HTC ChaCha preview

HTC ChaCha smartphone - three views of the front

HTC ChaCha smartphone - three views of the front

The HTC ChaCha smartphone is one of the two Facebook-optimised phones HTC announced at Mobile World Congress 2011, the other being the HTC Salsa.

The big talking point of the two phones is the addition of a Facebook button, placed at the very bottom of the front of the phone. Depending upon what you’re doing on the phone, listening to music, using the GPS or taking photos or video, then pushing the Facebook button and you can share your tunes, pics and vids to your Facebook profile.



There’s a range of Facebook widgets built into the phone, such as:

a clock with a Facebook stream of updates as a ticker, and a Calendar widget so you never miss your friends’ birthdays and events. You can also follow your special favorites and all their news with the Friend Stream widget

The ChaCha sports a 2.6 inch touchscreen, plus a QWERTY keyboard, so you can easily get those two thumbs firing Facebook status updates. It’s running on the Android Gingerbread operating system, and both front- and rear-facing cameras.

HTC ChaCha release date and price

The HTC ChaCha goes on sale on July 6, through Vodafone.

It’s available for:

  • $0 upfront on the $29 Cap over 24 months (total minimum cost: $696)
  • $0 upfront on the $45 Infinite over 24 months (total minimum cost: $1,080)
  • As a prepaid offer at $299 through Vodafone and dealer stores (Unlocking fee applies)

HTC ChaCha specifications

  • Operating system: Android Gingerbread (v2.3.3)
  • Screen: 2.6-inch touchscreen with 480 x 320 resolution
  • Network: HSPA/WCDMA: Europe/Asia: 900/2100 MHz; Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE: 850/900/1800/1900 MHz
  • CPU: 600 MHz
  • Memory: 512MB ROM, 512MB RAM
  • Wi-Fi: IEEE 802.11b/g/n
  • Connections: 3.5 mm stereo audio jack, standard micro-USB (5-pin micro-USB 2.0)
  • Battery: 1250 mAh rechargeable Lithium-ion
  • Talk time: WCDMA up to 420 minutes, GSM up to 450 minutes
  • Standby time: WCDMA up to 660 hours, GSM up to 430 hours
  • Camera: 5 megapixel color camera with auto focus and LED flash; VGA front camera
  • Sensors: G-Sensor, digital compass, proximity sensor, ambient light sensor
  • Internal GPS antenna
  • Audio formats: Playback:.aac, .amr, .ogg, .mid, .mp3, .wav, .wma (Windows Media Audio 9); Recording:.amr
  • Video formats: Playback:.3gp, .3g2, .mp4, .wmv (Windows Media Video 9); Recording:.3gp
  • Dimensions: 114.4 x 64.6 x 10.7 mm (H x W x D)
  • Weight: 120 grams (including battery)