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.
hi!
sir yuga nu po mas maganda bilin LG optimus one p500 o wildfire? meron n po b update for wildfire? pwd n bang iupdate sa froyo?
tnx
@jacki – both have pros and cons. Biggest advantage of the Optimus is Android 2.2. Wildfire just looks sexier.
is it true na onti lang yung mga games na pwede iinstall?
anu po bang android phone mganda bilin? madami pwd iinstall na applications
@jackie Kung mahilig ka sa games, Wildfire is sort of limited in this aspect. Sure it can play games, but it is handicapped by the screen resolution so not all games display correctly, some won’t even start at all. Overall lamang ang Optimus one sa screen resolution , ram, processor at battery life pero in terms of UI and Built sa Wildfire ako. But if you’re into games and watching movies get the Optimus one cause it has support for DivX/Xvid. Hope this help you
sir.yuga
wala pdn po bang update ng 2.2 android para s wildfire?
Elo!
Anybody have news about the update to android 2.2 for wildfire??
Elo!
Anybody have news about the update to android 2.2 for the wildfire??
Twitter: Angelo
says:
Froyo for Legend and Aria already out. Still no Froyo for Wildfire.
FroYo for Wildfire is out na. But some people have said that they had problems with the upgrade.
Twitter: emirage
says:
wow, that’s great news!
Kailan kaya marerelease sa pinas?
sabay sabay kaya sa lahat ng network providers?
Twitter: Angelo
says:
Froyo update now available for Philippines. Im now downloading as i post. Finally our Wildfire will breathe new life. Thanks HTC for the update.
Yep, checked for updates this morning and got a notification saying that froyo is now available! Im installing it right now, hope it brings some noticeable improvements to an already good phone
I also detected the OTA of Froyo. It’s about 60 MB. Has anyone tried it already? How is the performance?
I’ve successfully updated mine. Beware though the installation will take almost 30 minutes. It will make you think you bricked the phone.
Twitter: Angelo
says:
Tested the Froyo update the whole day and I did not see any significant improvements in the speed. There is little improvement in the performance but the real benefit is the ability to store apps on the SD card (I can now store that large Angry Birds game on SD). Another feature is the Portable Wifi Hotspot wherein you can use your phone as a portable router using your 3G connection. I recommend everyone to update.
magkano na ba to ngayon? akala ko walang update ng froyo kaya undecided ako before.
@Angelo
I agree although I think touch became more responsive (or much faster). The lags are still there but not that frequent compared to eclair. I already tried the wifi hotspot and it works! Did you try the new apps like navigation and places? There’s also Acrobat reader installed.
@vince
Froyo update has just been released this week. Price may be from 15k-17k.
@Josh
thanks for the info. I just got my tax refund eh. may pambili na. But is it true that some of the applications are not compatible because of the screen resolution?
My wildfire doesn’t detect the update. can i install the firmware manually or do i have to wait for the OTA update?
Some of the games I’ve tried installing work but there are issues. Angry Birds has this startup issue where it goes blank on its home screen, you could just hear the music but the screen is blank. Googled a workaround and found out that locking and unlocking the screen helps. When I’m in the game, there is a noticeable lag. Checked my friend’s Angry Birds game installed on her Galaxy 5 and it didn’t have a lag at all. Forums say that it’s because of the Wildfire’s low screen resolution.
Uninstalled Angry Birds.
I bought a htc wildfire but it doesn’t have office(word,excel,…) for typing. may u help me how I can get office and install?
[...] for my very first droid device, I chose HTC Wildfire. Thanks to Abe of YugaTech for doing a good review on this [...]
@Mohammad
I think QuickOffice can allow you to view (but not edit) MS Office documents. I’m having trouble with it right now. It can’t even open a simple Word Document.
The best you can do is do your document editing on the cloud. GoogleDocs works great on HTC Wildfire. I’m very much impressed with this one.
Another option is Hotmail’s online MS Office. (I haven’t tried this personally, though).
For both of those things to work, you need an account with them.
Hope this helps.
htc wildfire, bb curve or lg optimus p500?
Sir Yuga
Lg optimus p500 does not have Flash player right..dont u think this is a big disadvantage? comparin it to wildfire. plus, is the screen res of wildfire really bad?
what should i get? htc wildfire, bb curve 8520 or lg optimus p500? thanksalot
Hi Yuga Can you please tell me between sony erricson xperia x8, xperia mini, galaxy 500 or wildfire….please its important and as soon as possible, thanks in advance.