HTC Legend review

If you're an HTC enthusiast (and we mean you own the phones, not that you've been kicked out of one too many shops for playing with them) then you'll know that the company has never been too strong on photography.

With the HTC Legend, the company has gone some way to remedying that problem, with a 5MP camera with LED flash, supported by a number of neat camera features.

This isn't a rival for Sony Ericsson's Satio or Vivaz - in fact it's not even in the same league.

But it does have some nice touches - for instance, while there's no dedicated camera key (boo) the main Terminator button (this is a phrase that will catch on, you watch) allows you to half press it to auto focus, meaning it functions like a 'proper' shutter button (yay).

The auto focus is pretty good too - the camera is able to focus on any point on the screen you wish, simply by tapping it - the HTC Legend will then automatically take the picture for you, which is a neat touch.

There's no dedicated macro mode for close up shots, but our tests showed that this is likely already integrated into the system, as we found it very easy to take pictures of nearby items.

The other elements, such as being able to use sliders to control colour saturation, white balance and contrast, all show that HTC has upped its game in terms of being able to take a better picture when you're out and about, and while the flash is a little stark, it's certainly an upgrade on the flash-less Hero.

MIXED SCENES: The HTC Legend managed to pick out levels of detail despite mixed lighting conditions

HALO EFFECT: We were surprised at the photo quality when shooting directly into very bright sunshine

DARKER IMAGE: The HTC Legend also handles distant objects without losing too much quality

BRIGHTER SCENES: The Legend is at its best shooting well-lit subjects

CLOSE UP ISSUES: Although the auto focus is good, the noise level increases dramatically with closer objects

FLASH IN THE PAN: The HTC Legend has a bright enough flash, but can't focus well in the darkness

Video recording isn't much to write home about though - but don't think that's a bad thing.

We'd much prefer a brand to spend time making a phone work well with the basic things like calling, texting or browsing the web - 30fps HD recording isn't necessary, and this smooth-ish VGA capture option on the HTC Legend is more than enough to take the video you want to share with your friends (in MP4 or H.263 formats).