[jonmorris]

This morning, I attended an event that saw the launch of a new brand - Wileyfox - releasing affordable, but high-spec, smartphones.

Two models were announced, the Swift (£129) and Storm (£199), each dual-SIM 4G phones. The Swift having a 5-inch 720p screen, Snapdragon 410, and 13-megapixel camera. The Storm having a 5.5-inch 1080p screen, Snapdragon 615, and 20-megapixel Sony (IMX220) camera - plus a front facing 8MP camera with flash.

Each phone will ship with Cyanogen OS V12.1, with no bloatware, and a range of customisation options and special settings for privacy and increased security. A new browser that's quicker (and more battery-friendly) than Chrome is also introduced.

Ordering will be online only for now, with orders available via the wileyfox.com website, then Amazon, Clove, Expansys and others.

Here's my hands-on with the Storm - http://jmcomms.com/2015/08/25/hands-...ileyfox-storm/.

I've also come away with the Swift, which I'll be unboxing later and playing around with over the coming days.

[Aldridge Andy]

Great review and noteworthy added value around extending the warranty and display glass replacement. You have to wish the brand a successful future.

[carnivalist]

Looks good - the UK support is the big thing for me.

I've been reluctant to take the plunge into cheaper smartphones because of the support issues. It seems that these days customer service takes a back seat in favour of willy-waving features and tech across all sorts of technological goods and services - mobile networks Digital Media Services (Sky/Virgin/BT) PC aftersales (don't get me started on Samsung Laptop support) and much more.

It's always seemed to me that somebody is missing a trick in terms of gaining a lucrative USP, judging by the amount of complaints you see about poor customer service in tech industries. I would gladly pay a bit more or have a slightly less technologically advanced good or service if the provider or seller made customer service a top priority. After all the amount of pain, frustration and lost time which most people seem to suffer at some point must have a considerable monetary value - for example I once spent five hours trying to sort out my mum's Virgin TV service on the phone on and off over an entire Saturday and missed my first home game for ten years! Apart from the emotional loss I have a season ticket and so had already paid for the game.

I have previously been a high-end Samsung buff, but interestingly my vain wait for the Note 5 has inadvertently made me question the wisdom of spending hundreds of pounds on a handset, given that I've also suddenly been questioning the wisdom of stupid 24 month contracts in today's uncertain economic outlook and I am not stupidly rich (would the mobile industry have got off the ground if such contracts had been standard from the beginning?).

My last handset broke so I've been using an ancient phone while waiting for the 5. I've found to my surprise that the feeding frenzy to have the latest shiny thing has gradually abated and so I've found myself questioning why I need to pay a premium to have whizz-bang stuff I could very easily do without. After all the £400 you could save by purchasing one of these wileyfoxes or a competitor is enough to buy a decent tablet, or put towards a decent PC or having a life experience that you'll never forget - I don't know, going to Rio 2016 or something.

I'll wait to see a full range of reviews but this has certainly piqued my interest.

Just one thing - the review states that the handset doesn't use gorilla glass but the website says it does.

[d123]

Full spec sheets if anyone wants a read:

Storm
http://wileyfox.com/wp-content/theme...ifications.pdf

Swift
http://wileyfox.com/wp-content/theme...ifications.pdf

[artnada]

Shut up and take my money Wiley

[Mass Corona]

They look nice and great spec for the money!

I also like that wallpaper - Where can I nick it?

[Michael09]

Lovely looking phones, definitely want to get my hands on one of these bad boys !

[eljmayes]

The battery looks a little small to me. However for £200 it certainly is keenly priced.

[Mass Corona]

So when are they likely to start selling them?

[jonmorris]

Here's the Swift unboxing: http://jmcomms.com/2015/08/25/wileyf...or-the-moto-g/

Swift goes on sale in September and the Storm in October.

[carcass]

What Android version is storm using?

[d123]

Quote:

Originally Posted by carcass

What Android version is storm using?

Quote:

On the software side, it's Cyanogen OS 12.2 running the show on both devices, based upon Android 5.1.1 Lollipop.

http://www.androidcentral.com/hands-...torm-and-swift

[jonmorris]

The Swift I got had just over 50% charge when I got it, which I topped up for a while to get it to about 65-70%, and by midnight it was down to 2% and with just over 4 hours screen on time.

I am very keen now to see how it performs when it has started from 100%, as it seems like the battery (2,500mAh) is going to be excellent for the Swift. I'm a little more concerned for the Storm (also 2,500mAh but with a bigger screen, more powerful SoC etc).

Also, I've never really used Cyanogen properly before - and certainly not recently. I am quite amazed at how much you can customise and all the extra little features it has baked in.

This alone could make the phones real winners, although from an industry perspective the company is probably going to struggle if it only sells the phones online. No high street presence is going to likely mean relatively few sales.

But certainly people on here know about them!

[planetf1]

One comment I've read about the 410 is it suffers in video at high resolutions ... that will be interesting to see. Great specs though

[eljmayes]

Will Cyanogen update the OS periodically? Towards the end of it's run they feel out with OnePlus.

[Orbitalzone]

Looks really interesting and a potential Moto G beater. Dual sim and 4G is very interesting and I look forward to seeing how the device performs.

Thanks Jon for the heads up

[gds1972]

I look of these phones and as an added benefit they look to be a British company.

[d123]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jonmorris

The Swift I got had just over 50% charge when I got it, which I topped up for a while to get it to about 65-70%, and by midnight it was down to 2% and with just over 4 hours screen on time.

I am very keen now to see how it performs when it has started from 100%, as it seems like the battery (2,500mAh) is going to be excellent for the Swift. I'm a little more concerned for the Storm (also 2,500mAh but with a bigger screen, more powerful SoC etc).

Also, I've never really used Cyanogen properly before - and certainly not recently. I am quite amazed at how much you can customise and all the extra little features it has baked in.

This alone could make the phones real winners, although from an industry perspective the company is probably going to struggle if it only sells the phones online. No high street presence is going to likely mean relatively few sales.

But certainly people on here know about them!

Jon, what's the dual sim capability like? Can you use 2 Three sims as an example (can sim 2 handle 3G when sim 1 is the data enabled sim on 3G/4G?

[jonmorris]

Benchmark test: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZSIKTMsNtE

I am yet to put two SIM cards in. I suspect it will be 2G and 4G, but will report back if that isn't the case.

Qualcomm spoke at the event yesterday and said that Snapdragon 615 allows for 802.11ac, yet the specs for the Storm show just 2.4GHz. I notice the Vodafone Smart Ultra 6 also lacks 5GHz Wi-Fi.

It's odd that Qualcomm spoke about a feature of the chipset that didn't apply to the phone being launched, and wonder how many other people noticed. That is unless the Storm specs are wrong and it DOES support 802.11ac/5GHz which would be great news.

[jonmorris]

A comparison with the Moto G 3rd Generation - http://jmcomms.com/2015/08/26/head-t...-they-compare/

Full review, camera tests etc, to come - but will probably be a week or two so I can properly test them out.

[d123]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jonmorris

I am yet to put two SIM cards in. I suspect it will be 2G and 4G, but will report back if that isn't the case.

Thanks, it's something that very few reviews check, and with Three sims not working if it's only 2G makes it quite an important point for UK use.

[alan1302]

Looks like some nice phones - awful brand name though!

[millimole2001]

This may be a dumb question as I'm not familiar with alternative OS systems - but what App Store do these use?

[klendathu]

Think I might snap one of these up .

[klendathu]

Quote:

Originally Posted by millimole2001

This may be a dumb question as I'm not familiar with alternative OS systems - but what App Store do these use?

Google Play