I revisited my very first smartphone

The Excessive Tech Pc Company, higher often known as HTC, as soon as ruled the Android roost when it got here to rivaling the iPhone. The Taiwanese cellphone maker made a reputation for itself within the early 2010s, thanks partly to a few main elements: its knack for constructing high-quality bodily merchandise, its helpful Sense working system overlay, and its tight partnership with Google.

It is maybe no shock, then, that my first smartphone was an HTC-branded product. Within the yr 2011, I used to be gifted an HTC Wildfire S, which was a then-current entry-level cellphone.

For context, the Wildfire S was launched at a time when HTC was starting to hit its stride, simply forward of Samsung swooping in and devouring a lot of the Android handset marketplace for itself.

It has been some 14 years since I first arrange the Wildfire S, and my authentic unit is fortunately nonetheless round and kicking. I just lately booted up the system once more, as I used to be curious to see whether or not time had been form to it.

Queue the nostalgia-fueled flashbacks: the recollections of clearing cache to liberate house for apps, the detachable battery launching out of the chassis upon influence after a drop, and far, far more.

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Telephones of this measurement merely do not exist anymore

The HTC Wildfire S incorporates a tiny 3.2-inch show panel

Probably the most hanging factor in regards to the HTC Wildfire S is its puny bodily measurement. After I pulled my unit out of storage, I used to be bowled over by its petite body, and by its equally miniature 3.2-inch show panel. By today’s standards, the Wildfire S is comically small, and I am baffled that I by no means considered it as notably tiny again in 2011.

For a funds smartphone, the Wildfire S is surprisingly sturdy and well-built. Contemplating HTC’s pedigree, I actually should not be stunned — the matte plastic physique feels strong within the hand, the amount rocker, sleep/wake change, and earpiece are manufactured from metallic, and the unit would not creak or flex within the slightest.

A lot of HTC’s early design language DNA will be discovered entrance and heart on the Wildfire S: a front-facing model emblem, a particular chin, a side-mounted micro-USB port, and a entrance panel that is embedded organically into the chassis design.

Apparently, the cellphone incorporates a small digital camera hump, a few years earlier than optical protrusions would become a mainstay throughout the cell business. What the cellphone does have that fashionable telephones do not, however, is a detachable again cowl. The rear panel simply rips off, exposing a detachable 1,230mAh battery pack, a Mini-SIM tray, and a microSD card slot.

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Computationally, the HTC Wildfire S struggles to maintain up

The cellphone feels sluggish, and its digital camera is hardly usable

Powering issues on, and the cellphone’s age instantly begins to indicate. You possibly can rely the person pixels on its 320 x 480 decision LCD, and its Qualcomm Snapdragon S1 processor and 512MB of RAM combo struggles to maintain tempo.

I virtually instantly acquired a low storage warning, a ache level I bear in mind all too nicely from again within the day. Regardless of the inclusion of a complementary 2GB microSD card, the cellphone’s inner 512MB of storage makes it tough to obtain and retailer absolutely anything with out partaking in some severe digital file juggling.

The cellphone lacks a front-facing digital camera, although it does ship with a single 5-megapixel rear-facing shooter. The lens contains autofocus and a devoted LED flash module, which is good, however it could solely shoot in 480p decision at as much as 24 frames per second (fps). Photographs and movies taken on the system are predictably grainy and watercolor-infused.

Then again, the Wildfire S affords numerous notable {hardware} options which have since gone extinct on fashionable smartphones. It was good to reacclimate myself with the trusty 3.5mm headphone jack, the built-in FM radio tuner is far appreciated, and the front-facing notification LED is neatly tucked away throughout the cellphone’s earpiece grille.

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Android has come a good distance through the years

Android 2.3 Gingerbread was as soon as cutting-edge, however now it seems like a museum artifact

Pocket-lint / Google

Out of the field, the Wildfire S shipped with Android 2.3 Gingerbread, with HTC’s customized Sense UI 2.1 over prime. The cellphone later acquired the two.3.5 software program replace, however it by no means made the soar to the following main model of the Android OS.

On the time, Sense was a real promoting level for HTC telephones — a lot so, that the rear panel of my unit is flanked with a proud message proclaiming its inclusion. Android was notoriously tough across the edges within the early 2010s, and the Sense skin offered a visually refined and nice person expertise that arguably nonetheless appears good to today.

HTC’s iconic flip climate clock is confidently perched on the principle house display screen web page, and I had forgotten simply how charming of a widget it really is. I additionally loved reverting to devoted capacitive navigation buttons, which I’ve all the time discovered enjoyable to make use of.

In fact, it is nearly unattainable to do something internet-related with the cellphone today. The cellphone’s Android Market ( the precursor to at present’s Google Play Retailer) is unresponsive, the YouTube app throws up a community error message, and the web browser struggles to show web sites.

For as rudimentary because the software program bundle is — there is no multitasking or app switcher to talk of — I nonetheless discover the expertise to be a captivating one. The essential Android UI paradigm is current and accounted for: the short settings and notifications menu, the app drawer, the Settings app structure, and the house display screen all draw a transparent delineation between the previous and the current.

14 years on from launch, the HTC Wildfire S is in a wholly unusable state. Apart from the rose-tinted recollections the handset supplies me with, it stands as a testomony of simply how far the smartphone business has are available just a few quick years. Utilizing the Wildifire S additionally jogs my memory how a lot I miss HTC as a cellphone maker, and the way a lot I want they nonetheless had pores and skin within the Android sport.

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