HTC Wildfire comes to Malaysia

(UPDATE 1607 15102010) We we’re informed by HTC PR that Maxis will be offering the Wildfire with a contract bundle. No details on availabiltiy and actual pricing but if our calculations are correct, a RM700 Android smartphone with a 12 months contract is a very high possibility.

When we got wind of the Wildfire, we noted:

If HTC Malaysia priced this device right, the Wildfire could very well be the device that brings Android truly to the masses, possibly the most bang-for-the-buck Android smartphone on the local market. We can’t wait to get our hands on one!

Today HTC announced that Wildfire is available in Malaysia for a very enticing RM1,199 outright (no contract).

With a generous 3.2 albeit low-res QVGA 320 x 240 screen, HSDPA 7.2Mbps, WiFi, digital compass, Bluetooth and aGPS support, there’s a lot to like about the Wildfire. There’s also a 5MP camera with LED flash and autofocus.

Processing power for the Wildfire comes in the form of a fairly decent 528Mhz Qualcomm MSM7225 processor with 384MB of RAM. The device runs Android 2.1 with HTC Sense. The Wildfire has 512MB built-in memory and it supports expansion in MicroSD format all the way up to 32GB.

Although we haven’t tried the phone ourselves, for the asking price and the specs, we really can’t find another device that can offer a good balance between price, performance, features, quality and design.

Just on those merits alone this could very well be one of the most popular Android devices in Malaysia.

It’s sad to see Maxis, Malaysia’s most device prolific telco at the moment, not offering a contract bundle for the Wildfire. If that happened, you’re probably looking at an Android smartphone for as low as RM700. For that price, this little Android device looks very attractive indeed.

Official press release and promotional videos of the HTC Wildfire after the jump.

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

Malaysia – 14 July 2010 – 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 Jack Tong, Vice President, HTC Asia Pacific. “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 social network 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.

Jack Tong 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.