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.

Remember that persistent rumor regarding the potential existence of a Facebook phone that just won’t go away but doesn’t actually seem to have any merit? Well it would seem that the speculation has risen once again around a Facebook smart devices of sorts thanks to an event being held by the company and the overheard murmurings of words like “mobile” and “this is going to be a big deal”. In the past all we have heard are rumors without much substance behind them, but it seems that a number of different sources are expecting Facebook to show off a mobile device this coming Tuesday, in one form or another.

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.

When it comes to the world of consumer and online technology, we are pretty much at the point where nothing should shock us, especially when it comes to Facebook, the world’s largest social network. With the acquisition of the mobile app Instagram for a cool $1 billion in cash plus stock deal, and now with the re-emergence of rumors that they are designing their own smartphone, it seems like anything is possible.

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.

The press-shots that we posted about yesterday? Yes they were real, as announced today by HTC at Mobile World Congress. The two phones namely, HTC Chacha and HTC Salsa have dedicated Facebook button, with a more customized Sense UI running on Android 2.4 to have more focus on the world’s largest social network.

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.

The rumors of some sort of Facebook phone arriving sometime in the future have been circulating for a while now, with HTC being touted as a hardware partner. Now though it seems minnows INQ are hard at work getting ready to bring a handset to market.