The HTC Status, a BlackBerry-like smartphone with a dedicated Facebook share button, will be available in AT&T stores for $50 on July 17, AT&T announced Monday.
Targeted at the younger crowd--and if you don't believe me, sneak a peek at Best Buy's exclusive mauve edition--the HTC Status may prove a hit with kids who spend much of their day on the world's largest social network.
The share button below the Status' physical keyboard provides fast access to key Facebook features. For example, you can post on your (or a friend's) wall by pressing the button from the home screen. And you can check into Facebook Places, the social net's Foursquare-like check-in service, by pressing and holding the share button.
The Status is the first AT&T phone to run Android 2.3.3 (Gingerbread). Its enhanced version of the HTC Sense interface has deeper hooks into Facebook, including a Facebook chat app that lets you continue chatting even when you take a call, play a game, or browse the Web, AT&T says.
Unfortunately, the phone's display is nothing to chat about: a 2.6-inch touch screen with 480-by-320 resolution. The rear-facing, 5-megapixel camera has auto-focus and LED flash; the front camera has VGA resolution.
AT&T's website is now taking pre-orders for the Facebook-friendly HTC Status. Will we see a Google+ version somewhere down the road?
Contact Jeff Bertolucci via Twitter (@jbertolucci) or at jbertolucci.blogspot.com.
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