Wileyfox Spark X is a budget Android smartphone from Wileyfox. We were trying our hands on the device since last few days and the here we are going to share the detailed review of Wileyfox Spark X.
This review is divided in various sections covering pros and cons of each of them.
Wileyfox Spark X comes in a small but very beautiful orange box. The box is having the nice suede material feeling and the combination of black and orange colors looks great.
Inside the retail box, you will find the handset, USB cable, battery and some user manuals. Surprisingly, there is no charger provided as Wileyfox assumes that you are already having one from any other handset and they wanted to reduce the retail box size.
You can watch our Wileyfox Spark X unboxing video below.
Wileyfox Spark X is a big device with 5.5 inch screen size. The thickness is not too much with 8.7mm but still it is not a slim one considering the latest smartphones.
The power button is a bit above the thumb reach and there is no notch provided on the back panel to open it. So, it is a bit confusing and people need to open it using the gap at the USP port.
The screen-to-body ratio is not good as there are lots of empty and useless space below screen since there are no off-screen capacitive keys provided in that area. Also, the area above the screen could be reduced a bit too.
The back of the Wileyfox Spark X is beautiful and the sandstone finish feels good in hand and also provides a better grip on the device. The 3D Wileyfox logo is embedded in the middle of the back panel and the accent color of the logo, earpiece and camera module matches perfectly and give s a beautiful look to device.
The back panel is removable and so is the battery. 3.5mm audio jack is at top, a large speaker grill on the rear and USB port at the bottom the device.
The overall design of the Wileyfox Spark X is good but the device could have a slimmer design and better screen-to-body ratio to make it look better.
Wileyfox Spark X comes with a 5.5-inch screen with 720p HD resolution, so the PPI you will get is 267 on it. Even though the resolution is not a lot, the display quality is good and sharp enough. As already said, the screen-to-body ratio is a bit low and it adds a bit of bulk to the device. But since the front of the phone is black, it matches with the screen and the extra part is not visible when the screen is off.
There is Dragontrail glass used on the screen to provide protection from scratches and minor damages. The 2,5D arc screen looks beautiful. The screen brightness is good and sunlight visibility is nice as well. The viewing angles could be better.
There is a LiveDisplay feature that optimizes the screen for better readability based on the time of the day and the ambient conditions. For auto-rotation of the screen, there are four angles provided that user can select
Wileyfox Spark X comes with MediaTek™ 6735 64-bit 1.3GHz quad-core processor, 2GB of RAM and Mali T720 GPU. Though it is not the best specs, considering the price of the device it is okay and justified. But we have seen better hardware specs from small Chinese brands in the same price range as well.
Internal storage of the device is 16GB , out of which user available memory is 11GB. There is a dedicated memory card slot provided that supports up to 32GB of microSD card. Out of 2GB RAM, user available RAM is around 1.2GB but still you will not feel lag in daily usage on the device.
Wileyfox Spark X is a dual SIM device and supports to micro SIM cards. There is 4G LTE connectivity provided and it works quite good too. The network signal detection is good and the voice quality is nice as well.
In our benchmarking test, Wileyfox Spark X performed as expected because of the entry-level hardware specs it comes with. You can watch our benchmarking test videos of Wileyfox Spark X below.
Wileyfox Spark X runs on the Cyanogen 13 OS based on the Android 6.0 Marshmallow. The UI is smooth and responsive. There are some extra features and few are missing as well. Also, the UI is not so user friendly in some particular aspects and first time Cyanogen user will be confused while trying to find the right options.
Wileyfox Spark X comes with a 13MP primary camera and 8MP front camera. There is no dedicated camera key but user can launch the camera without unlocking the device by double pressing the power button. But this option needs to be enabled from the settings first.
The camera quality is good and images coming out of the primary camera are good enough. The color saturation is realistic, sharpness is good and details are nice too.
Primary camera is capable of recording 1080p full HD videos with good amount of details. There is time lapse option given in the video settings. Burst mode is provided in the image settings too to capture up to 20 images in one shot.
Talking about the features, there are HDR, Steady Shot and Night mode only. To change the modes, you need to swipe the screen from top to bottom or vice versa. There is no gallery icon to quickly access it from the view finder. For that you need to swipe on the viewfinder from right to left. And as you can see, these options are very hidden and a not so tech savvy user will be totally confused.
The front camera performance is nice too. Though 8MP sounds like a big deal, it is not. The image quality depends on lots of factors like sensor , aperture etc. And due to the low-end hardware used in Wileyfox Spark X, it is reflected in camera performance too as it lacks sharpness and depth. But still the images captured from front camera provide lots of details and are good enough for casual selfies.
The video recording quality of front camera is better than the image quality but still not good enough if you compare the performance with 8MP front camera of other smartphones. You can watch a front camera video sample of Wileyfox Spark X below.
Wileyfox Spark X comes with a big 5.5-inch screen with good display quality that is good enough to watch videos on it. There is stand-alone Wileyfox music app included, so you will have to use the Google's Play Music app for listening music. There is FM radio provided in this device
Even though the speaker looks big because of the grill size, the audio is not so loud and it is mono in quality. But there is AudioFX app included that let user customize the sound output with the help of various equalizer.
The gaming performance of Wileyfox Spark X is moderate considering the hardware specs. Though we didn't feel frame drops and lags while playing high-end games, the gameplay was not so smooth and graphics quality was average too. 3D graphics rendering was okay mostly but sometimes it performed poorly in games like Amazing Spider-Man by blurring the environment and breaking the image while zooming in.
But if you are not a gamer then, Wileyfox Spark X is capable of playing most of the popular games smoothly without any issue. You can watch our detailed gaming review of Wileyfox Spark X below.
There are few general features like Tap To Wake and Tap To Sleep are provided. Then there is left-handed mode. Screen Pinning feature let user keep the current screen in view until it is not unpinned. There are not much extra productivity apps than the Google products like Keep and Sheet.
Multitasking is good on this device but since the amount of RAM is just 2GB, it is better not to run multiple heavy apps side-by-side as it can make few of them force closed due to low RAM.
Wileyfox Spark X comes with 3000mAh battery and it performs good as the display and processor of the device are not much resource hungry. Also, there is Battery Saver and Battery Optimization options provided to increase the battery performance while reducing the hardware based features.
For moderate user, the battery of Wileyfox Spark X will easily survive for more than a day and that is what most people are looking for these days.
Wileyfox Spark X is a nice entry level smartphone and serves its purpose. The design is good, screen is bright and sharp, battery performance is nice as well. Camera performance is nice but UI is a bit confusing and lacks extra features.
Overall Wileyfox Spark X can be a good choice for people looking for a buy an entry level Android smartphone with good looks and overall nice performance. But if you are open to other brands, you can find lots of interesting options in this price range with some additional features like fingerprint scanner too.
This review is divided in various sections covering pros and cons of each of them.
Wileyfox Spark X : Hands-on Review, Specs and Features
Retail Box and Unboxing
Wileyfox Spark X comes in a small but very beautiful orange box. The box is having the nice suede material feeling and the combination of black and orange colors looks great.
Inside the retail box, you will find the handset, USB cable, battery and some user manuals. Surprisingly, there is no charger provided as Wileyfox assumes that you are already having one from any other handset and they wanted to reduce the retail box size.
You can watch our Wileyfox Spark X unboxing video below.
Design
Wileyfox Spark X is a big device with 5.5 inch screen size. The thickness is not too much with 8.7mm but still it is not a slim one considering the latest smartphones.
The power button is a bit above the thumb reach and there is no notch provided on the back panel to open it. So, it is a bit confusing and people need to open it using the gap at the USP port.
The screen-to-body ratio is not good as there are lots of empty and useless space below screen since there are no off-screen capacitive keys provided in that area. Also, the area above the screen could be reduced a bit too.
The back of the Wileyfox Spark X is beautiful and the sandstone finish feels good in hand and also provides a better grip on the device. The 3D Wileyfox logo is embedded in the middle of the back panel and the accent color of the logo, earpiece and camera module matches perfectly and give s a beautiful look to device.
The back panel is removable and so is the battery. 3.5mm audio jack is at top, a large speaker grill on the rear and USB port at the bottom the device.
The overall design of the Wileyfox Spark X is good but the device could have a slimmer design and better screen-to-body ratio to make it look better.
Screen and Display
Wileyfox Spark X comes with a 5.5-inch screen with 720p HD resolution, so the PPI you will get is 267 on it. Even though the resolution is not a lot, the display quality is good and sharp enough. As already said, the screen-to-body ratio is a bit low and it adds a bit of bulk to the device. But since the front of the phone is black, it matches with the screen and the extra part is not visible when the screen is off.
There is Dragontrail glass used on the screen to provide protection from scratches and minor damages. The 2,5D arc screen looks beautiful. The screen brightness is good and sunlight visibility is nice as well. The viewing angles could be better.
There is a LiveDisplay feature that optimizes the screen for better readability based on the time of the day and the ambient conditions. For auto-rotation of the screen, there are four angles provided that user can select
Hardware and OS
Wileyfox Spark X comes with MediaTek™ 6735 64-bit 1.3GHz quad-core processor, 2GB of RAM and Mali T720 GPU. Though it is not the best specs, considering the price of the device it is okay and justified. But we have seen better hardware specs from small Chinese brands in the same price range as well.
Internal storage of the device is 16GB , out of which user available memory is 11GB. There is a dedicated memory card slot provided that supports up to 32GB of microSD card. Out of 2GB RAM, user available RAM is around 1.2GB but still you will not feel lag in daily usage on the device.
Wileyfox Spark X is a dual SIM device and supports to micro SIM cards. There is 4G LTE connectivity provided and it works quite good too. The network signal detection is good and the voice quality is nice as well.
In our benchmarking test, Wileyfox Spark X performed as expected because of the entry-level hardware specs it comes with. You can watch our benchmarking test videos of Wileyfox Spark X below.
Wileyfox Spark X runs on the Cyanogen 13 OS based on the Android 6.0 Marshmallow. The UI is smooth and responsive. There are some extra features and few are missing as well. Also, the UI is not so user friendly in some particular aspects and first time Cyanogen user will be confused while trying to find the right options.
Camera and Imaging
Wileyfox Spark X comes with a 13MP primary camera and 8MP front camera. There is no dedicated camera key but user can launch the camera without unlocking the device by double pressing the power button. But this option needs to be enabled from the settings first.
The camera quality is good and images coming out of the primary camera are good enough. The color saturation is realistic, sharpness is good and details are nice too.
Primary camera is capable of recording 1080p full HD videos with good amount of details. There is time lapse option given in the video settings. Burst mode is provided in the image settings too to capture up to 20 images in one shot.
Talking about the features, there are HDR, Steady Shot and Night mode only. To change the modes, you need to swipe the screen from top to bottom or vice versa. There is no gallery icon to quickly access it from the view finder. For that you need to swipe on the viewfinder from right to left. And as you can see, these options are very hidden and a not so tech savvy user will be totally confused.
The front camera performance is nice too. Though 8MP sounds like a big deal, it is not. The image quality depends on lots of factors like sensor , aperture etc. And due to the low-end hardware used in Wileyfox Spark X, it is reflected in camera performance too as it lacks sharpness and depth. But still the images captured from front camera provide lots of details and are good enough for casual selfies.
The video recording quality of front camera is better than the image quality but still not good enough if you compare the performance with 8MP front camera of other smartphones. You can watch a front camera video sample of Wileyfox Spark X below.
Entertainment and Gaming
Wileyfox Spark X comes with a big 5.5-inch screen with good display quality that is good enough to watch videos on it. There is stand-alone Wileyfox music app included, so you will have to use the Google's Play Music app for listening music. There is FM radio provided in this device
Even though the speaker looks big because of the grill size, the audio is not so loud and it is mono in quality. But there is AudioFX app included that let user customize the sound output with the help of various equalizer.
The gaming performance of Wileyfox Spark X is moderate considering the hardware specs. Though we didn't feel frame drops and lags while playing high-end games, the gameplay was not so smooth and graphics quality was average too. 3D graphics rendering was okay mostly but sometimes it performed poorly in games like Amazing Spider-Man by blurring the environment and breaking the image while zooming in.
But if you are not a gamer then, Wileyfox Spark X is capable of playing most of the popular games smoothly without any issue. You can watch our detailed gaming review of Wileyfox Spark X below.
Productivity
There are few general features like Tap To Wake and Tap To Sleep are provided. Then there is left-handed mode. Screen Pinning feature let user keep the current screen in view until it is not unpinned. There are not much extra productivity apps than the Google products like Keep and Sheet.
Multitasking is good on this device but since the amount of RAM is just 2GB, it is better not to run multiple heavy apps side-by-side as it can make few of them force closed due to low RAM.
Battery
Wileyfox Spark X comes with 3000mAh battery and it performs good as the display and processor of the device are not much resource hungry. Also, there is Battery Saver and Battery Optimization options provided to increase the battery performance while reducing the hardware based features.
For moderate user, the battery of Wileyfox Spark X will easily survive for more than a day and that is what most people are looking for these days.
Conclusion
Wileyfox Spark X is a nice entry level smartphone and serves its purpose. The design is good, screen is bright and sharp, battery performance is nice as well. Camera performance is nice but UI is a bit confusing and lacks extra features.
Overall Wileyfox Spark X can be a good choice for people looking for a buy an entry level Android smartphone with good looks and overall nice performance. But if you are open to other brands, you can find lots of interesting options in this price range with some additional features like fingerprint scanner too.