Can Wileyfox strike again after last years model that captured the imaginations of customers and industry experts with the Swift smartphone, released in last year.
This year Wileyfox are looking to shake things up again with the Wileyfox Spark £89.99.
It should be clear that this isn’t a replacement for the Swift instead it’s a new entry level phone.
Specs
The Spark specs are as follows:
5-inch IPS screen
1280×720 resolution
135g
Android 6.0 Marshmallow with Cyanogen OS 13
Mediatek MT6735 processor
1GB RAM
8GB storage
microSD (up to 32GB)
Dual 8MP cameras
2200mAh
Cyanogen OS
The Wileyfox continues to place faith in the CyangoenOS system to power their phones.
With the newest CyanogenOS 13.1 is based on Android 6.0 Marshmallow and includes a number of Android’s newest key features such as advanced power management, merging external storage and permissions structure. CyanogenOS differs from stock Android by not limiting access to certain aspects of the operating system and also allowing for high levels of customisation.
Themes & Customisation
By using the Cyanogen Theme engine, you can quickly change the look and feel of the phone. You can also customise certain aspects of each Theme.
Hundreds of themes are available to download in the Cyanogen gallery – some paid for and some free with more added every week. Theme Chooser lets you mix and match parts of any theme you have downloaded to make a hybrid.
Cyanogen OS even allows you to change the interaction with the device. You can change the response to actions such as Long Press, Tap or Double Tap and create your own shortcuts from gestures inputted on the lockscreen.
Performance
Screen
The Wileyfox Spark screen has a large 5.0 inch HD IPS LCD screen 720p (294 pixels per inch).
With a display like you find on the Motorola Moto G3 phones from last year, but the Wileyfox Spark seems to suffer from a slightly undersaturated colours on the display at times, but a the Spark runs from on Cyanogen software you can change the colour composition using the RGB sliders, so you tweak the colours to your likely.
Camera
The Wileyfox Spark uses two 8MP camera sensors, one for the front and one for the back. With nearly zero shutter lag from the phone, this a good for the phone. With a rumoured OmniVision OV8865, with a 1/3.2-inch sensor whose size results in sensor pixels with a respectable 1.4 microns.
With the Cyanogen’s camera controls, you can control burst mode, also exposure time and compensation, with white balance and more.
Sound
With a single driver in the back and fires out of a small grille under the logo, the sound from it is thin, tinny and not very loud at all.
Battery Life
With a 2,200mAh battery, you can get a full day’s use between charges without using any restrictive battery-saving modes.
Please don’t play to much games on the Spark, as about 25/30 minutes of playing Asphalt 8 took 20% off the battery, so you not going to get much gaming and normal phone use out of it.
Verdict
For the price of nearly £90 you get better phones but having Cyanogen on a device does help, like I said earlier this years first model is a Moto E style, will 8 gigs of storage and 1Gb of ram, but I found it a little to slow for me as a daily device so a first time smartphone user then it will be better for them.
