If the chin is the stuff of tech legends, the next generation HTC Hero–code named HTC Legend–continues that legendary geek tradition rocking the chin design, which first debuted on the HTC T-Mobile G1. The next-generation Android handset that is to replace the original HTC Hero eschews the Teflon coating–found only on the white variant of the Hero–for a bold metal look. Also gone is the trackball, which was extremely comfortable due to its large size–it is larger than the BlackBerry trackball–and in its place is an optical and clickable trackpad of some kind, though the trackpad appears diminutive in size in the rendering.

We’re also looking at a AMOLED HVGA screen (not quite the 16:9 FWVGA screen found on the Motorola Droid and a 600 MHz Qualcomm processor, which puts it slightly on the lower scale of things than the much hyped and rumored Google Phone that borrows its design from the HTC Bravo codenamed Snapdragon Android beast. The new Legend will also have an LED flash, 5-megapixel camera, WiFi, Bluetooth, digital compass, GPS, and accelerometer.

With the more moderately spec’ed processor and a HVGA screen, this will be more of a mainstream consumer target device rather than the HTC Bravo, which will be a higher-end phone.

New with the Legend will be an updated version of HTC Sense, which is said to feature People II and Footprints II, the former is contacts management and social integration while the latter is for geo-tagging.

Curiously, the rendering, which probably was created prior to new marketing campaign, shows “HTC Innovation” on the side rather than the new “Quietly Brilliant” mark. The design also sports a green color on the bottom, which borrows itself probably from the green Google Android character.

(via: ai.rs and Engadget Mobile)