Phone of the show – HTC Legend
In a show where new gizmos stare at you from every corner, HTC this morning just launched what looks like the best phone here at Mobile World Congress, with a Hero-like Android phone called the Legend.
I say ¨Hero-like¨because it is shaped like a Hero, but has a new aluminium unibody that is sleek yet strong enough to withstand knocks (the HTC folks did a drop test at the launch here). What´s more, there´s a new version of HTC Sense thrown in, so the user-interface is actually more friendly than Google´s Nexus One.
We can say now we had a hands-on previously with the Legend, but did not write about it because we didn´t want our source to lose his/her job! We were impressed then, and we are impressed today at the launch of the device.
First, the unibody. There´s a hell of a lot of work put in this, we understand, because aluminium prevents cellphone signals from going in and out of the phone. What HTC did was to place the antenna at the bottom – near the mouthpiece – and transmit out of a plastic part at the bottom (the black portion). This is also where you slot in your SIM card.
The touch and feel is top class on the Legend. Like the Nexus One, also made by HTC, the finish is smooth and the metal – cut from one block of aluminium – has the premium feel. No faux metal here.
Running Android 2.1, the Legend will also please many Android fans. And out of the box, it supports pinch and zoom, a feature that the Nexus One only recently provided an update for.
So overall, how does the new Legend compare with the Nexus One, which many goondus here are nuts about?
To start off, the Legend has an excellent AMOLED screen, so contrast and colour are as good as on the Nexus One. There´s also the excellent HTC Sense, which includes a Friends stream that basically keeps all your conversations – social media, e-mail and SMS – with each friend on a single screen. Nifty.
The hardware, though, might lose some to the Nexus One, especially if you are a hardware specs geek. The screen resolution is 320 x 480 (The Nexus One has an amazing 800 x 480), the display is 3.2 inches wide (N1= 3.7 inches) and the processor runs at a speed of 600MHz (N1= 1GHz).
But if you are more into the experience than the specs, the Legend is surely not far off. I´d say HTC Sense is a hell of a lot better than the “Google experience” on the Nexus One, which includes rarely-used voice search capabilities and turn-by-turn navigation, which is still not yet available in Singapore.
For a closer comparison to the Nexus One, there´s the HTC Desire, also launched today. No fancy unibody here – just a simple, Nexus One-like look. It also sports the top-end specs of the Nexus One – 800 x 480 screen, 3.7-inch display and 1GHz processor. It even weighs 1-gram lighter on paper!
Still, among the three phones from HTC today – there´s also the HD mini, essentially a smaller version of the Windows Phone-based HD2 – I´m still most impressed by the Legend. This, for me, is the phone in this year´s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.
Few may have heard of HTC a few years ago, but this time, these folks from Taiwan are really upping the game, not just in the industrial design, but with the experience offered by software such as HTC Sense and the Android 2.1.
Going by the phones launched here, HTC looks to be the one to beat this year.
[...] Here in Barcelona, as this year’s phone extravaganza kicks off today, the power is clearly with Google’s Android. With Sony Ericsson, Motorola and China’s Huawei showing off world-beating Android phones this week, it’s easy to think 2010 will be the year of the Google phone OS. (HTC has also launched two hot numbers in the Legend and Nexus One-lookalike Desire). [...]
It looks sooo cool! Any idea what is the price range? Any detail info on the specification for the HTC legend?
[...] here to see the original: Phone of the show – HTC Legend | Techgoondu .adHeadline {font: bold 10pt Arial; text-decoration: underline; color: #0000FF;} .adText {font: [...]
Wah! Very swee!
And thankfully in one respect the Legend is not like the Hero — it doesn’t have that stupid kink that juts out and is simply flat.
@ edward: the legend specs here: http://www.htc.com/www/product/legend/specification.html
@ chi-loong, it still has that little bit of a “kink”. just less pronounced now.
What’s the purpose of the “kink/lip/curve” anyway? Is it supposed to be ergonomic? I think all it does is frustrate case makers.
and i already have the N1 sigh
[...] / Bada Exclusive First Look [16:00] Intel and Nokia’s MeeGo Join a Brewing OS War [19:50] HTC Legend, Desire and HD Mini [23:00] Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 mini and Xperia X10 mini pro [28:00] Auto [...]
[...] Wave / Bada Exclusive First Look, [5] Intel and Nokia’s MeeGo Join a Brewing OS War, [6] HTC Legend, Desire and HD Mini, [7] Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 mini and Xperia X10 mini pro and [8] Auto login [...]
Best MediaPhone 2010 runs ANDROID!!
http://2600hertz.wordpress.com/2010/01/04/best-android-mediaphone-2010/
[...] This year is shaping up to be the year of the Android…. and I haven’t told you of at least one more Android gizmo (link added after this report first went live) coming soon from the folks from HTC, which I have [...]
[...] next month, the HTC Legend is coming to town, and the HTC Desire – essentially a modified version of Google’s [...]
[...] Barcelona earlier this year. I’m not going to rehash his preview, so check out his excellent hands-on piece if you’re [...]
[...] (which is made by HTC as well, for those who don’t know) for almost half a year before the HTC Desire comes to [...]
Purchased my Legend 2 nights ago and love it. Its everything i expected from all the reviews and videos I’ve seen. Bought the phone through Telstra who have exclusive rights to it for the first few months.
One thing that annoys me about that is that the phone appears to have their branding on it. Totally annoys the hell out of me. Want to remove it but I would most likely have to flash it.
If you got a HTC Legend, http://www.htclegendforum.com would be helpful source.
[...] as with other handset makers in the wilderness for the past two years. Think Sony Ericsson and its X10 mini, for [...]
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