HTC Legend review

After the success of the HTC Hero, the Taiwanese firm is back again with the first of its duo of Android 2.1 phones, the HTC Legend.

Featuring a full aluminium chassis and high-res OLED screen, as well as the latest version of Android from Google, HTC is clearly looking to jostle its way to the front of the best-selling phone queue with the HTC Legend and Desire.

The HTC Legend features a sumptuous unibody aluminium chassis - taking more than a few visual cues from the MacBook range, and refining the lines of the HTC Hero to produce a sleek and very aesthetically pleasing phone.

Despite being one of the first mobile phone releases of the year, the HTC Legend is likely to end 2010 as one of the best looking devices, with the silver aluminium frame sitting very well in the hand.

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However, there is one slight problem with aluminium chassis - if you leave it in your pocket with keys or coins, it scratches up pretty easily. We're not overly looking forward to having to mention this when we return the review unit...

If you're one of those that like to put a phone in a protective pouch, then there's definitely a case (sorry) for doing so with the HTC Legend.

The 3.2-inch screen has been beefed up as well - while it's the same size and resolution (HVGA) as the one used on the HTC Hero, the bezel has been reduced to give the impression of a wider screen.

And the display itself is now an OLED, rather than LCD, screen. This not only gives incredible colour reproduction, but also displays stunning contrast ratio thanks to not needing a backlight (which also helps with the overall thickness of the phone).

After some reports of the Google Nexus One (also produced by HTC) performing poorly in direct sunlight, that's not the case with the HTC Legend.

As long as you don't have the screen brightness turned down to the lowest setting, it's perfectly easy to use the phone even in sunny climes.

The frame and display aren't the only aesthetic improvements either - the overall layout has been upgraded to make this phone stand out to those browsing prospective handsets in shops.