Wileyfox Swift 2X Announced, Packs a Fingerprint Sensor and Still Runs the Discontinued Cyanogen OS

0

United Kingdom-based budget smartphone maker Wileyfox has a new toy: the Wileyfox Swift 2X.

Like previous members of Wileyfox’s small device family, the Swift 2X has mid-range specifications and several improvements as well. It follows in the footsteps of its siblings the Wileyfox Swift 2 and Swift 2 Plus.

The device has an all-metal unibody design and incorporates a fingerprint scanner at the back, just below the 16-megapixel rear camera. To our surprise, though, the new device still runs on Cyanogen OS, whose official support has ended after its original maintainer closed shop. Wileyfox had promised users of its devices that it would deliver an update migrating them to its own in-house version of Android and that is also the same case with the Swift 2X. Launching with Cyanogen OS means that the device had been in the works long before Cyanogen imploded.

“In light of the recent news from Cyanogen, every Wileyfox user’s experience will remain unchanged – hooray!” Reads part of a statement posted on the company’s Facebook page after Cyanogen confirmed that it was no more on Christmas Eve and that it would be shuttering all associated services by New Year’s Eve. The community-driven CyanogenMod has since morphed into Lineage OS.

Wileyfox Swift 2X Specifications

Size and weight144×72.2×8.8mm, 155g
Display5.2-inch Full HD (1920 x 1080 pixels) IPS display with 2.5D Corning Gorilla Glass 3 protection
ProcessorOcta-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 with Adreno 505 GPU
Memory3GB RAM; 32GB internal storage (expandable via microSD up to 64GB)
Camera16MP rear with auto-focus and LED flash; 8MP front
Operating SystemCyanogen OS 13.1 based on Android 6.0.1 (Marshmallow)
Battery3,010mAh
Network3G, 4G LTE
ConnectivityUSB Type-C, Bluetooth 4.1, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n
OtherHybrid Dual SIM

The device costs £220 in the UK, the only market it is available in. We’re holding out for international availability just like Wileyfox has done with previous devices.

Previous articleCA Has Spent Kshs 600 million On A Social Media Monitoring System For The Election – Report
Next articleWindows 10 Will Get a Game Mode to Allow Games to Maximize Performance
Emmanuel writes on mobile hardware, software and platforms.