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But on the inside, the HTC Wildfire S has a seemingly underpowered 600Mhz single-core processor with 512MB of RAM. Of course, raw power doesn’t automatically translate to great user experience, but it often contributes a lot to it. So, is the HTC Wildfire S a “superphone”? In this review, I’m going to show you the strengths and weaknesses of this smartphone.
HTC Wildfire S Specs
3.2”, 320×480 Display
600Mhz processor, single core
3G HSDPA 7.2Mbps
Android 2.3.3
HTC Sense 2.1
DVD-res video capture
5MP Camera, 640×480 video recording (.3gp)
1230mAh battery
3.99 x 2.34 x 0.49 (101.3 x 59.4 x 12.4 mm), 3.70 oz (105 g)
The HTC Wildfire S is a cutie, there’s no denying it. Each time I show this phone, I get a “wow, what is this cute cellphone” reaction from people around. And I agree, this smartphone is really nice, and in some ways it reminds me of the white MyTouch from T-Mobile, but it is better built, with better materials. The original MyTouch had a shiny plastic that made it look a bit cheap. The Wildfire S has mat finish and a painted aluminum finish on some parts which makes it look classier.
The HTC wildfire has a 320×480 low-resolution display. I haven’t used one of those for a while, but this is equal to the iPhone 3GS resolution, so I guess that a lot of people may be just fine with this.
The resolution itself isn’t bad at all when you are looking at the user interface, but text from emails and in web sites, is not as clear and sharp as they would be with a higher-resolution display. In case you’re unsure if this would work for you, compare a recent 480×800 phone with an iPhone 3GS, or go check the Wildfire S in a store. The display is one of the most important aspects of a phone, so make sure that you are comfortable with it.
Gaming: it is clear that with performance well below the best Android smartphones, the HTC Wildfire S is not a gaming beast. You can forget about casual gaming with Flash games, however, casual Android games like puzzle games or anything that is not graphically demanding is still within reach. For example, Raging Thunder 2’s framerate was going up and down, but I would not consider it to be playable.
Angry Birds is playable, but barely. The game can freeze for a fraction of a second here and there, but I could still get some fun out of it. When that happens, try killing all the background apps with one of the “task killer” apps. It did help in my case.
Video Playback: I have been surprised that 3 out of 4 of the MP4 files that I normally use to review smartphones can’t be played on this phone. I’m not exactly sure if it is because of the bitrate, or the resolution/format itself, but only the movies coming from my PSP collection would play. In theory, the following formats are supported: .3gp, .3g2, .mp4, .wmv (Windows Media Video 9)
Cute: Most people would probably agree that the HTC Wildfire S is a cutie. It’s size and curvy design are eye-catching and it feels great in the hand or in the pocket. It does everything that HTC pitches: sharing photos and updates on social networks, mapping, web browsing… etc.
Slow, small screen: However, it doesn’t do it in a comfortable way. Things are slow and web browsing is a bit cramped inside the small screen. As you have seen in the performance section, the Wildfire S is definitely not a race horse and this affects the usability. I would never call it a “superphone” as HTC does.
For casual users: But, there is a market for this phone: I would recommend it only to casual users who are primarily attracted to the Wildfire S industrial design. Typically, they would just want to tap into what Android has to offer in terms of apps, browser compatibility and cloud data synchronization (contacts, email…), but who don’t need the edgy performance that bigger handsets do offer. When used in that context (if you remove the performance from the equation), the HTC Wildfire S is a neat-looking phone that turns heads.
I hope that this review has given you the information that you were looking for, but if there is an aspect that I have not covered, please post a comment, and I will try to address it while I still have the phone. Your feedback will help make future reviews better.
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