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Vodafone have confirmed that they will be selling the HTC Legend on an exclusive basis and the HTC Desire on a non exclusive basis from next month.

The HTC Legend has been heralded as one of the best handsets to hit the market given its Sense interface, solid build and good but not outstanding spec list that ensures a decent not exorbitant price. The handset is bound to fly off the shelves but there is one thing that could dampen the excitement, the fact that Vodafone are selling the Legend handset with 360 Services Preloaded.

360 hasnt gone down as well as expected although it still remains a key part of Vodafones Strategic plans hence its inclusion on the HTC Legend.

Android handsets are all about choice and flexibility. Users are able to make the phone look and feel the way they want with apps they choose and personalise the home screens with widgets, something the Iphone cant do. If Vodafone force users to use their 360 people client and interface instead of the award winning Sense UI and other apps that users download they could be shooting themselves in both feet with a shotgun.

However, Vodafone merely ensures that the apps, which should appear in the Android Market, are installed on the handset and can be removed or just sit there redundant then everyone is a winner. Im just hoping this is the case.

Why arent there many Android handsets with QWERTY keyboards? Looking at the Android handsets that have been released recently or those that are currently available in the UK, it has become clear that the world favours touch screens instead of the more tactile qerty keyboards. There is only one cutting edge Android handset that has a slide out keyboard, the Motorola Milestone as its know in the UK. However, this handset has been surpassed in terms of hardware spec and software version. The Milestone was never properly taken on by any of the UK operators which left a void, the only other handsets that come with a slide out qwety keyboard are middle tier devices such as the Motorola Dext.

Blackberrys continue to extend into the consumer market given their ability to work well with email and Facebook and the fact that its easy to tap out a long message or status update using the QWERTY keyboards many of them have. Blackberrys only touch screen device, the Storm struggled to offer the same functionality and ease of typing that the company’s otehr devices offered.

So it looks even stranger that no manufacturer has produced a leading edge,  large touch screen Android device that has a QWERTY keyboard that is able to compete with and match the specs of the Sony Ericsson X10,  HTC Desire or Nexus One.