HtcLegend
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Samsung's big-chinned SPH-L300 gets papped by Mr Blurrycam
Keep it under your hat, but Samsung's reportedly got a Sprint-exclusive handset in the works. If the images are to be believed, the SPH-L300 draws design cues from the chinny HTC Legend and packs NFC. According to BriefMobile's sources, there's a 800 x 480 display in the front, a Snapdragon S4 MSM 8960 in the middle and a 5-megapixel snapper 'round back. It'll also come with 4GB onboard storage, LTE and Ice Cream Sandwich from the get-go, oh, and it'll do a flawless impersonation of Bruce Campbell when things get slow at parties.
HTC Legend finally updates to Android 2.2 in Europe
Sure took a long while, but the Android 2.2 update is now available to all HTC Legends residing in Europe and... no, sorry, this isn't the just-announced Gingerbread. It's Froyo, the one before it -- trust us, this isn't a frozen dessert you won't mind in the midst of winter. And don't bother asking about 2.3 because HTC isn't giving specifics yet. Wildfire? That's "coming soon," according to the person behind the HTC UK Facebook curtain.
HTC outs black Legend and white Desire to keep you busy for the time being
It's almost a given that HTC may have a little announcement for us next Monday, but chances are you'd like to let Windows Phone 7 settle in for a bit while you cling on to your trusty green bot. Assuming neither the Desire HD nor the troublesome Desire Z / G2 tickled your fancy, you now have two more options for consideration: a "phantom black" Legend and a "brilliant white" Desire (as seen a few weeks ago). Patrons in Europe should be seeing these new handsets starting this month, but here's a caveat: we're told that rather than going 100 percent SLCD for the Desire, it's actually a mix of both SLCD and AMOLED, so be sure to double-check with your store before handing over your hard-earned euros.
Bell HTC Legend prematurely put out to pasture due to AMOLED supply constraints?
It's a sad day for fans of Android, brushed aluminum exteriors, and retina-searing AMOLED displays. Bell's HTC Legend seems to have come to the end of its days, the provider moving the phone to "end of life" status due to "ongoing supply constraints from the manufacturer." Phandroid speculates this is due to AMOLED shortages slowing down HTC manufacturing, and that certainly seems like a reasonable conclusion. We also checked out some other suppliers of the phone and they too are not listing it in stock, so this could be a rather abrupt end of the road for one of the best looking, though not necessarily best performing, Android handsets. Update: David D. wrote in to point out this Forbes article pointing out that chip shortages could also be at least partly to blame here. [Thanks, Tati]
HTC: expect Desire, Legend and Wildfire to get Froyo 'beginning in Q3'
It's summer. It's hot. Naturally, everyone wants to lick some frozen dessert in one form or another. Shortly after the Nexus One got its absolutely official Android 2.2 update, HTC has once again leaped out to tell us of its own Froyo offering. The Taiwanese mobile giant has informed Recombu that it's expecting "several of our 2010 models including Desire, Legend and Wildfire" to join Google's latest green bot party "beginning in Q3." We went to the trouble of confirming this with HTC ourselves, and while this isn't really much of an update from the company's previous statement in terms of time frame, here's hoping that at least some of its customers will get the delivery before the summer fiesta ends.
HTC Legend with North American 3G now available unlocked
Sure, the Desire's coming to a handful of regional American carriers later this year, but what if you want the smaller, sleeker, more aluminum-clad Legend? Well, there aren't any carrier-branded options in the States -- but it seems that a number of unlocked units with US 3G bands are starting to ooze out of the cracks. Negri Electronics has an 850 / 1900MHz 3G Legend in its store for a shade under $500, which means you're not getting much of a discount over the more powerful 850 / 1900MHz version of the Nexus One -- but you are getting a pretty sweet unibody shell and an optical d-pad. Any takers?
HTC Legend debuts on Virgin Mobile in Canada, glances furtively southwards
The phone, the myth, the Legend has just become available over in Canada, giving North Americans their first taste of that aluminum unibody construction. It's looking highly likely that this is the same handset we saw gracing the FCC's pages not too long ago, indicating that Yanks should be getting in on the fun relatively soon as well. AT&T already let one HTC cat slip out of the bag today, guess this confirms the Liberty won't be feeling lonely in Ma Bell's Android cupboard whenever it does launch. And hey, Canadian friends, just think of the Legend as consolation for your teams not sniffing the Stanley Cup the past three years.
HTC Legend gets firmware update in Europe, reunites with missing apps in Android Market
Attention, possessors of the European HTC Legend! Have you noticed a handful of missing apps in the Android Market, namely Twidroid, Layar, MySpace Mobile, Barcode Scanner, Google Goggles, FxCamera, and so forth? Today, the brilliantly quiet HTC has finally come to light with the bizarre offending bug -- camera incompatibility. Oopsie! Any moment now your metallic slab should receive the OTA update to patch things up, and hopefully the Droid Incredible will get the same fix even sooner. Crisis averted.
Vodafone UK to bring HTC Legend on April 2nd, still mum on date for Desire
Compared to some gadgets, a two-week waiting period is only as painful as a mere mosquito bite, but we're pretty sure that British fans of the HTC Legend would strongly disagree. Thankfully, our friends over at TechRadar ended this torture today with the news that Vodafone UK finally has a date for its exclusive Legend -- "arriving on 2 April." This presumably refers to stock availability in retail stores, since Vodafone's still honoring its website's April 6th date for its pre-order deliveries due to the Easter weekend. As for the Desire, Vodafone's still pointing at the April window, which provides plenty of time to choose between the various UK carriers. Oh, so many decisions!
HTC Legend will be exclusive to Vodafone in UK, coming in April together with Desire
Vodafone has today announced that it will be the exclusive UK carrier of that aluminum-clad successor to the Hero: the HTC Legend. Advance registration pages for it and its family mate, the Desire, have gone live today and indicate an April launch date -- something we'd already expected thanks to Amazon's delivery estimates for unlocked handsets. The two HTC devices are flanked by Sony Ericsson's long awaited X10 and the Nexus One, with the latter lacking a release date. It's interesting that as things stand the Desire (HTC's own-branded Nexus One) will beat its precursor to the UK market. Same could be true of Spain, where Engadget Spanish notes that Vodafone has confirmed an April arrival for HTC's full family of new phones, including the HD Mini.
HTC Legend review
After four three flavors of the HTC Hero, the Taiwanese mobile giant has finally brought back the chin with an additional lick of aluminum and a similarly quirky name -- the Legend. If this alone isn't of much interest to you yet, just bear in mind that this is HTC's first Android 2.1 device with Sense UI. It didn't take much for us to fall in love with this Android phone at MWC -- HTC convinced us of its unibody toughness by banging it against the wall, and needless to say, the vibrant AMOLED screen caught our eyes, too. However, there are still some questions to be answered before we can decide whether the Legend lives up to its name, especially on battery life, wireless reception, camera quality and software performance. Unless there have been major tweaks, we'll try not to bore you with features already seen on the Hero -- so please, won't you join us? %Gallery-87570%
HTC Desire, Legend and HD Mini show up on Amazon UK, expected to arrive on April 1
Slowly but surely, HTC's latest trifecta of handsets is making its way westwards. After appearing on Amazon's Deutsche hub with a pre-order value of €519 ($707), the Desire has now reached the UK with an even steeper £528 ($795) price and an estimated arrival time of April 1. Let's just hope this pattern doesn't continue or we'll be looking at a four-figure sticker when this thing comes all the way Stateside. The HTC Legend is also slated for an April 1 delivery and carries a price of £400 ($602), while the HD Mini will straggle a tiny bit with an April 14 launch and a palatable £369 ($556) price. All are without contractual obligations, so it'll be interesting to see what incentives carriers can come up with to get us to jump on board. [Thanks, Ron]
HTC Legend clears the FCC
We haven't heard much about much more than a rumored German price when it comes to HTC Legend availability, but the phone has now cleared the FCC, which could well indicate that it's headed over here sooner rather than later. No other details (or pictures), unfortunately, but you can dive into a few test reports at the link below if that's your thing. And if, for some reason, you've yet to be acquainted with the Legend (a.k.a. "the return of the chin"), you can check out our hands-on from Mobile World Congress right here.
HTC Desire listed at Amazon's German portal (update: €519)
Curious as to what HTC will be charging for its Sense-enabled Desire? If Amazon's German portal is to be believed, it'll go for a cool €419 ($572). Of course, the site doesn't give any indication as to when it'll actually ship to those that order, but it is clear that Amazon is doing the selling and not some third-party merchant. Just under six Benjamins for a souped-up Nexus One? You know you're in for that. [Thanks, Lars] Update: We had a feeling this price was too good to be true and sure enough, Amazon.de now lists the Desire for a steeper €519 ($711), alongside the newly arrived Legend, which has shown up with a €459 ($629) asking price [Thanks, Sebastian].
HTC Legend hands-on (updated with video)
OK, we admit it -- we're complete HTC fanboys here today at MWC. But c'mon, can you really blame us? Today's HTC launch -- including the HD mini, Legend, and Desire -- while not surprisingly lacking a Windows Phone 7 announcement, was still full of some very, very fine hardware. The Legend is an all-metal set -- the housing is the frame of the handset -- and like the other launches, this one features the updated version of Sense, a new optical trackpad (which seemed to behave quite well) and a stunning 3.2-inch AMOLED display. The Legend also seems pretty sturdy, as demonstrated by HTC's CEO Peter Chou when he smacked it against the wall during the press conference. The take away here is this phone is pure beauty and class, and an absolutely huge upgrade (as far as aesthetics go anyway, we'll hold judgment til we can really test it out) from the HTC Hero it replaces. Follow on for a gallery of photos and check back soon, as we're definitely going to get some video once we can get it into some better light. Update: Full Legend and Sense UI walkthrough after the break! %Gallery-85662%
HTC enhances Sense with Leap and Friend Stream (updated with video)
Our recent chance encounter with a multitouch-friendly iteration of HTC's Sense UI turns out to have been a preview of the company's latest version of the software. Announcing that it has "enhanced" the already quite delectable skin, HTC has noted it'll be available preloaded on the brand new Desire and Legend handsets, and as a free download for the venerable Hero. So what's new? The press event this morning told us about Leap, the new pinching function that allows you to view all your home screens at once (see above), and Friend Stream, which aims to be your social media aggregator du jour with its one stream combining Facebook, Twitter and Flickr updates. There's also a new newsreader application and widget, along with additional improvements to the browser and web client. You'll find the full PR after the break and early impressions of the new interface in our hands-on with the new phones. Update: See a full walkthrough of the new UI in a video after the break.
HTC's 2010 roadmap goes on display?
Those among us with minds like steel traps might recall that HTC's 2009 was leaked with shocking accuracy way back in January of this year, which lends some credibility to this already-believable series of slides we have seemingly showing off most of the good stuff we can expect out of the company in the coming months. The stuff we're privy to here was allegedly presented at a meeting in Vienna back in October, with both Windows Mobile and Android designs broken up into four target demo categories: Design / Lifestyle, Social, Performance (we like the sound of that), and Productivity -- but don't take our word for it. Follow the break for everything you need to know about this very real-sounding downpour of specs and renders. %Gallery-79710%
