HTC Wildfire review: Desire Mini

Gsmarena have posted their review of the HTC Wildfire. Here are the phone's key features, main disadvantages and their final impression.

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

You can't help we guess, but love the sound of it. Wildfire is a strong and beautiful name. The thing is it raises no less expectation than names like Legend or Hero. But we're talking entirely different leagues here. So a simple Desire mini would've told the whole story - and caused no confusion.

Or maybe it's us making it look too complicated when it isn't. There is no doubt the HTC Wildfire is aiming lower and it may as well be competitive enough. It's nearly an HTC Desire save for the screen and processing power.

They didn't even try to be creative. HTC just went on to repackage an existing product for a different target market. You can be sure the HTC Wildfire wants to play by the book and avoid complications. It comes to inherit the Magic and the Tattoo and keep the likes of Samsung Galaxy 3 at a safe distance. It can't be too hard now, can it?

Sony Ericsson already did it with the XPERIA X10 mini. This one is in the same price bracket but still waiting for its Eclair upgrade. What makes it unique is the level of miniaturization - the X10 mini is unmatched in the ultra compact class. It's worth noting too that a QVGA screen makes a lot more sense in a package so small.

The Samsung I5800 Galaxy 3 is another mid-range droid, which isn't ashamed to be seen in QVGA. It's Wide QVGA to be precise but not that big of a difference. Powered by Eclair, the Galaxy 3 is about to start shipping. Native DivX/XviD support is one thing you can sure expect in a Samsung droid. The Galaxy 3 will cost some 300 euro at launch - that's a bit more than the Wildfire.

If you are running a tight budget, a few older Droids might fit the bill. The Samsung Galaxy Spica and the HTC Tattoo are upgradable to Android v2.1 Eclair, while the LG Optimus still runs on the 1.6 Donut.

Over at the Symbian camp, the Sony Ericsson Vivaz will charge the same as the Wildfire but bring better specs, higher-res (though resistive) touchscreen and an excellent camera with 720p video. If you care about imaging, you should definitely check this one out.

So, the HTC Wildfire doesn't obviously have the Android midrange all to itself. And it will sure feel the pressure coming from other smartphone platforms too. The pedigree will certainly help but comparisons to the HTC Desire involve a certain risk too. People might focus too much on the downgrades. A QVGA TFT screen for one is no match for WVGA AMOLED.

Of course, the Wildfire is trying to come across as the budget package. But we do need to define budget here. The simple truth is an HTC phone will never beat the price of a Nokia 5800 XpressMusic. On a second thought, the Wildfire is not trying perhaps to match the record of this absolute best-seller.

The way we see it, the HTC Wildfire's biggest problem is one HTC Legend. The price difference is negligible for what you get - aluminum unibody and an HVGA AMOLED screen. It's an easy choice and unfortunately not in the Wildfire's favor. Not for now at least. The Wildfire was certainly deemed necessary as an upgrade option for the Tattoo and the Magic. But it's still to find a meaningful place in the HTC lineup.