Category: Reviews

HTC One X+ Initial Impressions

HTC recently released the HTC One X+, the update to the well received One X. After a small amount of pleading and thanks to the rather lovely guys at HTC, we here at Coolsmartphone have managed to get our grubby mitts on one to have a play with and write …

Clingo Universal Desk Stand – Review

I recently reviewed the Clingo Universal Car Mount and was very impressed with it. So much so that I now have a desk stand to see if that can solve the same issues as the car mount. My first thoughts when taking it out of the box was …

Acer Iconia A110 Review

The whole time I have had the Iconia A110 I keep looking at my Nexus 7 and wondering how it handles what I’m testing. It has been a difficult one to review, but here we go. First of all my good and bad points: Good points Tegra 3 …

ZTE Kis – Review

Budget phones have a place in the world, as not everyone can afford to have the latest and greatest handset. I find reviewing entry level phones harder than the rest. Quite often with no standout features you are left clutching at straws over what to write. On which …

VScreens Beta Review

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 …

Case-Mate Glam Case for Samsung Galaxy S3 Review

Fancy protecting your Samsung Galaxy S3 and looking a bit flash at the same time? We tried out this rather bling Glam Case. It’s £24.99 but it’s made by Case Mate and is pretty slim. The case simply clips into place on the handset very easily indeed. The …

Samsung Galaxy Note II Review

I’ve often listened with interest as our own James Pearce waxes lyrical on the Coolsmartphone Podcast about the wonders of having a handset with a large screen.  James has often sung the praises of his own Galaxy Note brushing aside all ridicule.  Personally I had my doubts, I …

CRC Pro-Cycling

The guys at Chain Reaction Cycles.com have teamed up with Billy Goat Entertainment to bring you a sports game with a difference. Like riding a bike but think the weather is too cold? We have a solutionfor you. Download CRC Pro-Cycling and get pedaling. The menu system is …

Microsoft Surface with Windows RT – Initial Impressions

A lot has been said about Windows 8 recently. A lot of it has been negative and mainly about the metro new tiled interface. I didn’t buy into any of the negativity and when the Surface with RT tablets came up for pre-order I went ahead and ordered …

ZTE Kis – Initial Impressions

The other day ZTE and Virgin Mobile announced the new white version of the Kis. Their hugely popular “record breaking” Kis is an entry level 3.5″ device and we’ve had it for a couple of days and here is our initial impressions. Starting off with good and bad …

Acer Iconia A110 – Initial Impressions

The Acer Iconia A110 has sort of arrived on the scene with barely an announcement. It was up for pre-order on Ebuyer for a while and then it just suddenly came into stock. A few weeks later and we have one here on our desk. Hailed by some …

HTC Windows Phone 8X Review

HTC have been making fantastic hardware for many years now, and when paired with a high quality operating system you really can get the ideal phone.  Microsoft have now announced the release of their new Windows Phone 8 operating system and this is at the heart of the …

Acer S500 Cloud Mobile – Review

I’ve been using the Acer S500 Cloud Mobile as my main phone for a few weeks now and it’s time to bring you the full review. My initial conclusion was that the Cloud Mobile was a great phone that seemed like it was going to be let down …

iOS Game Review – Brainsss

I love a good zombie game, running away from hordes of them pausing only to shoot them in the face from short range. Well this zombie game isn’t like that. It turns the whole zombie game genre on it’s head. You are a zombie and you have a …

Looking for iPhone 5 accessories?

Got your shiny new iPhone 5? Looking for accessories to help it along? So was I, then Mobile Fun got in touch offering their iPhone 5 Ultimate Bundle The device had only been around for about two weeks an accessories were running a little thin on the ground …

Android Game Review – Meganoid 2

Meganoid is a hugely successful Android and iOS 8-bit platform game. The aim of the game is to make your way through the hundreds of levels avoiding death. Well Orange Pixel have come out with a sequel which on the outset seems to offer more of the same …

Samsung Galaxy Note II – Initial Impressions

One of the surprise hits of late in the mobile handset arena was the Samsung Galaxy Note.  It sold by the bucketload and even now the waxing lyrical hasn’t stopped. It was therefore no shock when Samsung announced the Galaxy Note II and thanks to the lovely people …

Clingo Universal In Car Holder – Review

Car holders for mobile phones aren’t always the best looking or functional accessories. The universal ones are normally big and ugly as they have to accommodate as many phones as possible and they have varying mechanisms for securing the phone. Device specific mounts can be better but they …

Maxell Airstash – Review

Picture the scene, you’re at a party or a friends house or even in a meeting. You have your camera and the memory card is full of pictures. You, your friends or clients are all stood there with your iPhones and iPads looking confused. You all really need …

Motorola RAZR i – My review

So, we took a look at the Motorola RAZR i a couple of weeks ago but I wanted to take another look. First impressions, I have to say, are rather good. I instantly thought the battery wasn’t in the phone when I took it out of the box. …

Gear4 HouseParty Portable – Review

I’ve been trying out numerous speakers for a while now. As most of you will know I am constantly changing phones so I need something that works with almost any smartphone but also my MacBook Air. Have I finally found what I am looking for in the Gear4 …

HTC Desire X Review

My introduction to the Android platform came through the original HTC Desire.  One of my bosses walked up to me knowing my love for phones and showed me his brand spanking new piece of kit, complete with scrolling widgets and all shiny and new.  My search for a …

Plague Inc. – Android

Have you ever wasted a few hours playing a game called “Pandemic”? If so this game might just be for you. Plague Inc. made by Ndemic but published by Miniclip. When you first start it you are prompted for a difficulty setting, Casual (Easy, The first one I …

Tiger Woods 2012 – iOS

Are you a golf pro? I’m far from it. Playing Tiger Woods 2012 makes me think I’m fantastic at golf. The game makes play relatively easy. Getting started can take a while before you can hit the ball. It looks for saved games in the cloud, you need …

a-Jays One+ Earphones – Review

Having heard many good things about the a-Jays range of earphones, and with most bundled headsets being very average indeed, I thought, for £40, these would be a great addition to my newly purchased Galaxy Note 2. In actual fact, the bundled headphones with the Note 2 aren’t …

Sony Xperia T – Review

Sony announced that the Xperia S was going on sale during Mobile World Congress back in February, however we are now in October and the S has been replaced as the flagship camera phone by the Xperia T. The Xperia T really is a powerful high end smartphone …

Android App Review – Battery Widget? Reborn!

If I had a pound for every battery widget or battery monitoring app on the Google Play Store I would have a couple of hundred pounds. If I had a pound for every one of those apps that actually did any good or showed you any sort of …

Hands on with the Three DC-HSDPA dongle

Internet on the move is more important now than it has ever been with many people needing to access their online content for both personal reasons and for work.  How many people do you see on a busy train with laptops out and dongles plugged in the side …

Acer S500 Cloud Mobile – Initial Impressions

Acer have made a few nice looking phones recently, the other week we looked at the dual SIM equipped Liquid Gallant Duo and I was very impressed overall. So when I found out they were going to send us their flagship device the Cloud Mobile I was a little …

Samsung Galaxy Note 2 Flip Cover – Review

It seems quite a few of the big names in mobile phones these days are producing their own accessories, and cases. Not just as functional protective devices, but that are actually nice to look at too. Samsung are no exception, and produce cases for both the Galaxy S3 and the …

Gear4 iPhone 5 Cases – Review

One of my personal favourite case manufacturers is Gear4 and they have been one of the first to release these stylish iPhone 5 cases and were kind enough to send me a few to show our readers. All 3 cases are “snap on the back” style cases. They …

Android app review – Weather Eye

There are a lot of weather forecasting apps around and now and again one will make me sit up and take notice. Weather Eye is one of those apps. Weather Eye is based around four different widgets, a stand alone forecast app and a forecast in the notification …

Scosche reVOLT c2 dual USB charger – Review

Back in August we had a Scosche reVOLT c2 dual USB car charger sent to us. Unfortunately it ended up in a “special cupboard” and we’ve only just found it. Many of you will, I’m sure, have a car charger. The Scosche one is of the “low profile” …

Sony Xperia Miro – Review

A few weeks ago we got hold of the Xperia Miro for review and we quickly posted up our initial impressions. The Miro is one of the entry level devices from Sony and in the same way as with the Tipo we reviewed a while back, I was …

Acer Liquid Gallant Duo – Review

A few weeks ago we got the dual sim Gallant Duo in for review from Acer and ever since I have been using it to try and find what’s good and what’s bad. In our initial impressions I was impressed with Acer and their handling of the dual …

Huawei E355 3G/WiFi dongle review

I’ve recently been looking out for a reliable solution for in-car WiFi which would share the mobile broadband connection between a few devices that I tend to carry around while out and about. The base requirement was simple yet somewhat difficult to achieve – it had to be …

Asus Nexus 7 travel cover – Review

It has been a good few months since the Nexus 7 came out and as is always the way, the official accessories take forever to be available. Right, before I start ranting about the lack of pogo pin compatible accessories I’ll get on with the review. The travel …

TomTom for Android – App Review

I have always been a fan of TomTom, ever since I used it on my T-Mobile Vario..yes, it was a few years ago. I am disappointed about the length of time it has taken for TomTom to come to Android, iOS has had it since August 2009! Given the …

Review – Tech21 Impact Snap Case for iPhone 5

If you were following yesterday, you’d have seen my iPhone 5 wallet case review. I liked it, but it had a major drawback. Today, I have another case to show you, again from the lovely people at MobileFun.co.uk It’s another flip case, but this time made by Tech21, and this …