Really stuck between the HTC Wildfire and Desire... persuade me why the Wildfire is the best choice?

[Shazz]

I can upgrade my phone in 10 days time, and have decided on either the HTC Wildfire or the Desire.
I have decided on a smartphone, but really cannot decide between the two I have narrowed it down to.

- I don't ring anyone very often, or receive calls much, but send and receive a great deal of texts.
- I like to keep updated with football news, and regularly check the internet and news feeds for this. I don't watch a great deal of videos, although occasionally watch highlights from football matches but that's about it. (no movies etc - I have an ipod touch for that)

- I will also need the battery to last throughout about 18 hours as I will be at uni and when I get in will be at work for 5 hours.
I won't use the phone for heavy music use so this is not majorly important either.
- I would use the phone mostly for facebook and social networking, and uploading pictures to facebook I take on the camera.

- I also heard there are apps that don't work on the Wildfire but work on the Desire and wondered if these are important apps or just occasional ones, with the majority being available for both. I won't play games on it, as I have the ipod touch for that, too.

I also get the impression the wildfire may be better than the desire for someone with an active lifestyle - I am out and about most of the time, playing sport, and going out on the town at night. I get the impression the wildfire would be less likely to get broken or stolen for some reason when I go out?

Is the desire worth

 

[mgillespie]

Only you can decide. my GF has the Wildfire and she is really pleased with it. got it on a

 

[Shazz]

Did she have to pay anything up front? Because I can only see deals for

 

[fjdouse]

I have a Wildfire. T-Mobile wanted too much extra from me for the Desire, but, I wish I'd gone for it.

The Wildfire has an allegedly slower processor so people apparently think it's fine that it won't run games much more sophisticated than Jewels, I think that's a croc of ****, a 528MHz ARM CPU plus OpenGL ES SHOULD deliver more than it does. Someone here has already said I'm expecting too much, true, I am expecting a new faster device to work as well as an old 1st gen iPod touch in gameplaying. So for me, in this area the device lets me down.

The screen is too low for a modern device, reading text is a strain on the eyes, web pages too. Coupled with the slow browser and repeated flash-related stalls, it's not a great experience. Add into the equation the HUGE amount of software which will NOT work on the Wildfire because of the screen, to me this is the major flaw in this device. Most apps I've tried do not work, the ones that I have managed to run are not great.

Now, the Wildfire is a good phone, but it's not going to be an e-reader for me, it's not a gaming platform (flame me but iOS is, end of) for me and it cannot even replace my iPod touch.

Go to a store, get them to fire up the Wildfire and Desire. You will see the Wildfire is great, but you will outgrow it very, very fast.

Having seen what Android looks like without the HTC Sense UI, a non HTC phone is totally out of the question, the Desire looks like the best option. I am waiting for the HD version to come out though.

I AM stuck with this for two years at

 

[cheesemaster]

My deal from an indy retailer is on t-mobile - 300 mins, 300 texts, 1Gb data, 15quid per month, 0 upfront. But that is a new contract rather than an upgrade.

Price was my key factor - I moved from an ancient Samsung on pay-as-you-go where my costs were ~10quid a month. I just couldn't justify the contract costs for the high-end handsets where I'd be effectively tripling (or more) my outgoings on the phone, but an extra fiver a month for a device that gives me good (but not perfect) mobile internet, email, and even better, effectively free GPS navigation. I love it.

Regarding some of your requirements listed above...

- I am similar in that I'm not using it much for voice calls, but I do keep tabs on rugby and football scores - the Wildfire is perfect for that, although I've not tried watching highlights. Video kind of looks like youtube quality to me - watchable, but not HD by any stretch of the imagination.

- Battery life - I see ~3 days if I'm using it like a dumbphone (calls and texts only) and ~1.5 days when I use it "properly". The trick is to be a bit savvy on HOW you use it (don't set it up to sync with facebook etc every five minutes, and do you REALLY need people to know where you are with GPS level accuracy!?!?)

- Apps wise, I've found a few that don't work due to the screen res, but not loads. Quite a few don't officially support the res, so the Market doesn't find them, but you can pretty well get anything using AppBrain and FastWeb Installer

The REAL beauty of it is that you can essentially do everything on the Wildfire that you can do on the Desire etc, and that impresses your iPhone wielding mates, but at a fraction of the cost. And that REALLY impresses your iPhone wielding mates!!

 

[fjdouse]

The REAL beauty of it is that you can essentially do everything on the Wildfire that you can do on the Desire etc, and that impresses your iPhone wielding mates, but at a fraction of the cost. And that REALLY impresses your iPhone wielding mates!!

What is it precisely about the Wildfire which will impress an iPhone user? I've come from a

 

[cheesemaster]

Every iPhone user in my office is basically surprised that ANYTHING without an Apple logo on it can do any of it - decent multi-touch, multitasking, multiple home screens, app store type interface... Admittedly that says more about them than about the capabilities of the Wildfire.

I know you can do GPS on the iPhone, but it's not free a la Google Nav, is it?

 

[The Great One]

Bro - it all comes down to this. If your new to the smartphone world, the Wildfire ain't a bad choice cause I suspect that your not into the whole "smart" thing when it comes to phones. But if you've had experience with smartphones, then a Desire would be great. Especially cause you socialise a lot, the Desire would be great for taking pictures. I know that both are 5MP, but the Desire has less grainy pics and 720p HD video to be supported in FroYo (which I dont think the Wildfire will have, or perhaps I'm wrong). The internet is a lot faster on the Desire too so its great for surfing the web a lot cause your the social type

Of course, the Wildfire provides you the main features which pretty much any standard smartphone provides, and the lack of apps for the Wildfire isn't no big whup since you clearly have a dedicated iPod Touch for entertainment purposes.

Once again, Wildfire ain't better than the Desire but gets most the stuff done. You want a phone to text and socialise (Facebook, Twitter etc) - the Wildfire can do JUST that and you wont notice much of a slowdown to be honest. Battery life is pretty decent, can last for 18-36 hours (provided you make some considerable changes to the settings).

But, once again, you might as well go for the Desire cause your gonna have the phone for a long time. The Desire is gonna give you a better camera, all the apps, and quite a speedy processor so texting, socialising can be done at ease.

But I'd say go LEGEND!

 

[mgillespie]

Did she have to pay anything up front? Because I can only see deals for

 

[t3hbooth]

I was browsing around for a HTC desire and recently bought one on ebay, it was

 

[doobydoo]

Another thing to consider is the fact that the Wildfire will probably not be officially upgradeable to the next version of Android after Froyo 2.2.

If you can afford it, get the Desire. The screen is noticeably crisper and you can use the gimmicky but very cool Live Wallpapers. Do note that recent batches of the Desire may come with the SLCD screen as opposed to an AMOLED screen, which some people say is superior. Speed is faster although I must say that the Wildfire is no slouch.

I couldn't justify the extra cost of a Desire in my country so it's the Wildfire for me. But heck, if you want all the extra goodies, why stop at a Desire? The Samsung Galaxy S has an outrageous screen and is currently the best-selling model here.

 

[Shazz]

If you can afford it, get the Desire. The screen is noticeably crisper and you can use the gimmicky but very cool Live Wallpapers. Do note that recent batches of the Desire may come with the SLCD screen as opposed to an AMOLED screen, which some people say is superior
.

do you think the novelty of live wallpapers will wear off after a few months? And is the desire a lot more customisable than the wildfire? Still not decided I just keep worrying I'll get the desire then resent paying

 

[stinkypete]

I got my Wildfire a couple of weeks ago & can't put it down. I'm like you, don't ring many folk, but send texts. I check footy scores & the news. Apps wise, I've downloaded a few so far, just games to amuse me when I'm bored so nothing serious. Coming from an "ordinary" slider Nokia means anything this fone can do is awesome to me. It's impressed me so far. Was worried it'd be too big for my pocket but it fits fine, sits nice in my hand too. I've been with Vodafone for a while paying

 

[Muslimahxo]

Sorry should have said, the

 

[Muslimahxo]

bump

 

[Shazz]

Hey how longs yur contract? 24/18? and have tmobile updated the wildfire to froyo yet and is the phone branded to tmobile?
and is it the cheapest contract youve come across?
also the last item is a flexible booster right?
and why dyu prefer the legend over the wildfire?
and are there any contracts this cheap for the desire or like for 15 a month?
sorry for all the questions

I thought I'd reply as I've been doing my fair share of research

1. 24 month contract for the

 

[Shazz]

Sorry should have said, the

 

[Muslimahxo]

I thought I'd reply as I've been doing my fair share of research

1. 24 month contract for the

 

[jessie88]

you should definetly get the desireits better for everything internet photos chatting back and forth with texts because its quicker you should pay that ten extra a month if you are a right social butterfly photos are important for facebook to you as you said so the desire does better pictures so that would be better for you as well for that reason
hope i helped