HTC Legend

[.Neo]

I wanted to write this review few days ago but decided not to until I got some more experience with the device.

Even though I'm a full-time Mac OS X user and owner of a Mac Pro I decided against getting an iPhone 4. Instead I went for the HTC Legend for a couple of personal reasons:

• Here in the Netherlands the iPhone is officially only available through T-Mobile, an operator I absolute despise due to its poor network coverage. There are ways to obtain the iPhone in combination with another provider such as KPN, Hi or Vodafone, but there is no telling when they will get the iPhone 4. I really didn't feel like waiting;
  
• I just fell in love with the design of the HTC Legend;
  
• After intensively using an iPod touch for the past 2,5 years I was basically done with iOS and wanted to try something new. I didn't have much experience with Android based phones but decided to take the leap regardless;
  
• I was able to get any higher-end phone with my current provider in combination with an 1-year contract instead of a 2-year contract. In my book that's a huge bonus.

Packaging

The Legend's minimalistic packaging follows the trend other companies have been following as well.

What’s in the box

• Phone
  
• Battery
  
• USB Cable
  
• 3.5mm stereo headset
  
• microSD card 2GB
  
• Power adapter
  
• Quick start guides (Dutch, English, French)

Size comparison

From left to right: Sony Ericsson C905, HTC Legend, iPod touch

A picture says more than a thousand words. ;)

Design

The HTC Legend has a sculpted unibody design complemented with buttons and an optical trackball. Unlike the Desire and Hero the buttons are designed to look like as if they were a part of the screen. The optical trackball gives users an extra way to easily select smaller elements such as links on webpages. Beyond that I don't have much use for it as Android and the HTC Sense UI have been cleverly designed for touch input.

The phone is not too big, not too small and sits comfortably in my hand. Due to the aluminum body it feels a bit heavy but very solid. It has the same curved bottom as its predecessor the HTC Hero. I could have gone with the HTC Desire as well, but while it has better specs I think it's a tad too big and don't care much for its looks.

Android & HTC Sense

The Legend AMOLED screen is extremely bright and vibrant in general, especially compared to my iPod touch. It produces an extremely crisp image which is easy on the eyes. Downside is that the screen can be a bit hard to read in bright sunlight. Then again, most devices suffer from that problem.

I was amazed by how user-friendly the phone is, especially considering my experiences with the desktop versions of Linux and Windows Mobile 6 on the HTC Touch Diamond. Setting everything up is pretty straight forward. Getting to know my new phone was a matter of minutes.

Overall the Legend's performance is amazing. The interface doesn't lag and the on-screen keyboard and type suggestions pretty amazing. International languages like Dutch are properly supported. I also love the fact that you can do more with the home screen than just show a grid of app shortcuts. HTC and Google provide a wide range of nifty and well designed widgets to personalize your phone with. You can really make your phone fit your needs that way.

I'm loving the way how Android makes you unlock your phone. Instead of typing in a standard (boring) four digit PIN number it will ask you to draw your unique unlock pattern.

Photo quality

See for yourself.

Overal Android provides a pretty good experience. It was a bit of a gamble, but I'm loving the phone and OS so far. The only downside is that HTC provides pretty poor Mac support.

Anyway, just let me know if you have additional questions and I'll try my best to answer them and/or add them to this review.

[teaumaz]

I'm really thinking of getting this one too, but I have a few questions:

• How's the battery life with moderate use?
  
• Is a 3.2" touchscreen large enough to be able to comfortably type on the on-screen keyboard?
  
• How's the GPS performance?
  
• Could you take some real life (good light, poor light) pictures with its camera?
  
• If you'd have to choose between bog standard T9 hardware keypad or on-screen qwerty kepad, which would you chose?
  

[.Neo]

How's the battery life with moderate use?

Battery life of the HTC Legend is excellent. Especially compared to its bigger brother the HTC Desire. I used both phones intensively and found the latter to be rather dramatic when it came to its battery. If you really need it to last and you want to go into power saving mode you can easily turn of things like internet and such. Doubtful you'll need to do so during normal daily use.

Is a 3.2" touchscreen large enough to be able to comfortably type on the on-screen keyboard? / If you'd have to choose between bog standard T9 hardware keypad or on-screen qwerty kepad, which would you chose?

I find the keyboard of any HTC phone with Android good enough as far as touch input goes. For me the keys are big enough to comfortably type and remember you can always put the phone in landscape mode (on its side) to get larger keys. The Dutch dictionary of Android is amazing. Similar to T9 it will give you suggestions as you type, which most of the time are spot-on. If not the OS will adapt to the user and remembers the words you choose from the suggestion pop-ups. So the more you type, the more accurate it becomes.

I'm not going to lie to you, for me a physical keyboard (like BlackBerry) will probably always work better. Using my SE C905's keypad I was able to type much faster and more importantly blindly. However, Google did a pretty good job with Android in this department. It's probably also a matter of getting used to.

How's the GPS performance?

I've used GPS intensively over the past week and I have to say I was absolutely amazed compared to my previous phone. The HTC Legend will pinpoint my location with great accuracy and will also show the direction in which I'm traveling. The other day I was riding the metro here in Amsterdam and the location arrow perfectly matched the metro tracks on the map all the way down the route. So far the Legend's GPS accuracy has been impressive.

I was having some issues with Google Maps before. Not so much with GPS but with the maps loading incredibly slow but this issue was fixed by downloading the latest Google Maps version from the Android Market.

Could you take some real life (good light, poor light) pictures with its camera?

Right now I only have some day shots for you taken in the beautiful city of Amsterdam. ;)

The camera is the only aspect I'm not really impressed with. But then again my Sony Ericsson C905 was a telephone dedicated to taking high-quality photos with its size and lack of other features to show for it...

[sn00pie]

Good review .Neo! Reminiscent of old Dazzla's epic reviews back in the day.

[.Neo]

Thanks! :) Just gimme a rep point if you like it... :p

[Xypro]

:rofl:The htc legend is a great device that really shows the iphone 4 who is boss. But the phone is really slick and has an astonishing body and the OS is just such a simple and easy interface too use. GREAT REVIEW. :rofl:

[.Neo]

:rofl:The htc legend is a great device that really shows the iphone 4 who is boss. But the phone is really slick and has an astonishing body and the OS is just such a simple and easy interface too use. GREAT REVIEW. :rofl:

Nowhere in the review did I claim the HTC Legend beats the iPhone 4 specs wise, because that's simply not the case. Nor is this device aimed at the top high-end smartphone market in the first place. I suggest you read next time.

Looks is all a matter of opinion. And yeah, Android with HTC's Sense UI is extremely simple and easy to use. Like I said, I've never used an Android phone before but I have been an iPod touch user for the past 2.5 years now. Finding out how the Legend works isn't complex at all and overall the phone is extremely user-friendly.

Nice attempt at trolling though. (Y)

[guru]

the glossy black area above the optical trackpoint should have been screen imo ... Desire specs + Legend Design + Android = Perfect phone

[.Neo]

the glossy black area above the optical trackpoint should have been screen imo ... Desire specs + Legend Design + Android = Perfect phone

Definitely would have been nice if they used that space for increased screen size.

[Xypro]

Nowhere in the review did I claim the HTC Legend beats the iPhone 4 specs wise, because that's simply not the case. Nor is this device aimed at the top high-end smartphone market in the first place. I suggest you read next time.

Looks is all a matter of opinion. And yeah, Android with HTC's Sense UI is extremely simple and easy to use. Like I said, I've never used an Android phone before but I have been an iPod touch user for the past 2.5 years now. Finding out how the Legend works isn't complex at all and overall the phone is extremely user-friendly.

Nice attempt at trolling though. (Y)

Nice attempt at trollin, ok :blink: thanks. I think that its at par with the iphone 4 and I did read the review and its a nice device not top of the line but competitve with the iPhone 4. Im fine with my nokia 5800 though :cool:

[.Neo]

Because of the two "rofl"s I though you meant it sarcastically. My apologies. :)

[Xypro]

Because of the two "rofl"s I though you meant it sarcastically. My apologies. :)

Really Man dont worry about it friends ? :blush:

[.Neo]

Sure. :) Anyway, if people want additional information or feel someone else is missing from the review: just ask.

[stanleybridgeboy]

I had an HTC Legend with Bell for about 15 days. Here's some points to note, that make the phone not so good:

• Phone slows down and SMS App freezes if opening a thread with over 1,000 msgs sent and received
  
• When gripping bottom of the phone, signal drops (Go to settings, and status, then network strength and watch the numbers lower)
  
• If gripping bottom in low coverage areas, you will lose signal all together. Set it on a table or ground, bars will come back
  
• Battery life with moderate text/facebook usage is max 5 hours - No calls and not really constant use.
  

I took back the phone, and got a Blackberry Bold 9700. Best choice ever. Superior signal strength and battery life! :) I loved the design of the Legend, but it doesn't cut it... HTC slacked off here.

[tsupersonic]

I had an HTC Legend with Bell for about 15 days. Here's some points to note, that make the phone not so good:

• Phone slows down and SMS App freezes if opening a thread with over 1,000 msgs sent and received
  
• Battery life with moderate text/facebook usage is max 5 hours - No calls and not really constant use.
  

I took back the phone, and got a Blackberry Bold 9700. Best choice ever. Superior signal strength and battery life! :) I loved the design of the Legend, but it doesn't cut it... HTC slacked off here.

Best thing about Android is that you can download replacement apps for the SMS. I use Handcent, but there's also Chomp. Both are excellent, and very fast (no lag, at least on my Incredible)

My Incredible also has a 1300 mAH battery just like the Legend, and the Incredible also has better specs, and also uses CDMA, which is a bigger battery hog than GSM. All these factors combined, I get well over 5 hours doing heavy usage. I'm always on my phone, have data syncing constantly, and I get at the very least 8 hours. If I'm using it less, I get about 16 hours easily. If I leave the phone alone, I'll get a couple of days out of it.

[Subject Delta]

Nice attempt at trollin, ok :blink: thanks. I think that its at par with the iphone 4 and I did read the review and its a nice device not top of the line but competitve with the iPhone 4. Im fine with my nokia 5800 though :cool:

The Desire is more on a par with the iPhone 4 in terms of power, screen size, and resolution. The legend is aimed more at the middle spec of the market

[ManMountain]

Finally ditched my aged iPhone 2G and replaced it with an HTC Desire. An awesome phone :)

[stanleybridgeboy]

I wouldn't get this phone again, and I'm not sure what cloud your sitting on but the legend sucks, baterry and signal.. Which are the two most important things to me.

[Nashy]

I love my Legend.

[.Neo]

I wouldn't get this phone again, and I'm not sure what cloud your sitting on but the legend sucks, baterry and signal.. Which are the two most important things to me.

I'm not entirely sure what "sucks" about having full 3G coverage, maybe you care to elaborate?

So far gripping the phone like one normally would in low signal strength areas (such as underground metro stations, tunnels etc.) hasn't resulted in a complete drop of calls. In fact gripping the phone like this doesn't seem to impact the signal strength much at all...

Apologies for the blurry picture, holding the phone in one hand and keeping the camera stable with the other was a bit hard to do... :p

In case you're wondering, the phone displays a full 3G signal while gripping it with my left hand.

[shakey]

I wouldn't get this phone again, and I'm not sure what cloud your sitting on but the legend sucks, baterry and signal.. Which are the two most important things to me.

Like all smart phones that have basically true multi-tasking enabled, battery life can be a problem when you do not know how to use the phone correctly. This is a issue as well with the iOS4 and the devices that have upgraded to it. People are seeing the awesome battery life their apple products got, now getting the same or worse life than the current android phones. This is because, when you have multiple programs running, searching for signal, using bandwidth, you get less battery power. When you learn how to disable and control which apps do what and when, then the battery life on these phones become almost a non issue, except when using intensive GPS navigation lol.

[.Neo]

This is a issue as well with the iOS4 and the devices that have upgraded to it.

That's not only an issue with iOS 4's multi-tasking (which isn't true multi-tasking btw, as inactive applications are suspended), but more so an issue with iOS 4 itself. My iPod touch 2g doesn't even support the new multi-task feature yet the battery drains much, much faster than when it still ran iPhone OS 3. The difference in battery life between both versions is quite striking. The issue was address on the front page as well.

On Android phones keeping the multi-tasking issue in check is easy: Simply return to the home screen by using the "back" button rather than the "home" button. Using the "home" button will keep an application running in the background, using the "back" button will quit any active application. :)

[Owen W Veteran]

I wouldn't get this phone again, and I'm not sure what cloud your sitting on but the legend sucks, baterry and signal.. Which are the two most important things to me.

Battery is fantastic for a smartphone of this grade - 2 days use is impressive for a smartphone. As for signal, no issues here. No idea what you're talking about.

The Desire is more on a par with the iPhone 4 in terms of power, screen size, and resolution. The legend is aimed more at the middle spec of the market

Yes, but the Desire doesnt have the same build as the Legend, which is why I chose it over the Desire. 1Ghz is unneccessary.

[Owen W Veteran]

I had an HTC Legend with Bell for about 15 days. Here's some points to note, that make the phone not so good:

• Phone slows down and SMS App freezes if opening a thread with over 1,000 msgs sent and received
• When gripping bottom of the phone, signal drops (Go to settings, and status, then network strength and watch the numbers lower)
• If gripping bottom in low coverage areas, you will lose signal all together. Set it on a table or ground, bars will come back
• Battery life with moderate text/facebook usage is max 5 hours - No calls and not really constant use.

I took back the phone, and got a Blackberry Bold 9700. Best choice ever. Superior signal strength and battery life! :) I loved the design of the Legend, but it doesn't cut it... HTC slacked off here.

• SMS issue is common on most phones
• Gripping issue is common for all phones, doesn't drop calls
• I use FB/texting/calls repetitively and get 2 days+ of usage. Faulty battery maybe?

[.Neo]

Battery is fantastic for a smartphone of this grade - 2 days use is impressive for a smartphone. As for signal, no issues here. No idea what you're talking about.

Yes, but the Desire doesnt have the same build as the Legend, which is why I chose it over the Desire. 1Ghz is unneccessary.

Agreed. In my opinion the Desire is more of a show off phone rather than something you would actually need for most practical purposes. Yes, the Desire has a faster processor and more ram but you don't really notice that benefit while performing everyday tasks compared to the Legend. Not to mention the Desire's overall aesthetics leave much to be desired (no pun intended) for, but that's personal I guess.

I was actually amazed by how fast the Desire battery craps out on you. While performing roughly the same tasks my friend's Desire battery quickly drained during the day all the way down to around 40% while my Legend was still up at 82%. Like you said, the Legend's battery life is indeed impressive for a smartphone.