have questions on HTC Legend? Ask here!

desiibond

Skilled
Hi fellow TEians,

I got this beauty yesterday and going through the UI etc. If you are thinking of purchase and have any doubts regarding the phone, let me know.
 
sabby said:
It would be great if you compare this to the N900. :) In fact, a review will be always welcome.

here is the comparison:

OS: Legend
apps: Legend
build quality: Legend
features: N900
input: Legend (though N900 has qwerty, it's pain to use N900 in one hand)
display: Legend
music quality: N900
movie playback: N900 (thanks to linux, it support lot more formats)
overall, N900 is better but I would go for Legend anyday, thanks to lack of apps and the heavy and bulky size of N900. if you have big hands and like using the phone holding it in both hands, N900 is the way to go.
 
^Thank you. I've ordered mine from EBAY and now its struck in courier(due to may 1st,they didnt deliver today) :(

What about radio? I've heard lots of bad about its signal reception and wifi capabilities :(
 
smnrock said:
^Thank you. I've ordered mine from EBAY and now its struck in courier(due to may 1st,they didnt deliver today) :(

What about radio? I've heard lots of bad about its signal reception and wifi capabilities :(

Radio is loud and clear. Tried using my sennhieser earphone and packaged headset. only radio one has some noise. Radio City is crystal clear.

wifi, havent' faced any issues as the router is less than a few mtrs away (at the max). So, signal shouldn't be a problem.

btw, do remember that the battery goes out really fast if you keep internet on and those twitter and news widgets running.
 
desiibond said:
Radio is loud and clear. Tried using my sennhieser earphone and packaged headset. only radio one has some noise. Radio City is crystal clear.
Oh, sorry.. i didnt mean FM radio's. In general i referred GSM/3G signal, wifi and bluetooth all compined as radio. Lots of discussions are going on in XDA about these, so asked about it.
 
smnrock said:
Oh, sorry.. i didnt mean FM radio's. In general i referred GSM/3G signal, wifi and bluetooth all compined as radio. Lots of discussions are going on in XDA about these, so asked about it.

damn. sorry.

bluetooth: haven't tried it yet

wifi: till now, no issues. to test it out, I did speedtest on laptop while downloading app from android market on legend. am on 2Mbps connection

http://www.speedtest.net/result/800568244.png

also since all the antennas are at the lower part of the phone (below detachable plastic cap, holding the phone covered that part may cause weakening of signal .
 
Congrats for your purchase. The phone does look Legen---(Wait for it)---dary.

Have you used a 5800/5230/5233, is the UI a very big step up from Touch Symbian? I bought a 5233 today so would like to know. Thanks.
 
H2O said:
Congrats for your purchase. The phone does look Legen---(Wait for it)---dary.

Have you used a 5800/5230/5233, is the UI a very big step up from Touch Symbian? I bought a 5233 today so would like to know. Thanks.

Thank you.

The main problem with Symbian is that it has minimal (social) network integration.

few things in Android that make it lot more worthy over Symbian:

1) fierce competition among manufacturers to customize UI and bring the best out of it. Nokia on the other hand is lazily doing minor tweaks to Symbian

2) android was designed with internet, networking in mind. Symbian was designed with I don't know. as a result, you will find social networking and internet apps everywhere in Android. This behavior is seen in Nokia's Maemo

3) there are 50k+ apps for Android and most are free and many are really good apps. Nokia Ovi store on the other hand looks bad, doesn't have many apps. It looks as if the only deveopers making apps for symbian are those wearing Nokia id cards :)

4) UI is very slick and looks beautiful on Legend but that is because of better h/w like AMOLED display, capacitive touch, huge amount of RAM, better processor. And Android can make really good use of current gen hardware. On the other hand Symbian on high end phones like N97 doesn't offer anything better coz it trying to be what it cannot be.

5) adding more to point 4, manufacturers like HTC bring lot more to the OS. They refine it a bit, add customization and also let the users customize the UI a lot. Add to the case, cooked ROMs by XDA who back HTC really well!
 
How good is the landscape keyboard to type on? I'm wary of the smaller screen and the chin at one side making it uncomfortable.

Also, the aluminium back was always a problem for the radios, do you see any interference or drop in call-quality??
 
Given the extra width that this phone has when compared to phones like 5800 Xm, landscape qwerty is pretty good. But there is a slight lag when typing in browser's text box, which sometimes feels irritating. There is no such lag with sms or email apps etc. Bit inferior to iPhone's qwerty.

Chin is a bit weird but am getting used to it. Doesn't feel any discomfort when the phone is in pocket.

Radio: haven't had any of the problems that are making rounds on internet.
 
I have read that the default music app is quite feature less? Are any good music apps available on the App market? Also is the music quality dependent on the hardware?? in such a case a diff player wont make much of a difference.
 
coldice4u said:
I have read that the default music app is quite feature less? Are any good music apps available on the App market? Also is the music quality dependent on the hardware?? in such a case a diff player wont make much of a difference.

the default music app is totally junk. you can check app called "Mixzing" for more features, download songs, album art etc and also facebook integration.

you can also check TuneWiki.

music quality: It is good. as I said, it's better than 5800XM's. For casual listening, yes, I can recommend it but it can't beat a good dedicated media player. Music quality needs a good h/w and good s/w too. with bad algorithm, a music client can pump seriously bad audio :)

btw, the loud speaker has lot of distortion when used for calls. Also, sometimes, there is slight zzzzzzzzzz kind of noise when I am using phone's earpiece (while on call). doesn't happen everytime. happens now and then.
 
Hi.. Congrats on your new legend. From your posts, I see that you have come to like it a lot. :hap2::hap2:

I am currently using a 5800 and have no issues with it. It does more than what i want and I was quite content with it..... Was happy that i need not change my phone for quite sometime.... But then came a twist.. One of my firend got a legend and I spent 5 mins with it and I came to like it a lot... the UI was great and fluid.... Had a tough time looking at my 5800 again :no::no:

Initlal Impessions - Phone looked solid and UI was great... but I need some more detailed info before I decide to go for this phone.

1.Music- I'm not a hardcode listener but I would prefer audio with good mids and lows (bass). The 5800 was ok for me and if legend is better than 5800, it would more than suit my requirements. I use a sennheiser In-ear phones.

2.UI - For the 5 mins i played around, I liked the UI. Is the UI fluid across all areas of usage? Any noticeable decrease in speed/performance with multiple apps running in the background?

PS: I also had a chance to play with Nexus One and the live wallpaper was absolutely cool thing to show off. It might require high processing and might drain battery, but it was cool!!! I think they are part of android 2.1. Are they present in Legend?

3.GPS Navigation - With nokia offering lifetime navigation, my 5800 was great to use and in FW v50 the gps lock happened within 20 secs and this was one of the strengths of the phone. It did not require any data service and is totally free. What is the case with the Legend?? Does it come with a built in app for gps which offers free navigation?? or any android apps with good maps for india?? This might be make or break thing for me

4.Games - games on 5800 was only ok.. nothing great and lack of multi-touch made it difficult to play. How are games on Legend? Have you tried any good 3D games in it?? It will be helpful if you can post a mini review on gaming. Like the fludiness, touch responsiveness etc..

5. Movie Playback - 5800 did not play .avi files directly. So I converted to MP4 and watched. It was a small hassle but I could live with it. I think .avi support is not there in Legend by default. Any third party apps to do it well?? If not can it play the MP4 as nicely as the 5800?? Theoretically it should, with a much powerful hardware, but does it play well practically??

6. Battery Life - My 5800 will last for a little more than 2 days with my usage. voice calls for an hour, around 50 sms, 10-20 mins web browsing on WLAN and 3hrs of music everyday. How long will the battery last with the same amount of usage with the legend?

7. Firmware updates - A general question on HTC policy... Will htc provide updates if a newer version of android comes up?

It would be great if you can add other niggling issues that you face For ex: Some basic feature that should have been there but not present in 5800 are

1. Marking multiple items - A pain go to options and mark each item one by one in s60v5

2. Frequently messaged contacts - SE has this wonderful feature where the last few contacts messaged would show up when clciked on send with a new message. Absent on 5800

3. Contact - calendar synchronization - Adding a birthday in contacts does not add it as an entry in the calendar automatically in s60v5

Edit:

8. Alphanumeric touch keypad - Does legend offer alphanumeric touch keypad like 5800 for smsing?? I am quite used to the alphanumeric T9 and find qwerty a little difficult as it requires use of both hands.

This phone has certainly caught my eye... If the daily usability is good, then this certainly will be my next phone.
 
vpraveenis said:
Hi.. Congrats on your new legend. From your posts, I see that you have come to like it a lot. :hap2::hap2:

I am currently using a 5800 and have no issues with it. It does more than what i want and I was quite content with it..... Was happy that i need not change my phone for quite sometime.... But then came a twist.. One of my firend got a legend and I spent 5 mins with it and I came to like it a lot... the UI was great and fluid.... Had a tough time looking at my 5800 again :no::no:

Initlal Impessions - Phone looked solid and UI was great... but I need some more detailed info before I decide to go for this phone.

What you mentioned is true. five minutes on this phone and you even a decent phone likd 5800XM will look bad :)

vpraveenis said:
1.Music- I'm not a hardcode listener but I would prefer audio with good mids and lows (bass). The 5800 was ok for me and if legend is better than 5800, it would more than suit my requirements. I use a sennheiser In-ear phones.

I am using Sennheiser CX200 Sport II and the audio is a bit bassy and audio quality is decent too. Much better than earlier android phones and better than Samsung Spica.

vpraveenis said:
2.UI - For the 5 mins i played around, I liked the UI. Is the UI fluid across all areas of usage? Any noticeable decrease in speed/performance with multiple apps running in the background?
Yes. the smooth and fluid UI is everywhere. haven't faced any issues with speed as the 600MHz processor and 384MB RAM does the job really well.

vpraveenis said:
PS: I also had a chance to play with Nexus One and the live wallpaper was absolutely cool thing to show off. It might require high processing and might drain battery, but it was cool!!! I think they are part of android 2.1. Are they present in Legend?

yes there are apps like AndWobble Live Wallpaper, which when installed will shuffle wallpapers from favourite photos. (something like webshots desktop).

vpraveenis said:
3.GPS Navigation - With nokia offering lifetime navigation, my 5800 was great to use and in FW v50 the gps lock happened within 20 secs and this was one of the strengths of the phone. It did not require any data service and is totally free. What is the case with the Legend?? Does it come with a built in app for gps which offers free navigation?? or any android apps with good maps for india?? This might be make or break thing for me

I use an unlimited data plan and so even on 5800XM, I relied more on google maps as they are bit more informative. I haven't seen offline maps for Legend with turn-by-turn navigation but paid tools should be there. you can check in android forum or put a query there for help.

vpraveenis said:
4.Games - games on 5800 was only ok.. nothing great and lack of multi-touch made it difficult to play. How are games on Legend? Have you tried any good 3D games in it?? It will be helpful if you can post a mini review on gaming. Like the fludiness, touch responsiveness etc..

This is one area that I have not explored in Legend (thanks to ipod touch). There are few games in android store but they are not 3D games. They are more like fun games. I will test some games and will let you know.

vpraveenis said:
5. Movie Playback - 5800 did not play .avi files directly. So I converted to MP4 and watched. It was a small hassle but I could live with it. I think .avi support is not there in Legend by default. Any third party apps to do it well?? If not can it play the MP4 as nicely as the 5800?? Theoretically it should, with a much powerful hardware, but does it play well practically??
yes. theoretically, it should. But problem is that apps are not yet available. I was told that Core Player 2.0 will soon be out for Android and it will do full Divx. But, trust me, when you convert movies to MP4 and play them on this phone, they look stunningly good (thanks to AMOLED)

vpraveenis said:
6. Battery Life - My 5800 will last for a little more than 2 days with my usage. voice calls for an hour, around 50 sms, 10-20 mins web browsing on WLAN and 3hrs of music everyday. How long will the battery last with the same amount of usage with the legend?

My Legend stays connected to internet till I go to bed. I use lot of twitter and battery stays till the end of day. Once I tested battery. Fully charged at 10am, didn't connect to internet and made/got couple of calls and texts till evening and at 6:30pm, battery was at 98%. with usage that you mentioned, 2 days of battery life should be pretty easy.

vpraveenis said:
7. Firmware updates - A general question on HTC policy... Will htc provide updates if a newer version of android comes up?

It. depends. HTC Hero is still on Android 1.6 and though HTC says that they will release 2.1 for Hero, god knows when. Google says that from 2.2, upgrading to newer release will be lot more easier. So, let's see.

vpraveenis said:
It would be great if you can add other niggling issues that you face For ex: Some basic feature that should have been there but not present in 5800 are
1. Marking multiple items - A pain go to options and mark each item one by one in s60v5
2. Frequently messaged contacts - SE has this wonderful feature where the last few contacts messaged would show up when clciked on send with a new message. Absent on 5800
3. Contact - calendar synchronization - Adding a birthday in contacts does not add it as an entry in the calendar automatically in s60v5

1 -> on Legend, go to texts, click on Menu and select Delete. This will give you list of texts and each text will have "x" sign next to it and you can select multiple items here.
2 -> I don't think this option is there
3 -> There are apps for this. eg: EboBirthday EboBirthday v1.6.0 Application for Android | Tools

vpraveenis said:
Edit:
8. Alphanumeric touch keypad - Does legend offer alphanumeric touch keypad like 5800 for smsing?? I am quite used to the alphanumeric T9 and find qwerty a little difficult as it requires use of both hands.

It has alphanumeric touch keypad, mini qwerty and full qwerty. and T9 is pretty good.
 
congrats on your new legend..:)

got a question regarding the battery life..

I am a heavy caller, meaning in a day I talk a minimum of 3-4 hours on my phone if not more, with many calls more than half an hour in duration.. some being up to an hour or more.

I dont text much, and other than calling I will mostly be playing around a bit with the apps, occasional GPRS and GPS, max of 30 mins of music/video a day.. and wifi(from my home mostly). also I dont tweet or use facebook (rarely if i do).

So with this usage pattern, do you think it is advisable for me to get the legend? I was really eyeing this phone and the desire, but after reading the battery life reviews on the net I am not so sure.. and nowhere I have been able to find reports from any one who is as heavy a caller as me :)P)

I will need a minimum of one full days service from the battery.. more the merrier :)

thanks for ur help...
 
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