HTC Wildfire priced by T-Mobile, coming to UK on June 14
By Vlad Savov 
posted May 19th 2010 5:11AM
posted May 19th 2010 5:11AM
Talk on the Wild Side
T-Mobile to offer HTC Wildfire
London, 18th May, 2010 – T-Mobile today announced that the recently launched HTC Wildfire will join its Android portfolio in UK stores and online from 14th June. The new handset, a slimmed-down version of the popular HTC Desire smartphone, will be available from £20 a month.
The HTC Wildfire is the first handset in the T-Mobile portfolio to feature the App Sharing program which allows customers to share their favourite Android apps with friends. The feature lets users send links of the apps they love for their friends with Android-powered smartphones to download. With thousands of apps in the Android Marketplace, this makes it easy to share and collect the best apps out there, using email, text or Twitter.
The HTC Wildfire, designed with social networkers in mind, comes with 'Friend Stream', an app designed to help customers stay connected with friends and family. Friend Stream brings together your friends' latest Facebook, Twitter and Flickr updates on one screen, so busy socialites can quickly get a snapshot of what their friends are up to. Plus the handset boasts an easy-to-use optical mouse, and comes completed with a 3.2 inch touchscreen, 5 megapixel camera, MP3 player and radio.
Nicola Shenton, Head of Handset and Device Marketing at T-Mobile UK said: "The HTC Wildfire is a great addition to our Android portfolio, offering customers an affordable way to get their hands on an Android-based smartphone. The HTC Wildfire is perfect for those who love social networking, and with App Sharing its even easier for customers to share their favourite apps with their friends, so they can have even more fun with Android marketplace."
HTC Wildfire Vital Statistics
- App Sharing application for sharing Android apps with friends
- Friend Stream, to bring social networking updates together in one screen
- 5 Mega pixel camera
- 3.2 inch touchscreen
- Preloaded with Facebook, Twitter and Flickr applications
- MS Active Sync for easy synching with work and personal email
- HSDPA for high-speed web-browsing on T-Mobile's super-fast internet on your phone
- MP3 player and radio
- Optical mouse navigation
- Android operating software 2.1
- Weight: 118g
o look, another generic looking lame android phone
whats new
@account5 You're a MS troll that's been banned about 8 times under various hilarious names like InternetExplorer, Natal, WP7S, googlesucks, ipadkilla, etc..
Oh never mind that's old.
@account5
You just LOVE oblivion don't you?
@account5
Here's a hint, champ; don't buy it. plenty of other folks will.
And on that note, I don't see an unlocked price.. yet. I really want this as my backup device so long as the unlocked version isn't skyhigh.. sigh.. methinks it might be.
@Level 5
Here are some prices for HTC phones unlocked. If you assume this handset is around the Tatoo range of power is safe to put it in that region. Bit pricey for a "back-up" I think. When I think back-up I think, OK, I'll not have ALL the features of my main phone. This phone would still give you all the features of your main phone, albeit slower.
@Level 5 Seems to be about £250 sim-free. Will probably drop to nearer £200 a couple of months after release though.
@Malcolm
Really? That's an awful lot for what's supposed to be a budget handset. Sigh.. I shall again scour EBay for a Magic or Hero.
@Level 5 That's certainly the current pre-order price at Expansys:
http://www.expansys.com/d.aspx?i=200153
Previous experience suggests that their pricing is fairly competitive.
@account5 you do know that HTC makes windows phones as well right? They will be releasing a launch device that will look similar to the EVO and HD2? As someone who defends MSFT like a rabid monkey how could you possibly bring yourself to bash HTC who has been MSFT's main device partner for a long time
2 years is a long time to stick with a phone when most manufacturers pump new models out every 3 to 6 months
@Wiggy Fuzz
Do you really have to have the latest model as soon as they're released? Most people I know still have handsets from 2 or 3 years ago. If you had the first gen iPhone and were just the average user what would you be REALLY missing out on if you still had it today 3 years later? I only just moved to a HTC Desire from a Nokia N95 I had for 2 years.
@Wiggy Fuzz
Most networks sell sim-only contracts that typically work out about £5-£10 a month cheaper if you'd rather buy your handset elsewhere.
@Tes
Having a gadget for more than 4 months while new ones have come out that are 0.2% faster with 1.5% more RAM and 2.63% more pixels?!?!?!?
That's madness!!
How can I live with a phone that is older than the milk in my fridge?! How else can I quantify my self-worth? ...Or brag about my eWang?
Having the absolute latest and greatest piece of silicon and plastic is the only way I can justify my existence. It is less a "want" than it is a god-given need!
/s
@Hazdaz
LOL...exactly!
But maybe we're being unfair Hazdaz...I mean, the natural audience of a tech blog, including us, are the types to drool over the latest tech, no matter how tiny the improvement (see yesterdays AMAZING announcement the 13 inch MacBook would receive a minor spec bump...I came!)
@Wiggy Fuzz "3 to 6 months"
Your joking right. I love HTC, they come out with a new handset at least once a day :-)
@Wiggy Fuzz
I had my last phone nearly 5 years as only this year have they gotten to the point where they're actually viable to be more than just a phone to me.
@Tes
It's one thing to enjoy reading about the latest advances - no matter now minor - and keeping up with technology... it's a whole other thing to actually act on those marketing induced impulses without thought or reason.
I think we all know idiots out there that absolutely MUST HAVE the latest and greatest widget no matter how much it costs them... they always find some lame reason to justify their purchase, even if it ends up putting them in the poorhouse (whether they realize it or not).
In many ways, I find the endless upgrade cycle rather disgusting. Few things that I hate more than blatant materialism. But on the other hand I look at it this way - let the foolish first-adopters fund these company's R&D and Marketing budgets, which then lets me buy that same technology 6 months later for 1/2 the price.
@Tes
I dont need a new handset every 3 months, after all ive had my E71 for 18mths, but if a better handset comes out i want it now, not in 18 months time.
30 day contracts ftw.
is it only me but i think every HTC looks very similar to another...
@yauchildchew
Brand identity much?
@etwashoo2 so its a dilemma; whether to have the same best thing as everyone to be known as part of the trend or to have different best thing to be different...
@etwashoo2
Im a marketing professional, you are one hundred percent wrong. First, you dont know grammar. Whats the point of the word "much" there?
Second, you dont know what "brand identity" is. This looks EXACTLY the same as a nexus one, which is a tired look. HTC has made hundreds different phone designs in their existence, and this one looks like the ugly brick called the nexus one.
@account5
I have to disagree with you on this one one. Brand identity is very important, look at the entire range of Mercedes vehicles, they all have some characteristics that are exactly the same across most, if not all their vehicles. For example their logo in the front of the girl, is pretty much identical, you can tell a Mercedes just from the way it looks, the way it is shaped, etc.
Here is the Wildfire that is very similar to the Desire, the Nexus One. They've maintained a consistent look, which IMO is very nice and sleek. It is quite difficult to make a 3-tone phone look good, and HTC have made it look classy. It looks heaps better than the Tattoo.
The HTC Desire was 17 GBP with 100 minutes or texts + unlimited internet on 3 UK (phone was free with this contract)
They no longer seem to offer it now.. shame... was practically a steal
@TRLKOR
was it a 19 year contract though? :p
@TRLKOR I got my Desire with T-Mobile for £10 a month (24 months) with 100 mins, unlimited texts and unlimited data, and paid £164 up front. I've just checked the website and they aren't offering it any more - seems their lowest price is now £25 per month, and £380 up front! I wonder if someone at T-Mobile HQ realised they weren't being extortionate enough.
How can you judge the financial commitment when you don't know what it includes?
@etwashoo2
Exactly. Over 2 years that's £480. How much would you expect to pay for a mid range smartphone with no contract? Around the £250 range? I know the Desire / Nexus One / Droid-Milestone are around £400+
It's as if no one expects to pay for actually making phone calls, sending messages or surfing the net. Realisticly, without a phone, what would people pay for unlimited internet and voice minutes a month?
@Tes
£20 pm.
For the same price, you can get a Legend on Vodafone.
@sockatume
T-Mobile's £20 plans give you 600 voice minutes and unlimited texts, Vodafone's £20 plans give you 100 minutes and 500 texts. It's not like for like.
@Tes Sure, and if you're the kind of person who needs that many minutes and texts it makes it a good deal, but it's still a very high minimum monthly cost for such a low-spec handset.
@sockatume
But that's the point isn't it? I needed the most powerful handset because to be fair I don't really spend much time talking, but I do use apps and surf the net. This is most likely aimed at the tweens and teens who DO spend a long time chatting away. and can also Facebook and Myspace away too.
@Tes I'm not sure that those users will be able or willing to sign up for £20/24 or £25/18, though. It's kind of an obstacle. If this was also available PAYG, I'd be more convinced.
@sockatume
Phones like this are pretty useless on PAYG plans. What would be the point in all that connectivity without data?
I think we're all going to have to accept that our demand that data now be thrown in basically for free is unrealistic. I used to pay around £20 for just voice and texts before all the smart phones craze took hold...is it really reasonable to say that the carriers should ignore the increased move towards using up more and more bandwidth surfing the net, updating Twitter and Facebook and sending email?
For an example checkout this site. http://www.simonlycontracts.co.uk/
the prices are pretty much in line with what you pay even after they throw in a phone for free. You're not going to get 500+ minutes and data for less than £20.
@Tes
You can get data on payg too.. I pay £30pm for 350/300/ unlimited landline and 10gb data on payg.
@dansus
So in fact you pay MORE than the contract price. So financially contracts make sense to those who can't afford the extra for the flexibility.
@Tes Although I'm still convinced that it'd do much better PAYG or on an even cheaper tarriff, I'll concede the point. It's not as illogical a price point as I make out, and it's likely to become more attractive as time passes and the handset goes down in cost, and gets the 2.2 update.
I have got to agree to a point with account5 here, everybody seems to be making the same Android phone here and there isn't exactly much going on innovation wise on the mid-range Android based phones.
Also, like others have mentioned you have to look at the bigger picture cost wise. £20 doesn't just pay for the phone but data, txt's and calls (and probably used in that order by the target audience) too.
@CEELCR
To be fair to all the manufacturers...what's left? We can run multiple apps...we can interact with our online services and social networks...we can take photos...upload them...we can cut and paste...we can send emails and mms messages...we can play music and movies.
Even Apple is struggling to "innovate". It's all become a rush for faster processors and faster network speeds but the same on phone content.
The only place left really is battery life. I want to see longer stronger batteries in the same form factor.
@CEELCR yes that is for the contract payments . but those payments you are already making for the contract you have
problem with this phone is its QVGA. Have fun running like...5 apps in the market that care about that screen res...
Its a shame, cuz other then that its a great looking budget phone.
Damn I was hopping this would have been available for about £150 on Pay as You Go on T-Mobile like the T-Mobile pluse was.
I can imagine a lot of non-nerds who want the smartphone experience going for this. The people who wouldn't know a snapdragon if it burnt their house down. It's only a little over half the monthly cost of a top tier phone with 90% of the functionality. I do wonder what/who the HTC Legend is supposed to be for though.
For my money in the UK right now I'd rather spend £25 a month and get a free HTC Desire with 3... That includes unlimited data and texts, and makes me regret my N97 contract more and more...
@JayTBennett Exactly what I was thinking. There's a £20/month contract with 300 mins + texts and unlimited data, and the phone comes for free.
you gotta love htc
hey HTC, intstead of making 100 phones how about focusing on a few? Good phones, but theres always a little something that makes the hardware seem cheap.
@bobcobb
Pst...hay...keep your voice down so no one hears. I have secret. It seems cheap because...it's a BUDGET handset. Pass it on.
that phone is sexy to bad I'm in USA