HTC Wildfire Android Mobile

In the land of the Android Mobile the competition is getting fierce but HTC has always had a pretty high vantage point being the guys who made the first device and all. One of their latest devices to the hit the Indian market is the Wildfire that’s catering to the mid range segment. Here’s a closer look.

Form Factor
The device is well balanced and light weight making it easy to carry around and comfortable to use with just one hand. The 3.2-inch touchscreen sadly has a resolution of just 240 x 320 pixels (16 million colors) which tends to take a little away from the overall clarity. Nevertheless it’s not something that one would complain about as the large size with multi-touch support, the touch-sensitive controls below it and the optical trackball do help compensate a bit.A standard 3.5mm handsfree socket strategically placed at the top and so is the power/screen lock button. Volume keys are on the same side as the micro USB port for PC connectivity and charging. A microSD hot swap (2GB card included) is located just under the rear panel.

There’s absolutely nothing to dislike about the Wildfire’s neat yet slick form.

Features and Performance
Interface
Sense UI is just about the best interface there is when it comes to Android mobiles, very few will argue with that I’m sure. From the moment you start up the device you’re guided through simple steps that include setting up email and social networking accounts to the more mundane tasks to letting setting the date and time. There are plenty of handy widgets for the multiple desktops. I found the UI to be extremely sluggish the first time I used the handset even with its 528MHz processor which was very unusual. After resetting it a couple of times though, it seemed a little better but still just a tad slow when it came to auto rotating images, screens or pinch zooming. I’m attributing that to a faulty test piece, however, if any of you readers have faced the similar issues with speed please let the rest of us know.

The social networking integration with your contacts is simple and well designed. The Wildfire also comes with a Turn to Mute function for incoming calls. Another couple of very handy pre-loaded applications included were the Application Share app that allows you to transfer downloaded apps with other Android users. Then there was also the Transfer Data function that was very similar to Nokia’s version that does the same. You can connect to another device with the same feature and transfer contacts and calendar entries to this one. HTC likes making the interface as colorful and easy to manage as possible and they’ve done so with this Android 2.1 device as well.

Media
The native music player is all you’ll need although there are other options that you can avail of via the Android market. The player is loud and tones are crisp and clear. Playlists can be created on the go if you need to. The FM radio also turned to be an asset to the handset’s audio functionality. In most places the reception was good. One disappointment was with the video player. It reads only standard MPEG4 and 3GP file formats that are scaled down to a 320 x 240 pixel resolution. Still, the large display does make viewing easy on the eyes, if you’re ok with the low-res clarity of your videos. The only pre-loaded game the Wildfire comes with is Teeter that’s become a stereotype for HTC devices.