HTC Legend Review (first impressions)

Supplied by Clove

Price: £370.13

Main features-

Android 2.1 operating system with HTC Sense interface
600MHz processor
3.2 inch AMOLED Display that offering very crisp and rich images
3G/HSDPA
Optical trackball
7 customisable home screen
HTC Friend Stream
GPS
Proximity and ambient light sensors

There is little doubt that the Legend is the direct successor to the Hero and the specifications appear to be near the high-end in the smartphone world today. The 600Mhz processor may alarm some of you because 1Ghz is the number that grabs the headlines now, but consider the efficiency of Android and battery life. In my view Android does not require a 1Ghz processor, but does need good battery power, as all smartphones, do and so one of the tests over the next few days will be to see how quick and power efficient the Legend is in normal use.

Following the Hero is not an easy task. It was the phone that brought Android to the masses and showed us what can be done on the platform, but it was not without its problems. The outer coating is great for grip, but not great to look at. The trackball will succumb to problems one day (they almost always do) and the screen is not the best in direct sunlight. Battery life is good, but not good enough for serious power users who are using their phone all of the time for emails and media.

One notable inclusion in the Legend is the Android 2.1 which brings a raft of changes that have the potential to become daily features in your smartphone usage. The Nexus One highlighted these well (e.g. voice to text) and I will attempt to wade through the confusing upgrade scenario that is Android and see what is included in the Legend and how well the new features work. Potentially Android will become a huge player in the world of smartphones and Google and HTC are doing what they can to make that happen, but the Nexus One was not the success both likely expected. The Legend needs to be special to sell in big numbers, it really does. Let’s find out if that is the case.

First Impressions

The Legend is being sold primarily on its looks, as the video below from HTC demonstrates-

The HTC Desire has a faster processor, more memory, a bigger screen and a slightly bigger battery for only £13 more, but that is not the whole story. I suspect that these two phones are aimed at very different markets- the Legend is perfect for the consumer market and brings a touch of ‘Apple’ design to the smartphone world which. The Desire will appeal to those who must have the best specifications they can get hold of and who want power at all costs. There is little doubt in my mind that the Legend will be the bigger seller. I also think something went wrong in the HTC marketing department and they mixed the names up; surely the Legend title fits the Desire better and vice versa? When you pick up the Legend for the first time, the word ‘desire’ feels more than appropriate.

Here is a comparison of the feature set of each phone (supplied by Peter)-

	HTC Desire	HTC Legend
Common
Operating System – Android 2.1 (Éclair) with HTC Sense	X	X
Sim Free	X	X
Rom – 512mb	X	X
HSPA/WCDMA	X	X
900/2100Mhz	X	X
Upload speed of up to 2 Mbps and download speed of up to 7.2 Mbps	X	X
Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE: 850/900/1800/1900 MHz	X	X
Bluetooth 2.1 with FTP/OPP for file transfer, A2DP for wireless stereo headsets, and PBAP for phonebook access from the car kit	X	X
Wi-Fi IEEE 802.11 b/g	X	X
3.5 mm stereo audio jack	X	X
Standard Micro-USB (5-pin micro-USB 2.0)	X	X
“Friend Stream”	X	X
Device Control – Optical Trackball	X	X
Sensors – Proximity, Ambient Light, G-Sensor, Digital Compass	X	X
GPS	X	X
Playback: .aac, .amr, .ogg, .m4a, .mid, .mp3, .wav, .wma,	X	X
Recording: .amr	X	X
Playback: .3gp, .3g2, .mp4, .wmv	X	X
Recording: .3gp	X	X
MicroSDHC	X	X
5 megapixel colour camera with auto focus and flashlight	X	X
Differences
Processor	1Ghz	600mhz
Display (size)	3.7inch	3.2inch
Display (resolution)	480×800	320×480
RAM	576MB	384MB
Battery Capacity	1400mAh	1300mAh
Weight (with battery)	135 grams (4.76 ounces)	126 grams (4.44 ounces)
Talk Time (WCDMA)	390min	440min
Talk Time (GSM)	400min	490min
Standby (WCDMA)	360hour	560hour
Standby (GSM)	340hour	440hour
Dimensions (mm)	119 x 60 x 11.9 mm	112 x 56.3 x 11.5 mm
Dimensions (inches)	(4.7 x 2.36 x 0.47 inches)	(4.41 x 2.22 x 0.45 inches)
“In the box”	4gb MicroSD included	Unknown
Price (Clove)	£387.75	£370.13

The outer covering is of course designed to look smart and it certainly does, but the inclusion of two rubber panels makes grip much easier. This is more noticeable when you hold the phone in landscape mode because the grip is substantially less and an all aluminium setup would make it almost impossible to hold.

The buttons are as you would expect with a volume key on the left, on/off key on the top and a micro-USB port on the bottom. A 3.5mm headphone jack rounds off what is a sparse, yet elegant side button setup that does not protrude into the design too much. The front mounted buttons are as you would expect in an Android phones and consist of home, menu, back and search with a beautiful looking optical trackball in the centre below them. The ‘Bruce Forsyth’ jaw is still there, but does not feel as pronounced as on the Hero and screams Hero 2 to anyone wanting to upgrade from the phone that kick started Android for the masses. If you think of the Legend as an update to the Hero you won’t be far wrong, but does it manage to fix the niggles that came with the original? Well, for a start the trackball is gone and replaced with an optical trackpad which is never a bad thing. Trackballs are notoriously unreliable and even if you are happy with yours, things could well start to go wrong one day. The build quality is better, mainly because of the materials used, and it just feels and looks right to me.

The speaker on the back is quite loud, but placed in a position that means you will naturally cover it with your hand when playing music or a video. It is very tinny though and does not show off the sound quality available through headphones, which is astonishingly good. I plugged my iPhone headphones in and the sound is noticeably fuller than the iPhone with a deep bass and a depth of sound that is way ahead of other smartphones I have used to date.

Over the next few days I will cover the software, namely Android 2.1, the camera, the screen and everything else that makes up a modern smartphone. The hardware is truly lovely to use and to hold, and I hate to admit it, but I couldn’t help but show it off a little when I was in town. To call a smartphone beautiful is a little weird, but it is easily the nicest smartphone I have seen from an aesthetic point of view and sure to turn heads wherever you are.