Yesterday, the famously-accurate Twitter handle evleaks distributed what were thought to be press renders of the HTC First Facebook Phone, the initial device set to run Facebook's new socially-orientated Android launcher. Today, the same source is back with more information pertaining the software itself, and not only does it look set to offer a great deal more than your typical launcher, it also offers a beautiful user interface.
So-called "social" smartphones have tried, and as yet failed spectacularly to create any legitimate niche within the market. With 1+ billion on Facebook and many millions more using the likes of Twitter, the social smartphone should, at least on paper, be an easy sell; but as HTC found out with the ChaCha and Salsa, not everybody likes to dance is so keen to buy into the idea of a device tailored to the social networks. Undeterred, the "quietly brilliant" Taiwanese company looks set for another stab with its 'Myst' handset, and if a specs leak via Unwired View's evleaks is to be believed, the mid-range handset sounds like a decent effort.
There has been a continual wave of speculation with regards to a purported "Facebook Phone" and the latest reports suggest it is very much real, operating under the codename HTC Opera UL.
Although Facebook has been a web success story surpassed only by Google, its shortcomings in the mobile space have been plain for all to see. The Facebook mobile app is below par on every ecosystem and device going, and the inability to monetize the growing mobile market has been the elephant in the room for a good few years now.
Facebook has been actively seeking to tap into the smartphone market for quite some time, and it seems everything is now in place for the concept to become reality.
As Facebook continues its process of world domination, HTC has introduced a new phone with heavy Facebook integration. The Status, as it's now called (formerly HTC ChaCha), is a new AT&T phone with many Facebook oriented features, including a dedicated Facebook button, making sharing content on Facebook just a few seconds away.
We told you recently how HTC has at least one handset in the pipeline that will feature a dedicated Facebook button to take users straight into the social network. Now according to PocketNow, we can expect two such handsets, and there are new press photos to prove it!
With the likes of INQ all set to release their own Android phone that ties straight into Facebook, today we learn that HTC is getting in on the action too.
With Facebook's 600m users it was surely only a matter of time before the king of the social networks decided it wanted to enter the mobile phone fray, and according to City AM that time could well be as early as February.
I find this a little hard to believe but Michael Arrington (of TechCrunch fame) says that the world’s biggest social network - Facebook - is now secretly building up a proprietary phone whose features will revolve entirely around the network. Hard to believe, but one must keep in mind that Arrington was the one who broke the news of a Google Phone (now known as the Nexus One).
