HTC Legend

Discontinued
16th February 2010

The HTC Legend is a tablet-style Android smartphone, following up from the HTC Hero with a number of improvements all around.

Launched at the same time as the HTC Desire, the HTC Legend is more compact and comes with the same 3.2" 320 x 480 pixel display that the Hero had. However, the design has been reworked to look more elegant (more of which later) and the old trackball has been replaced by an optical one with a clickable surround.. not that Android really needs such a thing anyway. On the back is a 5 megapixel camera with autofocus, LED flash and geo-tagging support.

This is an Android 2.1 handset, and as usual HTC have added their own feature on top such as the Sense UI that we have seen before. Inevitably, it has been given some new social networking features called "Friend Stream" which brings together updates from friends on Twitter, Facebook and other social networking sites all in one place.

This is a very elegant looking handset, with a combination of aluminium and plastic "bumpers" that make it look absolutely fabulous. The HTC Legend is certainly going to attract the right kind of attention when you take it out of your pocket to use.

HTC say that the Legend is made out of a single piece of aluminium which should add to the robustness and "wow factor" when you look at it. It still retains the distinctive "bump" that other HTC Android devices have, although originally that was a design feature to protect the trackball which is now optical rather than mechanical. The black sections are there for practical purposes - the WiFi, cellular and GPS antennae are all hidden underneath plastic sections because metal housing would tend to block the signal.

Inside the HTC Legend is a 600 MHz Qualcomm 7227 processor, which is pretty much standard for this type of handset.. although we do wonder how well it will cope with the processor demands of Android 2.1. Internal memory is 384MB of RAM which should be enough for most users. It's a slim device at 112 x 56 x 12mm, but perhaps a little on the heavy side at 126 grams. The 1300 mAh battery is quoted as giving up to 6 hours talktime on 3G and 23 days standby time.

This is a 3.5G device with maximum download speeds of up to 7.2Mps and uploads of up to 2Mbps. 802.11 b and g WiFi is supported, and of course there's Bluetooth and USB for local connectivity. The HTC Legend has the usual multimedia player, plus an FM radio and a useful 3.5mm audio socket too.

Slated to be available in Europe from April onwards, the HTC Legend will provide stiff competition for other smartphone manufacturers, and should appeal to customers who want something that's as elegant as the iPhone but quite different at the same time.

HTC Legend Promo Video