When Google debuted its Nexus programme in 2010 the public and press were pleasantly surprised. Nexus devices offered what were, at the time, excellent specs at a less than premium price point, and Nexus phones have enjoyed considerable success.
In the intervening years, however, others have caught up with and surpassed Google in offering a capable smartphone package for less cash. The OnePlus One and Moto G, among others, have made the running, encouraging more and more manufacturers to dip their toes.
That now includes Wileyfox. A British startup headed by the former European boss of Motorola, the firm intends to disrupt the low-to-mid-end space with two well-specced offerings, the Swift and the Storm. And with the two devices costing £129 and £199 respectively, they're definitely priced to move.
But, as the likes of Motorola continue to consolidate their gains in this space, and with Huawei, among others, offering increasingly competitive packages at ever-lower price points, is there room for another player to join the game?
Design
It's no longer acceptable in 2015 to produce an ugly smartphone, no matter the cost. As with many other features that were once exclusive to the premium tier of smartphones, such as the Samsung Galaxy S6 or iPhone 6 Plus, good design is now expected to be found across the board.
The Wileyfox Swift is neither beautiful or ugly. It's the same as all other devices of its ilk – a glass slab with a rear covered in textured plastic. With its (relatively) small 5-inch screen and weight of just 135g it's a comfortable device to use.
Adopting the same line taken by Motorola, Wileyfox has added curves in palm-friendly places, and the back is a nice grippy matte plastic. The more I used the Swift, the more I liked it.
The buttons on the Wileyfox Swift are laid out in a pattern that's become the norm for many smartphones. On the right-hand side of the device are the volume rocker and the power button, both of which feel slightly mushy.
On the bottom there's a micro USB port for charging and connecting to a PC via the provided tangle-free cable. The bottom is also home to dual speaker grilles, of which only the right-hand one actually contains a driver. At the top is the 3.5mm headphone jack.
The rear of the device is home to the 'style' elements of the design: a subtle, burnished WileyFox insignia; a small sunken Wileyfox logo; and a 13MP camera ringed with bronze-effect plastic, along with the dual LED flash.
Above the 5-inch 720p screen are the call speaker and the 5MP selfie cam.
All in all, the Swift makes a middling first impression. Lacking the immediate visual flair of a phone like the HTC One M9, 'premium' was almost certainly not a word that figured in the design brief.
Screen
A smartphone lives and dies by its display – and the panel on the Wileyfox Swift is rather nice. The screen is protected by a sheet of Gorilla Glass 3, making it more resistant to breaking and scratching than the average screen.
More importantly, it means the screen has an oleophobic coating, which isn't something that can be said of every device in this price bracket. This makes day to day use of the device a pleasantly tactile experience, and is good news for fans of gesture typing.
With a resolution of 720p, and at five inches across, the Swift has a pixel density of 294ppi. Though this doesn't quite get into Retina territory, in everyday use the screen is excellent.
Whether as a result of text smoothing or other fancy software tricks, reading on the device is as easy, and as pleasurable, as watching media, which is high praise indeed.
As it's an IPS panel, viewing angles are excellent, as is colour accuracy. The Swift runs Cyanogen (of which more in a moment), so the colour temperature of the panel, and other settings, can be tweaked.
The brightness and contrast of the LCD display can lack the 'pop' of an AMOLED panel, but the display on the Swift is perfectly adequate in both regards.
It's pretty hard to find a 'bad' smartphone display these days, even at the budget end of the market; even so, the Swift's screen does it credit.
Samsung GALAXY J1 Ace Review The smartphone smartphone company Samsung has finally decided to decided to make entry level smartphone for average mobile users who can not afford high end smartphones, so this time Samsung unveils an entry level smartphone named Samsung Galaxy J1 Ace is equipped with quality hardware and mesmerizing experience of super AMOLED display. Samsung Galaxy J1 Ace review consists detailed which you need to know about the smartphone that you are going to get in hands. Samsung Galaxy J1 Ace is packed with efficient 1.3 GHz Dual core processor, mesmerizing 4.3″ super AMOLED display gives next level experience of touch, 512 MB efficient RAM is ready for accommodating your running apps. Further more Samsung Galaxy J1 Ace is furnished with best 5 MP Auto focus...
Samsung GALAXY A3 2016 Review Samsung, the giant of smartphone world brings another sensational and sluggish Samsung Galaxy A3 (2016). Its 2016, smartphone is getting more popularity in Pakistan. And old user want something different and cutting edge features from a smartphone with in low budget, Samsung brings the mid-level smartphone with average specifications and will be available at affordable price in Pakistan. Today we have set to review the Samsung Galaxy A3 (2016) the sequel of Samsung Galaxy A3 for our valuable readers and smartphone lovers. Samsung Galaxy A3 (2016) is mesmerized with Samsung’s Quad core processor at clock speed of 1.5 GHz incorporated with 1.5 GB of RAM and managed Latest and efficient Android Lollipop 5.1. The front side is gifted with Super AMOLED display protected by Coring Gorilla G...
New trademarks point to an iris scanning Samsung Galaxy Note 6 By James Rogerson 2 days ago Mobile phones Scanning eyes since 2016 One of the more outlandish Samsung Galaxy Note 6 rumors is gaining steam, as it looks like the phone might pack an iris scanner. The possibility of eye scanning tech was first brought up in April, when it was discovered that Samsung had been importing "iris camera" modules for research and development, but now a new trademark application suggests that whatever Samsung is using them for could be near completion. إعلان inRead invented by Teads GalaxyClub.nl spotted that Samsung recently filed to trademark "Samsung Iris" and "Samsung Eyeprint" in the EU and there's really only one thing those terms are likely referring to. Hint: it's not the flower. Might not make the Note 6 So we can say quite confidently that Samsung is working on an ir...
تعليقات
إرسال تعليق