UK mobile phone reviews - HTC Legend Review

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Reviewer: Jane - UK
Date: 30th Aug 2010

I read every review I could find before ordering this phone but I was sadly disappointed when I started to explore its operating system & after 4 days of banging my head against a cyber brick wall it is going.

Good point first, the casing is certainly sleek, weight is nice, feels good in the hand. But that's it really.

So now the bits I don't like.

The camera is rubbish - the lens is badly positioned & I struggled to not obscure it. By using the optical thingy to take a picture the phone moves whenever you take snap so until you really master it (? I can't!) The pictures are substandard for a 5 megapixel camera. I use MMS a lot so this is bad news for me.

Texting is a nightmare, predictive text seems to switch on & off at random & some of the words it offers are bizarre to say the least. I use text a lot too, more bad news as far as I am concerned.

But most of all, & maybe I ought to say I am a true fan of Nokia & their Symbian operating system, I hate having call history & message history forced on me whenever I want to make a call or send a message. I KNOW WHO I'VE PHONED! I KNOW WHO I'VE MESSAGED! When I want to use my phone I do not want to see the calls & messages I've sent, received & missed. More importantly, if a friend wants to make a call or text I do not want them to see the history of my calls & messages! I've searched & searched but despite the claims that this phone can be totally customised you cannot alter the history appearing automatically.

Easy enough to connect to the Internet but there is no 'off' button, is this why the battery life is a good (no sorry, I mean bad!) bit shorter than it should be? To turn off Internet you have to go through a couple of layers of the menu & disconnect.

Once you get the hang of the menu layering system it becomes a little easier to explore, but explore you must if you want to find anything, & even then it's often hard to find a second time so keep your explorers hat on. It's a jungle in there.

One more thing, the touch screen is very sensitive. It is just too easy to accidentally ring someone while casually scrolling through the phone book. A little popup saying 'Call or message?' Would be a godsend.

I have spent hours & hours trying to make friends with this phone but I have failed.

In nutshell my favourite hates:
- Phone way too willing to phone.
- Predictive text unpredictable & frustrating.
- Layer upon layer of menus, frustrating.
- Camera rubbish rubbish rubbish.

Sorry to be negative.

Yes, I like Nokia, Also, I like iPhone, I like Sony, I like Samsung & So far I do not like HTC.

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Reviewer: John - Waterford, Ireland
Date: 28th Aug 2010

Great phone to look at. Features excellent. Battery charged day to day, but that to be expected. I can't put this phone down. There is so much to occupy me, brilliant. No iPhone for me.

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Reviewer: Brian - Carlisle , UK
Date: 16th Jul 2010

Not done a review before but felt had to add a few lines to say how good this phone is, best mobile so far by a mile, its almost too good to use as an everyday phone might use it as my music phone, going out & holidays etc.

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Reviewer: Gordon - UK
Date: 8th Jun 2010

Having managed to resist the lure of an iPhone for the last few years due to the huge cost, & the initial raft of Android devices due to their immaturity, I plumped for a Legend as my first Smartphone. I've had it now for a month so think I've got the thing sussed.

I'll try not to labour points shared with other Android 2.1 devices, things like the Android Market, HTC Sense.

Good points.

- Design is extremely elegant, definitely better than the anonymous grey & black plastic of most other Android devices. It looks great just sitting there & is good to grip & nicely balanced in use. It actually fits my pocket better than my old Sony Ericsson K660i as it doesn't cause as big a bulge, quite a surprise. One of the reasons I went for the Legend over the Desire was because I wasn't sure the bigger device wouldn't feel awkward in my pocket, something I've since found out is at least partially true.

- Technically it is up there, if not setting any hair alight like the 1GHz Desire. I've played with the Desire quite a bit too now though & there is almost no difference in day to day use between the two. You only notice the Desire's extra oomph when playing a 3D intense game & perhaps if you've an unrealistic number (10+) of non trivial apps running. Screen is responsive & typing on it works almost perfectly once you tune it to the way your hand works, it really is incredible how it manages to get the words you intend, even when you are rattling in the letters & missing a good portion of them.

- Great value. A newly-released Smartphone, one of the best specced & best looking on the market, for free with a monthly cost of £20 per month? You'd better believe it. Cash back websites are offering between £90 & £150 for a new contract as well, so if this is factored into the price then the total cost for the 24 month contract can come down below £14 per month.

- Android 2.1 & the updated HTC Sense make for a very easy to use phone that is about a flexible as mobile devices get. Integration of Gmail, Facebook, texting etc. Is almost seamless.

- Although not yet confirmed 100%, it'd be a major surprise if the Legend doesn't receive a 2.2 Froyo update this summer, with all the extra speed goodness that this will bring. I'd think it would be inconceivable for HTC to pass over one of their newest & highest profile phones for this OS update.

- Google Navigation is simply brilliant, & the Legend locks onto GPS very quickly making it really handy, no hanging around for 5 minutes while it gets its bearings.

Expected to be awful but not actually too many, bad points.

- Battery life. It's a Smartphone, therefore the battery life is measured in hours, not days. Having said this, I am actually pleasantly surprised by the battery life now. It did initially seem worse, barely managing 12 hours before dying, but after a week or so of use it has now improved & I can easily get a full 24 hours of normal use out of it without any real effort. Of course, being a Smartphone you charge it every night anyway, but it's good to know that it can take a real hammering & still last a full waking day (14 to 16 hours). iPhone & Pre etc. Not better in this regard, hell even my old Sony Ericsson would struggle to get 2 days of use if you did any web browsing.

Not so good points.

- Signal strength. No doubt about it, a block of aluminium isn't going to make for good RF reception. HTC have therefore had to place the antenna array in one of the rubbery bits on the back. It works, but almost any other phone on the same network is going to pull up more signal bars than a Legend when sitting next to one. If you're in a marginal reception area then you may want to look elsewhere. If you live & work in areas where reception is good then you might not even notice.

This also applies to Wi-Fi, if you have patchy coverage in your house then you may expose blind spots all over the place.

Recent firmware update from HTC has improved things a bit in this respect though.

- Vodafone only, unless you buy SIM free. Vodafone's 3G network will vary across the country but for me they are miles behind my previous network 3 when it comes to coverage at home & work. I've given up trying to get a 3G signal at work & just drop to 2G. Thankfully the GPRS connection is still enough to get push email etc. Without any worry. Vodafone also drag their heels with firmware & OS updates as they have to mess about with them to add their thankfully minimal branding.

What would I change? Sure, an extra 2-400MHz in the CPU wouldn't go amiss sometimes & the 3.2' screen is looking a bit tight compared to the 3.7'+ phones now coming to market, but both of these things would impact on battery life & I know that the Desire etc. Feel a lot more 'exposed' when in a jeans pocket, so I am going to say: nothing, I'll keep it as it is!

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Reviewer: Chris Heald - Windsor, UK
Date: 6th May 2010

Totally blown away by the Legend.

Had it just over a week now so I will give you a first impression review, if you don't mind. Great Smartphone, easy to navigate, amazed by the usability of Android & Sense interface, I am sat here saying thinking 'why didn't I buy a HTC before now'. My only low points about it so far has to be the battery, but then I am on it nonstop at the moment, & I haven't used the camera much but this is because I am always on the Internet, must say Wi-Fi is a must.

Conclusion, get it, you won't be able to put it down, it makes my old BlackBerry dull & boring to use.

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Reviewer: Myles - Wicklow, Ireland
Date: 4th Apr 2010

Absolutely gorgeous, style & function. I just had it three days replacing a hero. Much better, but some apps are not available to it like the barcode scanner. It seems very heavy on the battery, but as I have hardly put it down since I got it I reckon that's my fault! It just wants to be used.



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