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The trackball has been replaced with an optical trackpad, which looks kind of futuristic (and a little Terminator-like - we're glad it doesn't glow red...). This makes HTC Legend look a lot more refined, and also reduces the risk of the trackball failure, which is a common problem.
As reception enthusiasts will know, a metallic unibody design isn't the best for getting mobile signal, which is why HTC has crafted a little slide-out panel to get the battery and SIM card in to the unibody design.
A little rubberised segment sits behind the lip, and using a cute little hinge mechanism, the battery slides nicely into the phone, with the SIM and MicroSD cards following it in with a little click.
While we're loathe to constantly draw a comparison, this kind of attention to design is something we haven't seen from anyone bar Apple - we challenge you to not enjoy slotting the battery in this way rather than wedging it under the battery cover.
Every port on the HTC Legend is designed to add to the overall look of the phone, and this has been achieved well.
The headphone slot is flush to the chassis at the top of the phone, next to the power/lock button, and the phone speaker has been crafted with an appealing grill, which also houses a small LED light that gives notifications of new messages and low battery.
Another bit of good news - the HTC Legend finally comes with a miniUSB connection - bringing it in line with future EU regulations and meaning universal chargers will work with it too. It's the equivalent of using a Nokia charger in the 1990s... everybody had one... we think they grew in drawers.
The right-hand side of the phone is devoid of buttons (we would have liked to see a dedicated camera shutter here) and the lower part of the chassis is taken up with the rubberised section we mentioned earlier.
The left-hand side of the phone holds the up/down buttons, with nothing else in sight - sleek is the only real way to describe it.
The front of the phone is minimal too - the silver and black combo is nice, and the four buttons (Home, Menu, Back and Search) are crafted in shiny black plastic and melt into the chassis.
The optical trackpad (which is clickable, by the way) is the only other element on the front, and again, it still scares us with the Terminator style look to it.
But the main thing to say about the HTC Legend is that this phone sits nicely in the hand, and just looks sublime - we're sure it will be bought by a few people based on the looks alone.
In the box
HTC is as minimal as ever with the bits and pieces it's thrown in the box - there's a phone cable, a converter to turn it into a wall-plug charger and some simple headphones.
We're not fans of the latter, as they're quite basic for headphones - but they do also function as an adequate hands-free kit, which is good to see included in the box.
HTC has been low key in its packaging again, offering the HTC Legend in a small case rather than swathes of cardboard and packaging - we're fans, and not just for environmental reasons.
