HTC Legend unveiled with top-end Android specs

HTC adds the Legend to its collection
HTC adds the Legend to its collection

HTC has finally unveiled a new phone to follow up the success of the Hero - the HTC Legend.

Although the company protests otherwise, claiming the Hero set a 'successful baseline for our other Android handsets to follow', the design is similar with a 3.2-inch screen and protruding lip at the bottom of the device.

Hewn from a single block of aluminium, the HTC Legend looks more like a shrunken Macbook, dispensing with the Teflon coating for something a little more stylish.

It's rocking the latest version of Android - 2.1 - meaning living wallpapers and integrated social networking via Friendstream - a new way of seeing all your Twitter, Facebook and Flickr feeds in one place.

Legend

While the 3.2-inch screen size has remained the same, the overall dimensions of the HTC Legend are smaller than the Hero thanks to being built from one piece of metal.

The multi-touch screen has also been upgraded - although it's still HVGA, there's an OLED in there now, meaning sumptuous colours and deep blacks.

A 5MP camera is once again present on the device, as is a 3.5mm headphone jack - although this time there's a single LED flash to help take pictures in the darkest night.

Legend

The trackball has been scrubbed out in favour of an optical device - this apparently means a sleeker chassis and fewer hardware failures, following the same road as RIM with its BlackBerry family.

It's been given a tentative UK release date for the end of March, and while no UK price has been announced, it's rumoured to be coming to O2 soon.

Gareth Beavis
Formerly Global Editor in Chief

Gareth has been part of the consumer technology world in a career spanning three decades. He started life as a staff writer on the fledgling TechRadar, and has grown with the site (primarily as phones, tablets and wearables editor) until becoming Global Editor in Chief in 2018. Gareth has written over 4,000 articles for TechRadar, has contributed expert insight to a number of other publications, chaired panels on zeitgeist technologies, presented at the Gadget Show Live as well as representing the brand on TV and radio for multiple channels including Sky, BBC, ITV and Al-Jazeera. Passionate about fitness, he can bore anyone rigid about stress management, sleep tracking, heart rate variance as well as bemoaning something about the latest iPhone, Galaxy or OLED TV.