Yesterday I read with interest of Wileyfox - a brand new mobile handset producer from the UK.
I am tired of hearing about the OnePlusTwoPlusOne, or whatever version the world is hankering after this week due to their invitation-only retail outlet.
The influx of Chinese and Far Eastern Samsung-alikes is bewildering, and let's look at this honestly - you're buying a "similarly" specced phablet from a dodgy retailer in the Far East.
It won't be quite as good as the Samsung Galaxy Note 4, but it'll be a third of the price (or less). It will come with problems and compromises, but hey! It will be cheap.
Or, you could go even cheaper and buy a really naff Chinese mobile in the hope that you'll get used to its foibles, but you won't - It will go wrong, but more likely you'll go back to your old phone because it didn't really live up to your expectations. But hey, It was cheap.
I've long had admiration for Kazam, another British phone maker who make a range of Android phones that they retail themselves through their website and outlets such as Argos.
Kazam's phones are tough, come with free screen replacements, have dedicated support and are dual sim, but most run Android KitKat, with no sign of an update in the pipeline.
So why am I so excited about Wileyfox?
British used to mean quality, but successive Governments have somehow managed to kill off our manufacturing industries, leaving people with the preconception that British means shoddily put together and badly designed.
This isn't necessarily true, but I've had my fair share of poor quality British items over the years. And they are not always cheap.
Wileyfox is British, and their newly-announced handsets sound absolutely great.
There will be two to choose from; the higher-specced Wileyfox Storm, and the Wileyfox Swift. Both run Cyanogen OS - so no worries about any outdated versions of Android here.
Consumer-wise, I'm not sure how the public will take to Cyanogen. If you wanted this very effective and highly customisable operating system, you usually had to root your phone and invalidate its warranty, so to see Cyanogen appearing on more phones is interesting and good in equal measure.
The Register has a very concise article about the Storm and the Swift here.
There are three things which appeal to me massively:
1) The specifications of both phones is truly excellent.
2) The price of both phones is truly excellent.
3) They are British, so you stand a fairer chance of these mobiles actually being good, rather than a cheap compromise from the Far East.
I love a good buy, and whilst both phones sit in the mid range price bracket for an Android phone, both are really great value: The Storm is £199, whilst the Swift is £129 - Both are SIM free and are unlikely to be taken up by the networks.
After the recent launch of the Motorola Moto G (2015), the tech new websites went crazy about what great value this phone is. The new Moto G is great value, and having owned (and still using) the 2013 Moto G I would definitely recommend the 2015 version.
But these two mobiles from Wileyfox are something else. If they don't turn out to be too British, if you know what I mean, they are far, far better than anything else at this price point and will give phones like the OnePlusTwo a serious run for their money.
I hope that Wileyfox and these new phones are a massive success.
