Motorola Wilder touchscreen budget phone is teenager-proof
Motorola gets down with the kids with its new Wilder feature phone. The budget handset is dust- and splash-proof, but can it stand up to the rigours of a teenager's pocket?
Motorola's bodacious new Wilder touchscreen phone will be available from the Carphone Warehouse this July, priced at an awesomely modest £49.95.
It's targeting the feature phone at teenagers, throwing around phrases like "get into the action" and "live life for the moment" in a bid to make it appear cool. It makes us think of Billy Wilder, which probably says more about us than we'd like.
For a fifty quid phone it's reasonably kitted out. A 2.8-inch touchscreen adorns most of the front, but there's also a separate notification bar at the bottom for displaying information. We can see why that might work on a clamshell like the Motorola Gleam, but it seems a little superfluous here.
There's a 2-megapixel camera with video recording. Most party-hearty teenagers will be quite happy taking blurry pictures of illicit late-night shindigs with that -- let's not forget it's still a better camera than the first few iPhones came with.
The nondescript (but not Android) OS has a number of built-in apps including social networking favourites like Facebook, Twitter and MySpace (all the places teens don't use any more), YouTube, plus a range of games and apps including Tetris, Game of Life, Need For Speed and Soundhound.
The Opera Mini Web browser is built in, but there's no 3G or Wi-Fi, so surfing and video watching could be painfully slow. There's no mention of being able to add new apps, so we're guessing that's about it.
It's rounded out with an FM radio and MP3 player and up to 32GB storage on memory cards.
The Wilder is splash and dust-resistant which means it should withstand the rigours of being attached to a moist, dirty teenager. We don't have details of which tariffs the phone will be available on, but presumably parents and teens alike will want something cheap and text-heavy.
Will cheapo phones such as the Wilder and Vodafone Smart appease techie teens or will they hold out for an iPhone, Atrix or HTC Sensation? Check out the video and see what you think.