$50 'Facebook phone' launched

Facebook addicts in the United States, rejoice - you can now get a Facebook-optimized smartphone with a dedicated "share" button - for $49.99 (P2,152). The HTC Status phone is available for pre-order and is to arrive in stores of carrier AT&T on Sunday, July 17. AT&T said the $49.99 price includes a two-year contract. "Not just a link to a mobile Facebook application, the button lets you quickly share what you are doing on Facebook with a simple press," AT&T said in its website. It described the HTC Status as "the ultimate phone for customers who love posting on Facebook what they’re doing, seeing or listening to." The phone, which has a QWERTY keyboard, has a context-aware "share" button that lights up when there is an activity to share, such as a song, a website or a photo. According to AT&T, te Facebook share button allows people to:

• Post instantly on your wall or a friend’s wall by pressing the Facebook share button from your home screen.
• Take a picture or shoot a video and share it instantly with a press of the Facebook share button.
• Check in to Facebook Places by pressing and holding the Facebook share button from the home screen.
• Share something cool on the Web with a quick press of the Facebook share button and be the first with the news.

The phone runs on Google's Android 2.3.3 (Gingerbread) platform and has an enhanced version of HTC Sense that integrates Facebook into more places. The device has a 5-megapixel camera with auto-focus and LED flash on the back and a front-facing camera. A separate article on PC World said the phone appears to be targeted at the younger crowd and "may prove a hit with kids who spend much of their day on the world's largest social network." "Will we see a Google+ version somewhere down the road?" it added. — TJD, GMA News