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 HTC Wildfire – Android weds Sense, yet again… [Review]

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PostSubject: HTC Wildfire – Android weds Sense, yet again… [Review]   HTC Wildfire – Android weds Sense, yet again… [Review] EmptyWed Sep 01, 2010 10:16 am

Priced at Rs. 16,590,
the Wildfire is reasonably priced. It also incorporates a very good
sensitive capacitive touch screen with a very good QWERTY, something few
touch screen phones have. If the poor display resolution and contrast
do not deter, we recommend this - a good, affordable Android based
solution.

Pros



  • Well built, looks neat
  • Good capacitive touch interface
  • Nice on screen QWERTY, Android based
Cons



  • Poor display resolution
  • Mediocre contrast
  • No memory card bundled
HTC has been a roll with a number of launches
happening in quick succession. If the entry of their much-coveted,
high-end Desire in official channels wasn’t news enough, they slipped in
a couple of mid-range handsets for good measure. One such handset was
the HD Mini, based on WM 6.5. Admittedly, MS isn’t the hottest
proposition around for OS', at least until Windows Phone 7 arrives.
Therefore, we present: the Wildfire - an indicative name since Android
has been spreading like Wildfire, piggybacking on the hype surrounding
anything labelled “Open Source” in this day and age.


The HD Mini was obviously a cheaper HD2. What isn’t
as evident is, the Wildfire is a smaller, cheaper Desire. Still cannot
get the connection? For one, it joins a relatively select bunch of HTC
devices that feature their “Sense” user interface. On the surface, the
Wildfire somewhat resembles the Desire, and shares a pretty decent
overall build. And they're both Android-based. Obviously, the hardware
is radically different, but then the Desire is close to twice the price
of the Wildfire. The accessories are also top quality, with a very thick
data cable – kudos to HTC for not compromising here.



Look and feel

The front is attractive, and
anyone who has seen the Desire will immediately recognise the brushed
metal trim around the extended glass around the actual display. At the
bottom, this trim curves - a nice touch. The centre portion on the rear
also sports a brushed metal look, while the rest of the body on the
rear, and a small portion of the front (on the bottom) has a matte-black
finish. The only relief from this matte and brushed black on the front
is the chromed speaker grilles and the tiny centre button that cleverly
incorporates a tiny optical trackpad. Overall, the Wildfire isn’t wildly
fascinating upon first glance; subtle appeal is evidently the key
phrase behind the design ethos. The in-hand feel is pretty good and the
Wildfire isn't overly large. Although it isn’t exactly compact and will
feel most at home in larger hands. It’s not exactly slim either, thanks
to the thick battery cover but this adds to the substantial, grippy
feel. Despite the relative bulk, it doesn’t make an unseemly bulge in
ones pocket.




Other than the trackpad, the remaining functions on
the front are touch-based (capacitive). These are large, with adequate
spacing; we had no issues using them. The volume rocker is located on
the left side and, although it is little more than a long chromed strip,
it functions well, thanks to good key feedback. Other than the power
key there are no more buttons on the body. The trackpad though small,
works pretty well and is fairly sensitive - much better than the much
larger trackpad on Nokia’s E72, for example. The trackpad also cleverly
doubles as a button, and the menu system is well designed around this
interface. Many times while navigating, you can forget about the
touch-screen and totally rely on the trackpad – a major plus, especially
for those moving up from a non-touch based device. And vice versa. The
sensitive touch-screen means, you can ignore this tiny trackpad
altogether, and herein lies a major plus. Binary interfacing methods
that work almost equally well! While some might complain that, at
3.2-inches, the display is a little small to interface with, we had no
such issues; although this is probably the smallest size for a
comfortable capacitive interface, and anything smaller would affect
usability.




One of the major gripes with this phone is evident
the moment one starts moving around the menu system – the display
resolution is extremely poor – at 240 x 320 pixels – an archaic
resolution that, (as far as we know), only Nokia persists with. Why HTC
would take a phone with the obvious potential that the Wildfire has, and
drop in an abysmal display is beyond our collective comprehension. With
a pixel density of 125 pixels per inch, the Wildfire's display looks
pretty pixellated and there is a marked loss of fine detail in the text,
menus and this is also visible in the home screens. While the
sensitivity of the touch-screen is not a problem while surfing, webpages
are a lot less entertaining on account of the lack of pixels.





HTCs Sense UI makes a lot less
sense on an Android phone than a WM device since Android already has a
much better menu system, although, the embellishments to the menu and
the home screen in particular, are well thought out. When
swiping through home screens we felt a bit of lag at times. Admittedly,
it wasn’t much of an issue but it was present. The rich menu seems to
burden the 528 MHz, Qualcomm MSM7225 CPU. We already know that Android
isn’t too kind on hardware, and the Sense UI doesn’t help lower the
burden on processing resources. However, 95 per cent of the time, the
Wildfire is no slouch. Web surfing is also speedy, and thanks to pinch
zooming and the sweet browser, any internet-based task doesn’t feel like
a chore. The issue of a deficient display rears its head (again)
though.




The on-screen QWERTY keypad is pretty good, despite
its rather basic look. In portrait mode, things look cramped, but thanks
to the great touch-sensitivity, typos are a rarity. In landscape mode,
the QWERTY feels the same, and despite the keys getting noticeably
spaced out, we noticed no major improvements in usability and
ergonomics. Probably, this is due to the great experience in landscape
mode - things cannot get much better, and we feel only Apple's iPhone is
better. Obviously, HTCs own larger displays will also be better, but
for a 3.2-inch screen, the Wildfire is pretty good. All in all, while an
on-screen keypad will never replace a hardware one with bevelled keys,
the Wildfire doesn’t really miss the latter, and its owner will likely
not complain, unless, you intend to use your fingernails – in which case
you can forget about usability, and will likely lament the lack of a
dedicated hardware keypad.




Performance

Thanks to a 3.5mm jack, the
Wildfire can also double as pretty decent PMP. Audio quality via
earphones is good – good clarity, nice bass and very good volume levels.
Video playback is snappy, although the display would benefit with both a
higher resolution, and a better contrast ratio. Basically, some of the
darker colours blend, while shades of grey are missed; saying this is
not exactly for the portable videophile, would be a gross
understatement. Call clarity is good per se, with a few reservations. We
didn’t have any serious issues in any of the zones, and even in zone
three, there was some continuous noise and an occasional loss of
coherence but no dropped calls. In zone two, at one point, we faced an
issue with vocals on the other line taking on a mechanical timbre, and
there was minor disturbance. Basically, most Nokia phones in this price
bracket offer better clarity, although the Wildfire hasn't got the worst
Android-based antenna we've tested.




The in-call volume using the earpiece is a little on
the low side, and this makes for some interesting times in noisy areas.
The handsfree unit offers good clarity, and more than makes up for the
deficient volume of the earpiece. We tried the camera next. First up, we
noticed that one cannot save to the inbuilt memory, making an inserted
memory card a necessity for taking photos. The camera is very
responsive, and with a five-megapixel sensor and an LED flash, for the
most we faced no nasty surprises. Colours are decent, focussing is
accurate, but slow. On default settings, with the flash off, the image
tends to be a little bright, with good details. It’s not the best
five-megapixel clicker ever to grace a cellphone, but we couldn’t
seriously nit about anything. Battery life is decent, and although while
heavy call usage, battery life trails off sharply, standby time was
pretty good. With half an hour each of calls and browsing, we got
through nearly three days on a single charge.




Conclusion

The Wildfire is good handset for
those who aren’t looking for the very best touch-screen device around.
It occupies a slot that is a couple of rungs lower than the top slew of
touch devices, but offers a lot of features for the price. Interfacing
is pretty good – something many touch-based cellphones cannot boast of.
However, we have problems with poor display - the only component that
feels like it’s built to the tightest of budgets. Priced at Rs. 16,590
(MRP), the Wildfire isn’t cheap, but it’s good value – Android 2.1, a
good touch-screen with decent hardware, and good performance. If the
lack lustre display resolution and contrast aren’t deterrents for you,
the Wildfire will satisfy.



Brand HTC
Model Wildfire
Features


Physical Specs


Form Factor Bar
2G Network Bands GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
3G Network Bands HSDPA 900 / 2100
Screen Resolution 240 x 320 pixels
Screen Size 3.2 inches
Maximum Screen colours 16 million
Touchscreen / Dual Screen (Y/N) Touchscreen
Battery Rating 1300 mAh
Dimensions (L x W x H) 106.8 x 60.4 x 12 mm
Weight 118 grams
Expandable Memory Type microSD
Hot Swappable N
Available Colours Black, Brown, White, Red
Other Features


Operating System Android 2.1
Charging via USB (Y/N) Y
Hardware Keypad (Regular/QWERTY) -
Accelerometer (For auto rotate) Y
Address Book Capacity Unlimited
No of calls in register Unlimited
Talk Time / Standby Time * 8 hrs, 20 min / 690 hrs
No of Profiles # / Customisable -
Offline Opearability (Y/N) Y
Inbuilt GPS / A-GPS support (Y / N) Y / Y
Connectivity
Browsing (GPRS/EDGE/3G) Y / Y / Y
EDGE max speed 236.6 kbps
3G max speed 7.2 mbps (HSDPA)
Connectivity (WiFi/Bluetooth/IR/USB) Y / Y / N / Y
Bluetooth Version/A2DP support Y / Y
Accessories


Bundled Accessories Charger, data cable, handsfree
Size of memory card provided -
Overall Build Quality (So 10) 7
Overall Ergonomics (So 10) 7.5
Keypad Design (So 10) 7.5
Camera Specs
Camera Resolution (Mega Pixels) 5
Video Capture Resolution VGA
Dual Cameras / Auto Focus / Flash (Y/N) Y / Y / Y
Mirror for self portrait (Y / N) N
Camera Settings (So 10) 7
Zoom (Optical/Digital) Digital
Multimedia


Music Formats supported MP3, AAC+, WAV, WMA9
Video formats supported MP4, H.263, H.264, WMV9
FM Radio (Y/N) Y
Performance


Signal Reception and Voice Clarity (So 10)


Zone 1 7.5
Zone 2 6.75
Zone 3 5.75
Device Earpiece Volume 5.25
Device Loudspeaker clarity 6.5
Handsfree Clarity 7.75
Speaker Volume (on call) 6.5
Bluetooth Transfer Speed 115 kbps
WiFi signal strength (Zone 2) 36
Captured Photo Quality (So 10)


Captured Photo Colour 6.5
Captured Photo Crispness 6.25
Captured Video Quality 5.25
Loudspeaker Audio Quality 6
Bundled Earphones Quality 7
Video Playback Quality (So 10) 4.75
Price (MRP, Rs) 16590
* Manufacturer Rated



Ratings:
Features: 7.5
Performance: 6.5
Build: 7.5
Value: 7
Overall: 7

Website: www.htc.com/inPrice: Rs. 16,590
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