









Wileyfox, a new UK-based smartphone company, has unveiled its first two handsets: The £199 (€249) Storm and £129 (€169) Swift. As the mid-range pricing indicates, neither the Storm or Swift are flagship-class devices, but the specs are certainly pretty good for the money. The phones, which are only available online, will go on sale in the UK and across Europe in September (Swift) and October (Storm).

Software-wise, both Wileyfox phones run Cyanogen OS 12.1, which is based on Android 5.1 Lollipop. Hardware-wise, the Storm is solidly mid-range, with an octa-core Snapdragon 615 SoC, 5.5-inch 1080p screen, 20-megapixel (Sony Exmor) rear camera, 3GB of RAM, and 32GB of storage. The Swift is a bit wimpier, with a Snapdragon 410 SoC, 5-inch 720p screen, 13-megapixel camera, 2GB of RAM, and 16GB of storage.

Both phones come unlocked, have dual SIM slots, and have band support for 4G LTE across "all European providers." There's Bluetooth 4.0 LE, but sadly only Wi-Fi up to 802.11n. The Storm has a non-removable 2500 mAh battery, which is certainly a bit on the small side for a 5.5-inch phone; the Swift battery is the same 2500 mAh, but it's removable. Both phones have a micro SD slot for expanded storage; neither phone has NFC.

Wileyfox's début phones are, in a word, rather normal.

The question is, faced with such normalcy, why should you buy a Wileyfox phone instead of, say, a OnePlus Two? Or even the new (and most excellent) Moto G? According to Wileyfox, there are two reasons: a) Cyanogen OS offers a lot of customisability, and; b) while the phones are made in China, Wileyfox will offer a customer support call centre in each regional market. The Wileyfox phones are very cheap, too: the Swift, at £129, has better specs than the low-end Moto G (~£160).

The Storm and Swift will only be available to buy online. You can pre-order today, with shipments starting at some indeterminate point in September (Swift) or October (Storm). Fortunately, there doesn't seem to be a OnePlus-style by-invitation-only system in place. There is a "colour" selector on the website, but—for now, at least—the only option for both the Storm and Swift is black.