HTC has rocked the mobile communication world with the huge success of their high-end Hero and Desire smartphones and is a serious threat to industry giants such as Nokia, Sony Ericsson and Samsung. They are now going for the jugular with the release of their full-featured yet more affordable mobile handset, the Wildfire.

Big features in a smaller package 

The Wildfire has become very popular among mobile phone enthusiasts as well as users who want to have a taste of a high-end smartphone for the first time without breaking the bank. It will also be ideal for individuals who are looking for an Android-powered handset such as the HTC Desire but would prefer it in a more compact version and some may argue that the HTC Wildfire contracts will be more desirable than those for the Desire!

The Wildfire comes with its own unique design. Measuring 106.7 x 60.4 x 12.9 mm, the device may appear a bit shorter and wider at first glance. This difference in dimension will make it easier to distinguish the Wildfire from its taller sibling, the Desire. The device comes with the signature rounded-off corners and is immediately recognised by the distinctive metal band across its back.

Camera and graphic interface

The Wildfire has a 3.2-inch display with 240 x 320 pixel resolution. The screen is a TFT capacitive touchscreen instead of a resistive one. This feature makes it a lot more responsive to the touch and provides a much easier and more intuitive way to navigate around the different home screens. An optical trackpad at the bottom centre of the device provides an alternate means of navigating within the HTC Sense user interface.

One of the most sought-after features in today’s smartphones is the capability to take high-quality photos and the Wildfire won’t disappoint in this area. The handset is shipped with a 5 megapixel digital camera with a 2592x1944 pixels resolution which is capable of recording video as well. The camera has a range of other features which gives users the capability to shoot professional-looking photos such as autofocus, LED flash and smile detector. The HTC Wildfire also has a geo-tagging feature which records the location where a picture is taken.

Multimedia features

The handset has a pre-installed media player capable of playing both audio and video files.

The media player can play back audio in various formats such as AAC, MP3, WAV and WMA9 whilst H263, H264, MP4 and WMV9 are the playable formats for video. The Gallery feature allows the user to categorise and view all the still images and videos stored in the device.

This HTC smartphone has 512 MB ROM and 384 MB RAM on-board internal memory which can be increased to up to 32GB by adding a microSD card in the handset’s expansion slot. It also has a stereo FM radio with RDS and a standard 3.5mm headphone jack for private listening to your favourite programmes or music.

The HTC Wildfire can be considered as a high-end smartphone which carries the price tag of a mid-range mobile handset. For individuals who want to own their first smartphone or mid-range handset owners who want a device with better features, this mobile phone will certainly be the best choice. HTC are planning to release the phone on many networks including the Wildfire on Orange.