HTC Facebook Phones: HTC Salsa & ChaCha
Also announced by HTC at MWC are 2 Facebook phones – HTC Salsa and HTC Chacha that comes with a distinctive Facebook button at the front. Both devices are running on Android 2.3 Gingerbread with customised HTC Sense.
Earlier it was speculated that this could be a Facebook phone. Although it can be called as one, it actually isn’t an official device but more of smart phone with deeper Facebook social integration. From the video of Mark Zuckerberg shown at MWC, HTC is just one of the few phone makers that took the initiative to put more social features into the core of the device.
So what’s the difference between the two? The HTC Salsa is a full touchscreen device while the HTC Chacha has a full QWERTY keyboard at the bottom for those who desire a more tactile feel to their input. Apart from the physical appearance, both Salsa and Chacha are actually identical in terms of hardware.
Both runs on a 600MHz processor that comes with 512MB of RAM and 512MB of ROM which is expandable via microSD. In terms of screen, the Salsa measures at 3.4″ while the Chacha at 2.6″ with both capable of displaying a respectable 480×320. Both has a VGA camera in front and a 5.0MP auto focus camera with flash at the back.
Since it runs on Android, what makes it any different from the other HTC phones? Apart from the direct Facebook button, HTC has also created customised Facebook widgets and features which makes Facebook the focal point of the device. This is obviously not a phone for those who doesn’t have a Facebook account.
Check out more videos and images after the jump.
HTC Flyer 7 inch Android Tablet
HTC has finally joined the tablet bandwagon with its HTC Flyer. While its rivals are moving on to 10 inch tablet format, HTC decided to stick to 7 inch as its dimension of choice. While it looks like another Samsung Galaxy Tab, the Flyer is no slouch as it packs a powerful 1.5GHz processor and a massive 1GB of RAM which should make it more quicker to run. Also included with the Flyer is a Magic Pen which allows you to write notes, scribble and edit photos on the go.
Unlike the latest range of Android tablets taunting Android 3.0 Honeycomb with dual-core processor, the Flyer seems to be running on single core but at a higher 1.5GHz. Another surprise is that it runs on Android 2.3 Gingerbread with HTC Sense skin on top which we’ve been told countless of times isn’t a proper tablet experience as intended by Google. Perhaps, HTC is confident that even without honeycomb, they are still able to deliver a rich tablet experience with their custom skin.
Check out the specs, product video and images after the jump.
HTC reveals Desire S and Wildfire S
HTC has freshen up its Android lineup for this year with the HTC Desire S and HTC Wildfire S. This replaces its previous HTC Desire and HTC Wildfire were the key drivers of Android for HTC last year. For the new product update, it is funny HTC decided to add “S” behind the model names which sounds similar to its Korean rival Samsung.
Naming aside, let’s see what has HTC improve and let’s see if the latest Desire and Wildfire has what it takes to continue the momentum generated last year.
Give your iPhone the power of 8x telephoto zoom
Click for larger image
The iPhone is a competent digital shooter there’s no denying that, but like any digital camera built into a smart phone these days the digital zoom feature on the iPhone is still lacking when it comes to snapping a decent shot from afar.
If you’re always in a scenario where you wished you had more zoom in you iPhone’s camera then this 8x telephoto zoom lens could just do the trick — though the downside is attaching the lens renders your iPhone unwieldy.
The iPhone Telephoto Lens comes with a matte black case that you use to attach the lens onto your iPhone with. To compose your shot, just twist the grip on the lens’ manual focus ring to make it sharp, like you would a normal DSLR, and snap away.
Other goodies included with the lens is a mini tripod and a lint-free cleaning cloth. The iPhone Telephoto Lens goes for US$35 excluding shipment. That’s about RM107 at today’s rates.
A few more pictures after the jump. For shipment and ordering, hit up the source link.
It’s true! HTC is working on a Facebook phone
What started out as a rumour is now looking pretty much confirmed. This here are the first press shots of HTC’s version of a Facebook phone. No specs have been revealed just yet but the HTC phones look to be running Android judging by the navigation buttons at the bottom of the two devices pictured here.
As you can see there are two versions, for the two types of people in this world — full touch screen or QWERTY keyboard. We’re putting our necks out on this but it also looks like the QWERTY version may just have a touch screen as well. We might be wrong but we have an inkling that it could be.
Who cares if the INQ Cloud phone won’t make it outside of Europe, this pair from HTC is looking rather attractive if you ask us. What do you guys think?
Higher resolution pictures after the jump.
After weeks of speculations, rumours and leaks, it’s finally official, the successor to Samsung’s best selling smart phone, is here. And although we’re delighted to see that Samsung had improved on every aspect of the original Galaxy S, the Galaxy S II didn’t spring any surprises on us when it was unveiled.
In terms of hardware, almost everything you saw in the leaks and earlier leaks are accounted for save for the speculated curved screen (ala Nexus S) and slide-out vertical QWERTY keyboard that obviously wasn’t part of the final production. The Samsung Galaxy S II comes with a 4.3-inch (4.27-inch if you’re really picky) 800×480 Super AMOLED Plus display that is 0.3-in larger than the previous Galaxy S but uses less power.
The S II runs Android Gingerbread and features a 1GHz dual-core processor, an 8MP rear camera with LED flash and 1080p video recording capability as well as a 2MP front-facing-camera for video calls and self-portraits. The front-facing camera is also used for face recognition to unlock the device.
Finally, there’s also NFC built-in thrown in for good measure. All this in a package that’s just 8.49mm thin — this is the first sub-9mm smart phone in the world if there was any. The other notable improvement is in the TouchWiz UI skin, which will be version 4.0 in the Galaxy S II.
For those of you who are excited about the Samsung Galaxy S II and want to get one, don’t hold your breath. International shipments are only going out in June.
Head on to after the jump for some press shots and promo videos of the Samsung Galaxy S II.