The HTC Wildfire S isn't exactly a cheap phone, either. Currently on sale for around £220 through the SIM-free retailers, there are now plenty of extremely capable Android-powered phones out there for less money – such as the Samsung Galaxy Ace or LG Optimus One.
It's going to be a bloody fight, this.
Design
HTC has refreshed the design substantially, giving the Wildfire S the same workmanlike black and chrome look as seen in the excellent HTC Desire S.
There are no physical buttons on the front of the phone, with HTC opting for four capacitive touch-buttons. These are your standard Android Home, Menu, Back and Search options. They're responsive, plus HTC has put in a little vibration feedback to reassure your brain that your finger did indeed just hit the right spot.
HTC has removed the optical trackpad, which has allowed it to make the Widlfire S a little shorter than last year's model. It's a very tiny phone and also manages to be lighter – 105g versus the original's 118g.
The 3.2-inch screen runs at 320x480 resolution, so obviously isn't going to be as sharp as displays found on more expensive phones. But it is pleasingly solid, nice and glassy and responsive to even the lightest of touches.
Given that the old HTC Wildfire had a screen outputting at a shameful 240x320, this is still a big step up. It's not particularly sharp, mind – there's a noticeable mesh over everything if you look closely.
Feel
Round the back is your classic HTC moulded rubber cover, which is grippy and feels pretty solid. There's also the 5MP camera lens and, thankfully, an LED flash.
There's a proximity sensor in the front case, allowing the Wildfire S to dim the screen when you press it to your ear. But there's no front-facing camera here.
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GENERAL | GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 | |
HSDPA 850 / 900 / 1900 / 2100 | ||
LTE (regional) | ||
2012, May | ||
Available. Released 2012, May |
BODY | 136.6 x 70.6 x 8.6 mm | |
133 g | ||
- Touch-sensitive controls |
DISPLAY | Super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors | |
720 x 1280 pixels, 4.8 inches (~306 ppi pixel density) | ||
Yes | ||
Corning Gorilla Glass 2 | ||
- TouchWiz UI v4.0 |
SOUND | Vibration; MP3, WAV ringtones | |
Yes | ||
Yes |
MEMORY | microSD, up to 64 GB | |
16/32/64 GB storage, 1 GB RAM |
DATA | Class 12 (4+1/3+2/2+3/1+4 slots), 32 - 48 kbps | |
Class 12 | ||
HSDPA, 21 Mbps; HSUPA, 5.76 Mbps | ||
Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, DLNA, Wi-Fi Direct, Wi-Fi hotspot | ||
Yes, v4.0 with A2DP, EDR | ||
Yes | ||
Yes, microUSB v2.0 (MHL), USB On-the-go |
CAMERA | ||
Simultaneous HD video and image recording, geo-tagging, touch focus, face and smile detection, image stabilization | ||
Yes, 1.9 MP, 720p@30fps |
FEATURES | Android OS, v4.0.4 (Ice Cream Sandwich) | |
Exynos 4212 Quad | ||
Quad-core 1.4 GHz Cortex-A9 | ||
Mali-400MP | ||
Accelerometer, gyro, RGB sensor, proximity, compass, barometer | ||
SMS(threaded view), MMS, Email, Push Mail, IM, RSS | ||
HTML, Adobe Flash | ||
Stereo FM radio with RDS | ||
Yes, with A-GPS support and GLONASS | ||
Yes, via Java MIDP emulator | ||
Pebble blue, Marble white | ||
- MicroSIM card support only - S-Voice natural language commands and dictation - Smart Stay eye tracking - Dropbox (50 GB storage) - Active noise cancellation with dedicated mic - TV-out (via MHL A/V link) - SNS integration - MP4/DivX/XviD/WMV/H.264/H.263 player - MP3/WAV/eAAC+/AC3/FLAC player - Organizer - Image/video editor - Document editor (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, PDF) - Google Search, Maps, Gmail, YouTube, Calendar, Google Talk, Picasa integration - Voice memo/dial/commands - Predictive text input (Swype) |
BATTERY | Standard battery, Li-Ion 2100 mAh | |
Up to 590 h (2G) / Up to 790 h (3G) | ||
Up to 21 h 40 min (2G) / Up to 11 h 40 min (3G) |
MISC | 0.55 W/kg (head) 1.49 W/kg (body) | |
0.21 W/kg (head) | ||
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TESTS | ||
