Newcomer WileyFox Launches Two Mid-Range Smartphones With Cyanogen OS 12.1
WileyFox, a new UK-based entrant in the smartphone market, launched two new smartphones powered by Cyanogen OS.
Cyanogen seems to be in a position where it can tout a stock-like Android experience with high customization, increased privacy protection, and software development and support for OEMs that don't want to spend all of that R&D money on the OS itself.
The main partners for Cyanogen are usually new companies or local players in various countries that want to reduce costs on software development but at the same time want strong software that they know their customers will love. Cyanogen is in a unique position to help such OEMs, and at the same time it can increase its own market share in the mobile operating market in the process.
The WileyFox Swift comes with a 64-bit Snapdragon 410 chip, 5" HD IPS display protected by Gorilla Glass 3, 16 GB of storage, 2 GB of RAM, microSD support up to 32 GB, LTE, and dual-SIM support.
The 13MP rear camera comes with five lenses and dual-flash for low-light photography with more natural colors. The device also has a 5MP camera on the front for selfies. The Swift will cost only £129 ($202 USD).
The WileyFox Storm is a higher-end model with a Snapdragon 615 chip, 5.5" Full HD screen, 3 GB of RAM, 32 GB of storage with expandable memory up to 128 GB, LTE, and dual-SIM support.
The Storm also comes with a high-end 20MP Sony EXMOR IMX220 sensor (the same one we've seen in Sony's own recent high-end flagships). It also has an 8MP camera on the front, which comes with a flash for better low-light selfies. The device will cost £199 ($312 USD).
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As we mentioned above, both smartphones will run Cyanogen OS 12.1, which is based on the latest version of Lollipop, Android 5.1.1. It also comes with its own customization and improvements such as the Privacy Guard feature, which can block certain app permissions, and the theme manager, which can change much of how the OS looks in terms of colors, icons and fonts.
Both devices are expected to arrive across the EU and in the UK in the coming weeks.
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Lucian Armasu is a Contributing Writer for Tom's Hardware US. He covers software news and the issues surrounding privacy and security.
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ubercake It just looks like another Android phone. It's so hard to get excited about these things.Reply -
gangrel It's not the externals that matter, it's the internals. Snapdragon 615 with 3 gig and extensive storage, for $300...that's seriously attractive.Reply
Sounds like it'll be EU only tho. In this case, I suspect it's the fact that they're still quite small, as much as anything.