A rare example of a home-grown smartphone
Settle down children and Grandad will tell you a story. Once upon a time, all over the United Kingdom there were these things called ‘factories’. Every day, British people would ‘clock in’ to them and operate machines that made things. Not things such as ‘financial services’ and ‘marketing communications’ but real things, that you could buy in shops, made of steel and glass and wood.
Like in China, Grandad? (Grandad sighs a faraway sigh.) Yes, my darling. Like in China.
This new smartphone is, of course, made in China. Dream on. But it’s a product of Wileyfox, a new company based in London.
Apart from the embossed fox logo on the back of the phone, not much looks distinctive: it’s a basic budget handset. The matt stone-like texture feels pleasant to hold. Colours don’t pop out of the five-inch screen as with more expensive panels, but you get decent brightness and contrast, and a feature that adjusts the colour balance according to the time of day. You can also adjust the colour yourself, as well as the scaling, letting you fit in more or fewer icons. It’s protected by Gorilla Glass 3.
Inside, everything is pretty average, including 802.11n Wi-Fi rather than the faster 802.11ac, no NFC chip to pay at tills, and a modest 16GB of storage, to which you can add up to 32GB on a microSD card. The 13-megapixel camera gave us rather dingy pictures.
More notable is the software. Android - Google’s mobile operating system - is open-source, which means anyone can make their own software based on it. Wileyfox Swift uses the Android 5.1-based Cyanogen operating system (OS). Cyanogen - a community of programmers backed by its own Silicon Valley company - offers an OS that’s highly customisable and helps users to protect their privacy and security.
That contrasts with Google’s much-discussed exploitation of personal data and the way Android devices often come with pointless add-ons. The emphasis on giving you control also differs from Apple’s ethos of keeping things simple, and safe, by imposing restrictions. If you like tinkering with things to get them spot-on, Cyanogen may appeal. If you just want them to work, an iPhone might suit you better - but it’ll cost you a lot more.
The difference between Cyanogen and regular Android is very noticeable: you really can customise almost everything, and there are extra security options, including encrypting your whole phone. You have control over whether apps such as Facebook can access your data, and unknown phone numbers can be checked against a database to identify spam callers - not a feature unique to this phone, but a useful one.
Wileyfox has apparently developed its two handsets (the Storm costs £199, with slightly higher specifications) in just a few months at a cost of less than a million pounds. Given the complexity of a modern smartphone, it’s a remarkable achievement. It has proved possible because the Swift uses existing technology that’s available to other companies, such as Motorola, where one of Wileyfox’s founders used to work. The Swift falls between the prices of the Moto E and the recently updated Moto G, and has no particular advantages over them. Battery life was disappointing - less than nine hours of continuous video playback.
Some buyers will be swayed by Cyanogen, but Wileyfox really needs to offer something more to compete with the big brands. If all goes well, it will at least have proved there’s room for smaller players and more variety in mobile devices.
VERDICT
We're being slightly generous in recommending it, but the Swift is good value and a refreshing change.
SPECIFICATIONS
5in 1280x720-pixel screen • 13-megapixel rear camera • 5-megapixel front camera • 16GB flashstorage • microSD card slot • 802.11n Wi-Fi • Bluetooth 4.0 • 3G/4G • 41x72x9.4mm (HxWxD) • 135g • One-year warranty