HTC Wildfire review: Desire Mini

Introduction

Occasionally HTC takes a little break from high-end smartphones and dips its toes in the waters of the lower midrange. The HTC Wildfire is a down-sized, down-clocked and down-priced version of the HTC Desire. If Sony Ericsson can do it with the X10 mini, then HTC have all the right in the world to make a Desire mini too.

HTC Wildfire official photos

But while the Desire was something that easily snatched everybody’s attention, the Wildfire is a bit more toned down despite its fire-some name.

Key features

• Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE support
• 3G with 7.2 Mbps HSDPA
• Android OS v2.1 (Éclair) with Sense UI
• 3.2" capacitive touchscreen of QVGA resolution
• Multi-touch support
• Qualcomm MSM 7225 528 MHz CPU, 384 MB RAM, 512 MB ROM
• 5 megapixel auto-focus camera with LED flash and touch focus
• Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g and GPS receiver
• Accelerometer sensor for auto-rotate
• Turn-to-mute, lift-to-tone-down
• Proximity sensor
• Smart dialing
• Standard miniUSB port for charging and data
• Bluetooth with A2DP, file transfers
• microSD card slot, a 2GB card in the box
• Standard 3.5mm audio jack
• Social network integration: Facebook, Twitter and Flickr through Friend Stream
• Flash-enabled browser
• Direct access to the official Android repository
• Stereo FM radio with RDS

Main disadvantages

• Poor screen image quality, QVGA doesn’t do Android OS and the display size justice
• No video-call camera or videocalling whatsoever
• CIF@15fps video recording (352 x 288 pixels) is below par
• No voice dialing
• No DivX or XviD video support out of the box
• No TV-out port

The Wildfire is certainly the right phone for those who like to always stay in touch. The high-end connectivity is all there, along with solid social network integration and browsing. It seems the display and CPU are the only downgrades from the Desire.

But that’s still a lot. Android phones with QVGA screens have failed to impress and the size of the Wildfire’s display gives no reason to be optimistic here.

HTC Wildfire at ours

On the other hand, the Wildfire boasts the premium finish of the Nexus One and the HTC Desire. Not only is a touch of style always welcome in the lower tiers of the market but users will probably appreciate the compact size too.

So, repackaging a flagship device to sell to a wider range of customers is easier said than done, so let’s see what the Wildfire has to offer. By the way, choosing a name that’s so much catchier is a good way to start.

We’re back after the break with a spin and a closer look at the HTC Wildfire exterior.