Samsung Galaxy 5 vs. HTC Wildfire - Affordable Android Phone Battle

For those who've been emailing me to make one,

TechPinas' HTC Wildfire vs. Samsung Galaxy 5 Definitive Comparison Table --


Detail/Feature

HTC Wildfire

Samsung Galaxy 5

Photo





Dimensions/
Weight

106.8 x 60.4 x 12 mm
118 grams

108 x 56 x 12.3 mm
102 grams

Screen/
Features

3.2 inches, TFT capacitive touchscreen,
16M colors, 240 x 320 pixels
- Multi-touch input method
- Accelerometer sensor for UI auto-rotate
- Touch-sensitive controls
- Proximity sensor for auto turn-off
- Optical trackpad
- HTC Sense UI
- Turn-to-mute and lift-to-dim-out a call

2.8 inches, TFT capacitive touchscreen,
256K colors, 240 x 320 pixels
- Accelerometer sensor for UI auto-rotate
- Touch Wiz v3.0

Operating System

Android OS, v2.1 (Eclair)

Android OS, v2.1 (Eclair)

CPU

Qualcomm MSM 7225 528 MHz processor

600 MHz processor (proprietary)

Internal storage

384 MB RAM; 512 MB ROM

170 MB

Wifi

Yes, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g

Yes, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g

3G

Yes, HSDPA 7.2 Mbps

Yes, HSDPA, 7.2 Mbps

MicroSD

Yes, supports up to 32GB

Yes, supports up to 16GB

Camera

5 MegaPixel, 2592 x 1944 pixels, autofocus, LED flash
- Smile detection
- Geo-tagging
Video Recording
No Secondary Camera

2 MP, 1600x1200 pixels, no flash
- Geo-tagging
Video Recording
No Secondary Camera

GPRS, EDGE,
Bluetooth 2.0,
MicroUSB

Yes to all

Yes to all

Stereo FM Radio

Yes

Yes

Games and Apps

Yes, via Android Market

Yes, via Android Market

Java

Yes, via third party apps

Yes, via third party apps

Adobe Flash support

Yes, Flash Lite
supports playing video online,
pinch-to-zoom resizing
and auto rotation from portrait to landscape

No

Google Mobile Internet Suite

Yes, Gmail, Youtube, etc.

Yes, Gmail, Youtube, etc.

Speakerphone

Yes, 3.5 mm audio jack

Yes, 3.5 mm audio jack
- DNSe (Digital Natural Sound Engine)

Messaging System

SMS(threaded view), MMS, Email, Push Email, IM

SMS(threaded view), MMS, Email, Push Mail, IM, RSS

Phonebook and Call Records

Practically unlimited

Practically unlimited

microSIM card requirement

No, uses standard SIM

No, uses standard SIM

Battery life

Stand-by time of up to 690 hours on 2G and up to 480 hours on 3G
Talk time of up to 8 hours and 10 minutes on 2G and up to 7 hours and 20 minutes on 3G

Stand-by time of up to 521 hours on 2G and up to 375 hours on 3G
Talk time of up to 9 hours and 30 minutes on 2G and up to 6 hours and 30 minutes on 3G

Availability and Price in Philippines

Out in the Philippines
Goes as low as Php 15,500 at some retail stores
(as high as Php 17,000)

Out in the Philippines
SRP is Php 10,980 only

If you're a having a dilemma on which of these two to purchase, I suggest you visit a shop and compare them side by side. Turn them on and play with each phone. While specs say a lot about the capabilities of any gadget, the overall experience of using a phone also involves getting a feel of the actual device and appreciating its form factor and design identity -- features that can't be put on a comparative specs-table.

In this case though, HTC Wildfire is a bit more expensive -- for good reason, I think.