Wileyfox Swift – Camera

13-megapixel rear with AF, Samsung S5K3M2 BSI and dual LED Flash, 5-megapixel front

A few years ago, if you showed me the Wileyfox Swift’s camera specs and price I’d have jumped out of my seat with excitement.

But
with Motorola having launched the Moto G – a budget smartphone with
camera specs close to matching the £500 Nexus 6 – mere weeks ago, the
appearance of a 13-megapixel sensor on the Swift isn’t quite as special
as it might have been. Moreover, while the Wileyfox is competent enough, the Moto G is in a different league.

Cyanogen
OS features a custom camera application that adds a wealth of preset
camera modes designed to optimise the camera for specific lighting
conditions as well as various Instagram-like filters.

Highlights include high dynamic range (HDR), action and night modes and aqua, sepia and posterize filters.

For avid photographers, it also has manual controls for the camera’s for things like the exposure, white balance and ISO.

Shooting
in regular light conditions with the camera in automatic, photos taken
on the Swift are impressive. While not on a par with flagship smartphone
cameras, photos were mostly usable and adequate for sharing on social media.


However,
moving into low light, the Swift’s camera did begin to struggle. Despite
featuring a Samsung-made back-illuminated sensor (BSI), the Swift’s
camera performance rapidly declines in low light.
 

Using the
camera in a dimly lit bar with the flash turned off, shots taken on the
Swift generally looked dirty and suffered from pixelation, though this is hardly a problem exclusive to the Swift.

But the Swift suffers in comparison to the Moto G (2015). As the shots below show, the Swift sometimes struggles to pick the right while balance in scenes. Below you can see how it gives this shot a heavy blue-ish tone, while the Moto G captures a far more faithful shot with a correct, neutral tone.
Taken on the Wileyfox Swift with the camera set to automatic

Taken on the Moto G (2015) with the camera set to automatic moments later

Overall, while the Wileyfox can take good photos in some conditions, it isn’t as consistent or reliable as the Moto G. If taking decent photos is a high priority for you, the Moto G is the obvious choice.