Category: Hardware Reviews

Acer Jade Primo – Unboxing and first impressions

Acer’s newest Windows phone is about to hit the prime time, and I have been able to have a bit of a play around with it. First off lets have a look at the unboxing video.. The phone feels good in the hand due to its slightly curved …

MediaPad M2 10.0 – Review

I’m going to take a slightly different approach to this review and note down everything as I unbox the device. First, the specs. This is the Huawei MediaPad M2 10.0 and it’s available in either “Luxurious Gold” or in this fine shade – “Moonlight Silver”. It weighs in …

Acer Predator 8 tablet – Hands on & Gaming demo

The Acer Predator 8 is a device we have seen a few times now, but up until now I have not really had a good chance to have a play with it. That all changes today as I am in Belfast with #acerliveblog2016 and they have let me …

Huawei P9 – Review

Although they’ve probably made dongles that you’ve used, Huawei is a name that relatively few people are properly aware of. This, though, is a company that I’ve spent some time with recently and they’re eager for that to change. They’re already pushing aggressively with their Honor brand, and …

Netatmo Weather Station Review

The Netatmo Weather Station was reviewed back in early 2013. As technology improves I thought it would be a good time to look at the latest version of the Netatmo Weather Station to see how the product has developed. Especially as being British the start of every conversation …

Annke SP3 960P HD Wireless IP Camera – Review

We’ve head quite a few security cameras cropping up here at Coolsmartphone. This one is from Annke and you can control and move it from anywhere via your smartphone. First up, the plus points. Although you’ll spot an ethernet port on this, it connects very easily via WiFi …

BravoWin 10KT Mini PC unboxing

We live in an amazing age where you can buy a reasonable spec computer for less than £300. However, this price usually gets you a non-touch-screen laptop tloaded with compromises and inferior components. The BravoWin 10KT is looking to challenge that perception and show that you can get a …

HTC Desire 530 – Review

HTC have had a pretty tough time of it recently, and their range of handsets has definitely throttled back compared to years gone by. Remember the HTC Wildfire, ChaCha, Sensation, Rhyme and Butterfly ? The Desire series has outlasted all of them. If memory serves, we first saw …

Blackberry PRIV review

BlackBerry are a brand that have been around for countless years and have a huge reputation when it comes to security on mobile devices. So much so they are still, to some, considered the industry leader – even in 2016. With the introduction of the iPhone and countless …

Moto X Force – Review

Have you ever dropped your phone, and then had that moment of panic before you pick it up when you think “Oh s*!t How much is that going to cost me to fix?” If you have, then this is the review you need to read. The Moto X …

Honor 5X – Review

Recently I was at the Honor 5X European launch in Munich, Germany. Since then, as well as recovering from a Red Bull Cola high, I’ve been working on the review of the Honor 5X. In this article I’ll give you my review of the hardware and my impressions. …

Kitvision Escape 4KW – A Review of the 4K Action Cam

I love it when I get to review Action Cams and enter the Kitvision Escape 4KW. Action Cams are great, they allow us to capture our must rugged of family adventures, and as technology advances the price has dropped making them readily available to a wider audience.  Yes I …

MWC – Lenovo Tab3 series. Hands on.

Lenovo had a slightly smaller presence at MWC this year. but nonetheless we still went out to see them and to see what other new products they were announcing. Phone-wise we have already seen most of their stuff for this year. That is taken care of under the …

Kingston MobileLite Wireless G3 Review

The white Kingston MobileLite Wireless G3 provides you with a rechargeable 5400 mAh battery in addition to a USB and SD Card storage options. The black Pro version also includes 64GB inbuilt storage and increases the battery to 6,700 mAh. Whilst not the lightest mobile battery I have …

Moto X Force – Unboxing

Today is an exciting day. I have received a new phone to review. One that comes with a very bold claim. It apparently has a shatterproof screen. Yes, I’m talking about the new Moto X Force. This is a phone that, at first glance, looks unassuming and mild-mannered. However, …

devolo dLAN 1200+ WiFi ac Powerline Adaptor – review

Powerline adaptors that allow you to extend your network have been around for a while, and potentially provide the perfect way to extend your network range. When these first launched on the consumer market, I purchased a pair to extend my extremely poor WiFi coverage. My home WiFi …

Vodafone Tab speed 6 Review

Let’s have a look at this then. First up, it’s a well-built Android 5.1.1 tablet with an 8″ 1280×800 IPS screen. Inside you’ll also find a 1.3GHz quad-core CPU plus a 5 megapixel rear camera and a 2 megapixel front one for those selfies. GPS, Bluetooth and, of …

Microsoft Lumia 950 XL – Review

We finally have the Lumia 950 XL on our testbed. We had to wait a long time for this one – it has been nearly two years since the last flagship-spec device from the Microsoft brand. Many people were hoping for a direct Lumia 1020 upgrade, which has …

Canary – Smart home security for everyone – Review

Canary is more than a simple surveillance camera for your home. From the very moment you purchase your Canary for £159, you’ll instantly notice the quality. Canary was launched back in July 2013 on crowdfunding site Indiegogo. There was clearly a market demand, as within a month over …

Microsoft Lumia 950 XL Unboxing

We have one in the house – the infamous Lumia 950 XL from Microsoft. The kind people at Lumia Voices have decided to lend us a review kit with not just the Lumia device, but the full package. This includes a Lumia 950 XL of course, but in …

Remix Mini – Review

Mini PC’s are quite the thing at the moment and seem to be popping up everywhere. Now for a while, these were nothing more than Netbook components being shoved into a small box. However, with the recent developments in Android and, to a lesser extent Chrome, there has …

Coolsmartphone Awards 2015 and Podcast

Welcome to the Coolsmartphone Award Ceremony and Podcast, coming to you, prerecorded from Coolsmartphone Towers. Our team of experts got together yesterday and decided on the best and worst bits of 2015 in order to entertain you and reward/shame those responsible. As with all good awards ceremonies we’re …

OnePlus X – Unboxing

Have you been thinking to yourself, “It would nice to have a handset that didn’t require a backpack or a monolithic battery”? I had the thought occur to me the other day but then instantly dismissed it as nonsense and told my brain to behave itself. Of course bigger …

ZTE Axon Elite – Review

This is the ZTE Axon Elite. It’s a big phone, with a 5.5” inch screen, and it doesn’t feel small in the hand. It shouldn’t either – there’s a lot packed under the hood of this ‘Ion Gold’ coloured beast. I’ve never had serious hands-on time with a …

Remix Mini – Unboxing

You may recall a little while ago I was raving about an Android PC Box that came from the Far East. China to be precise. Well, the time has come for the unboxing to happen and I’m of course talking about the Remix Mini. I have already had …

Nexus 6P – Review

Google’s latest handset has been garnering a lot of interest from the tech world over the last few weeks. In between all the reports of people not getting their orders delivered on time and Google delaying the launch, I managed to secure one for this review. With the …

CPR Call Blocker – Review

You know how it goes. You get home from a long day at work and, just as you sit down for your evening meal, the home phone rings. If you’ve got caller ID then you’ll either see a withheld number or an international number flashing up. The next …

Capturing Family Memories with Technology

The set-up. The days of relying on traditional (and expensive) photography film are long gone. Now precious memories can be captured using consumer device in high-quality video and pictures. To put some of the latest devices to the test, I set out with my son, his go kart, …

Arcade OrbitCAM XL Drone review

One of my other hobbies, apart from writing for this fantastic site, is flying drones. These are also known as unmanned aerial vehicles or UAV’s. My current setup is able to hold a GoPro camera on a 3 axis gimbal which gives excellent super smooth clear footage. The drone …

Xperia Z5 & Xperia Z5 Compact Comparison – Review

The time has come to put Sony’s finest under a microscope and to see what you are getting when you plonk down £610* on the counter. We know that the camera is meant to be the best thing since they made the camera obscura back in the early …

Meizu M2 Note – Review

Meizu is a brand not particularly well known here in the UK. Leigh recently reviewed the Meizu M1 Note, and I have been using a Meizu M2 Note for a few months now. This is my review of the Meizu M2 Note, a device purchased from Shenzhen Chigon …

HTC One A9 – Review

A bit of history first, and perhaps a personal viewpoint from myself. Back in 2002 I handled my first HTC smartphone. It was branded up as an Orange SPV and it kick-started this entire website. HTC had a meteoric rise in the years following, releasing phones under their …

Vodafone Smart speed 6 – Review

You’ve really got to mention the price in the introductory paragraph for this particular device. For just £50 on Vodafone Pay As You Go it’s insanely cheap. Some of you probably pay more than that per month on a contract. This is the Vodafone Smart speed 6, a …

Xperia Z5 – Unboxing

That time of year has come. It’s the time that all geeks look forward to every year. It is, of course, upgrade time. Those of you who are frequent readers will no doubt be aware that I am currently using the Xperia Z3 as my daily driver. Although I …

Honor 7 – Review

Hmm.. The Honor 7. I’m sure someone told me this was a “mid-range” handset. It was almost as if they didn’t want me to get to excited about it. Let’s have a look at the specs first then.. Screen – 5.2″ 1080×1920 (424 ppi) CPU – HiSilicon Kirin …

Huawei Mate S – Review

Huawei released their new flagship phablet last month – The Huawei Mate S. I was lucky enough to attend the launch event and got a hold of one of the devices. I have been using it over the last few weeks to see how good it was, and …

Acer Iconia One 7 – Review

There’s a raft of 7″ tablets out there. Just have a look down your local supermarket and you’ll see a stack of them. Here we’ve got the Acer Icon is One 7. Around back, a very grippy rear panel which has a rather funky pattern on it. The …

Samsung Galaxy S6 edge+ – Review

Well isn’t this a beautiful looking thing? Everytime I show this to somebody there is an audible “wow”. You could perhaps put the slowest, cheapest CPU and memory in here and people would still be amazed by looks alone. I have the gold version here from giffgaff and, …

A week with the Huawei P8

James reviewed the handset in May but I wanted to add my own throughts because, at the end of the day, this is a phone which costs less than £350 SIM free. You can get it for less than that on Amazon and you can pay buttons per …

HTC Desire 626 – Review

Think HTC and you’ll invariably think of the HTC One handsets. They’re beautiful. They’re well-built and they’re feature-rich. However, they’re also pretty expensive, so what about those who want a taste of HTC but don’t quite have the cash? The Desire 626 is a device I’ve had as …