VERDICT
A stunning design joins an impressive array of specs and pleasing user experience to make this a phone that not only tops most within its price bracket, but many more expensive handsets too.
PROS:
- Brilliant design,Excellent value for money,Sharp, bright screen
CONS:
- Average battery life,Camera lacks HDR mode,Overly bright notification LED
Things didn’t work out that way though. Instead, it’s consistently impressed with a range of affordable phones that pack specs and designs well above their entry-level asking prices.
Now there’s a new flagship device in this wallet-friendly phone lineup: the Wileyfox Swift 2 X .
Building on the foundations of its superb sub-£200 sibling, the Wileyfox Swift 2 Plus, it’s a phone that’s made small but significant improvements to go head-to-head with the likes of the Lenovo P2 , Moto G4 Plus and Honor 6X for the affordable phone crown.
Wileyfox Swift 2 X price
Available in the UK now with a £219.99 asking price, the Swift 2 X doesn’t look or feel cheap. Instead it pairs a solid specs sheet with a body that wouldn’t look out of place on a device twice the price.
Is that enough to give it the edge over more established names such as Honor and Motorola though?
Brilliant balance for a basic price
- A fingerprint scanner that works well
- Plenty of storage and a strong all-round spec list
Compromise isn’t a word you’d associate with the Wileyfox Swift 2 X; on the contrary, this is a smartphone that’s more than the sum of its parts.
Rather than being based on a single hook or defined by a sole, standout feature or even its affordable price tag, the Swift 2 X merges together a collection of impressive components to create a phone that feels well-rounded and perfectly balanced.
With 3GB of RAM and a Snapdragon 430 chipset, there’s power to get the job done without being over the top. The 5.2-inch screen is big and bright without making the phone cumbersome, and the 16MP camera, for the price, is hard to fault.
This is a phone that feels better thought-out than many affordable devices. From its design to its Cyanogen-skinned take on Android , it’s got a sense of class and sophistication usually missing at this end of the price spectrum.
It’s got some features that, although available on some entry-level devices aren’t exactly standard-issue, namely integrated NFC, which makes Android Pay a possibility, and an inbuilt fingerprint scanner.
Due to the absence of a physical home button the scanner is located on the rear of the device, just beneath the camera lens. It’s a now-familiar location that works well and is always within easy reach – though it does mean picking the phone up if it’s sat face-up on a surface.
Again showing a bit of thought over most entry-level phones, this isn’t a flaky, temperamental addition, shoehorned in simply as a mark in a check box either. The Swift 2 X’s scanner is pleasingly fast and responsive. We experienced minimal misreads, with even brief waves of the fingertip registering.
As an all-rounder, the Wileyfox Swift 2 X is a phone that shows consideration. The 32GB of integrated storage is double what the Moto G4 Plus offers, and on par with base-level flagship Android handsets. It’s not the cap, either, with microSD support up to 64GB also included.
Design and display
- Vibrant 1080p display
- Sleek aluminium body that’s both attractive and strong
On looks alone, this is a phone that you’d expect to be running with Apple and Samsung. It’s not as easy on the eye as either the iPhone 7 or Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge – far from it – but next to flagship devices such as the LG G5 or Sony Xperia XZ it comfortably holds its own. The difference is that it costs just a third of the price.
Overall, the Wileyfox Swift 2 X looks and feels fantastic, and not just for a phone available for around the £200 mark. Irrespective of price, it’s a well-designed, well-manufactured handset.
The poorly pieced-together plastic you’d expect around this price point is gone. In its place you’ve got a smooth, metal frame that’s comfortable to hold and will have your friends looking on with envy.
A subtle curve to the rear of the phone helps it sit snugly in your palm, while textured indents on the physical buttons – a sleep switch and volume toggle are located on the phone’s right edge – offer a bit of tactile grip, making them easy to locate without looking.
Although the tapered edges and metal build give the phone an HTC 10 sort of look, there’s a slight discolouring between the phone’s back panel and its top and bottom plastic edges that will split opinion. A minor aesthetics issue, the Swift 2 X styles out this shortcoming, with each section having been slotted together perfectly with no rough edges or gaping cracks.
At a reassuring 8.8mm thick, it’s fatter than the 8.2mm Honor 6X, but notably slimmer than the 9.8mm Moto G4 Plus. It holds its size well too.
Unlike its closest rivals, Wileyfox hasn’t tried to go too big with the Swift 2 X, dodging the trend for 5.5-inch phones and sticking with a 5.2-inch panel that feels sizeable and immersive without dominating your hand.
Yes, it’s bigger than the 5-inch Swift 2 Plus, but it’s also sharper. Its sibling’s 720p HD panel – one of the phone’s few stumbling blocks – has been ditched. In its place is a 1080 x 1920 offering that really pops.
Colours are bright and vibrant, and the screen has a general warmth without being overblown.
Video playback is smooth and there’s a pleasing depth to tones, while text is crisp and sharp. It’s not the best screen we’ve ever come across, but it’s a solid, well-rounded display that's a marked improvement on the company’s past phones.
With a 424 pixels per inch image density, it’s actually marginally sharper than either the G4 Plus (401ppi) or Honor 6X (403ppi), although you’ll be hard-pushed to spot the difference. There’s no visible recession to the screen either, with in-cell technology putting the screen and toughened Gorilla Glass 3 in one to give it added punch.
Screen brightness, usually a sacrificial lamb for affordable phones, is on point too.
The phone’s screen is visibly the focus, with no physical buttons cluttering the device’s front. Instead its clean design utilises Android’s typical back, home and menu soft keys for navigation.
A USB Type-C connection on the bottom handles charging and file-transfer duties. Bucking the current trend higher up the pay scale, the Swift 2 X has also retained its traditional 3.5mm headphone port for those who don’t mind cables while enjoying audio on the move. Unusually though, here's it's on the top of the phone rather than the bottom.
If there’s one bad thing to say about the phone’s finish, it’s the LED notification light. It might sound small, but the light’s impact is big. Overly bright and offensive, it’s a room-lighting annoyance that’s an unnecessary oversight on an otherwise stunning handset.
Interface and reliability
- Android 6.0.1 with Cyanogen UI
- Solid customisation options
- Will be updated to Android Nougat
The Wileyfox Swift 2 X isn’t the most up to date phone when it comes to software. Despite Android Nougat having been available for months, it runs Android 6.0.1 out of the box, skinned with Cyanogen.
It’s an elegant offering, but one that’s come on little over the past year. It’s also not going to be around for long.
The Swift 2 X won’t always run this appealing skin because Cyanogen is no more. Between the Swift 2 X being finalised and making its way to retail shelves, Cyanogen has confirmed it’s to close its doors, leaving OEMs like Wileyfox with serious decisions to be made on the future of its phones.
Fortunately, Wileyfox has acted swiftly and confirmed that it will upgrade the Swift 2 X, and its other phones to Android 7.0 moving forward. An exact timeframe has yet to be confirmed.
What you’ve got right now, however, is clean and accessible. There are plenty of customisation options for those who want them, and for those happy to take the phone out of the box and stick with what it offers, this Cyanogen skin lacks unwanted clutter.
Delve beneath the surface and you can tinker with the size, layout and appearance of apps to give your phone a unique, personal look. There are also a number of themes you can download in order to give the phone further personal appeal.
Despite all these options, this is a relatively lightweight skin. You can still see the influence of stock Android shining through and that’s a key benefit.
It keeps the phone running smoothly and fluidly. There are no stutters and starts, just a pleasingly seamless user experience that further helps the Swift 2 X feel like a phone far more advanced than its asking price would suggest.
It’s a skin that stands out amongst entry-level fudge jobs that force limited phones to further struggle.
Almost as clean and crisp as the stock Android running Moto G4 Plus , the Swift 2 X features an app drawer, accessed by clicking the Wileyfox logo. This gives it an edge over the Honor 6X , which lacks one.
Despite its largely appealing style, there are still elements that irk, most notably the dedicated Bing search app that’s on the app launcher bar. Fortunately if you don’t want it, you can kill it pretty quickly.
Movies, music and gaming
- 5.2-inch Full HD display makes for pleasant viewing
- Decent audio, but that second speaker’s a scam
- 3.5mm headphone jack remains
As much as we’ve sung the praises of the Wileyfox Swift 2 X so far, this is still a phone at the lower end of the price arc, and as such reduced performance has to be expected somewhere.
But although true flagship phones will leave it in their wake when it comes to gaming, at its price, the Swift 2 X is hard to fault when it comes to entertainment.
Having made the jump to a 5.2-inch, 1080p display, the phone’s screen is sharp and bright enough to offer impressive video playback and streaming options in a form that’s immersive and engaging without being too big to hold or slot in your pocket.
Although the phone’s design suggests there are stereo speakers on the base, those dual speaker grilles are a con. Just one - the right-side grille - hides a speaker. The one on the left is there purely to create a balanced look.
Audio output is solid without ever being enough to get you to ditch your Bluetooth speaker or favourite headphones. Wileyfox claims the phone is capable of pumping out audio up to 90db. You’re not going to want to though. Crank the volume up towards its upper limits and things start to get a bit crackly and a distinct, tinny hollowness creeps in.
At standard levels though, the sound is adequate for movies and gaming. The phone’s Snapdragon 430 chipset doesn't crumble under the pressure of a gaming session, either.
Casual games such as Hill Climb Racing 2 are knocked out of the park. Gaming is fluid, load times minimal and visuals on point. Even more demanding games such as Asphalt 8: Airborne are tackled comfortably by the phone.
The lag and skipping you’d usually expect on an entry-level device are nowhere to be found. Things can take a bit of time to spring into action, but once you’re racing, you’re free to enjoy an uninhibited experience.
Benchmarks and performance
- Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 chipset paired with 3GB of RAM
- Geekbench scores don’t inspire but real world use satisfies
In terms of performance, the Wileyfox Swift 2 X is hard to fault. Its Snapdragon 430 chip is partnered with 3GB of RAM to deliver a pleasingly smooth experience.
It’s not overly fast – when switching between apps in the multitasking menu the phone’s more of a stroller than a sprinter - but neither did it trip up once during our testing. At times, there was a moment’s hesitation before apps sprung into life, but this was very minor, and only noticeable compared with true flagship phones.
The lightweight UI is a major contributing factor to this smooth, fluid experience, with no overblown skin causing the phone to run slowly or over tax Qualcomm’s entry-level chipset.
The phone’s Geekbench 4 benchmark results aren’t going to turn too many heads, but for a phone floating around the £200 mark, they’re bang on the money. An average multicore score of 2016 is pretty low, especially when the Honor 6X racked up a score of 3275.
In real world tests, however, the Swift 2 X didn’t struggle performing day to day tasks or more demanding jobs such as a bit of 3D gaming.
Battery life
- A day per charge, unless you’re a gamer
- Fast charging capabilities
Wileyfox’s batteries grew from its first to second-generation devices, and now theSwift 2 Plus ’s battery has been overshadowed by that of the Swift 2 X. The former’s 2700mAh battery is gone, in its place is a 3010mAh offering.
Although notably bigger, this battery doesn’t offer much in the way of improved battery life. With a larger, brighter, higher resolution display to power, the Wileyfox Swift 2 X’s battery is still one of the phone's more modest additions.
It’s not a disappointing addition, but neither does it really impress either. Nightly charges are a must for all but the lightest of users, and if you hammer the phone early, you’ll be needing a top up for your journey home.
Unplugging the phone by 7am, we found the low battery alerts were kicking in late in the evening as we lounged on the sofa watching a few YouTube videos. That’s with a day of internet browsing, photo taking and social media procrastination, with a bit of casual gaming thrown in.
Hit the games, and the battery quickly tumbles. Just 25 minutes of Hill Climb Racing 2 took 11% of our charge, meaning that morning commute could have dire consequences on the rest of your day’s phone usage.
The Wileyfox Swift 2 X’s battery life isn’t terrible, but it’s far from the phones defining feature. Compared with the Moto G4 Plus and Honor 6X , the competition has the edge, but not by a huge margin. Whichever boundary-pushing value phone you go for, you’re going to be connecting it to the mains most, if not every night.
Running the standard TechRadar battery test, which involves playing a 90 minute 720p looping video with the brightness cranked to the max, we lost 27% of a full charge.
By comparison, the Moto G4 Plus used just 17% of its power during the same task and the Honor 6X just 15% of its charge.
When you do eventually need to charge, you shouldn’t be waiting around too long. Quick Charge 3 skills mean things are relatively rapid.
25% charge can be added in 15 minutes and 75% in 55 minutes, but we found a full 0-100% charge still took over an hour and a half.
Camera
- 16MP primary camera joins 8MP selfie shooter
- Dynamic range lacks slightly, but overall image quality is strong
- Basic manual photography options
Expectations on smartphone cameras continue to rise. Gone are the days where you’d make do with a mediocre camera just because a phone was cheap, we now demand something more, at all price points. Fortunately, the Wileyfox Swift 2 X features a decent set of snappers.
A primary 16MP camera with an f/2.0 aperture and Samsung 3P3 sensor is joined by an 8MP front-facing camera that itself benefits from Samsung’s ISOCELL technology and offers sub-1 second focus times.
We’ve said it a lot, but for the price, the Swift 2 X excels. It’s still got faults, but compared with most affordable phones, it’s pushing things to new levels.
In bright, natural light, the phone’s primary camera is capable of genuinely impressive shots. Photos that balance areas of light and shade are possible, with decent levels of depth and detail captured.
In ideal conditions, colours are strong, but there’s not the same level of dynamic range you’d get from a phone floating around the £400 mark.
It’s not just the overall result that impresses. Focussing is swift and sharp, with the shutter button capturing almost instant results. For those who like to tweak their images, although the auto mode delivers impressive results, basic manual controls such as white balance are available, though an HDR mode is notably absent.
As you might expect, when the lights drop, so does the image quality. Not worryingly so though. In areas of low light and in indoor shooting situations, noise creeps in and areas of shade start to become a bit murky and lacking definition.
Artificial lighting takes on a yellowed tinge and some of the sharpness seen before starts to diminish.
When the lights are fully down and you’re shooting cityscapes in the hours of darkness, the phone’s camera starts to struggle a bit more. Noise levels quickly rise and areas of light can become blocky and blurred.
Importantly though, the Swift 2 X continues to exceed expectations at its price point. No, low light photos might not be perfect, but they’re better than most in a similar bracket and compared with the Moto G4 Plus take a slight edge.
Around front, the 8MP forward-facing camera is equally above what you’d expect from a £200 phone, without troubling the market leaders.
Photos are a little on the flat side and struggle in anything but bright light, but results are more than good enough for sharing socially.
Camera samples
Verdict
The Wileyfox Swift 2 X is the company’s most accomplished phone yet, and one that’s hard to beat without dropping significantly more money.
Battery niggles aside, it’s a well-rounded, perfectly balanced phone that will stand up to your day to day requirements while also ticking your on-the-move entertainment needs.
It’s not just what’s under the hood that impresses though. The Swift 2 X’s aluminium body could comfortably sit on a phone twice the price, and having jumped to a 1080p display, the Swift 2 X’s screen now backs up what its design and spec promise - an accomplished all-rounder that’s unbelievably good value for money.
It’s a shame that the Cyanogen UI is on its way out. If Wileyfox can work its design magic as well inside as out, however, there shouldn’t be anything to worry about.
Who's this for?
The Wileyfox Swift 2 X is for those who covet the seamless, well balanced simplicity and performance of a high-end flagship phone without the wallet-crushing costs.
It’s a phone for the smartphone savvy, those who know exactly what they want and are aware of a brilliant value offering when they see it.
Should you buy it?
If you’ve only got £220 to hand and are in need of a new phone, the Wileyfox Swift 2 X is definitely worth your thought. It’s a balanced all-rounder that doesn’t achieve greatness in one way, but merges its components together into a phone that’s hard to top.
Like its closest rivals, the Moto G4 Plus , Lenovo P2 and Honor 6X , it’s not faultless, with the trio all falling down in different areas. For the Swift 2 X, that’s battery life which is distinctly average at best. It’s got a nicer build than the Moto and better software than the Honor, however.
Whether you’re after a new phone, or need a replacement for your damaged or lost flagship Android handset, the Wileyfox Swift 2 X would make a suitable choice. As long as you don’t mind nightly trips to the power supply.
Although the Wileyfox Swift 2 X offers a lot for the money, it does have some competitors, with the following two phones being key among them.
Moto G4 Plus
One of our favourite affordable phones available right now, the Moto G4 Plus ticks all the right boxes, with a great design and stunning 5.5-inch Full HD display being paired with a simply amazing sub-£200 price tag.
It’s cheaper than the Wileyfox Swift 2 X, and has a better battery life, but isn’t quite the design star that the UK-made phone is.
- Read our full Moto G4 Plus review
Honor 6X
A slick metal build and beautiful 5.5-inch Full HD display make the Honor 6X perhaps the Swift 2 X’s closest competitor.
With a similar price and similar spec, the Honor’s better battery life and innovative dual-lens camera could give it the edge for certain users. Its Emotion UI skinned software’s not as clean or slick though.
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