HTC Wildfire S Available for Free via U.S. Cellular

U.S. Cellular has just announced that the HTC Wildfire S Android budget smartphone is now available for purchase online and, starting October 21, at all carrier's stores across the country.

The Wildfire S is available for free after a $100 mail-in rebate and with a Belief Plan with Data Plus or a new two year agreement.

Customers who want to purchase the Wildfire S on prepaid must pay $229.99 (168 EUR), while customers on Belief Plans who are eligible for a phone upgrade can get the smartphone at the promotional price without having to sign a new contract.

HTC Wildfire S is perfect for those who never had an Android smartphone and will be available in two colors: grey and purple.

“We're excited to give our customers even more choices by offering these cutting-edge devices. Our associates' commitment to helping each customer find the right device to organize and simplify their life is one of the reasons we have the happiest customers in wireless,” said Edward Perez, vice president of sales and marketing operations for U.S. Cellular.

The smartphone is powered by Google's Android 2.3 Gingerbread platform, but it won't come as a surprise if HTC decides to push the latest Ice Cream Sandwich upgrade, if the phone's hardware configuration meets the minimum requirements.

In this regard, the handset is equipped with a 600 MHz Qualcomm MSM7227 processor and an Adreno 200 graphics processing unit.

It also packs 512 of internal memory (418 MB users available), 512 MB of ROM and microSD card slot (up to 32GB, 2GB memory card included).

A 5-megapixel photo snapper is also included on the back of the phone, which features autofocus and LED flash and video recording capabilities.

The phone drains energy from a 1230 mAh Li-Ion battery rated by the manufacturer for up to 360 hours (570 hours for 3G mode) of standby time or up to 7 hours (6 hours for 3G mode) of talk time.