the S4 and now the S5. But contrary to there are many people who really do hate them. Often on Twitter I’ll mention something to …
I have now had the Huawei Ascend P7 in my hands for a little under 12 hours and in that time I have had a play with the device properly. This includes that new “Panoramic Selfie” feature. All in all I think it is a very nice handset. …
Oppo are slowly getting a name for themselves in the Western world, here at Coolsmartphone we’ve bought and reviewed several of their recent flagships. This time round with the Find 7a it was down to me to dig into my pockets and order one. As I’ve only had …
The new Sony Xperia Z2 was announced back in January at CES and after a few delays it has finally arrived with pre-orders being sent out over the last week and available in stores from tomorrow. I’ve been lucky enough to get hold of one, a smartband …
Nokia are slowly and surely releasing devices of all shapes, sizes and to suit all different budgets. Want a smallish high spec phone? Yep they’ve got one. Small budget phone? Yep they’ve got one. Big super high spec phone? Yep they’ve got one. Somewhere in between these? Yep. …
Firstly I would like to offer up an apology for the time I this taken for me to get this review up. I just wanted to make sure that I had enough time to test the tablet to its fullest. So without further ado, the review.. Hardware/Design Those …
The Developer’s Preview version of Windows Phone 8.1 has, by all accounts, been downloaded millions of times around the world. Clearly people are not prepared to wait months for the final release and are happy to put up with a beta version. The same might be said …
HTC are a company known for making high end smartphones such as the Desire, Sensation and Legend. Their premier device of 2013 – the One – has now been uprated and the new version is known as the M8. The company announced two new devices at MWC in …
Cast you mind back to 2013 Motorola announced the Moto X, resplendent in many different colours and accents with talk of tiny bezels and no need to have the latest and greatest spec . Fast forward eight months and us poor UK residents can finally get hold of …
So I have had the Xperia Z2 tab for just over 24 hrs and I will thought that now might be a good time to give you some of my first impressions. Well one word really sums it up and that word is WOW. The way this tablet …
It’s here. The day I have been waiting for eagerly since the Sony press conference way back at the end of February. My very own Xperia Z2 Tablet has arrive. I can tell you one thing, it was well worth the wait. When I first picked up the …
Touchscreens have become part of my life, be it in my pocket, on my wrist, my laptop, my tablet, trying to order foreign train tickets on holiday, controlling the music in my house and amazingly up until now not on my desktop PC. Well sort of anyway, as …
For some people flagship phones such as the original Sony Xperia Z1 are a little on the large size. A 5″ screen could be a little too much, Whilst we have ‘mini’ versions of some phones, like the S3 Mini, S4 Mini etc; normally picking a mini device …
Archos may not be the first name you think of when it comes to buying a mobile phone, but maybe it should be on your list. I spent a fortnight in the company of the Archos 50 Oxygen to see what the French company had to offer. Good …
In my continued hunt for the ideal tablet/laptop I’ve stumbled into the fascinating world of the flexible Lenovo Yoga 2, it’s an 11″ touchscreen bendable flexible hybrid. I mainly use Windows 8 devices like large tablets that you can run normal desktop apps on when the store stuff …
Archos? I know what you’re thinking: the ones who make the weird Gamepads, right? No thanks… But wait, what if I told you Archos make a quad core Android phone with a 5″ Full HD display, a 13MP camera, and costs less than £300? Still dubious? Me too. …
I like change, I like being forced into doing things differently, I like hearing my brain clicking as it tries to comprehend a new way of doing stuff and I also like a bargain. The last one is probably going to be my downfall one day. I recently …
The original Pebble was one of the first SmartWatches that actually got my attention, up until then SmartWatches were just trying far too hard. With devices like the Sony Liveview being flawed by horrific software and driver issues. What Pebble were offering seemed to fit a lot of …
“Have you sat on that mate?” It’s an interesting first reaction to the LG G Flex when people see it sat on the desk. The curved appearance of the handset is like nothing else on the market and, despite what people might think, I’ve not sat on it. …
Acer keep on releasing products, year in year out. Seemingly regardless of whether or not the product will sell, it just like clockwork, another year another tablet. The Iconia B1-720 is the latest in their budget range of 7″ Android tablets, the Iconia B range offer reasonable specs …
Kazam have appeared in the last few months, offering some cheap devices with dual SIM slots and a few extra quirks. The company was formed by two ex HTC UK staff so they know a thing or two about phones. The Trooper 4.0 is their entry level model …
It seems that, once again, I’ve found myself a device that splits opinion. So, the Lenovo Yoga Tablet 8 is lopsided, has a built in stand and is made by a manufacturer not known for its tablets. Let’s just say that it’s got some persuading to do! Good …
Google and Asus with the Nexus 7 tablets have really tipped the whole Android tablet market on its head. They showed the world that you didn’t need a fancy skin and premium materials to make a decent tablet, you just needed reasonable materials and non cluttered software oh …
Remember our HTC Desire 500 review? Well, this is the Desire 300, and it’s a …. bit… different. The Desire 500 has a quad-core 1.2GHz CPU, an 8 megapixel and 1.6 megapixel camera. This Desire 300 has a dual-core 1GHz CPU and a 5 megapixel shooter with a …
The Lenovo Yoga Tablet 8 has something that isn’t very abundant in the Android tablet world: innovation. OK, the design may look like an Apple Mac keyboard, but it makes for an interesting, and often pleasant, user experience. Good Design Build quality Some of the Lenovo software MicroSD …
Late last year in Abu Dhabi Nokia announced a range of new devices including the rather large 6″ Lumia 1320 and Lumia 1520, when I first saw them I thought “wow, they look amazing, I need them asap”. After a few months of reading early reviews and seeing …
The rumours surrounding a Nokia tablet have been floating around the web for a while now, the big questions for me were always how big will it be and what operating system will it run. Well late last year those questions were answered and now we have the …
I’ll be honest, Kensington sent me this a long while ago and it sat in a drawer for far too long. I’d forgotten about it until this last weekend, when “something” happened. The EVAP Rescue Pouch is a step up from the “bag of rice” solution should your …
We’ve all got very modern and well-equipped smartphones. They can take pictures, locate you from space, navigate you home and let you browse the internet. With a smartphone you can achieve a great deal, but you’ve still got a fairly short battery life and, for some, it can …
Chromebooks. Are they a good alternative to your day to day laptop? That is the question we are going to try and answer over the course of this review. I have been using one now for the past few days courtesy of Acer who lent me the device …
It’s unfeasibly big, it’s got a rotating camera, a rear touch panel, and it runs a custom ROM out of the box, but is the Oppo N1 CM Edition innovative or just a giant freak? I put my credit card where my mouth is to find out. So …
