Wileyfox opinions?

[pctech]

I decided to replace my Samsung Ace 3 with a J3 2016.

Ordered the device from Samsung and to my immense disappointment I found they've opted for a combined SIM and micr SD card mount.

Popped in the SIM and my Micro SD card which didn't seem particularly positive (the Ace 3 has a side mounted slot and the card clicks in)

Charged the phone and took it to work with me, picked it up from the front pocket of my work bag at lunchtime and 'woke' it to find a warning about unmounting the micro SD card before removing it which of course I hadn't.

Powered down the phone, took off the cover, removed the battery, removed and reseated card and rebooted and returned it to my bag.

Checked again later when I got home and same message so it's now going back which is annoying as I like Samsung phones.

Looking at the Wileyfox range, anyone here had one/got one and care to share opinions or offer suggestions of a phone to look at?

[Glenn]

My niece has a Swift and is very happy with it, the Storm is the faster model, both are dual sim phones, so if you have work phone, pop the sim in and you only need to carry the one device. Where I worked earlier in the year used both models and everyone seemed to be happy with them.

I haven't seen the Spark some opinions here http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=1579848

[Simon]

Can't say I've w we heard of Wileyfox phones. 

[Glenn]

https://www.wileyfox.com/

[pctech]

My other thoughts on this were that it was designed with Cyanogen so it's likely to be kept up dated for longer whereas Samsung seem to abandon all but their flagships pretty quickly.

[pctech]

I've ordered a spark, 5 inch is about as large as a I want to go.

[Simon]

Looks interesting.  I always wonder what the catch is, though, with seemingly much cheaper devices.

[mervl]

Only other thing I can think of is that Cyanogen is presumably rooted, so Sky, Banking sites, Android Pay some m-ticket sites etc. probably won't work (at least they don't on my rooted phones running Cyanogen). An Xposed module used to get round this but doesn't work with MM, Android 6, or presumably the emerging 7 either.

I like Cyanogen with less bloatware than the usual manufacturer incarnations of Android. Gives me more choice to make my phone how I want it. But perhaps you have to take more responsibility for your own security. I like that. (If you're into eternally updating CyanogenMod do updates every month (first week usually) with the latest security updates, and "updates" for many phones (minor tweaks, are sometimes every couple of days, not that you'd notice any difference, usually - and they publish lists of the modded lines of code for the real geeks who have nothing else to do). For updates it's vital to get the right one for the right phone, otherwise you're properly messed up. Updating isn't necessary.

XDA forums if you haven't discovered it yet is the place to go (with useful phone apps). They have threads dedicated to most android phones (and some others) with posters who really know what they're doing (and a lot more that don't). It isn't hard to tell the difference. But overall I've always found it incredibly helpful, and one of the best resources on the web.

As to hardware virtually all of it comes from China, often made in the same factories. Whatever the EU price or branding. But branding gives a lot of people comfort, I know, and that's absolutely fine. Of course that's what the companies want us to think too!

[Glenn]

I get notified if there is a CyanogenMod update for my OnePlus One. There is no problem running First Directs app on the phone, but I did find Three in Touch will not run last time I tried it.

[pctech]

I ended up returning the Spark as even up loud I couldn't hear the message or ringtones in the moderately loud office I've been working in and the storage seemed to be much slower than the CPU.

Swapped it for the Swift which was much quicker but same issue with the ring/message volume.

I've gone back to a J3 and will replace the card with a Samsung one which is presumably thicker.

[Simon]

You get what you pay for?