The HTC Wildfire, the latest HTC Android handset, launched today exclusively on Telstra for the bargain basement price of $349 outright on prepaid. Could this be the best cheap phone on the market?
Running Android 2.1, the Wildfire comes with all the standard HTC additions to Android like Sense UI, flash support in the browser and the ability to share apps with friends. It also comes with Swype, the fantastic text input method, which should help type those letters on the edge of the keyboard.
The Telstra exclusive deal ends on November 15, so it’s a fairly substantial period of time you’ll have to go to Telstra to get the phone. Like the Desire before it, the Wildfire will come pre-loaded with BigPond apps you won’t be able to delete permanently from the phone, but for $349, can you really complain?
[Telstra]
matt
Tuesday, August 10, 2010 at 4:18 PM320×240 screen, a cpu that looks equivalent to the iphone 3G. maybe more the ipod touch G2, but it has an openGL2.0 video chip. 384 meg of ram !
sure beats my graphics calculator anyway.
pretty good for the price.
tempting…
are there good prepaid data plans to go with it?
BM-dog
Tuesday, August 10, 2010 at 5:14 PMTelstra has prepaid data packs but they’re lavishly overpriced: http://www.telstra.com.au/mobile/prepaid/pluspacks.html
matt
Tuesday, August 10, 2010 at 6:01 PM“data expires after 30 days”
lol!
PASS.
it does beg the question…
WHO THE HELL IS GOING TO BUY THE FIRST BUDGET SMART PHONE ON AUSTRALIA’S MOST EXPENSIVE NETWORK!?
Lukian
Tuesday, August 17, 2010 at 4:30 PMPretty sure Telstra phones are sold unlocked. So $349 isn’t that too big a leap from importing.
Bobtvewsf
Tuesday, August 10, 2010 at 5:41 PM“for $349, can you really complain?”
……yes. I’ll buy it but wont buy from Telstra. Hopefully people play it smart and just buy from overseas rather than have to put up with all the rubbish that Telstra will put on the handset.
Dont give them your money guys.
Chris Guerin
Tuesday, August 10, 2010 at 6:05 PMWould you care to recommend some places of interest?
Kuujiryo
Tuesday, August 10, 2010 at 8:21 PMHaving the HTC Desire from Telstra myself, I can admit that while there is a fair bit of crap from Telstra on it, it’s easy to ignore with the use of customizable home screens.
I hardly feel that should be a factor in not buying an Android phone from Telstra, but then again I wouldn’t recommend putting a phone like that on prepaid, especially if you’re looking at going online with it. If anyone were to go with Telstra in the first place, the $49 cap with the Desire at $0 upfront is a better option if you want at least a little data included.
Lukian
Tuesday, August 17, 2010 at 4:29 PMWell it certainly doesn’t affect buying an ANDROID phone from Telstra. If you have no need for all those extra apps or the various unmetered services of Telstra – rooting/jailbreaking an android phone, especially the HTC Desire is risk-free. Not only that, but you can upgrade to Android 2.2 which is at least 3x faster, instead of waiting for the Telstra release.
Joshua
Tuesday, August 10, 2010 at 5:53 PMunder $300 AU on clove. unlocked. end. of. story
Chris Guerin
Tuesday, August 10, 2010 at 6:00 PMLooks like a great deal to me!
I need something to replace my Sony Ericsson W610i that doesn’t start with the letter i.
BTW, can you flash the ROM to run a different version of Android on it?
Ash
Tuesday, August 10, 2010 at 11:39 PMI was thinking that myself after my wife’s G1 died after 18months (and mine is still going :p ) but if I could flash a rom onto this would be ideal, I’m running Cyanogenmod on my G1 atm
dave
Tuesday, August 10, 2010 at 6:32 PMNick, are you aware if they are releasing the Wildfire with Android 2.1 or 2.2?
Nick Broughall
Tuesday, August 10, 2010 at 9:34 PMIt’ll be with 2.1
Namarrgon
Tuesday, August 10, 2010 at 7:21 PMFor that price range, I’d probably be looking at the Samsung Galaxy Spica – faster CPU, twice the resolution, and DivX support.
Only thing is, it’s not widely available locally yet, though mobicity are selling it for $329.
Stefan
Tuesday, August 10, 2010 at 7:45 PMIf it comes out on virgin ill get it :D
David Anderton
Wednesday, August 11, 2010 at 2:59 AMwhat you said
victor
Monday, September 6, 2010 at 10:40 PMSame. love virgin
Gary
Tuesday, August 10, 2010 at 7:48 PMHow can they justify charging the same post paid rate for the wildfire as the desire? At the same rate why wouldn’t you just go for the Desire….Typical Telstra money grab.
Matt
Wednesday, August 11, 2010 at 7:13 AMThis wont work on fully optus 3g if unlocked. You would need to buy the 900Mhz, 2100Mhz UTMS model from online if you want to use optus based networks. i.e. other than 850Mhz
coder
Wednesday, August 11, 2010 at 10:14 AM2.1 (eclair) does NOT support flash in the native browser.
gurgle
Wednesday, September 15, 2010 at 1:15 PMbut 2.1 WITH HTC’s sense UI does from what I’ve read…
coder
Wednesday, August 11, 2010 at 10:21 AMSwype can be downloaded free from Android Marketplace, so not a selling point.
Its really, really bad for people to share Apps because only when you dowload from Android Marketplace can you rate/comment/report bugs/get updates. Otherwise you are out of the developer-loop and not actually helping the scene!
coder
Wednesday, August 11, 2010 at 2:16 PMNot available until Aug 24th, according to Telstras big store in melbourne CBD…sigh
Geoff
Thursday, August 26, 2010 at 12:24 AMSo much for the $349 price tag for the Wildfire! According to Telstra’s web site it’s well over $400! Greedy so and so’s.
wildfirer
Wednesday, September 1, 2010 at 3:29 AMI have just been told by my local Fone Zone store that they are charging over $500 for the Wildfire outright (I heard the “5″ and couldn’t pay attention to the 5 hundred and something… wow). They are getting more in locked to Telstra (pre-paid) in the next week, which we can expect to cost $349 as advertised. Anyone know how much it costs to unlock a HTC phone on Telstra?
Hellwig
Wednesday, September 1, 2010 at 2:29 PMUnlocked wildfire $480 from Telstra. Got one for work yesterday. It’s actually a nice little phone compared to the N81 I came from. My wife’s Galaxy S makes it look pretty average though.
stig
Friday, September 3, 2010 at 10:16 AMhow much is the bloody thing cost $349 or $469 !!!!
telstraLies
Monday, September 6, 2010 at 10:11 AMHTC Wildfire for $349 = BULLSHIT LIES. Supposedly it would be available on Aug 24th, but it wasn’t…then they said it’s available at FoneZone, but it isn’t…then they said it’ll be available on Sept 6th, but it isn’t…now they say it’ll be officially released on Sept 13th, but I’ve had it with this bullshit and no longer give a damn.
astrogirl
Monday, September 6, 2010 at 3:37 PMIt seems to be on the telstra site as a “buy outright” in the post paid section, but its $469 not $349. If its that price post paid, I can’t see it being cheaper prepaid. And isn’t “prepaid” what buying outright means anyway?
Ultramag69
Thursday, September 16, 2010 at 1:10 PMBig W sells for $349 at the moment.
Even if its locked to Telstra its easy enough to unlock using sites like xda developers who have a pile of themes apps and help.
Would get one BUT can’t justify the expenditure when I already have 2 Touchpro 2′s… :D
Citizen Charles
Wednesday, September 22, 2010 at 12:21 PMI bought the prepaid Wildfire from Telstra. Couldnt find cheaper than the $349 easily. Took their long life thingy with add on for data. Comparable with most of the deals around. I’m home a lot so it Wi-Fi-s from my router at no cost to my data plan for all admin downloads etc.
I know ppl have scoffed at the screen res. But for non-phone freaks, for everyday use you just will not notice. In fact it looks beautiful to me. And with Sense, swype, Flash, lovely build and 2.1 (will get Froyo soon) at that price – I’m certainly not complaining. Lovely “phone”!
Stevie G
Thursday, October 14, 2010 at 9:01 AMWell, I went to target in Coffs Harbour on the weekend and bought a telstra branded HTC Wildfire. Fully Next G branded. When I have the Telstra SIM in I get UMTS. I unlocked it and used Optus sim and it’s HSPA :) makes wonder. More tests soon
Enes
Thursday, December 2, 2010 at 10:05 AMThose could able t unlock their wildfire , how did you guys did it? I used HTCsimunlock.com but they couldnt find my unlock code lol