Smartphones like the HTC Wildfire S make the perfect superhero sidekicks when you’re out and about – whether in a car, giving chase on foot or flying around in your own adamantium-bodied Batwing. Just enable GPS, fire-up an app like Google Maps and it’ll tell you where to go, when to turn and how to avoid any super villains that might bar your way.
OK, so we’re still awaiting the update for that last feature, but the HTC Wildfire S is much better than most Android smartphones at getting you where you want to go, fast. It’s all thanks to HTC Sense, the cunningly-engineered brain behind many of this slick silver surfer’s best bits. Read on, and find out how it can save you time and even money when it comes to navigation.
The world at your fingertips
Google Maps is a fantastic innovation for the modern-day navigator of any megatropolis. If you’re lost it’ll tell you where you are. If you’re hungry it’ll point you towards the nearest restaurant, and it’ll even tell you how to get there, turn by turn. But with an average Android you’ll have to wait for maps to load as your phone pulls them off the net with your 3G connection. Not so with the HTC Wildfire S.
Crossing universes like a team-up between Marvel and DC, HTC and TomTom have joined together to give the HTC Wildfire S exceptional navigational skills. Where most other smartphones have to find out where somewhere is, the Wildfire S knows already. You can download the map info of your whole country with HTC Locations so you’ll never have to wait for that Google Maps page to load ever again. It’s yet more proof that this isn’t just a smartphone, it’s a superphone.
Fast-forward into the future
Once you have your destination plugged into the HTC Wildfire S, you can let the phone zoom through your route, like Superman zooming through the sky paving the way for your wheels. This is extra-handy if you’re driving rather than walking, letting you prepare for those roundabouts, sharp turns and – for those longer trips – motorway slip roads.
It’s pretty handy on-foot too, giving you a way to convince your other half or unwilling friends that you’re not actually dragging them half-way across the world to visit your favourite pub, art gallery or gig venue. The HTC Wildfire S shows you each moves as it comes too, where with other Androids you’d normally have to manually drag your way through the route on the touchscreen – not to mention that yawnsome wait as the later parts of the map load over your mobile internet connection. Android navigation is great, but this is just that little bit better.
Don’t rob a bank, save a fortune
Downloadable map info will save you plenty of time, but did you also know it could save you money too?
Here in the UK, going over your monthly data limit might mean you have to pay an extra fiver for those extra megabytes your HTC Wildfire S has pulled-off the web, but it’s a different story if you go abroad. Map data’s not as weighty as streaming video but if you get lost in downtown New York, on the autobahns of Germany or on the way towards a Calais booze cruise, roaming charges will very soon rack-up.
The pre-loaded maps options of the HTC Wildfire S’s Sense navigation zap these charges like Spidey tying-up oncoming henchmen with his web-slinging skills. With pre-downloaded maps you’ll only need to use your GPS connection, not your mobile web connection – so it won’t cost you a penny.
Read more about the HTC Wildfire S
HTC Wildfire S: Everything you need to know!
HTC Wildfire S: Clark Kent’s personality in a superman suit
Android mutated: How the HTC Wildfire S makes Android more human
