HTC Legend

Within the mobile phone industry, there is little doubt that the new HTC Legend device is one of the most keenly anticipated releases due to hit the market in the coming year. The Legend is set to take the space vacated by its one of its predecessors the HTC Hero, which was a very good phone in and of itself, and also compares well with HTC’s other new release the Desire.

When compared up and close many people feel though that the Legend looks more stylish and swanky that the Desire, and this can be principally put down to the fact that the Legend’s body and frame are manufactured and made from a single block of aluminium – much in the same vein as the Macbook’s unibody design that set the recent style trend for all laptop computers. The finish of the Legend is also as aesthetically and tactilely pleasing as the Macbook’s and could be straight out of the Apple design book, which puts it even further ahead of the Desire in the style stakes.

Within the phone itself the Legend utilises a design concept which their marketers refer to as ‘Hidden power’, the main idea being that design and function work in concert, and this is contained very much in the machined single piece body idea that negates the need for a separate frame and cover. This is good not only from a style point of view but also due to the fact that extra space is made available for components. As a result of this the Legend is easily able to get several improvements over the HTC Hero as it is able, with its design functionality, to pack a vibrant 3.2-inch AMOLED capacitive touchscreen.

The screen itself has HVGA resolution and is a joy to behold despite the fact that some other phones in the HTC line-up this year such as the Desire have a larger display, though it does have a number of integral improvements over previous incarnations of the HTC lines. For a start, the buttons are much more user-friendly and precise and now fit neatly into the bottom of the device’s display rather than taking up their own space as previously seen on phones such as the Hero. The previous trackball has also been replaced with an optical navigation button, a decision that reflects the general mood within the industry as trackballs are apt to fail more often – not an attractive proposition for those on 18-24-month contracts.

The Legend is also powered by the latest Android 2.1 operating system, something that affords excellent operation and speed and will please users. The Android is also overlaid by HTC’s Sense UI, which seems similar on first glance to the original Sense seen in the Hero which caused such a stir at its launch though HTC have upgraded the Sense since then and it is now replete with new features. Perhaps the biggest alteration to Sense is the ‘helicopter view’, known as ‘Leap’, which works in pretty well the same manner as Expose on the Mac. The Desire also features Friend Stream which acts in a similar fashion to MotoBlur as it combines Twitter, Facebook and Flickr all into a single stream, negating the need to follow people over separate platforms.

On the rear of the desire you will find a 5-megapixel camera with the welcome addition of an LED flash. Connectivity is also excellent through the Qualcomm MSM7227 processor which runs at 600MHz along with HSDPA, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. It also comes complete with the complete range of sensors such as a compass (an important part in many new Android apps), proximity sensor and GPS. Currently the release date is set for April of this year, and it is expected to be a major seller in many global markets.