UK-based smartphones firm Kazam has unveiled its first seven Android handsets, and will begin selling them before Christmas to compete with Apple, Samsung and other manufacturers.

The smartphones are split between two ranges, Trooper and Thunder. The former focuses on five affordable low-to-mid range devices, while the latter includes two higher-end handsets.

Kazam was founded by two former HTC UK executives, Michael Coombes and James Atkins, announcing its formation in June 2013 as a new European smartphone brand without any details of its devices.

"Six months ago Kazam was founded and to be announcing our first phones today is incredible," said chief executive Coombes today. "We are small and experienced, ensuring we are quick to adapt and react to the changing needs of our local markets. There is much more to come from our exciting brand."

Both the Trooper and Thunder ranges have dual-SIM trays, removable batteries and SD memory card slots, although neither supports LTE 4G networks. The phones will all run Google's default Android software, rather than using a customised "skin" on top of it as other manufacturers have.

Kazam is making customer service a key selling point, with a year's cracked-screen replacement policy for every buyer, and a feature called Kazam Rescue that will enable its technical support teams to remotely access the devices to solve problems.

The Thunder Q4.5 includes a quad-core MT6582M processor, a Mali 400MP2 graphics processor, 1GB of RAM, a 4.5-inch 854x480-pixel touchscreen display, an eight-megapixel rear camera and two-megapixel front camera. Details of the second Thunder device, the Q5.0, are still under wraps.

The five Trooper models are named after their screen sizes: the X3.5, X4.0, X4.5, X5.0 and X5.5. The basic X3.5 model has a dual-core MT6572M processor and 512MB of RAM, a 3.5-inch 320x480 -resolution touchscreen, a two-megapixel rear camera and a 0.3-megapixel front camera.

The X4.0 has a four-inch 480x800-resolution screen while beefing up the rear camera to five megapixels, while the X4.5, X5.0 and X5.5 all include 854x480-resolution screens and five-megapixel rear cameras, but with screen sizes of 4.5, five and 5.5 inches respectively.

Kazam has not said which company is manufacturing its smartphones, nor has it given any details on distribution deals with operators or retailers.

"Today’s announcement proves that Kazam is not about gimmicks or corporate bullshit, but delivering real value, by taking a fresh approach to mobile," said chief marketing officer James Atkins.