MWC 2011: HTC go on Facebook phone frenzy with Salsa and ChaCha handsets, get Mark Zuckerberg's blessing
In what’s been a busy morning for HTC in Barcelona, the Taiwanese firm have taken the wraps off two new Android phones with dedicated Facebook buttons.
The ChaCha come with a 2.6-inch capacitive touchscreen display with a resolution of 480 x 320 pixels, along with a BlackBerry-style hardware QWERTY keyboard, while the HTC Salsa is a full touchscreen smartphone.
Both will also run Android 2.2 and be powered by the MSM 7277 Qualcomm 600MHz processor.
While they’re not the much rumoured official Facebook handsets that the all-conquring social network is said to have been working on, HTC have worked closely with Facebook on the phones and have been given permission to use the familiar F logo on the devices.
Although the Facebook button looks like being mainly used for quickfire acces to status updates, its context sensitive and will for example, automatically grab the URL for you when browsing a webpage, ready for you to quickly share it with your friends.
Meanwhile, holding the button down for longer period will let you check-in with Facebook Places.
Making a special guest appearance at the press conference via video link, Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg shed some light on the social network’s mobile strategy, promising that dozens of phones are set be released over the coming year that will feature similar Facebook intergration to that seen on the Salsa and the ChaCha.
“HTC took the initiative; a lot has been made about a single Facebook phone, but you can expect dozens of phones with deeper integration than ever before”, he explained.
“In other arenas like gaming, the ones that make the successful products are the ones that just jump right in and think about making social integration a success.
“We’re happy with the direction HTC has taken, and look forward to a lot more to come.”
