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Our HTC Wildfire Review

For a touchscreen smartphone at the budget end of the market, the HTC Wildfire has a lot to commend it. Not least its stylish design; the handset comes in a variety of colours. The 3.2 inch QVGA capacitive touchscreen is large enough to use comfortably without being too fiddly, and it has a comfortable, not too chunky feel in the hand.

The good-looking camera lens is mounted on the back, next to the LED flash and quality loudspeaker. It's slightly annoying that there's no dedicated camera shutter button, forcing you to use the optical trackpad to control your actions. Due to the small screen, the resulting pictures and video captures can seem a little worn around the edges. Transferring them to a computer shows that the camera works very well in both still and motion modes, its just that it's difficult to appreciate this when using the phone as a viewer.

Sensible use of Sense UI means you can use the ever-friendly Leap for switching quickly and easily between screens and Friendstream for keeping in touch with contacts. Also most welcome is the update keyboard which is a vast improvement on its predecessors.

The neat front of the phone is simply but thoughtfully designed. Its optical trackpad and four small buttons are all you have to play with. The HTC Wildfire offers a choice of seven homescreens, which is more than enough to organise its apps into work and play.

The HTC Wildfire seems to be leaning to the social networking. This means an intuitive integration for contacts through many of its apps, even the calendar. Although you could have managed without this feature, the phone does it for you, as it should. You are the boss, after all. It's a shame that not all phones aimed at social networkers understand what users want.

What We Liked

The HTC Wildfire is a budget phone that does more than a phone at this price really needs to. The display is clear and intuitive and the luxury of seven homescreens gives the user the power to organise clearly and with easy access.

What We Disliked

While the camera and camcorder are able to capture clear images, it's a pity that the results are not always visible, especially with a comprehensive range of features for editing and manipulating. Some may find that the fairly low resolution screen is a bit of a pain, but this was only the case when web browsing or looking at the results of its camera.

Our Final Verdict

The HTC Wildfire isn't pretending to be anything it's not. The screen display is OK, it's only when comparing it with more expensive, higher-spec smartphones that it may feel disappointing. But the Wildfire could, with its ease of use and the potential to update and customize, become a firm favourite in this market. Including the latest version of Android also means it won't be out of date by Christmas.

Compare Handsets

	Read Review
	HTC Wildfire
General
Form Factor	Candybar
Dimensions	105.5 x 60.4 x 11.36 (mm)
Talk Time	361 mins
Standby Time	282 hours
Weight	118 g
Quad Band	Yes
Photo and Video
Integrated Camera	Yes
Camera	5.00 megapixels
Camera Flash	Yes
Video Player	Yes
Phone
Polyphonic Ringtones	Yes
Smart Phone	Yes
Internal Memory	512MB
Memory Card Type	Micro SD (max 32GB)
Messaging
Instant Messaging (IM)	Yes
Video Messaging	Yes
Screen
Colour Screen	Yes
Touch Screen	Yes
Connectivity
3G	Yes
Bluetooth	Yes
Email	Yes
HSDPA	Yes
Web Browser	Yes
Wi-Fi	Yes
GPS	Yes
Music and Radio
FM Radio	Yes
MP3 Player	Yes
MP3 Ringtones	Yes
Additional Content
Downloadable Content	Yes
Downloadable Games	Yes
Downloadable Ringtones	Yes

HTC Wildfire Full Specification

General

Photo and Video

Phone

Messaging

Screen

Connectivity

Music and Radio

Additional Content