14 DAY TRIAL // Taiwan-based mobile phone maker HTC Corporation announced last week at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona the launch of two new handsets powered by Google's Android 2.1 operating system, the HTC Legend and HTC Desire, and now we learn that the former has already received some of the needed approvals. Among them, we can count one from the Global Certification Forum, and one from the FCC, so that the device can be used in the US.
Starting with the Global Certification Forum approval, the device is listed there as the PB76100, with quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE and dual-band UMTS/HSDPA/HSUPA at 900/2100 MHz connectivity on board. According to the unwired, there are two interesting details worth mentioning here, including the fact that Legend is not listed with an HTC code-name as other handsets from the company are, and that the supported frequencies do not suggest Legend will arrive in North America in the near future.
During MWC, the Legend was announced as set to land on the market in Europe via Vodafone and through direct channels as soon as April arrives, and we already learned some unconfirmed details on its price tag and on an April 12 launch date. The phone announces itself to be a pretty appealing device, especially since it includes the Android 2.1 OS flavor on board and a lower price tag than the high-end HTC Desire.
And since it will still be some time before we learn exactly when HTC Legend lands, we should take a look at the newly received FCC approval that Engadget reports on. The fact that it passed through FCC's courtyard could be an indicator that Legend will set sail for the US sooner rather than later, but the filing does not unveil any additional details on the matter, it seems. One way or the other, since HTC aims at becoming one of the top three smartphone vendors in the world by 2013, it will certainly push the device to the North American market in the near future, so stay tuned to learn when that might happen.