[ music ]
^M00:00:03
>> Hi I'm Bonnie Cha, Senior Editor at CNET.com, and today I've got your first look at the HTC Legend. Actually this is our second look, since I got to check it out briefly at CTI 2010. But finally got this device in for a proper review, and so far I am loving it. One of the main reasons I like it so much is because of the design. I know stylus objective, but to me the Legend is kind of the perfect size, small enough to fit in the palm of your hand, but big enough to have a decent size screen. But more than that I really liked the aluminum unibody construction, because it creates a seamless and clean design. It extends all the way to the battery compartment. So instead of a large battery door like most phones, you just have this little piece at the bottom that pops off. And to insert the battery just open this little latch and it flips right in along with you SIM card and MicroSD card. Flipping to the front you've got the same 3.2 inch HVGA Capacitive Touch Screen as the GSM HTC Hero, which the Legend replaces. It's not quite as sharp as some of the WVGA touch screens, like the Nexus 1, but you do get an AMOLED screen, which consumes less power and also shows brighter colors, a higher contrast, and wider viewing angles than a standard LCD. So videos and pictures look pretty good on here. And a smart phone also offers pinch to zoom support as well. You'll use this touch screen for most data interaction with the phone, but you can also use this little optical joystick here below the screen. This replaces a track bar on the hill, and at first I was a little skeptical about how such a tiny control would work as a navigation tool. But it actually does a pretty decent job with scrolling through your home screen panel and menu items, and you can press it just like something like a web link. The Legend is more than a pretty face though. It's [inaudible] Android 2.1 and has a newer version of HTC Sense, which I think makes the Android UI more user friendly and a little less technical looking. Some of the new features of Sense include a widget for group contacts, so you can organize people by different categories, like favorites, friends, co-workers, etc. There's also a friends stream that's somewhat similar to Motoblur's happenings widget, where it streams your status updates from Facebook, Twitter, and Flicker. More practical are the new mail and agenda widgets, which now shows you a list of your emails and appointments, instead of just one at a time. But by far my favorite new feature is of the leap screen. By pinching the home screen it brings up a thumbnail view of all your various home screens, so you can easily jump from one to the other. And, as usual, you can do a long press on the home shortcut button to see all your running apps. The Legend also has a faster processor and more RAM, so it's much more responsive than the Hero. Call quality was also great. The only downside that I could find about the phone is that the multimedia experience on Android still pretty lack luster compared to the competition. And even though they added a flash to the 5-megapixel camera, it still had some problems with indoor shots. The other thing is that the legend isn't compatible with North American 3G bands, because it's only currently available in Europe and Asia. Hopefully some U.S. carrier will pick it up, because I think it's one of the most solid android phones in its class. But for now you can only buy it unlocked, which will run you around $535. I'm Bonnie Cha, this has been your first look at the HTC Legend.
^M00:03:10
[ music ]
