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HTC Wildfire Review

It’s a little hard to size up a smartphone like the HTC Wildfire when you’ve been using its better sibling (HTC Desire) and given it good marks. Check out our full review of the HTC Wildfire after the jump.

However, if you take into consideration the price point at which the Wildfire has been set, it would definitely be a good contender for an entry-level Android phone.

Then again, when you compare the specs of the HTC Hero against the Wildfire, you’d realize they’re like fraternal twins, separated only by wide gap in the retail price (~Php15k vs. Php22k) and an odd form factor.

The Wildfire follows the same great design and construction as most of HTC’s Android smartphones to date — thin, sleek with a combination of matte and glossy finish all around. The plastic back panel also has a band of brushed-metal finish on the middle part to give it an elegant design accent.

The bottom section has a bit of a subtly curved end — not as much as the Legend or Hero but more like that of the Desire. The circular optical trackpad is smack in the center at the bottom end with a row of touchpad-engraved buttons just above it — similar to the ones we’ve seen on the Google Nexus One.

The display is bright but not too crisp and while that LCD screen does the job well, I missed the AMOLED display quality of the Desire or even the resolution of the Legend or the Hero. Still, the brightness level of the screen looks better than any of the units in the Xperia X10 line we’ve tried.

The Wildfire is HTC’s comes with Android 2.1 Eclair pre-installed and despite the conservative processing power, the handset seems snappy and fairly responsive. You get 7 panels or homescreens on the HTC Sense UI. Check the short video clip below and how it looks like.

The smaller screen real estate did have an impact on the on-screen virtual keyboard — looks a bit cramp so texting could be a challenge if you’re used to bigger screens. You get used to it in time though so it’s not a big issue.

HTC Wildfire specs:
Qualcomm MSM 7225 528MHz processor
3.2″ TFT display @ 240×320 pixels
384MB RAM, 512MB ROM
up to 32GB via microSD
WiFi 802.11 b/g
Bluetooth 2.1 w/ A2DP
3G/HSDPA 7.2 Mbps
5MP autofocus camera w/ LED flash
FM Radio with RDS
GPS w/ aGPS support
1300mAh Li-Ion battery

The specs on the Wildfire is actually decent and complete with all the necessary connectivity options. There’s not much internal storage here (384MB) but expansion via microSD up to 32GB is possible (card sold separately).


The HTC Wildfire comes in a variety of colors — black, brown, red and white. We especially liked the red one.

The built-in 5MP camera isn’t impressive but somewhat decent. The AF works but has a hard time to focus on subjects especially on low light conditions. Video capture didn’t perform as well too. It’s got the same over-all performance as the HTC Desire we tested here.

Battery life is also not impressive. The unit barely lasts 2 days on a single charge with light internet use and normal voice/SMS use.

What really made the HTC Wildfire and attractive smartphone, aside from the solid construction and design, is the price-point of the handset. The introductory price is almost half that of it’s better sibling, the HTC Desire. Even the similarly spec-ed HTC Hero was first sold at Php33,999 back in December.

The Wildfire’s suggested retail price of Php17,500 (with some stores selling it for as low as Php15,000) makes it an attractive buy for an entry-level Android handset. It’s not the cheapest in its category but the combination of a good set of specs and solid design puts it near the top of the heap for an affordable Android smartphone.

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Avatar for Abe Olandres

Abe is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of YugaTech with over 20 years of experience in the technology industry. He is one of the pioneers of blogging in the country and considered by many as the Father of Tech Blogging in the Philippines. He is also a technology consultant, a tech columnist with several national publications, resource speaker and mentor/advisor to several start-up companies.

113 Responses

  1. Avatar for Caloy Caloy says:

    @air: despite the LG promo fiasco, I still think that the LG Optimus One P500 is the best deal at the price range you’re looking for. Maybe you could even include the Cherry Mobile Nova.

    To answer your question directly though, if you’re only choosing among the three, the wildfire would be the best.

    (I’d still go for either the LG Optimus one or the Cherry mobile Nova though)

  2. Avatar for air air says:

    which is the best deal given the price: LG GT540, Sony Ericson xperia x8 or HTC wildfire?

  3. Avatar for Angelo Angelo says:

    My wife has a Galaxy 5 and I got a Wildfire. Both are on 2.1 Eclair and no updates to 2.2 as of today.

    If your into gaming the Galaxy 5 is the phone for your as the Wildfire does not run any of the nice games I install on it.

  4. Avatar for Josh Josh says:

    @leemar – Is there an off shelf galaxy 5 with froyo? Afaik, its only eclair but upgradable to froyo.

  5. Avatar for leemar leemar says:

    choose galaxy 5 instead of this, galaxy 5 is andoid 2.2 froyo, this wildfire is 2.1 eclair only.

  6. Avatar for edward edward says:

    my wildfire battery last only 4 hours, but im not complaining i am a heavy user and i use several application at the same time…hehehe

  7. Avatar for me me me me me me says:

    hi sir yuga. i am planning to buy an android phone. I like HTC so I narrowed my choices into two. Hero and Wildfire. Can you help me on what should I be getting? Thanks a lot sir. Please reply.

  8. Avatar for chimaerarc chimaerarc says:

    Good day everyone! I’m planing to buy an android phone, and i’m still undecided whether to go for wildfire or samsung galaxy 5! any thoughts about this sir yuga?thanks!!

  9. Avatar for kathy kathy says:

    hey the Cherry Mobile Nova has better specs than the Wildfire and cost less (17,500 vs. 11,500)

  10. Avatar for JKisaragi JKisaragi says:

    I hope one of our carriers here in the PH offer this one up with their plans. I’ll be sure to have one as a secondary phone if that happens. :)

  11. Avatar for Micks Micks says:

    That screen res is tragic. 320×240? That’s the same as the E71!

  12. Avatar for Emir Emir says:

    finding a black unit is quite difficult. I already went around Megamall, Galleria, and Market Market. All stores that have wildfire only have white ones :(

  13. Avatar for Euel Euel says:

    Is the RED HTC WILDFIRE available in the malls already? I can’t find one in our local stores.

  14. Avatar for jks jks says:

    @simplynice

    have not made up my mind yet, hence the word “seem”. i hope anyone can give me an advice on what phone to buy: spica or wildfire. thank you

  15. Avatar for Culinarian_mom Culinarian_mom says:

    Hello!
    My hubby is buying me a new phone this week. So I’m still looking for a phone that suits my budget. My current phone is 4years old already! (So you can just imagine how old it is now,hehehe) Since it is 3.2 megapixel, I’m planning of upgrading it. I am not planning on buying any smartphone since they are a little bit expensive (need the money for a new laptop this December). But after reading your review on HTC Wildfire, i think I’m considering of getting one. You see, I never had any smartphone before, so do you think HTC wildfire is good for a starter like me?

    Any suggestions for a phone (p15k- p17k range) with good camera (as I don’t like bringing my digicam everytime I go out)?

    Thanks & God bless!

  16. Avatar for simplynice93 simplynice93 says:

    @jks – it’s useless to ask for advice if you already made up your mind. Don’t ask anymore..buy mo na lang.

  17. Avatar for trojanzthor trojanzthor says:

    sir yuga, im confused on what phone to buy…

    Wildfire or Xperia x10 mini?

    p.s. im not fan of using phones for internet/web browsing.

  18. Avatar for jks jks says:

    why wildfire? i seem to like spica more

  19. Avatar for denj_cute denj_cute says:

    Hi Yuga,

    HTA Aria, kaylan po available sa pinas… sa plagay nyo magkano? almost same ito ng wildfire… diff. lng sa screen resolution, cpu and flash… thats why i mostly like ang aria over wildfire… tnxxx

  20. Avatar for jks jks says:

    wildfire or spica? why? please reply to this yuga

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