HTC ChaCha and Salsa Facebook phones launched

HTC has announced the HTC Salsa and Chacha Facebook phones. Expect launch in US, Europe and India soon

We already know about the Facebook phones INQ Cloud Q and Cloud Touch. And now here is the next Facebook phone, or rather Facebook phones. The HTC Salsa and HTC ChaCha ‘Facebook phones’ have just been outed. No prices yet, but these are likely to be quite cheap if available on contract in US or Canada.

How exactly are these facebook phones compared to your regular Android or Phone with a Facebook app? Lets take a look.

First, Facebook, at least officially, have nothing to do with the HTC ChaCha and Salsa. The social network, though, is well integrated into the two smartphones. Quick sharing of your photos taken  with your mobile phone camera is possible, and there is a dedicated Facebook button which according to HTC is context aware, and has different functions depending on where in the interface you are. Better integration with Facebook is the name of the game. When you see a contact, their Facebook status and other information would all be displayed, we guess. Also read our earlier story: HTC Facebook phone in Feb 2011

Photo: HTC Salsa touchscreen Facebook phone, HTC ChaCha QWERTY Facebook phone

Both the HTC ChaCha and Salsa facebook phones run the latest version of Google’s Android 2.3 Gingerbread.

How are the two phones different? The HTC Salsa is a touchscreen phone with a 3.4 inch display with 480 x 320 pixels – nothing great there. Hardcore Facebook users though might like a phone with a full QWERTY keyboard, and that is what the HTC ChaCha offers. But the ChaCha has an even smaller display – 2.6 inches, and 480 x 320 pixels again. Not bad for a phone on which you will probably be interacting a lot instead of standing back and appreciating a video or a photo you just took. Remember that HTC had earlier denied that they were making any Facebook phones.

These are not high-end phones, however. HTC could have vowed us all with a high-end Facebook phone instead, or they probably feel it is too much of a risk. If the ChaCha and Salsa sell reasonably well, we can probably expect an even more powerful, high-end Facebook from HTC.

Another interesting tidbit which came out – probably a mistake? – is that the press release announcing the HTC ChaCha and Salsa Facebook phones would come with Android 2.4 (Ice Cream Sandwich).  However, there is no sign of it today when the phones have been announced.

There is no information on the actual prices of the phones or which carriers would they be available on in the US. Canada and Europe launches of the HTC ChaCha and the Salsa are also a certainty, we think. HTC has always been a few months slow in announcing phones for our own Indian market here, but considering the booming popularity of Facebook in India, we think the HTC Salsa and Chacha would both make an appearance here too.