HTC is on sabbatical from its high-end line with the Wildfire. There is nothing really wild or fiery in the specs of this mid-end Android handset. Compared to most of the company’s Android offerings, it naturally has smaller screen with paltry resolution, and a low-end CPU. They don’t promise much of a performance, but the phone is certainly a looker. When we add the familiar sturdy construction HTC is in the hall of fame for, the company’s foray into the budget Android line with the Wildfire might just do it justice.
Design
In the case of Wildfire it comes with a similar design with Android-flagship of the company – Desire. At the same time Wildfire is shaped with smooth transitions planes, such as metal edging around the perimeter of the front side, a similar arrangement of controls. Yeah, the designs of these models are not fully identical, but seeing Wildfire, you surely remember Desire, they are similar. The body of the device is made of matte, velvety surface which resembles plastic, in the battery cover – a plate of metal edging on the front side and feel of metal. Color options of HTC Desire are rather boring only a few shades of gray. However, such coloring is universal and no one seems repulsive. While the reddish color ( which is available only for a few destinations) option seems to be rather aggressive, but the color still seems to be washed away.
Connectivity
The HTC Wildfire has the usual range of connectivity options you can find on smartphones lately – HSDPA 7.2Mbps, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, FM Radio and A-GPS. The biggest drawback in terms of speed we found in the browser – scrolling full pages there is a pain. They load quickly and render properly, but when you start scrolling heavy pages, the browser skips beats, and takes you to the end in choppy slow-mo stages. Double-tap-to-zoom transitions normally, though, and once zoomed in, scrolling becomes fairly fluid again. Still, it is nowhere near the exemplary experience on handsets with 1GHz cores, for example. We noticed a similar scroll lag in documents, opened in the preinstalled QuickOffice suite, but this we are used to seeing, save for the most powerful handsets on the market.
Display
HTC Sense and Android have had a god run so far. From the Hero to the Desire, users have been treated to a wealth of graphics and features. Even the entry-level HTC Tattoo has the company’s custom interface, which we found to blend well and do a good job. It just didn’t look its best on the QVGA screen. If you’ve been paying attention, you’d know the HTC Wildfire is having the same problem. And this time, the same number of pixels is stretched over 3.2 inches. The Wildfire still has a clear advantage over the Tattoo. The capacitive display has excellent response. You’ll find the latest Sense UI too on the HTC Wildfire.
The main differences between this version of the Sense UI and back on the Tattoo are the new context icons, a few new wallpapers and the unified Widget section. Whether you are using the People, Mail, Music or Gallery Tabs, the scrollable icons at the bottom will please you with new color skins. We like it this way – the old ones looked a bit dull against the otherwise graphically rich and colorful UI.
Camera
The device comes with a 5 megapixel camera with Autofocus and Flash. While at the first glance there’s nothing interesting, then there’s something that makes the device to be distinguished. The built-in camera is acquired with a flash, which can be used as a flashlight. This is something new for the HTC devices and thus the enthusiasts are even thinking of getting this item on some of the other devices.
Sound
Voice quality in calls is good and the volume levels are excellent. We experienced no reception issues with the HTC Wildfire. The dialer features a keypad, a shortcut to the call log and a list of contacts beneath (you can hide the keypad). Smart Dialing is also enabled. Thanks to the built-in accelerometer, the HTC Wildfire has turn-to-mute enabled. You can mute the ringer by simply turning the phone face down on the table. There’s an extra feature too – the ringing volume will go down as soon as you lift the handset up. The built-in proximity sensor makes sure the screen automatically switches off when you hold it next to your face during a call. That way you don’t risk pressing any keys by mistake with your ear or cheek. The HTC Wildfire doesn’t have voice dialing but what at least some users are more likely to miss is video calling.
Performance
The incoming call volume was good in the ear speaker, and the voice quality was acceptable. The other party was hearing us fine as far as strength, but the voice was distorted, especially high-pitched conversations. There is no videocalling on the HTC Wildfire as there isn’t any front-facing camera, and no application to use the primary one is preinstalled. The loudspeaker is of average strength, and sounds tin and hollow.
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Tags: Android, Facebook, HTC Desire, HtcSense, HtcWildfire, Mobile World Congress, QuickOffice, YouTube