My Take On: HTC Wildfire S

Specs:

Manufacturer : HTC

Carrier: T-Mobile,US Cellular

Connectivity: GSM/CDMA

Price: $249.99 w/o contract via T-Mobile

CPU: 600 MHz

Onboard Storage: 512 MB w/ Micro SD expansion slot

Pros:

• 3G
• Long battery life
• Ease of use
• Clear calls

Cons:

• Size
• Speakerphone
• Multitasking

Hardware:

The HTC Wildfire S is a solid yet small phone which is I am sure is a blessing for those that hate the increasing size of newer phones. The phone measures 3.99 inches tall and 2.34 wide.

As you can see this phone is tiny in comparison to the My Touch 4G Slide and the Samsung Galaxy S 4G. The construction of the phone is solid with easily accessible buttons on the front and sides of the device.  Many fellow Android users have complained about the “cheap” feel of their devices. HTC has done a great job in the construction of this device.

Software:

The Wildfire S runs on Gingerbread (2.3.4) with an HTC Sense overlay which some may not like but I felt worked in the overall presentation of this device. With the trademark HTC Sense widgets enabled I experienced minimal slow down of the device. I did experience some multitasking lag while listening to music and surfing the web but it wasn’t bad enough to impede the overall use of the phone.

Camera:

The Wildfire has a very solid 5 megapixel camera with a very impressive auto focus.  Close up shots look vibrant and with very little distortion. Obviously as you zoom out the picture quality deteriorates with muddy and smudged pictures. I also noticed that overly bright rooms result in super bright photos that can appear blown out. Photos taken with manual ISO settings varied in quality but improved when using the flash which was surprisingly better then I expected.

User Pictures:

Here are some test photos I took with the Wildfire S camera. As you can see the quality is quite good. Obviously we aren’t getting iPhone 4 quality here but for picture messaging and quick snapshots it is perfectly capable of doing the job.

Video:

Video format is 3GP

Call Quality:

Overall call quality was very clear and actually surprisingly louder then I expected. Bluetooth devices paired perfectly and had good sound and as well. The speakerphone on the other hand could use some improvement. The speaker volume wasn’t very strong even at max volume.  In a room with moderate noise the conversations fell apart resulting in having to hold the phone or connect to bluetooth.

Battery Life:

According to T-Mobile the estimated talktime on this phone is 6.7 hours. I managed to get 8 hours of use while getting some text messages and a few calls. I will say that user mileage may vary depending on what apps are installed. Standby time is 13 days according to T-mobile which I did not get to test.

Product Pictures:

My Take:

The HTC Wildfire S is a solid device for anyone considering trying out Android. Its size isn’t  good for those of us with big fingers since typing tends to be difficult. Call quality and a great camera were just some of the high points. I really liked the solid construction of the phone since too often we see phones that feel flimsy and cost substantially more.

Purchase Link:

Buy the HTC Wildfire S Unlocked from our Amazon store

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