As we expected after the leaks last night, HTC has just dropped the good word on three brand new handsets at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

The first up is the Android 2.1-powered HTC Legend, which is essentially a spiritual successor to the much-loved HTC Hero.

Outside of its slick new shell (which, by the way, is almost entirely one seamless piece of aluminum, similar to Apple’s uni-body Mac Books), the primary changes from the Hero to the Legend would be the upgrade to Android 2.1, the minor processor speed bump from 528 Mhz to 600, and the nifty optical trackpad that has replaced the trackball. The screen size and resolution remains the same (3.2 inches at 320×480), but they’ve bumped it up from the standard LCD to a gorgeous AMOLED screen.

Is it a massive upgrade from the Hero as it already exists? If we’re solely looking at the specs, no – but if you want something with a little more grumble under the hood, they’ve just announced one of those, as well.

Unfortunately for us folks in the US, the model they’re announcing today lacks support for US 3G. Expect it to launch in March throughout Europe and Asia.

Update: We just got the promo video for the HTC Legend – Check it out here.