The HTC Legend Performs Every Task at the Wave of a Finger

The initial temptation is to compare the HTC Legend with the HTC Desire, after all, they were announced side-by-side at Mobile World Congress a month back and they share a very similar set of features. However, this would be terribly unfair, as the Desire occupies a different space in HTC’s range and would undoubtedly come out on top in terms of on-paper performance. No, when looking at the Legend, the thing to do is to compare it with the HTC Hero, the phone which it’s set to replace. The Hero is one of the best Android powered smartphones available, making it a tough act to follow, so does the Legend live up to its not-so-modest name? Becoming a Legend.

Power.
The Hero used a 528MHz Qualcomm processor and had 512MB ROM and 288MB of RAM to help it along its way, but the Legend hits the scene with a speedier 600MHz Qualcomm chip, the same 512MB ROM but 384MB RAM onboard. When you remember that the HTC Desire uses Qualcomm’s 1GHz Snapdragon chipset, you’ll begin to see why it wouldn’t have been a straight fight!The Legend also packs the latest v2.1 build of Google’s Android operating system, bringing with it Microsoft Exchange support, Bluetooth v2.1, those cool live wallpapers seen first on the Google Nexus One, plus a variety of performance tweaks too.

Style.
This is one area where the Legend is tough to beat, as this is one good-looking phone! The body is made from one piece of aluminium, with the addition of rubber/plastic endplates and a gorgeous 3.2″ capacitive touchscreen. It may have the same 320×480 pixel resolution as the Hero, but the Legend’s screen has been upgraded to become an AMOLED item. This returns stunning performance with bright colours, sharp detail and deep blacks.

The old trackball seen on the Hero and the Nexus One has been replaced with the same optical trackpad as on the Desire, plus there are four hardware buttons below the screen for Home, Menu, Back and Search control. On the left side is the volume rocker and on the top, the on/off/sleep key, but other than that, nothing spoils the sleek finish of the Legend.

HTC’s Sense plays a big part in the Legend’s visual impact, as the homescreens pop out at you as soon as you wake the phone up from sleeping, plus in addition to being considerable eye-candy, Sense is very practical too. This latest version adds Friend Stream, a program which collects all your social networking updates into one handy stream, and Leap, which offers an expanded overview of all your homescreens, plus all the varied widgets and homescreen additions found on previous versions.

What Else Can it Do?

•Connectivity. This is a top-end smartphone, so we have 3G with 7.2Mbps HSDPA and 2Mbps HSUPA, along with Wi-Fi, A2DP Bluetooth v2.1 and Assisted GPS.  The Legend uses the newly approved universal microUSB connection for charging and there is a 3.5mm headphone port on the top edge. •Widgets. HTC have given a generous helping of standard widgets including an alternative analogue clock, a photo album, a picture frame, bookmarks for quick browser access to your favourite websites, a Facebook and Twitter widget, an RSS news widget, HTC’s own Footprints app, a handy calendar and many more. •Scenes. These allow further customisation of your homescreens, allowing you to create different homescreen setups depending on what you’re doing i.e. a work-specific Scene may have multiple clocks, a comprehensive calendar and email close to hand, all laid over the least intrusive wallpaper, while a weekend Scene will have a small calender, Friend Stream, live wallpaper and your music player. •Web Browser. The fast browser is really fantastic! The WebKit-based program handles Flash video as standard, with the 10.1 update coming soon too, plus speed-dial style bookmarks and details on your most visited sites. Also take a look at the text reflow, which changes the formatting of text when you zoom in to match the screen orientation, so you have to do the minimum of scrolling to read the screen. •Social Networking. Aside from the aforementioned Friend Stream, you have widgets for Facebook, Twitter, Flickr and Google-related networks.
•Messaging. SMS and MMS messages are present and correct, plus Microsoft Exchange support, Gmail and most other webmail accounts too.

•Camera.
This is a 5megapixel camera with its lens found top-centre on the rear of the phone, next to an LED flash. Both autofocus and geo-tagging are supported, along with VGA video shooting.
•Application Store. Where would an operating system be without an app store!  Android users can access the Android Market, where there are many free and pay apps ready for download.
•Multimedia. The standard MP3 player handles your music, the video player is happy with MP4 and AVI videos, plus there is a YouTube application too.
•Memory and Power. Underneath the removable base panel you’ll find access to the battery, SIM card and a microSD card slot.  Anything up to 16GB is accepted by the microSD card port, while the battery is quoted as returning around 560 hours standby and 6 hours talktime in 3G mode.
•Any Other Differences with the Hero? The Legend is lighter at 126 grams and slimmer at a touch over 11mm, plus it has an FM radio.

Any Downsides?
•Multi-touch. The HTC Legend supports multi-touch and uses it in several different areas, including Leap, but it doesn’t work in the mapping software yet.
•The Chin. Love it or hate it, the Legend’s chin may be smaller than the Hero’s, but it’s the one part of the design which will split opinion.
Summary.

The Desire may grab the headlines thanks to its processor and massive screen, but it’s the Legend that we can see being used as an everyday phone by every type of person.  It’s just so customisable that it won’t matter whether you want to use it for business or pleasure, as it can adapt to either in a moment. We loved the Hero, but the Legend’s aluminium body, Android 2.1 and AMOLED screen may just have won over our fickle heart.