Wileyfox Swift unboxing: The £129 smartphone gunning for the Moto G

The entry level phone from brand-new company Wileyfox is the Swift, a 4G smartphone that will set you back just £129, and is powered by Qualcomm’s sprightly quad-core Snapdragon 410 chipset.

Competing head on with the latest 3rd generation Moto G, the specs are remarkably similar on paper. Like the Moto G, the Swift comes with a 5-inch 720p display, 16GB of internal storage (and a microSD card slot), and 2GB of RAM. In the camera department, both phones come with a 13-megapixel camera.

Battery capacity is also pretty evenly matched, with 2,470mAh on the Moto G and a (removable) 2,500mAh battery on the Swift.

While both phones offer 4G access (at Cat 4 speeds for 150/50Mbps), the Swift can also take a second SIM.

But, just like the Moto G and all other Snapdragon 410 powered devices, the Swift misses out on 5GHz Wi-Fi and, with it, 802.11ac support. Still, 2.4GHz Wi-Fi is likely to be with us for years to come, even on the very latest routers, so there’s little risk of being left unconnected for the foreseeable future.

Wileyfox-Swift - 20

The highly adaptable and regularly updated Cyanogen OS 12.1 promises to be bloat free and comes with a huge selection of themes to personalise screen layouts, icons, notification buttons, fonts, and much more. A load of additional security and privacy features are also baked in.

With a two-year warranty, extendable to three years, and a £10 screen replacement fee if you should break through the Corning Gorilla Glass protection, the Wileyfox Swift seems set to be a very shrewd investment. The Wileyfox brand also looks fresh and exciting.

I was fortunate enough to take away a Swift from the launch event, and will be testing it over the coming weeks. With my Moto G review still to be published, it’s going to be a great chance to test both side by side, remembering that the Wileyfox is far cheaper than the Moto.

Until then, take a look at the unboxing and hands-on photos below. Any questions? Ask me on here, or via Twitter.

Unboxing

Specifications

Wileyfox Swift
Price £129 / €169
Network 4G LTE/ Dual SIM/ unlocked, compatible with all European providers
Display 5” HD Corning® Gorilla® Glass
Processor Qualcomm Snapdragon 410 Chipset, Quad Core
OS Cyanogen OS 12.1 based on Android Lollipop 5.1
Camera 13MP Dual LED Flash Rear Camera / 5MP Front Facing, range of shooting features
Video MP2/4, AVC, HEVC, Sorenson, realVideo 4, wmv2/3 VP8
Audio AAC, MP3, FLAC, DTS, AC-3, HE-AAC, MPEG-1 Layer II, Cooker, Vorbis, WMAV2
Connectivity WiFi 2.4GHz, protocols 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth v.4 (LE)
Memory 16GB ROM + 2GB RAM. Expandable MicroSD up to 32GB
Dimension & weight 141.15 x 71 x 9.37, 136g
Battery Removable 2,500mAh

More info: Wileyfox

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