The design and build quality of the Wham Wiry W1 is actually worth considering, but with a clunky performance, a low-end spec-sheet and the not so popular brand name, the smartphone doesn't seem worth the money.
SPECIFICATIONS
The Wham Wiry W1 features the following specs:
- Display: 4 inches AMOLED with 640×360 resolution (183ppi)
- Storage: 4GB, expandable via microSD card
- Camera: 5MP rear with LED flash, 2MP front
- SoC: Snapdragon 400
- CPU: 1.3GHz dual-core
- RAM: 1GB
- Operating system: Android 4.2.2
- Connectivity: 3G, W-Fi, Bluetooth
BUILD AND DESIGN
The main USP of the Wiry W1 is the way it has been made. It is by far the slimmest smartphone we have ever come across with a thickness of 5.8mm. The handset has a decent weight due to its small size and slim profile even after having a metal body. Apart from the metal finish there is a bit of plastic. The handset is quite striking as it has a lot of edges all around.
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The display was another thing that surprised us. It is a 4 inch AMOLED display so it offers really high contrast, the colors are vibrant and the blacks seem brilliant. But that’s not what surprised us. The resolution of the display is a mere 640×360, which is shockingly lower than most of the low-end smartphones available in the market today.
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The left side has the volume control buttons and the top has the microUSB port and the power/lock button and the right side has the microSIM slot which has a protective cover which is very difficult to open. At the back we have the 5MP camera and the back panel is shut with four screws, but you can open it with the bundled mini screwdriver. We opened up the back to see that the battery is actually soldered in, so technically it is not removable. Even the microSD card seemed non-removable but if you wiggle and try to break the handset, you can manage to remove it.
Another thing that we noticed that there is no traditional 3.5mm audio jack. The handset comes with a pair of earphones that has a microUSB connector. There is also a microUSB to 3.5mm audio jack in case you want to use a different pair of headphones. This means that you cannot charge and use headphones at the same time.
OS AND PERFORMANCE
The Wiry W1 runs on stock Android 4.2.2 and doesn’t come preloaded with any exciting preloaded apps. The UI isn’t the smoothest as we noticed lags while scrolling through the menus and homescreen. Productivity apps run fine although running multiple apps at the same time does take a toll on the memory; hence the smartphone is not very impressive with multitasking. Graphic intensive tasks and gaming were a bit disappointing. The handset manages to run HD videos and even puts an effort to run games with high FPS, but it just fails to deliver a promising performance.
We carried out some benchmark tests on the Wiry W1 and as expected, it didn’t turn out to be good scorer. In graphics and productivity based benchmarks, the Wiry W1 couldn’t match up to most of the smartphones in the competition.
The camera on the smartphone is just average. Even in well-lit conditions, the colors turned out to be very unnatural and almost every picture turned out be very soft. Focusing time was slow and at times didn’t focus at all. Here are a few camera samples:
CONCLUSION
The smartphone is a bold attempt at bringing something different to the market. The design and build quality did made us look at it twice and with such a slim profile it is very compact. However, one would have to be off the hook to buy such a smartphone where the brand is not well known. The specs of the smartphone are quite disappointing and it isn’t any good in delivering a good performance either. Much better options to buy in this range would be the Nokia Lumia 525, Xolo Q800 and the Karbonn Titanium S5 Plus.