Category: Hardware Reviews

Palm – My thoughts on the mini-smartphone

This diddy smartphone is on Vodafone and you can get one here for £31 per month. In the USA this has been sold as a “companion phone” which I can sort of understand. See, I’m a little confused. It’s like Brexit in a way. There’s really no middle …

Huawei P Smart 2019 – Unboxing

To kick things off for 2019, I have got a new phone from Huawei which went on sale with Vodafone (other networks are available) this morning. The thing that makes this phone all sorts of brilliant is that this is a perfect “New year, New you”-phone. It is …

Galaxy Note 9 – Review

Specs: Review Price: £899 6.4-inch Super AMOLED HDR display Snapdragon 845/Exynos 9810 12-megapixel variable aperture main camera, 12-megapixel secondary 2x zoom camera 6GB/8GB RAM 128GB/512GB storage 4000 mAh battery Android 8.1 S Pen w/ Bluetooth Good Points: Absolutely gorgeous screen Fantastic battery life Build quality Loads of features …

Palm – A hands on overview

Getting hold of one of these, right now, today, in the UK… is… tricky. But we have one, and it’s in my car, so you know what that means. CAR VIDEO! The Palm Smartphone is available right here on Vodafone. As we mentioned just this morning it’s available …

Pixel 3 – Review

I thought that I would always need a large screen phone, but this has changed my mind. Good Points: Great haptic feedback (really does feel like buttons are being pressed) Amazing camera Feels great in the hand Excellent front-facing dual stereo speakers Gorgeous screen Just runs so well …

A week with the Xiaomi Mi 8 Pro – Day 3. The interface.

Morning all. So, I had a lovely intro to this third day with the Mi 8 Pro. You can see our story so far here. This morning though, I woke up to find that the Mi 8 Pro had received an update, and the GUI looked remarkably different. …

A week with the Xiaomi Mi 8 Pro – Day 2. The camera.

This morning I woke up. It was a bright, sunny day and the birds were gently tweeting their morning chorus. It made me feel lucky to be alive. I couldn’t wake to spring out of bed and greet the day with big, open arms. Ah well, no. Not …

A week with the Xiaomi Mi 8 Pro – Day 1. A tour

I went a bit crazy about the Mi 8 Pro during the launch. Was it the free wine they were giving out? Was it the fact that it was 3 o’clock in the afternoon and I was drinking on an empty stomach? Well, perhaps some of that, but …

KitSound District True Wireless Earbuds – A Review

Wires – hate them!! I use headphones a lot, generally to isolate my environment and help me focus – but when I’ve finished they get thrown in my bag, semi-attached to a phone buddy (I still think they are ace but I don’t have a headphone socket anymore) and …

How clean is your phone?

The answer that despite our best efforts is going to be not very. In fact research has suggested that the average persons phone is dirty that a toilet seat! Add this to the fact that a lot of us will now use our phones when we are doing …

Alienware thin and light gaming laptop – The M15

Yesterday I was invited down to a boxing gym in central London to see a new laptop from Alienware that is punching well above its featherweight level. The Alienware M15 Laptop is a brand new thin and light gaming laptop that will serve well as both a powerful …

Honor Play – Review

What is it with all the mobile phone manufacturers thinking that we need a gaming smartphone these days? I am not the biggest gamer in the world I occasionally like a game of Angry Birds as much as the next person but I can’t see myself settling in …

Honor 8X Review

I’ve had this phone for a while now, and I’ve released day-by-day video updates which will form the main part of this review. So, in the place of what you’d normally expect to find here, I’d first like to discuss the state of the smartphone landscape right now …

Huawei Mate 20 Pro Review

Introduction The Mate 20 Pro has to be the highest-spec phone I have used to date, with its new Kirin 980 7nm processor, 6GB RAM, a huge Quad HD display, massive battery…and the triple camera on the back. The Mate 20 Pro really does scream top end specs. …

A week with the Honor 8X. Day 4 – The GUI

I had a think about this bit. I figured I could put a huge stack of images in and maybe write a load of text about how it all works… or, I could just do a video. It’s what the kids are doing now isn’t it eh? Perhaps …

A week with the Honor 8X. Day 3 – Strava and battery life!

I’ve performed a couple of tests today with the Honor 8X. The first is to check Strava. It’s an app I use a lot to track my exercise and, as you might know, I’ve had some issues with it working properly on Honor / Huawei kit. From what …

A week with the Honor 8X – Day 2. The camera.

Today I’ve been taking photos. I left the AI mode on for a lot of the images you’re about to see and, as it’s a dark and windy Autumnal day, there wasn’t a great deal of light to help. That AI system will magically take a look down …

BlackBerry KEY2 LE – Review

Introduction Even now, when touch-screen devices are considered the standard, there are solid arguments for having a traditional hardware keyboard. It’ll work with two thumbs and fans are sometimes known as ‘Crackberry’ addicts. With BlackBerry being such an iconic brand for their QWERTY smartphone designs, it is no …

A week with the Honor 8X – Day 1. A tour.

Only 5 days ago Honor revealed the 8X. We’ve already given you all the details about it but what’s it like to actually use on a daily basis? Well, to get that sort of information, I’d need one in my pocket every day. I’d need to be using …

Sony Xperia XZ3 – Review

Introduction It only felt like 5 minutes ago I was pressing the publish button on my XZ2 review for CoolSmartPhone, and now we already have its replacement on sale here in the UK, complete with hefty price tag. So the question I asked myself is, why did Sony …

Dell XPS 15″ 2 in 1 Laptop – Review

Here is something a little bit different for us to review, especially on a site originally dedicated to smartphones. It is a review of a laptop. Not just any laptop though, this is a laptop that hides behind a diminutive form factor (at least for its size). That …

Samsung Sound+ HW-MS650 Wireless Smart Soundbar – Review

I am not an audiophile by any means – I don’t have a finely tuned ear, and I couldn’t tell you what a chord was if it slapped me in the face! However, I do like to listen to music, and anything that makes that easier and better is appealing …

A new phone from Nuu Mobile, the G3 -Review

You may not have heard about Nuu Mobile at all. It’s probably because most people will never have seen anything from them in the UK. I have to say that I was also in this camp as well until I found them at MWC earlier this year. Leigh …

Huawei P20 – Review

The introduction Huawei are no longer a company who are sitting on the sidelines letting everyone else steal the show. Since the P9 their devices have really been impressive and put them on the map. Now everyone is sitting up and watching as the company are producing some …

BlackBerry Key2 – Review

The Introduction BlackBerry is a brand that has been around for so many years now. There aren’t many phone-fans who won’t remember a cherished BlackBerry device they may have had in their time. The older 2G models and some of the 3G ones were more about business people …

Anchor Premium Charge & Sync Cable – Revew

“The Last Cable You’ll Ever Need “ Good Points: Lifetime Warranty. Build quality. Interchangeability. Allows both fast charging and data syncing. Super strong. Tangle Free. Oh did I mention the build quality. Bad Points: The strong magnets have a mind of there own. The tips have to stay …

Gemini from Planet Computers – Review

A few months ago I got a little bit excited about a device that I had seen on Indiegogo. It wasn’t because it was the fastest or the most powerful device. It didn’t have the best camera either. It also wasn’t designed to be a gaming monolith. So, …

Honor 10 – Review

This is a confusing one, but it’s confusing in a good way. The price of this, and possibly the brand, should scream “mid-range” at you. It really should. We’re kinda hard-wired to see phones costing less than £400 as perhaps sub-standard. Perhaps it’s because those really high-end, top-of-the-range …

Meizu 15 – Review

We have been following and using Meizu devices for quite a while here Coolsmartphone. I personally am a fan of the M Note series of devices from Meizu ever since the good old Meizu M2 Note. The Meizu 15 is Meizu’s flagship for 2018 which also happens to be …

OnePlus 6 – Review

The introduction OnePlus are the company who set a goal of making high-end smartphones with a mid-range price tag that everyone could afford. The OnePlus 6 is the latest from the company and yet again lives by their `Never Settle’ slogan. It’s here to bring future-proofed specs with …

Huawei P20 Pro Case Roundup

With smartphone prices getting more and more expensive, now more than ever you need to make sure you have some sort of case to protect it from scratching and breaking. The Huawei P20 Pro is one of those flagship devices that has caught a lot of attention, mainly …

Gemini from Planet Computers – First Impressions

I have it in my hands finally: the Gemini from Planet Computers. I have been waiting to get hold of this device for nearly 6 months since I first caught wind of it back in November last year. It is a unique product on the market and some …

Samsung Galaxy S9 – Review

The introduction Samsung is one of the largest players in the Android arena, and their Galaxy handsets have become iconic around the world. This year at MWC, the company announced their latest versions – the Galaxy S9 and S9+. Both of these are on sale now. We were lucky …

Huawei P20 Pro Review: Is this the best cameraphone?

  As you can see I have made a fairly bold statement up there. That my friends, was not just for clickbait. It was a serious intended question, which during the course of this review I intend to answer. I have had the privilege of testing a few of …

Sony Xperia XZ2 – Review

The Introduction Just a week or so ago we posted the Sony Xperia XZ1 review, so it would only be right to follow it up with the newer XZ2. As they have done so many times in the past, Vodafone UK kindly loaned us one so we could …

Pure Siesta S6 Digital and FM Clock Radio with Bluetooth – Review

An alarm clock just wakes you up. Right? Well yes, yes it does, but gone are the days of some badly-made alarm clock waking you up with some white-noise. Now we’ve got alarm-clock radios that’ll receive crystal-clear DAB stations and will accept music from your phone, so you …

KitSound Exert Sports Bluetooth Headphones – A Review

If like me you aren’t the greatest fan of exercise then the only thing that makes it tolerable is your favourite music to distract you. However most sports headphones seem to be in the in ear bud style which for me simply don’t work as they fall out …

Google Pixelbook Review

The Introduction I must admit, I wasn’t planning to get hands-on with a Pixelbook. That was mainly due to the price of the thing. However, when I dropped the Pixel Buds back to Google UK, I was excited to find that they would loan me a Pixelbook. This …