HTC Wildfire S Review

It is typical HTC fare and there is no doubt that it is a stylish unit, but it doesn’t coze the quality we expected. There is nothing intrinsically wrong with the build, but it feels a little lightweight and a bit too plastic for our liking. The unit is compact, measuring 101.3 x 59.4 x 12.4mm, which will undoubtedly feel small in bigger hands. The compact casing is largely given over to the 3.2″ screen which has a resolution of 320×480 pixels.

A standard set of Android controls – Home, Menu , Back and Search – are neatly placed along the edge of the screen. Those with a bigger digits will still be able to hit the controls without interfering with any adjacent ones. The Wildfire is powered by a 600 MHz Snapdragon processor which is accompanied by 512MB or RAM. This is not the fastest processor you will see in a smartphone, but it’s functional rather than outstanding.

The interface is slick and intuitive and a joy to use – nice and easy for newcomers to the phone, who will feel very welcome. Movement from screen to screen is not the most responsive; there is minimal but noticeable lag. However, with continued use of the Wildfire, the user will adjust to suit.

The HTC Sense UI is one of its plus points and those familiar with HTC devices will immediately feel at home, while others will adapt very quickly to the slick interface. The Wildfire S’s 5-megapixel camera is easy to operate, but only offers average picture and video-recording quality. There is an LED flash, not always included on ‘budget’ phones, but we found this to be almost useless.

2GB of storage is typically included and the microSD slot offers plenty of expansion if needed. And finally, considering the unit’s relatively low technical demands, a fully charged battery saw its power drained pretty quickly.