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 £10 extra per month for a better screen resolution and processor?

Lastly I wondered is the Desire capable of doing alot more things than the Wildfire, or does the Wildfire do all the important things a Desire can do, just at a slightly slower speed with a lower resolution?

If you could correct me on any points/expand on them/agree with them that would be great. Just finding it so hard to choose.

From what I've gathered about the phones -

Wildfire - Pros - Battery life compared to Desire
Size
Value
More pocket/palm friendly
Cons - Slower speed
Smaller Screen
Lower Resolution

I just can't decide whether after a few months of the Desire I may think, hmm I'm paying £10 extra per month just for a better screen resolution when I don't even watch many videos or play games, and perhaps I may get bored of it and then resent paying £30 for little use. Or on the other hand, getting the Wildfire and a few months down the line thinking, I could have afforded the Desire, and this phone is laggy/blocky and I'm stuck with it for 2 years. Anyone got any experience?

Thanks very much for your help and time, it's really appreciated.

mgillespie

Only you can decide. my GF has the Wildfire and she is really pleased with it. got it on a £10/month plan with T-Mobile with unlimited internet and unlimited texts.

I have a HTC Legend, and I prefer that, the screen is so much better on the Legend. The Wildfire is a GREAT BUDGET phone, the Legend and Desire are great PREMIUM phones.

As for the app store, it's less because apps are still being compiled against old (pre 1.6) SDK, as applications get recompiled, so they appear on the marketplace for Wildfire.

Shazz

Did she have to pay anything up front? Because I can only see deals for £20 a month on T mobile for the Wildfire. I mean, £10 a month is definitely worth it as that's £20 a month cheaper than the desire. I don't know if I can get it from an independant retailer online because I'd need to upgrade, not take out a new contract (I'd have to wait another 6 weeks)

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 £20 per month, a lot of money for a low-spec device. Think about it.

Last edited by fjdouse; August 18th, 2010 at 08:13 AM. Reason: major typos

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

What is it precisely about the Wildfire which will impress an iPhone user? I've come from a £30 ZTE handset on Three and iOS on a 64GB iPod Touch and I've not been wowed yet. Although the GPS stuff is interesting, I think iPhones have GPS nowadays.

I should have mentioned for the OP that the battery lasts under a day for me.

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 :P

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

Sorry should have said, the £10 a month contact on T-Mobile is with £100 upfront for the phone.

But for £10 a month you get:

a Wildfire
Unlimited Internet (3GB fair use)
100 Minutes Talk to any network
either: Unlimited texts, Unlimited Landline Calls, Unlimited T-Mobile calls.

You can change the last item as you want (only one change a month).

t3hbooth

I was browsing around for a HTC desire and recently bought one on ebay, it was £280 new in box (managed to get 10% off with a voucher making it £250) from a trusted seller.

I'm with T-mobile and for £20 for 6 months you get 1gb allowance per month, which works out at £3.33 a month. On top of that, I top up £10 a month and get unlimited texts for that month, and usually I'll skip the top up the next month and use the £10 credit. Works out a couple hundred cheaper than the contracts, I'm very impressed with the phone, definitely worth the money.

I would definitely advise the pay as you go plan on T-Mobile, and have a look around for unwanted upgrades on sites like e-bay. Never used a Wildfire so can't comment on that but if cost was an issue, hope I helped

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

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 £10 extra a month for something a wildfire could do, OR getting a wildfire and being stuck with it thinking this device is poor compared to what I could get for £10 more with a crisper screen and faster processor. Would the lower resolution grate on
me after a while? I use my iPod touch ALOT so perhaps getting a phone with a lower resolution would disappoint me? And sorry I forgot, the SLCD is better or worse than AMOLED? surely they can't advertise AMOLED but not use it?

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 £15p/m. Told them I wanted this handset for the same monthly price plus internet or I'd go to T-Mobile & they agreed. My iPhone using friend was mightily impressed with my Wildfire when he had a play with it. Battery been lasting me a day/2 days or so, bit longer if I don't do too much with it. I'm also blind as a bat/jamjar specs & have no problems reading anything on-screen. Your decision at the end of the day - do what someone suggested, go in a shop & ask to compare

Muslimahxo

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

Last edited by Muslimahxo; August 24th, 2010 at 09:20 PM. Reason: remmberd sumat lol

Muslimahxo

bump

Shazz

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

1. 24 month contract for the £10 per month deal.
2. They haven't updated it to Froyo yet.
3. The cheapest contract anywhere I have come across is that deal (£10 per month, £99 up front for the phone, 24 months. Works out as less than £15 per month overall after you have added the £99 on)
The unlimited internet comes with all android phones, and the unlimited texts is a flexible booster, otherwise its 100 texts.
4. A lot of people who prefer the legend over the wildfire do so because of the bigger screen ( i think it may be higher resolution too so more apps will be available for it ) Additionally alot of people like its aluminium unibody casing.
5. There are no deals available on the desire for £15 a month anywhere I have looked. £25 seems the cheapest, and then you have to pay a ridiculous amount for the handset: T mobile is about £380 for the desire plus a 24 month contract at £25 per month - rubbish value! I think you may be able to get it for £25 per month without the extortionate handset cost on somewhere like buymobilephones.net but i can't be certain.

P.S. To save you looking - deals on the wildfire at t mobile are:

1. £10 per month, 24 months, £99 for the phone - 100 mins 100 texts unlimited internet and a flexible booster
2. £15 per month, 24 months, £35 for the phone - 100 mins 100 texts unlimited internet and a flexible booster
3. £15 per month, 24 months, £75 for the phone - 300 mins 300 texts unlimited internet and a flexible booster
4. £15 per month, 18 months, £99 for the phone - 100 mins 100 texts unlimited internet and a flexible booster

then the other deals are £20 per month.

I am upgrading saturday and have been offered £15 per month, 300 mins, unlimited internet (1GB allowance, I thought it was meant to be 3GB but I won't use 1GB up so it's all good) and a flexible booster, which will be unlimited texts. and a free handset. Pretty good

Shazz

I'm upgrading on Saturday, T Mobile have offered me the same as you but on a £15 per month contract, with 300 mins, and a free handset, but they said the fair use policy is 1GB. I thought it was meant to be 3GB? He just kept saying you won't use 1GB and if you go over we won't charge you extra, but you are highly unlikely to go over. Is there any benefits to 3GB other than the obvious benefit of having more data allowance?

Muslimahxo

Hey thanx for all the info its clarified a lot of my queries, iv repped u or thanked u or wateva u call it lol
and ur deal is awesome! lucky u!
now theres only 1 thing i gota decide, because for the 4th option id be paying £30 more (£370) BUT id get an upgrade 6 months earlier,
whereas for the 1st option itd be £340 but a long 2 year contract lol...
so which to choose? ..whats yur opinion?

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