In our lastest June Flashback, we harp back to a time when I was the happy owner of an HTC Wildfire. I remember I didn't stay happy for long...
From April 2011: Ahh shiny new phones, they're fun to play with aren't they? When a
new piece of mobile phone technology lands in my lap, before my previous
model has a chance to play its final ringtone, it's switched off, sim
card removed and thrown into the back of the cupboard (usually because I
can't wait to get rid of the old dinosaur). Then I spend the next two
days with my new prize, pressing each button and option to death: to
make sure a) it works and b) I know how to fix it when it doesn't.
My latest acquisition? The HTC Wildfire.
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| Oh dear.. |
With
6 months before my current contract ran out, the nice manager at the
phone shop gave me one to try until I upgraded. Why? Because he couldn't
beleive my Samsung F480 was still going strong. In fact his words were
something along the lines of 'Get rid of that f****** heap of s*** and
try this instead.' Normally one for the pre-paid crowd, it works fine
with contracts and looks a lot newer, shinier and even smells better
than what it replaced:
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| Thank god for smartphones nowadays.. |
So
until my current contract is up, it's HTC Wildfire all the way (trying
not to scratch it on the way as I'll pass it to my better half when I'm
done). And after a week of dialing, smsing, Haytelling (never tried the
app Haytel? Grab it - it's free and awesome), downloading, customizing
and just about everything else I could do it, here's the lowdown.
The good:
Budget entry level smart phone with Android? It sure is. And it makes
you quite happy to show off what apps you have, what you can do and
prove that you don't have to spend a motza to get a phone with plenty of
bits to play around with. Very easy to surf around and if you get
stuck, just hit the home button and you're back to the starting screen.
The touch pads are the right sensitivity, you don't have to squint to
read the screen and it's quite comfy to hold. Callers sound good,
alarms work well and while the qwerty style sms does take a while to get
used to (for a guy like me) but is easy to adapt to. Range is also
pretty good - i haven't found a place where I can't call out of yet.
The bad: When
trying to customize this phone with your own alarms, tones, whatever,
it's like owning a foreign car and hoping that someone knows what you're
talking about when you take it to a mechanic. It can be done but not
without some work and a trip to Google to find out how. Luckily plenty
of people have worked it out but it'd be nice if there was drag and drop
options instead of writing new pathways on the memory card and lots of
fiddling around on a computer.
Depending on the size of your fingers, you will hit the wrong letter. A lot. This gets annoying quickly.
The ugly:
The HTC Wildfire has the battery longevity of a cold crisp beer at an
AA meeting. Just me writing that sentence has resulted in it chewing
through more of its power supply and it's currently in my pocket
remaining quiet. Calling, gaming, surfing, application, anything at all
really and it runs out of puff more than an asthmatic marathoner. This
of course does not bode well when your fiance has just downloaded Angry
Birds on it and wonders why she can't play it all afternoon.
On
top of that is it's non call service - or rather the struggles it has
with them. Trying to send a picture to my own email address resulted in
having to work out 3 different workarounds to finally get the picture on
Facebook and none of them involved a simple process. My twitter feed
updated once...in three days. To actually get it to refresh, I had to
delete my profile address out of the phone and start all over again.
Some apps refresh, some don't. When apps work, they're great - when they
don't, it's a big hassle.
And a lot of users are complaining
about the software that comes with it that syncs your Wildfire to
Outlook at the like - the problem is that namely: it doesn't work. Or
works partly. Or fully for the first time and then grinds to a halt
straight after...
Overall: If it lasted longer
than a day (sometimes not even that), did everything it was supposed to
when it was supposed to and was easier to customize, it'd be brilliant.
Sadly with the hiccups that it comes packaged with, it drops from
brilliant to 'good'. As a budget level smart phone it's a nice entry,
provided you use it lightly and don't have to rely on it too often...
6/10
(Score in 2014? Now 1/10/..)
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