Motorola Defy or HTC Wildfire?

Iain_L

Would you be looking at the HTC WIldfire, or the Wildfire S, which is the newer version on sale. This version can be bought for less than £200 from retailers, and from what I have seen is a much better phone than the original Wildfire. It also has the advantage of running the latest Android 2.3 Gingerbread.

I have had a Defy now for about 4 months and really like it. I don't find the battery life a real snag, and I don't know if it is any worse than other smartphones. Vodafone supplied me with the official unlock code for it with a few days of getting it, and it now works on any network.

Price wasn't an issue for me because I got it free on my contract upgrade. I had the option of the older Wildfire or the Defy, and there were too many limitations (in my opinion) with the older Wildfire, which I think have been adressed with the Wildfire S.

My wife got an S when she upgraded last month, and I was really tempted to swap my Defy for it, but in the end it came down to how each phone felt in my hand, and I preferred the Defy.

I can't comment on what appears to be a lot of peoples favourite, the San Fransico, because a) I would never touch Orange again, and b) I haven't used the phone, but I have used both the Defy and Wildfire S, and they are both good phones. I personally like the smaller size of both these phones; I don't use my phone as a multimedia centre so don't need a large screen.

T_T_2

Iain_L wrote: »

I can't comment on what appears to be a lot of peoples favourite, the San Fransico, because a) I would never touch Orange again, and b) I haven't used the phone, but I have used both the Defy and Wildfire S, and they are both good phones. I personally like the smaller size of both these phones; I don't use my phone as a multimedia centre so don't need a large screen.

Just to clarify, the Orange San Francisco is just a rebadged ZTE Blade (ZTE is a Chinese company, please don't let this put you off as the vast majority of phones are made in China). So don't let Orange's reputation put you off (I'm not a big fan of Orange either, and I'm stuck in an 18 month contract with them! )

I've used the Defy, the Wildfire S and the OSF. Even though the OSF is cheapest of the three, guess which phone I prefer the best? The OSF.

vyle

I have a sanfran, and it isnt great.

It does the job, yes, but before it's usable, it really needs to be rooted, because it's crammed with orange bloatware.

It can be really slow and is pants for gaming (angry birds on later levels gets a framerate of about...erm.... 1fps, sometimes less).

The battery is rubbish, too. If I have wifi on, I'll get through about 40% battery in a day, and it has an annoying bug where it disconnects from wifi whenever it goes into hibernate mode.

The camera is awful too, and is prone to shutter roll, even when it's being held perfectly still.

HOWEVER

The sound quality is good, and the screen is clear. For £100 it's a really good phone, but it's not good enough for what I want it to do, so I'll be upgrading at some point.

jaymorgangrice

Yes the wildfire s is a significant upgrade, and the screen is a lot bigger then the mini x10, although i prefer my 4.3" smart phones. The android gingerbread is also worth it, as not now but soon, apps will be made specifically for this newer version and not for the 2.2 froyo, Is there option for contract? my friend got the desire hd for 19 a month with cashback, (Battery isn't great though). But phone is a beast (Sensation is upgraded version of this phone). So price may drop soon, I gave 300 cash for my desire hd from ebay about 4 months ago. It was sealed and i unlocked it, but the warranty issue.....

The defy does have a slightly bigger screen, therefore more resolution, and is resistant against water! which is a big bonus, but i generally opt for the software if i have to go one way or the other, as its more future proof (not that anything lasts anyway, it will all be obsolete in a year or 2 like everything else)

Sublime_2

What have you decided on. Another point to consider is durability, the Defy being waterproof is a definite advantage. You don't want something that will break if you accidentally drop it. I've dropped my N8 a couple of times, and its fine, but not always the case with other makes.

The Defy is supposedly durable. Would def be my choice.

LadyMorticia

I decided on the Defy. The durability was definitely a factor in my decision, and the larger screen and I just generally like the look of it better. Was a tough decision though.:o

Iain_L

A good phone, hope you like it too.