Motorola WILDER

Available now
8th June 2011

The Motorola WILDER is a basic touchscreen phone aimed at the youth market. A feature phone rather than a smartphone, the feature set of the WILDER is rather modest.. but then it comes with a modest price tag too.

As with the Motorola GLEAM, the WILDER is exclusive to the Carphone Warehouse in the UK. With a price tag of just under £50 (although we don't know if this is SIM free or prepay), the WILDER is certainly affordable. It might well pop up in PhoneHouse stores in Europe too, as did the GLEAM.

It's a nice looking device, with an unusual dual-screen arrangement on the front. Below the primary 2.8" resistive QVGA display is a small 0.7" 96 x 16 pixel panel that acts as a status display, sitting near the bottom right of the phone. On the bottom left is a "home" button, and Motorola have made the coloured piping "swoosh" around the secondary display, which makes it look a bit more interesting than a standard black slab.

Although the main screen is fairly big, the resistive technology is a bit old fashioned and isn't as easy to use as the more expensive capacitive screens that we see on more expensive devices. The little sub screen is quite a good idea though as it can display basic status information without draining the battery too much.

The WILDER is dust and splash resistant, which is a useful thing for the target "teen" customer base. Sales won't be harmed by the fact that the WILDER is also a good looking device.

But despite the good looks, the WILDER is a disappointingly basic phone. There's no high-speed data support at all, so any web browsing is going to be quite slow. In our view, handsets like this should at least support WiFi so that they can be used around the home or at a hotspot without racking up charges.

On the back is a low end 2 megapixel camera with basic video capture capabilities. The WILDER also supports Bluetooth and has a microSD slot.

Software includes a web browser, email client and support for Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and YouTube, although YouTube on a phone like this is going to be a pretty slow experience. There's a multimedia player plus an FM radio and a 3.5mm audio socket to keep you entertained.

Although it's quite a cheap device, it is worth noting that Carphone Warehouse also sell the Samsung Galaxy Mini Android phone for less than £100. Yes, the Samsung is twice as much as the Motorola but it is an infinitely better phone and certainly worth the extra money.

Anyway, if you really want a Motorola WILDER then Moto say that it should be available from July onwards in "Licorice and Saffron" and "Licorice and Classic Grey" colour combinations.