HTC Unveils Android 2.1-Based Wildfire Smartphone

Who could have seen this coming? HTC, the maker of the Nexus One and about 500 other smartphones, has introduced yet another smartphone. Crazy! We're kidding, but HTC really are breaking out more smartphones than the average human can keep count of, and the Wildfire is just the latest in what feels like a never-ending string of new devices. Just as soon as one new HTC hits the market, another one comes along to make you wonder if you should have waited.


In this case however, the Wildfire isn't a new top dog. Instead, it's a mid-range smartphone that could eventually sell for under $100 on contract in the States, joining phones like the LG Ally in the new sub-$100 sector, while phones like the Droid Incredible launch at the $199-on-contract price point. But calling this phone mid-range is somewhat of a disservice. There's plenty on the Wildfire to love and appreciate, with Android 2.1 onboard, HTC's Sense user interface, a 525MHz Qualcomm MSM7225 processor, 3.2" QVGA touch display, Bluetooth v2.1, a 5MP camera, 802.11b/g Wi-Fi, GPS/A-GPS, 512MB of Flash emory, 384MB of RAM, 3.5mm headphone jack, and a microSD slot.

The Wildfire (great name, don't you think?) is expected to catch fire and spread like crazy in Europe/Asia later this year, though we suspect it will eventually make its way to America as well.

KEEP YOUR FRIENDS CLOSE WITH HTC WILDFIRE
Share apps, updates and experiences with the latest social powerhouse from HTC

LONDON – 18 May, 2010, 07.00 CEST – HTC Corporation, a global designer of smartphones, today introduced HTC Wildfire™, a new HTC Sense-based Android phone that integrates the most popular social networks to help bring your friends closer to you. HTC Wildfire closely follows the success of the acclaimed HTC Desire and makes the company's signature HTC Sense experience accessible to a younger audience.

"Today's social networks provide an essential forum for friendship with more than 400 million users* – many of whom are young adults – actively sharing their lives with their friends through Facebook," said Florian Seiche, Vice President, HTC EMEA. "HTC Wildfire makes the HTC Sense experience available to young mobile users for the first time. It brings all your communications into one place, whether it's through Facebook, Twitter, text messages, images or email, ensuring that you are never far away from the conversation and always close to your friends."

HTC Wildfire helps you stay connected with those who are most important to you through HTC Sense, a user experience focused on putting people at the centre by making phones work in a more simple and natural way. You won't miss out on the fun as HTC's Friend Stream application seamlessly gathers and displays content from social networks like Facebook, Twitter, and Flickr into one organised stream of updates. HTC Wildfire enables you to stay up to date with your friends' posts, comments, alerts and photos, wherever you are.

In addition, each contact viewed in HTC Wildfire's address book includes a thread of recent communications with that person, including when you last spoke, recent text messages and emails, and social network updates. When your friend calls, HTC Caller ID displays their Facebook profile photo and latest update, as well as a reminder if their birthday is fast approaching.

Thanks to a new app sharing widget, HTC Wildfire enables you to recommend an application by email, text message or over social networks. Your friends will receive a link allowing them to find the application on the Android Market with a single click and download it to their phone.

Florian Seiche continued, "We understand that people need a better way to navigate their way through the tens of thousands of applications that are currently available on the Android Market. In fact, our own independent research found that consumers are not only hungry for the latest and most popular applications that their friends are using, they want an easier way to find and download them. For the first time ever, you can recommend the newest and coolest apps to a friend or group of friends with HTC Wildfire. With so many applications to choose from, there's a world of content to discover and pass along to your friends."

HTC's latest advanced smartphone is great for viewing and sharing photos on Flickr and for surfing the internet thanks to its 3.2-inch capacitive touch screen. A five-megapixel camera with auto focus and LED flash allows you to capture special moments, while a 3.5mm audio jack and micro SD card slot mean you are never without your favourite songs.

Availability
The new HTC Wildfire will be broadly available to customers across major European and Asian markets from Q3 2010.