Wileyfox launches Swift and Storm Cyanogen OS smartphones

[HEXUS]

UK-based company will price its debut devices at £129 and £199 respectively.

Read more.

[crossy]

The Storm is pre-orderable now exclusively online, but ships in October to Europe, the Middle East and African countries. ... . A dual micro SIM slot version is present but it sacrifices the microSD slot.

Erm, no Mr Tyson, according to the specs.

MEMORY Card slot Yes, expandable up to 128GB*
Internal 32GB ROM, 3GB RAM

Actually find this an interesting phone, but solely because I'm guessing that the use of Cyanogen mean that (a) it's basically pre-rooted (mostly yay!), and (b) we won't necessarily have to wait for months (and months, and months, and months, ...) for OS updates.

Downsides are a non-removable battery and that all those "essential" accessories (like a range of cases, screen protectors, etc) aren't going to be available.

[Arulmani]

Sounds like a good value for money. With Cyanogen combined this could be a future proof phone with good price performance ratio. Have to wait for judgment till we get a detailed feedback & reviews.

[mtyson]

Hi Crossy, At the bottom of the Storm specs PDF the following is written:
"*Slots: Dual SIM/Single SIM+MicroSD,"
which I think means that if you plump for the dual SIM version of the Storm you don't get a microSD card slot?

There's so many good and cheap droids coming out, but all my previous Android smartphones have been bought then never received any updates (I've never bought a flagship phone, but mid-range devices). With the Android apocalypse about to visit upon us, according to some commentators, something with timely updates from Cyanogen might be a good choice.

[Tabbykatze]

The Storm is pre-orderable now exclusively online, but ships in October to Europe, the Middle East and African countries. ... . A dual micro SIM slot version is present but it sacrifices the microSD slot.

Erm, no Mr Tyson, according to the specs.

There's an asterisk on the specifications sheet for dual sim functionality here: http://wileyfox.com/wp-content/themes/wileyfox/remote/download.php?file=/2015/08/WIleyfox_Storm_Specifications.pdf

That little asterisk says:
"*Slots: Dual SIM/Single SIM+MicroSD"

[crossy]

Hi Crossy, At the bottom of the Storm specs PDF the following is written:
"*Slots: Dual SIM/Single SIM+MicroSD,"
which I think means that if you plump for the dual SIM version of the Storm you don't get a microSD card slot?

There's an asterisk on the specifications sheet for dual sim functionality here: http://wileyfox.com/wp-content/theme...ifications.pdf

That little asterisk says:
"*Slots: Dual SIM/Single SIM+MicroSD"

Okay, thanks for the correction - I should know better than to type first and read (properly!) later.

DualSIM seems to be in vogue at the moment, not sure why because I've yet to find anyone for whom it was a "must have". Companies seem to prefer to give you an "office" phone instead.

[shaithis]

Nice news, quite a fan of Cyanogenmod, although I still find it hard to ditch Sense for my phone, I do embrace CM on my tablet. They have done so much that has helped keep devices alive and updated well beyond manufacturers support schedule, they deserve to do well.

Hell, Samsung should be subsiding these, the amount of horridly slow Sammy devices I have reflashed with CM and turned them into fast machines again is quite surprising.

[cheesemp]

Look interesting but I'd rather have the new nexus 5 that's rumoured to be out in the next month or two (Assuming its the same price point as the old N5). However saying that it's always good to have options when budgets are tight...

[iworrall]

Look interesting but I'd rather have the new nexus 5 that's rumoured to be out in the next month or two (Assuming its the same price point as the old N5). However saying that it's always good to have options when budgets are tight...

I suspect it will be nearer the price point for the more recent N6.

[crossy]

Duplicate post - apologies!

[Luke7]

Does Cyanogen utilise Google Play Services? - What I'm asking here is basically, are all android apps compatible?

[cheesemp]

I suspect it will be nearer the price point for the more recent N6.

Not if the rumours are true - its supposed to be another LG device (LGs recent flagship phone the G4 was £300). Also google weren't happy with the sales performance of the N6 so want to keep the price down. Granted that's all just rumours but make sense.

[crossy]

Does Cyanogen utilise Google Play Services? - What I'm asking here is basically, are all android apps compatible?

Yes and yes - remember that CyanogenOS is merely built on Android, so your Android apps will run fine. Check out the WileyFox page and you'll see that:
not only is a Play Store icon front-and-centre on the home screen, but there's also a home screen folder labelled "Google" and other labelled "Play" (the latter showing the icons for Play Music etc). I'm also very sure that the OnePlus (also Cyanogen'd) was fully "Play Enabled", plus the systems I've used Cyanogen on have all included GApps sideload in the install instructions.

Not if the rumours are true - its supposed to be another LG device (LGs recent flagship phone the G4 was £300).

G4 price is closer to £400 than £300 unless you go to the dodgy importers.

[chris_argyle]

Actually find this an interesting phone, but solely because I'm guessing that the use of Cyanogen mean that (a) it's basically pre-rooted (mostly yay!), and (b) we won't necessarily have to wait for months (and months, and months, and months, ...) for OS updates.

I wouldn't be so sure about the quick updates. I have a OnePlus and the speed that Cyanogen have released OS updates has been glacial! That said, I do really like their version of near unadulterated Android.

Overall this phone looks interesting. I would have liked to see them squeeze in a 3000+ mAh even if it did put the price up further.

[RichieLee]

I was looking forward to the storm but I'm not sure if the 2500mah battery will be up to the task. I'm on a 1st gen moto G and I'm seriously tempted by the swift if the camera is actually decent. The 5mp on the moto G is pants in anything but good light.