Speed limits
As for the other enhancements, the software update should be available in the next couple of months. There’s no NFC chip either, which would allow you to use Gingerbread’s wireless payments capability if and when such things ever become popular in the UK.
Status menu and Friendstream
The 600MHz processor with 512MB RAM is an improvement on the previous 528MHz model, but still dragging behind the 1GHz powerhouses running the higher end phones. As a result, it’s far from nippy, with some noticeable lag when switching between apps, browsing, downloading and playing some of the more intensive games.
However, the latest version of HTC’s rightly praised Sense interface is fully engaged, with the FriendStream social networking, People, Media Player and Weather apps all intact. There are a few little extras too, with some extra tabs in the pull-down status menu and the ability to filter your app drawer to highlight apps you’ve downloaded or recently used.
App filters: reveals most used and recently downloaded apps
As usual with HTC, the 5Mp camera offers only middling quality at best, though it does include an LED flash and autofocus. Maximum video resolution is 640x480 pixels, so no HD recording, not even of the 720p variety, though you can upload your vids direct to YouTube if you like.
Next page: Sample Shots
COMMENTS
£230 is budget?
is it just me, or are the budget smartphones going up in price, as well as spec?
Nice wee phone though...just a bit pricey for me (it would be used instead of the POS work gave me).
You should know this about it
The "S" phones have a signed bootloader which makes it currently impossible to root this phone without a hardware device to turn the security off.
Why mobile phone cameras are shitty
It takes a lot of time and experience to take a camera sensor in a mobile and make the pictures it takes look good - they are definitely not plug and play, and the inbuilt processing pipeline for images also needs to be decent.. HTC can't be arsed to do that work, (Not sure which pipeline they use, not a good one would be an appropriate guess) so the cameras are shitty, as you say.
If you want a decent camera on a phone, Nokia are really the only choice for really good - they spend a huge amount of time on their camera tuning (well,as do their subcontractors). Samsung also do quite a bit of tuning work, so some of theirs are pretty good.
It all comes down to time and money - spend the time and the money and you get a good camera, don't and you don't.
Ever wondered why Nokia phones take so long to get to market? This is just one reason, some others being much better HW design and testing, and *very* thorough software testing. I
Processor Envy
The processor is the big letdown. Its a Qualcomm MSM 7227 ARMv6 based jobbie.
That means the Wildfire S won't run Flash. Love or hate Flash, the fact remains that a *lot* of content for Android is Flash based (BBC iPlayer, for one).
