T-Mobile - HTC Wildfire S

The HTC Wildfire S is a little, budget Android smartphone that aids complete T-Mobile's lineup. It runs Android 2.3 (Gingerbread), which merits a hallelujah, because enough of freshly handsets are still sending with the dated Android 2.2 OS, and even the dull, antiquated Android 2.1 in a few cases. No one will barter in a HTC Sensation 4G ($199, 4 stars) for this mobile telephone set, merely the Wildfire S extends close to of Android's finest apps and features at a peculiarly attracting price point ($79.99 with contract).
Design, Call Quality, and Apps

The Wildfire S appears like a lower-end, touch screen characteristic mobile phone, even whilst it is an Android smartphone. It measures 4.0 by 2.3 by 0.5 inches (HWD) and weighs a svelte 3.7 ounces. It is built completely of plastic, with the exclusion of the glass screen. It is a polish, attracting form factor that might entrap numerous purchasers based on visual aspect alone. The 3.2-inch, 320-by-480-pixel capacitive panel itself appears brightly, colourful and speedily gets flowing and precise to the touch. The Wildfire S bundles a G-sensor, digital compass, proximity sensor, and close brightness sensor, exactly comparable on all the high-end Android phones does. Typewriting on the on-screen QWERTY keyboard made up astonishingly at ease in both portrait and landscape way; mention the oversize keys (the trade-off is that they block a important portion of the screen). Dialing numbers was a bit dull, but it was not unendurable.

The Wildfire S is a quad-band EDGE (850/900/1800/1900 MHz) and dual-band HSDPA (1700/2100 MHz) device with 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi; it connected to my WPA2-encryped home electronic network without issue. Though it does not bang T-Mobile's higher speed HSPA+ network, it is all right for a lower-end device, and you will be able to use Wi-Fi for voice calls and data when at home or in the office. Call quality was barely all right; callers fathomed a bit fierce through the earphone, although as farseeing as I was standing outside and catching 3G signal, transmissions through the microphone were absolved. Reception was at a lower place fair.

Calls plumbed clear through an Aliph Jawbone Era Bluetooth headset ($129, 4 stars). Voice dialing worked all right over Bluetooth without training. The speakerphone was a dashing hopes; even at utmost loudness. Battery life was a weak spot at just 5 hours and 44 minutes of talk time in EDGE mode. This issue would have been fine for HSPA+, but it's various hours off the average survival of other Android phones on T-Mobile's 2G EDGE network.

HTC's Sense UI appears decent and abrupt, with its advanced applications, 7 customizable home screens, and full-bodied contact direction. That said, HTC went on an older, 600MHz Qualcomm MSM7227 processor to continue the cost low; luckily, the mobile phone still experienced amenable enough for almost jobs. The FriendStream app combines Facebook, Twitter, and Flicker updates on one page. DoubleTwist is also preloaded, so you acquire wireless media synchronization with iTunes playlists right come out from the box. There’s also Google Maps Navigation free of charge voice-enabled, turn-by-turn Global Positioning System guidances, and in that respect not much in the way of worthless bloatware, which is cracking. The Wildfire S bears a standard screen resolution that offers uttermost app compatibility in the Android Market, and then you as well should not bear much bother running any of the 200,000+ available third-party apps.
Multimedia, Camera, and Conclusions

HTC throws in a 2GB card to get you started. The standard-size 3.5mm headphone jack makes finding good-sounding earbuds easy. Music tracks fathomed all right through and through Samsung Modus HM6450 Bluetooth earbuds ($99, 4 stars). HTC's upgraded music player app, with its jukebox-style cover art flow, is as amusing to use as all of the time. Standalone videos played smoothly fully screen mode, but transcoding 720p HD files on the fly is a bit much as this phone. (You're fortunate making 320-by-480-pixel versions of your videos anyway, for several reasons.)

The 5-megapixel auto-focus camera comes with an LED flash and face recognition. HTC forms in some nifty camera filters and effects to attain the experience more amusing. Test photos were good for a low-end phone, although a bit off the mark for a 5-megapixel sensor, with not rather sufficiency point in out-of-door shots and a bit much granulate inside. Shutter speeds were a bit slow, directing to a few soft shots. Recorded 640-by-480-pixel videos were quite operational at 19 frames per second; the mobile phone had an over-aggressive light sensor, although, as videos went from dark black to bright illumined to a fault abruptly.

At this betoken, T-Mobile has a slew of powerful Android devices across the cost spectrum. Watch for sales; a good portion of the decision process these days is seeing where the up-front price is for each phone right at the time of purchase. The LG Optimus T ($39, 4 stars) feels a little more solidly built than the Wildfire S and has better voice quality and battery life, but it lacks the latter's Gingerbread OS and HTC's attractive Sense UI enhancements. If you have a little extra cash up front but still want a small phone, the Samsung Exhibit 4G ($99, 4 stars) is extremely tempting, thanks to its 4G HSPA+ data radio, 1GHz CPU, and sharper screen, and it even has Android 2.3. The Exhibit 4G also lacks HTC's various UI enhancements, but some users prefer that anyway.

Benchmarks
Continuous talk time: 5 hours 44 minutes (EDGE)