Product Listing

HTC Legend - Does It Live On?

By Wong Casandra - 6 Apr 2010
Launch SRP: S$628

Performance

The Legend Performs

We tackle the Legend's camera performance first before moving on to battery life testing. While the Legend's camera capabilities shrink in the light of other phones from the Android clan (Milestone for example), it certainly boasts of a crucial addition that was a point of contention on the Hero - a LED flash. Yes, it is still a 5-Megapixel camera, but it helps a lot that the addition of a small flash enables some shots to be taken in the dark. The controls for photo taking have not changed since the days of the Hero where you depend on the optical trackpad (in place of the trackball) as a shutter button, and you can control focusing by simply tapping the screen in the intended area focus. However, we found that the Legend wasn't quite as legendary when it came to camera footwork - the auto-focus was found to be buggy and at times, does not register our inputs accurately, often leaving us frustrated with blur, out-of-focus shots. Seems like the camera function of HTC phones have hardly improved for a long time now.

 We were not expecting much from a 5-megapixel camera, with readings of about 500 on both vertical and horizontal lines. As spotted on the adjacent color chart, most images turned out looking far too cool and a bit noisy.

Details are a little fuzzy here, and not exactly impressive. We shot this photo under strong incandescent light to test its white balance compensation, and it was way off from our findings here, which left us with a reddish background.

 

Next up, we compare the Legend's battery performance with a selected group of devices chosen based on their similarities across operating systems, battery capacities, display sizes, resolution and processing power. For this, we normally loop a video endlessly. On a related note, the 3.2-inch screen on the Legend was sufficient for us to enjoy videos, but the resolution support is rather limited compared to the competition. However, its saving grace would be its usage of an AMOLED screen. On to our formal battery test, it consists of looping a 240 x 320 pixels resolution video clip with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth active, plus volume and screen brightness set at 100%. Results after the specs comparison list below:-

Specifications/Device HTC Legend Motorola Milestone Google Nexus One HTC Hero
Connectivity
  • Wi-Fi 802.11b/g
  • Bluetooth 2.1 + A2DP
  • HSDPA
  • GPS with A-GPS
  • Wi-Fi 802.11b/g
  • Bluetooth 2.1 + A2DP
  • HSDPA
  • GPS with A-GPS
  • Wi-Fi 802.11b/g
  • Bluetooth 2.1 + A2DP
  • HSDPA
  • GPS with A-GPS
  • Wi-Fi 802.11b/g
  • Bluetooth 2.0 + A2DP
  • HSDPA
  • GPS with A-GPS
Dimensions
  • 112 x 56.3 x 11.5mm
  • 115.8 x 60 x 13.7 mm
  • 119 x 59.8 x 11.5 mm
  • 112 x 56.2 x 14.4 mm
Weight
  • 126g
  • 165g
  • 130g
  • 135g
Screen size
  • 3.2-inch, 320 x 480 pixels
  • 3.7-inch, 854 x 480 pixels
  • 3.7-inch, 800 x 480 pixels
  • 3.2-inch, 320 x 480 pixels
Battery
  • Li-Ion 1300 mAh
  • Li-Ion 1400 mAh
  • Li-Ion 1400 mAh
  • Li-Ion 1350 mAh

 

Overall, the Legend fared pretty well in battery life, even though it was a tad behind its nearest competitors. You will notice however that it uses the least power compared to the two giants because of its smaller screen size. No surprises that it fares a lot better than it Hero predecessor since it's the newcomer is better tuned for power efficiency plus it has the advantage of using an AMOLED screen that sips less power than a traditional LCD display.

For the Portability Index where we factor in the battery life which is then divided by the product of a device's weight and volume, we see the Legend trouncing the competition here. The newcomer's more compact dimensions and lighter weight were both advantageous for it in this comparison.

In addition to these strict tests and comparisons, we've also put the Legend through our more day-to-day usage scenario. This included 3G connectivity while partaking in heavy mobile usage throughout the day (e.g. occasional browsing on the web, internet messaging, and taking photos). On a single charge, the phone managed to last us an entire day and made it to the following morning with a little more battery left to spare.

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8.5
  • Design 9.5
  • Features 8.5
  • User-Friendliness 9
  • Performance 8.5
  • Value 9
The Good
Sturdy, lightweight, and beautiful exterior
New HTC Sense UI
Reasonable Battery Life
The Bad
Smudge-Friendly Screen
Sub-par Imaging Quality
Mediocre Video Playback
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