HTC ChaCha and HTC Salsa: Facebook phones unveiled

The HTC Salsa (left) and the HTC ChaCha (right)
The HTC Salsa (left) and the HTC ChaCha (right)

HTC has finally announced the oft-rumoured 'Facebook phones' in th shape of the HTC Salsa and HTC ChaCha.

Although not branded by Facebook, the two companies worked closely together to create the final products, and come complete with a branded Facebook key.

The HTC ChaCha, ridiculous moniker aside, is a QWERTY portrait device with a 2.6-inch capacitive touchscreen with HVGA (480x320) resolution stuffed in.

A 'unique tilt design makes it easier to hold in the hand, and comes complete with a VGA front facing camera as well as a 5MP one on the rear too with LED flash.

The same but different

The HTC Salsa is relatively similar, although does away with QWERTY keyboard in favour of a 3.4-inch screen, with the same HVGA resolution and 5MP camera and LED flash.

Both phones come with a slightly disappointing 600MHz Qualcomm processor on board, meaning they're likely to be tipped more towards the budget end of the market.

But more exciting is the Facebook key, a front button that will glow gently to let you know when content can be uploaded or shared, as well as allow instant access to the Facebook portal or update your status.

Both handsets will be shipping with the latest version of Android (Gingerbread) and the HTC ChaCha and HTC Salsa have been given UK release dates for early-to-mid Q2 2011.

Gareth Beavis
Formerly Global Editor in Chief

Gareth has been part of the consumer technology world in a career spanning three decades. He started life as a staff writer on the fledgling TechRadar, and has grown with the site (primarily as phones, tablets and wearables editor) until becoming Global Editor in Chief in 2018. Gareth has written over 4,000 articles for TechRadar, has contributed expert insight to a number of other publications, chaired panels on zeitgeist technologies, presented at the Gadget Show Live as well as representing the brand on TV and radio for multiple channels including Sky, BBC, ITV and Al-Jazeera. Passionate about fitness, he can bore anyone rigid about stress management, sleep tracking, heart rate variance as well as bemoaning something about the latest iPhone, Galaxy or OLED TV.