Wileyfox Swift 2 16 GB with 2 GB RAM 5.0 Inch HD (Dual SIM 4G) SIM-Free Smartphone Android Oreo 8.1 - Midnight

A well made good looking phone and more importantly the frequent updates means it's being actively supported and improved unlike the myriad of Chinese branded mobile phones available. It's fast, battery life is fine, camera won't win any awards but is clear and comes with plenty of features. Oh and this usually isn't mentioned when reviewing a phone these days, but the call quality is excellent. Nice clear audio. All in all, an excellent phone for a very good price.

I bought a Wiley Fox Swift 2 during a promotional period for a very attractive price of circa £110.00 SIM free. It was bought to replace a 2103 Moto G which was getting a bit worn out and suffering from a lack of storage space. I'm not a techy person and reading reviews that talk about response times in subdivisions of seconds leaves me cold.I don't see that much difference between this phone and my old Moto G. The photos are maybe a bit better but still nowhere near the quality of my compact camera or my wife's iPhone6. The case of the phone is now badly marked from the keys in the pocket where I keep my phone - I stupidly thought that the "hand feel" of a smooth metal case would be spoiled by a silicon cover, but instead I've got a well used looking phone after only three months.I've had no problems with app storage so far and the phone is maybe a bit more responsive than my last one. The new Android upgrade works fine and was easy to install.Overall this phone is like a Kia or Hyundai car. As well equipped as a better model, cheaper, but perhaps not as fulfilling.

Great little phone for what it is, but there are some things that could be improved. [Picked this phone up for £110, which may, or may not, push me towards a somewhat more favourable review]A little background first, normally, I'm one for the big high-end flagships, but an unfortunate accident at work meant that my previous phone had basically become a brick, and the cost to replace the screen was just as much as this phone, the biggest reason that I was pushed towards a new phone is size. I wanted something smaller, something more manageable in one hand, something that isn't going to jump to it's death from any pockets, and I thought that in the long run, this could potentially save me money, after all, a smaller phone is harder to drop.The Good :-The presentation... I mean... I don't have much to say other than wow. It's not out of this world, but the presentation is just well beyond any other phone I've purchased.-The design (for the most part), it's just a great, solid feeling design, it doesn't feel like a budget smartphone. Though there are some things that I'd change, more on that later.-Value for money, there's a wide range of features here, a lot of price.-The display. Sure, it's not your usual 1080p, it's not standing up to Sony's 4k offerings, but it does that job. It looks perfectly fine to me, it may only be a 720p display, but it is a quality display.-Screen protector. Out the box the phone is fitted with a screen protector, all you need to do is peel off its top layer and the application is done.-Notification light. This might seem like a strange thing to be like hey, check this out but the notification light on here is very noticeable. You may want to silence a few apps/games, but once that's down, you're golden.-Night mode. I'm not sure if this some of Wileyfox's malarkey for the flavour of Android they're using, but it has it, and it's great for those who can't get off their phones at night...-Expandable storage. Speaks for itself, however, I have a rant at the end of this review relating to this.The So-So-Fingerprint scanner placement. I do have to say that after using the rear-facing scanner, I prefer it over the side scanner used by Sony, but the problem here is with one of the small parts of the design I dislike. It's just too close to the camera. I'd much rather see the camera lens up in one of the corners.-Device performance. Right out the gate, I'm going to say this. This device performs pretty damn well considering the price. You probably won't find much that'd outgun it in this aspect. That's why I'm mentioning this as a so-so point. It performs, but I can't help but notice that in some games, there are very noticeable frame drops. If you're just a casual gamer with your Candy Crush and whatnot, you should be perfectly fine with this. If you're playing something that's a bit more taxing on the chips? Eh... I'd definitely like to see a flagship variant from Wileyfox with flagship specs.-Battery life. Again, much like performance, it's not that it's bad. However, considering the specs of this device? My phones generally spent a lot of time idling, they'll see some internet use and a bit of gaming, as well as the screen being turned on numerous times to check the time at work. I mean, for a device like this with such low specs, I was expecting a bit more if I'm honest. It'll get you by with ease, a day should be no issue at all, hell, if, like me, you don't spend hours upon hours on your phone, you'd manage a few days with ease. But I can't really help but notice that as far as battery life goes, I mean, I'd say it's trading blows with my old Xperia Z5 Premium, using a bit less when gaming (understandable given the difference in specs). Again, that's by no means bad, but I was expecting a lot more from it. When you're running low specs like this, you sort of expect to be pulling well ahead of the flagship phones in terms of battery life.-USB C. A lot of people will like this addition. To me it just seems a bit... Eh... Everything else that I need to charge uses a Micro USB, so every time I need to charge it, I have to start faffing around with this cable. It's great that we're embracing new standards, but it's a bit of a slap in the face when it comes to convenience unless you've got a wall adaptor/USB port you can spare for the cable.The 'bad'-Camera - If a scene isn't well lit, it'll struggle. Low light performance... Most smartphone companies can't get this down. The same can be said here, low light performance isn't great.-The power button. It's just way too spongy, it doesn't feel solid at all and I often find myself double-pressing or pressing and holding because I didn't even know that I pressed it in the first place, same can be said of the volume rockers, albeit less of an issue since they're not used as frequently as the power button.- Only 16GB of storageNow for what I consider the worse part about the phone, and in fact, it's more of a dig at Wileyfox than the phone itself. The phone is sold with 16GB of storage, and dual sim capability, however, if you choose to use dual sims, you can't expand your storage space. I'd be willing to overlook this if it had 64GB of onboard storage, however, 16GB is just barely manageable, and with apps, music and photos, you're more than likely going to be hitting that storage wall. To me, the whole dual sim thing for this phone is more of a marketing gimmick than an actual feature, since it's very likely that you'll need to use a Micro SD card to expand your storage.To sum this all up...It's a great looking, and feeling device with plenty of features in a very affordable, well-presented package. Battery life is good, although not as good as I'd expect from a device with these kinds of specs, and performance is great, although you will have issues with more demanding games. The dual sim capability is also more of a gimmick than a feature, with such little storage, expandable storage is pretty much a must, therefore you lose your second sim slot.EDIT - 21/04/19It has been a little over a year after my purchase, do I still think of it the way I did back then? Yes. It's still a great phone and I haven't had any problems with it so far. However, one thing I have come to notice is that the paint has been rubbing off of the device, it's purely aesthetic but does create a bit of a sore sight. One thing I have come to notice is that wireless connectivity really does a number on the battery. Location services is surprisingly low drain compared to previous phones I've had, but leaving wi-fi or your data on can really eat away at the battery.Would I still recommend it? Ultimately, I think it really depends on what you're willing to buy. As far as brand new phones go? Certainly, assuming you can't bring yourself to pay a bit of extra money for an older flagship phone. If you're willing to consider refurbished phones (which are essentially as good as new), it's a hard sell. At the time of writing this, the asking price is anywhere from £120-135. Also, at the time of writing this, I can buy a refurbished Sony Xperia Z1 for £130, similar price yet superior in almost every way. Make no mistake, this phone is still punching well above it's asking price but I wouldn't write off old flagship phones either, particularly those like the Sony Xperia Z1 which, in my experience, have a significantly better battery life than many phones out there.

My Wileyfox Swift 2 was a replacement for a faulty Swift 1, and is definitely a step up. The size is ideal, the finishing is very nice, and the button placement is convenient. Unlike the Swift 1, you can't remove the rear as it's a solid metal back, but this shouldn't be much of a problem since it's rare anybody needs access to the battery. The fingerprint scanner is a great time-saving feature, and a welcome addition.Wileyfox Swift 2 now uses the Android Nougat OS, and everything functions seamlessly in my experience. There are some handy holdovers from the times of Cyanogen - I'm a particular fan of Privacy Guard, which allows you to block certain apps from accessing personal data. Slight downside is TrueCaller now being the default phone app, but you're able to disable it and use a different app if you'd prefer.The battery can last two days with light use, especially when used with a battery saving app and tweaking some settings. The 13MP camera should be good enough for most people, as should the 8MB front facing camera - both seem to focus quickly and there are a lot of functions to play around with (size, quality, shutter speed, iso, exposure etc.). Video is decent as well. The 720p screen 294ppi is fine for me - yes you can just about make out pixels if you squint and hold it up to your face, but personally I don't care all that much; most games and videos look good on it, and a mobile will never be a replacement for a 40" TV or cinema screen anyway. The 2GB of RAM and 1.4GHz octa-core processor seems to handle most current apps easily, and is also an improvement on the Swift 1.Overall I'm very happy.P.S. Make sure you buy from a reputable retailer. Having bought the original Swift on Amazon from a third-party ('Expansys') I wasn't impressed at all by the service. So check the reputation of who you're buying from, since the cheapest doesn't always mean the best.P.P.S. Amazon combines the reviews for all versions of the Swift unfortunately, which isn't helpful at all. Make sure to read what version of Swift a review is for, as different versions offer different advantages/disadvantages/value-for-money etc. Again, mine is for the standard Swift 2.