HTC has freshen up its Android lineup for this year with the HTC Desire S and HTC Wildfire S. This replaces its previous HTC Desire and HTC Wildfire were the key drivers of Android for HTC last year. For the new product update, it is funny HTC decided to add “S” behind the model names which sounds similar to its Korean rival Samsung.
Naming aside, let’s see what has HTC improve and let’s see if the latest Desire and Wildfire has what it takes to continue the momentum generated last year.
HTC Desire S
According to HTC, the Desire S is an evolution of its original HTC Desire but the changes isn’t really that groundbreaking. For the Desire S, the device is now made slimmer and features a single piece unibody design for better strength. When compared to its older Desire, the reduction of size is barely noticeable with 0.27mm difference in thickness, 0.2mm in width and 4mm in height. In terms of weight, the Desire S weighs 130 grams which is 5 grams lighter than its previous model. It runs on a newer Qualcomm 1GHz MSM8255 processor backed with 1.1GB of storage and 768MB of RAM. As expected, it runs on Android 2.3 Gingerbread with HTC Sense on top.
On the front, the screen is still 3.7″ with the same 800×480 resolution but it uses Super LCD instead of AMOLED. Considering most new Android devices have a front facing camera, the Desire S now comes with one too albeit in VGA resolution. At the back, the Desire S comes with a 5MP camera which does 720p HD video recording. After looking at the specs, we felt that the Desire S isn’t as groundbreaking as its predecessor and we we’re actually expecting a better screen and probably a dual-core processor inside. One reason is due to its positioning as a mid-range phone, below its gigantic Desire HD. Previously HTC Legend and HTC Aria used to fill this segment.
With the likes of Samsung Galaxy S II, Motorola Atrix 4G and LG Optimus 2X around, it would be very unlikely for HTC to settle for less. Let’s hope HTC has a big surprise coming up that will bring them back to the high-end game.
Check out the official specs of the Desire S here.
HTC Wildfire S
The HTC Wildfire which we reviewed earlier was a cheap and cheerful Android device which we kinda like except for its low resolution screen. During that time, the Wildfire was a bargain device before the appearance of other cheaper alternatives from Samsung, LG and Huawei. So for this year, the new Wildfire S has finally grown up a little and puts it on par on the likes of HTC Legend/Aria with a 3.2″ display capable of displaying 320×480 and a slightly faster 600MHz processor. In terms of RAM, it is also being bumped up to 512MB from its previous 384MB. Just like the Desire S, it also runs on Android 2.3 Gingerbread with HTC Sense.
It is slightly lighter at 105 grams vs the Wildfire’s 118 grams. In terms of dimensions, the Wildfire S is shorter at 101.3mm compared to its older 106.75mm. However the the thickness is slightly more on the new model at 12.4mm vs 12.19mm.
You can check out the full specs of the Wildfire S here.
