Legend
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HTC Legend and Desire caught up in root access twofer
Rooting is the first step in the arduous process of hacking the crap out of an Android-powered handset, and we're delighted to report that two of HTC's newest -- the Legend and Desire -- have taken less time than average to crack open. MoDaCo's Paul O'Brien tweeted this morning that he's done the deed, and from there, it should just be a matter of days until we start seeing serviceable replacement ROMs show up. Plenty of folks love HTC's Android 2.1 implementation of Sense, sure -- but if you're one of those crazies that wants a bone-stock "Google Experience" Legend, today's a pretty exciting day for you.
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 already trickling into customers' waiting hands?
That certainly was a timely review, wasn't it? Dutch site Tweakers.net is reporting through a number of its forum members that previously ordered HTC Legends are being scheduled for delivery as early as today, beating the phone's announced early second quarter availability by a solid three weeks. That's great news for anyone comfortable sticking with a lower-res display and a middle-of-the-road processor in exchange for one of the slickest, most metallic shells on the market today -- but for those hoping for something a little more... ahem, Desire-able, the wait continues. And yes, we'd like to apologize profusely for that pun.
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]
Vodafone spicing up HTC Legend with 360 services
Vodafone 360 has yet to come to Android -- but really, what's stopping it? Though it initially launched on some custom Samsung dumbphones, the megacarrier's cloud-ish social platform ended up spreading to the desktop and a couple of S60 devices, so there's no good reason we couldn't see it on smartphones across the whole range. Indeed, the company has now announced that the Legend will be loaded up with 360 services of some sort, but what's really interesting is that the Desire won't be, even though Vodafone will be carrying both models. It's possible that HTC wants to leave its top-of-the-range model as virgin as it possibly can be, but at any rate, just remember this simple guide, folks: if you hate 360 but you've got to get in on HTC's latest round of hotties, get the Desire; if you like it, get the Legend or prepare to live without it.
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 Legend takes the Hero to new heights of aluminum
If you thought that machining a phone from a single block of aluminum might cause RF issues in a phone... well, you can apparently think again, because HTC just went there with its freshly-introduced Legend. The rumored and leaked device becomes a proper successor for HTC's time-tested Hero by upgrading the LCD to a 3.2-inch AMOLED display (while still carrying over the old HVGA resolution) and moving up from a trackball to one of those newfangled optical trackpads, though this one's got a bit of a twist: it's surrounded by a clickable button. The phone runs Android 2.1 with a series of brand new Sense enhancements, most notably the addition of a "Friend Stream" widget that aggregates friends' status updates across services (a trend we've been seeing a lot of lately). We're not hearing about North American availability at this point, but it'll hit Vodafone and direct sales channels in Europe in "early" second quarter. Update: Check out the promo video after the break!
HTC Legend breaks cover on KPN's site for March launch
We've little doubt at this point that HTC's Legend is definitely real and likely coming to a shop near you, but now we've got what seems to be the first official confirmation by a company that would have authority on the matter. The Netherlands' KPN has thrown up the Legend on its site for availability likely in March, offering the Android-loving Dutch the opportunity to sign up for updates -- in other words, no money's exchanging hands just yet. As far as we can tell, these appear to be official shots of the phone offered up by HTC, so odds are good that KPN simply jumped the gun -- the phone is almost certainly destined for an official unveil either by HTC or a carrier partner at MWC in a few days' time. There are some specs here, too: 256MB of RAM and 512MB of ROM on board, AGPS, WiFi, an FM radio, 3.2-inch display and 5 megapixel camera, making this an honest-to-goodness Hero successor -- and it even looks like the Legend name will be carried over for launch. Any other carriers care to step up and help bust this thing wide open?
HTC Legend makes an encore appearance, this time with specs
The race is on to see how many angles of HTC's upcoming Legend can be snapped before the phone's official debut, so here's our next submission. As you can see, the hard-edged aluminum theme continues to wrap its way around the side with a touch of black plastic along the bottom, presumably to give the antenna some room to breathe. We've got a list of specs this time, too, most of which match up with what we've already heard: 3.2-inch HVGA AMOLED capacitive touchscreen 600MHz Qualcomm MSM7227 processor (the same class of core used by the Pixi and Devour) 5 megapixel camera with LED flash Bluetooth 2.1+EDR WiFi Quadband GSM / EDGE plus dualband HSPA Magnetic compass 3.5mm headphone jack 1300mAh battery It's no Nexus One or Bravo, but that's the beauty of the way HTC's love affair with Android is turning out -- there's a little something for everyone. [Thanks, Dion]
HTC Legend spotted just hanging out, playing it cool
Look familiar? Yep, this is precisely what we expected HTC's rumored Legend to look like based on the renders we'd seen so far. We don't have any information here other than the pictures themselves, but from what we can gather, it seems to carry over Sense as we know it today without a trace of that freshened look we've caught in recent months (not unlike its Incredible cousin). Maybe more importantly, the Legend looks like it might be kicking off a new styling direction for the company with a big, bold, chromed company logo around back and an aluminum shell that we suspect feels awesome in the hand -- particularly if it's pre-production aluminum. More on this one as we get it; in the meantime, check out a shot of the back after the break. [Thanks, anonymous tipster]
What to do when your Numbers' charts don't paste correctly
The iWork suite of apps (Pages, Numbers and Keynote) play nice with each other -- for the most part. Objects such as shapes, text boxes and tables created in one app can easily be copied and pasted onto another and retain their styles. Even an image with an instant alpha filter applied will retain its transparency when pasted onto another iWork app. However, the iWork apps don't always play nice with each other when it comes to charts. In particular, copying a chart created in Numbers and pasting it onto either a Keynote presentation or Pages document doesn't always bring the chart's legend with it respective to how it looked in Numbers. Sometimes, the legend may be misaligned, and sometimes it may even show up on a completely different page in the document. To address this annoyance, just highlight all of the elements (the entire chart and the legend, or anything else you want retained) of the chart that you'd like to copy. Then click on Numbers "Arrange" menu and select "Group" (or hit Command-Option-G). Now, the legend of your chart retains its alignment when pasted onto either a Keynote presentation or a Pages document. To alter or undo this, just select "Ungroup" (Command-Option-Shift-G) from the same file menu.
HTC Legend still looking good -- as a render, anyway
We got a pretty good glimpse of HTC's rumored Legend back in that huge roadmap leak a few days back, but now we're circling back for a better shot (and a few more details) of the probable Hero successor in all its roughly-rendered glory. High-end aficionados are probably still going to want to set their sights on the Bravo (or the Google Phone, Nexus One, Passion, what have you), but this sucker won't be a slouch, either -- it looks like it's signed up for a 600MHz MSM7227 and, more importantly, a WVGA display (turns out it's only HVGA). We'd already known this from the last leak, but what's new here is the presence of HTC People II and Footprints II, suggesting that Sense is going to get some sort of refresh to commemorate the launch. Add in the alleged metal casing, and we bet this thing's gonna be a looker in the flesh; needless to say, March can't come soon enough. Update: As friendly tipster M. Schmidler points out, since the time of writing the source has corrected the resolution to be HVGA instead of the previously thought WVGA. Frowny face.
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%
Huge stash of HTC Android codenames found within 2.1 ROM
You know that leaked HTC Sense ROM with Android 2.1 underneath? Well, somebody did some digging and found a wild stack of HTC Android handset codenames buried within. It starts in the realm of the familiar, with mentions of Dragon, Passion, Dream and Hero, but then it starts to get a little wild. Here's the full list: Bahamas, Bravo, DesireC, Dragon, Dream, Espresso, Halo, HeroCT, HeroC, Hero, Huangshan, Incredible, Legend, Liberty, Memphis, Paradise, PassionC, Passion, Sapphire and Supersonic. Pretty wild, right? There's no telling what exactly this list implies, other than the fact that Passion and Dragon are indeed on the books, and that HTC's naming department can really let the superlatives fly, but we're sure all will be made clear over the next year or two.
Phat Loot Phriday: Blade of Tarasque
Been a while, I think, since we've done a dagger. Plus, this one will show off a little of my D&D lore knowledge, and I don't get to do that as much as I like. Name: Blade of Tarasque (Wowhead, Thottbot, Armory) Type: Epic Main hand Dagger Damage/Speed: 108 - 343 / 1.80 (125.1 DPS) Attributes: +48 Stamina, +65 Intellect. Used to be that Stamina on a caster item meant warlock, but I think this is just an endgame item -- any caster who needs it could use it just fine. Plus, there's a blue gem socket on it, so you can put whatever you want in there, with a socket bonus of +5 spellpower. Just because it came up on the site earlier this week, I'll use this opportunity to remind you that any gem can go in any socket -- you just won't get the socket bonus. Yes, really. %Gallery-33600%
MMO addiction drives man to poison family
Addiction as it applies to MMOs and internet activity in general is a contentious issue. Many of the more unusual or extreme stories regarding the actions that result from digital addiction tend to come to us from Asia, especially China. The pace and fervor with which China's internet savvy population has seized the web and all that it offers -- both good and bad -- is staggering. The web has become integral to entertainment in China, particularly for the younger generation, but it's brought with it a host of societal problems and crime. Only days ago, the Chinese government classified Internet addiction as a mental disease, a fact which may well stay the execution of Hu Ange, a 22-year-old man who poisoned his own parents... apparently so they would not interfere with his addiction to the online game Legend. Hu was sentenced to death, but the case is now being appealed on the grounds that he is mentally ill.
