Tag: review
Intro I love tablets. I love the idea of carrying something thin and light around that has enough computing power in it to keep me up to speed with all my musings on this very site. I also love being able to just pull out something from my …
For £19.95 on Amazon UK or $19.95 on Amazon US, this isn’t a great deal bigger than the battery inside. Plus, with this particular portable charger, you can actually unscrew the bottom and get at the battery – like an old-school torch / flashlight. Not only that, but …
The Cables It’s hard to get good cables, and it’s almost unheard of to get good, good cables. This is why I like this ICZI range of USB-A to USB-C cables. I crossed over to using the USB-C standard over a year ago now, when the Nexus 6P …
Well now, I’ve got me an LED light which fits on the wall and shines when you walk past it in the dark. It charges via the sun and has a solar panel on the top. On the current US Amazon listing it’s $16.99. First up, it’s waterproof, …
The first thing you notice about this particular Bluetooth speaker is the price. It’s £229 on Amazon. That, I have to say, is a massive price-tag for a Bluetooth speaker. It weighs in at 1.6 kg and measures 29.4 x 6.7 x 17 cm. At 1.6Kg it isn’t …
We’ve become all too familiar with the terrible battery life of our smartphones. As your phone gets older that battery gets even worse, so that’s where gadgets like this come in. This is the Askborg ChargeCube 10400mAh Powerbank. You can get it for £17.99 from Amazon UK or …
Yes, that it is a long title for a review, but it sums up exactly what this does. Put simply, it’ll plug into your UK wall socket and output 4 USB ports for charging your gadgets. Not only that, but it’ll pass through that mains outlet so that …
You’re about to go on holiday, you’ve got everything – the sun lotion, the wet wipes (is that just me?) and your gadgets. Wait though, what about those travel adapters you bought? You put them in that “special place” didn’t you? Are they in the bottom of the …
So here I am in my 40’s and up until this review had never tried Noise Cancelling Headphones. So as a regular user of Kitsound equipment I jumped at the opportunity to review the new Kitsound Immerse Wireless Noise Cancelling Headphones for my friends at Coolsmartphone.com. Kitsound kit tends …
Remember our BTS08 review from the other day? Well, this is the smaller brother. It’s definitely easier to carry around and is a lot lighter. Likewise, it’s thinner at both ends and I found it pretty easy to fit into a coat pocket. This one, unlike the BTS08, …
The people from UMI have sent us these UMI-BTA8 Bluetooth in-ear headphones. They’re designed to be used if you’re out running or at the gym, but you can wear them if you’re sat on the sofa eating crisps too I guess 🙂 First up, I should perhaps mention …
I know I’ve mentioned this before, but it’s been a reoccurring theme whenever we review Bluetooth headphones. There’s definitely two types of headphones that I’ve found over the years. The first type will last for ages and they’re usually in-ear, but the sound quality just isn’t that brilliant. …
First impressions matter. Or so we are led to believe. My Honor 6X arrived today and I’ve wasted no time taking it out of its box and popping my SIM and a memory card into it. The things I do for Coolsmartphone.com and you readers. The Honor 6X …
At the beginning of November, Huawei released something a little bit exciting – the Huawei Mate 9. I was lucky enough to be given one of these devices for review and as such have been using it for the past few weeks. It is now time for me to …
Having a security camera on your house can be a good and bad thing. Sure, you can keep an eye on things, but it’s also a sign that you want to keep something protected, and thieves might target your house because it’s got cameras hanging off it. So …
Some time ago I decided to cancel my current satellite TV subscription. To be honest I thought the monthly fee was extortionate and decided to go along the “cable cutters route”. I found that I could get nearly all, if not all of the content I wished to …
Back in the “old days” we used to have photos on film. We then sent them off to get processed and we’d get them back on nice paper and we’d put them into albums. Now, we have smartphones and we have our photos stored either in a “cloud” …
Introduction Regular readers of the site may remember my adventures and #firstworldproblems in the tablet world. Whether it was using an iPad Mini (many years ago), Windows, convertible devices or a cheap Android slate, I hadn’t found a device which satisfied me completely. My Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 8.0 …
Let’s break this down shall we? Imagine taking a fairly powerful Android phone, removing the screen and replacing the navigation system with an Xbox-style controller, then outputting the video to your TV. That’s basically what you have here. Inside is a quad core CPU, 1GB RAM, 16GB of …
Traveling with bulky power adaptors and chargers is a complete nightmare. Each company wants to use it’s own connection, Micro USB, Mini USB, Lighting Adaptor etc etc. The only thing that seems to follow any form is the fact they all require a USB plug. In the UK …
About 14 years ago I started reviewing phones. Now I’m reviewing Christmas tree decorations and, if I’m honest, I don’t know if that’s a good thing or not. Either way, it’s the time to get festive. If you’ve just been up to the loft and grabbed your decorations …
You may recall a recent article about the latest earphones by Urbanista, called Berlin. Well, I managed to get my hands on a set for review! Watch the video to see what I thought of them!
Recently we heard about the world of smart buttons, in particular, “flic” which have a number of purchasable buttons to make your life easier. I got my hands on the buttons, and had some fun!
Remember all those years ago when you’ve got your first email account and you couldn’t wait to set it up with a stupid account name? Now, many years later, it’s quite embarrassing having to pass those details to any prospective employers, hospitals or friends. So what do you …
Keeping your devices charges whilst away from home is a continued nightmare. After dragging around a bulking power adapter, you struggle to find a power outlet. This is where a brand new Kickstarter campaign steps in. https://ksr-video.imgix.net/projects/2682888/video-723673-h264_high.mp4 Aircharge is looking to secure £20,000 with backers providing over …
Minecraft is a very popular game. I’m sure a lot of you have played it and you may even have a child or two who’s addicted to it. So how do you get them away from the screens? Well, you could try this creative gift from www.boxheadcraft.co.uk. It’s …
OK. Are you ready to have your mind blown? To be honest I was going to put “This will blow your mind – charge your iPhone and your Android phone with one cable” in the title, but it sounded a little too click-baity. Whether your main handset is …
Matchmaking. Internet dating. Online relationships. These are all words and phrases that used to carry a certain amount of embarrassment, but those days are now in the distant past. Now there’s all manner of dating and relationship apps, from the sublime to the ridiculous. This one claims a …
It has been a few weeks now since the latest Acer tablet arrived on my desk at Coolsmartphone towers. In that time I have been using it as my main day-to-day device for media consumption. I have not really been using it for very much in the way of work …
There was a time, not too long ago, when phones costing £139.99 were best avoided. “Android landfill” they used to call them. Cheap devices with a questionable build quality, a dire camera and wonky screen resolutions. Here, for your money you’re getting a completely network-free device with an …
I was one of the Kickstarter backers for the original Pebble smartwatch back in 2012. I still actually own that too. Shortly after I purchased the Pebble Steel. However, when the colour Pebble Time watches appeared, I fell out of love with them. I thought the new colour ePaper interface was a …
Here at Coolsmartphone we are approached by device manufacturers from all over the world. I must admit that it is the unheard-of devices from the far-east that intrigue me the most, so I jumped at the chance to review the unknown brand Nomu and their S10 device. ‘Who …
Good news people! We got sent a brand new Tesla to road test. We’ll be bringing you a full 30 minute video of the resulting…. … oh wait no. We got another cable. Don’t worry though, this is a strong, industrial-grade cable and it’s called the Armour Charge. …
If you’ve got a need for a lightbulb but you want some music coming out of it, welcome to the Sengled Pulse Solo LED light and Wireless Speaker. This one is an E27 screw-in fitting and puts out about 550 lumens. Now, if you compare this with regular …
Sony has had an interesting year so far. It’s seen the launch of several handsets, including two flagships – the Xperia X and Xperia XZ. The latter of these phones is the subject of this review. If you wish to find out a bit more about the former …
Let’s be honest, the trouble with protective cases is that they make your shiny iPhone look bloody ugly as flip. Your iPhone looks gorgeous without a case, but no-one will see that because it’s hidden behind a stack of rubber and plastic when you try and keep it …
The lower-end of the smartphone market has become very competitive of late. Not only that, but it’s also got better. The build quality is better. The specs are better. So, when I say, “the lower-end”, I generally only mean the price. Bush isn’t a brand that many today …
I’m going to completely give away the whole upshot of this review in the first paragraph for you now. Sure, you can always skip along to the bottom of the most reviews, but I’m going to serve it up on a platter right here in paragraph one. OK. …
If you’re after some “proper” over-ear headphones with noise cancelling tech, these could be on your shopping list. First though, perhaps the biggest plus point for me is the price – just £18.89 on Amazon as I type, which is really rather good. The headphones have the usual …
Three have had mobile broadband available for a long time now, and with each device upgrade comes more enhanced connectivity options with quicker speeds and more flexibility. On visiting the official Three site you’ll find USB Dongles, Tablets, MiFi and more recently RoadFi – a MiFi plugged into …
