The new HTC Wildfire is an attempt from the manufacturers to produce a high specification smartphone with crossover appeal thanks to its low price point.

Operating on the Android 2.1 operating system, everything is powered along smothly by a Qualcomm 528mHz processor. The user interface is HTC's renowned "Sense" system which produce superb looking yet functional menu systems. With a total of seven homescreens you may think that things could become a little complicated, however the Leap View facility gives you a one page overview of all homescreens, allowing you to navigate directly to the one you require rather than swipe through various unwanted screens. Another exciting aspect of this excellent handset is the new facility which enable you to share apps that you like with your friends. This is a clever way of not only sharing information but also advertising Android on a global scale thanks to its link with social networking sites. Tap on the button and a list of your apps is displayed, chose the one you like and you are given an option of how you would like to share this information, via text, e mail or Social networking sites. When your friends receive the information there is a link allowing them to download it instantly. Small touches such as this move the Wildfire to a level above its competitors, and confirm that "Sense" is perhaps the best user interface currently available.

Obviously the looks of a handset are just as important as the performance and the HTC does not lose any points here. A relatively compact chassis is enhanced by touches of metal and stylish curved edges. There is a slight lip at the bottom of the handset, which rather than get in the way actually makes the phone sit even more comfortably in the hand. The addition of an optical trackpad on this lip means navigation around websites is easy. The screen however is also a capacitive touchscreen, so the user ultimately has a choice of navigation. The 3.2" TFT display looks incredibly clear, despite lacking the OLED technology found on higher end models. Capable of displaying a resolution of 240 x 320 pixels, the screen benefits from it capability of displaying 16 million colours. The HTC wildfire comes with 512MB of onboard memory, but for those requiring more then the microSD card slot facilitates expansion upto 32GB.

The HTC Wildfire benefits from smartphone technology at a feature phone price. A nice array of features and excellent connectivity options ensure that this will be one of THE handsets to own in 2010.