The first of HTC’s so-called Facebook phones, the HTC Salsa, arrived with plenty of fanfare at MWC 2011 back in February – the looming head of Mark Zuckerberg on the big screen, issuing a blanket blessing to all phones that prioritized Facebook integration – then left us scratching our collective heads as to whether we truly loved the social network quite enough to warrant a dedicated button for it. Now the lilac lifestyle phone is in our hands, encouraging us to detail the minutiae of our lives with everyone willing to read it. Check out as we over-share on the Salsa after the cut, in the full SlashGear review.
Hardware
Out of HTC’s two Facebook-centric phones, the Salsa is perhaps the less inspiring design-wise. Reminiscent of the HTC Legend, it has a unibody metal chassis with a plastic “chin” section, camera surround and battery cover/antenna, all finished in various shades of purple. Considering it’s intended to be a relatively budget device, build quality is surprisingly high: the 4.3 x 2.32 x 0.48 inch, 120g handset is just as creak-free as the range-topping Sensation.
Up front is a 3.4-inch 480 x 320 touchscreen, with the usual row of touch-sensitive Android keys – home, menu, back and search – underneath. On the chin, however, is the new Facebook button, a physical key which can light up depending on when HTC’s custom Facebook services can be used. A volume rocker is on the top left-hand side, above a microUSB charge/sync port, while the power/lock button is on the top edge by the 3.5mm headphones socket. Finally, there’s a dedicated camera shortcut on the right edge, a rare – and welcome – addition to HTC’s Android line-up.
HTC Salsa overview:
On the back is a 5-megapixel camera with autofocus and an LED flash, while a VGA resolution camera upfront takes care of vanity shots and video calls. Inside, HTC sensibly upgraded the original 600MHz processor for a faster 800MHz chip, obviously short of the 1GHz or higher dual-cores we’ve seen lately, but sufficient for an affordable device. It’s paired with 512MB of RAM and 512MB of ROM, along with a microSD card slot.
Connectivity includes HSPA/WCDMA 900/2100 and quadband GSM/EDGE, along with WiFi b/g/n and Bluetooth 3.0. There’s A2DP support for stereo Bluetooth audio connections, along with a g-sensor, digital compass, proximity and light sensors.
The display may run at a lower resolution than the WVGA we’re used to from current mid- to high-end Android phones – or, indeed, the qHD of the Sensation – but it’s still reasonable quality. Viewing angles are broad without discoloration or inversion, though colors are only average for a regular LCD. It’s not going to scare off Super AMOLED Plus, but it’s better than many budget Android phones we’ve seen.
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