Wileyfox Swift 4G Dual SIM-Free Smartphone - Black

*EDIT 26/06* My device had developed a fault and I needed to speak to Wileyfox tech support. Like most people I don't particularly enjoy contacting tech support teams so I was happy to find that they had a chat support option. I was helped by Maurice who provided perfect tech support and patience. Support is always a good measure of a business and Maurice demonstrated that Wileyfox maybe new but they are aiming high.**A waited a week before putting this review together to make sure I gave a balanced review without the new toy feeling.The reasons why I brought this phone are as follows: Price, Hardware spec and the fact that these guys are a British start up (got to support the home team when you can)So a simple pro/con/unforgivable rundown:Pro: Unlocked. This phone is unlocked as standard so I can use any SIM in the phone. Which is handy if EE ever gets me annoyed enough to leave.Pro: Packaging. This device comes in a sleek well thought out box which immediately gives you the feeling you have brought something special. As a gift most techies would be happy.Pro: Build quality. This is a budget phone and as expected this is mostly plastic. However, everything locks together securely with no creaks. The overall build feels like it punches above its weight with the stone effect back casing with the logo embossed, Colour detailing around the camera and the same colour for the logo. These are all an indication of a carefully thought out phone rather than a simple rebranding exercise.Pro: Screen. HD, very bright, clear and has great viewing angles. I have this phone set to about 1/3 of its possible brightness as a full brightness it could double as a flashlight. Also the DPI is editable under one of the many settings.Pro: Camera. Sometimes on low end phones the camera looks great on paper then you find out the shutter is incredibly slow making all photos useless. This is not the case with this phone as all my photos have turned out great. Bearing in mind the photos have been of my kids which can’t hold still for longer than a second this is a great result.Pro: Hardware. I have yet to experience any sort of lag opening or using apps. Even when I have had several apps open at the same time. Wileyfox is a good name for this firm as they have been savvy regarding the hardware choices. The screen is LG, the Camera is Samsung and the processor is a snapdragon all of these are not low end parts which add to the sleek experience of this device.Pro: Dual SIM. This is great to have as I can put my work SIM in the second slot which saves me carrying around two phones. Or if I am travelling have a local sim in the second slot.Pro: GPS. I use this phone with Here maps (offline no data connection) and it has functioned perfectly as a sat nav.Pro: Storage. After the operating system you have 12gb on board storage which is ample for most users app requirements. But it is expandable by adding a further 32gb via micro SD. This is great as a lot of low end Chinese phones are partitioned leaving a tiny space for apps.Pro: 4G. Ok 4G isn’t a new thing but it is to me. My last phone when tested in my house managed 5.48mb connection (10mb was the best I ever got outside). This phone tested in the same spot inside my house on the same SIM came in at 35mb! To put that in context that is only 7mb off my fibre optic speeds on a wireless connection! Also, this phone can act as a hotspot which will be handy when travellingPro: Notification LED. A lot of low end phones don’t have this and it is a great addition to the device. A simple glance at the LED tells you if you have a missed call, message, email etc.Pro: LED. This has a dual LED flash which is ample to light up a room. So very handy as a flashlight as well as for the camera.Pro/Con: Cyanogen. This phone isn’t a pure android phone it is a Cyanogen modded version of Android and this is a blessing and a curse. The good bit is that this is geek heaven with lots of security enhancements (pin scramble is nice) and enough other bits to keep geeks entertained. The bad bit is if you are not a geek this is overkill, with settings which have no explanation of what they do.Con: USB cable. The supplied USB cable is ridiculously short, making it a pain for mains plug charging. However, I have used a couple of different cables and they all worked fine.Con: Battery. The battery on this device is not a disaster as it is on its big brother the Storm. But it is also not particularly great. A daily recharge is required under normal usage. I know they had to save money somewhere but the battery wasn’t a great decision. However, it is removable so when spares become available I will get one which sort of solves the problem.Unforgivable: Manual. This device has absolutely no manual in the box or downloadable from the website. Whilst this isn’t a problem for an experienced Android user for somebody new to Android it could be a deal breaker. Also as this is Cyanogen based I feel a manual is even more necessary.Unforgivable: Plug adapter. This device doesn’t come with a mains USB adapter. Again an experienced Android user is likely to have a draw full of these but a new user may not.Unforgivable: Contacts. For some reason this phone would not read my SIM to import my contacts and it also didn’t properly sync with my google account to get my contacts. So I had to manually input 40+ contacts. This is the only moment I have had with this phone which involved a lot of swearing and frustration. But it did give me an opportunity to spring clean numbers I hadn’t used for years.Overall I am very happy with this phone. Yes there are some issues, but all phones including flagship phones have issues. This phone is not a £600+ flagship phone and it was never intended to be. This is built for a budget market to show that budget doesn’t always mean bad/gutless. In its target market there is simply nothing which can come close to this device.For the price you are getting an absolute bargain which stands out from the crowd in looks and performance.In case you have read some reviews comparing this to the Moto G 3rd gen it is worth mentioning the Moto G in the same price bracket is 8gb onboard (Swift is 16gb) the RAM is 1gb (Swift is 2gb). The Moto G doesn’t have a Gyro so Google cardboard apps will not work and the Moto G is single SIM (Swift is dual SIM both 4G). The higher spec Moto G is similar to the swift (still no gyro or dual sim) but it is also £40 - £70 more expensive depending on where you get it. From what I could see the only advantage the Moto G has is a partial waterproofing (not complete waterproofing) and a brand name.