HTC Facebook phone rumored to land soon
The HTC Myst is supposed to have a built-in share button for Facebook
We may be seeing another so-called Facebook phone, as a rumor suggests a new smartphone from HTC will be landing with a built-in button to share to the social network.
The rumor comes via Unwired View and it has a leak that said the HTC Myst will be powered by a 1.5GHz dual-core processor, have a 4.3-inch 720p HD display, 16GB of storage, 4G LTE, a five-megapixel camera and will launch with Android Jelly Bean. Like the HTC Salsa, the HTC Myst is expected to have a dedicated Facebook button that will automatically share links, photos and more with one press.
Ok, so this isn't the "Facebook phone" we've been hearing rumors about but this may be as close as we get for the time being. Look for the HTC Myst to launch with a version of the Sense UI on top of Android but also with a lot of software tailored for the social network. That means you can expect the HTC Myst to launch with Facebook Messenger, Instagram and other apps that play nicely with the world's largest social network.
While it's not confirmed, the HTC Myst would fit in nicely with HTC's plans to target a mass market and its relationship with Facebook makes this collaboration seem right. The spiecs on the handset make it seem like a mid-range device and like the HTC Salse, I wouldn't be surprised to see the HTC Myst not come to the United States.
Will we ever see a real Facebook phone? The social network seems to have the pieces to put something together. It's developed a platform for third-parties to build apps upon and it's a major driver of a mobile app downloads. Throw in its camera, messaging, its voice-chatting software and its recent deals with carriers to offer free data and it does start to make sense. Additionally, having its own phone means that it won't be reliant on Google or Apple for its mobile future.
While it may make sense, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has previously said that a Facebook phone doesn't make sense for the company. Instead, he is focused on making every phone a "Facebook phone" and it appears to be working, as it now has more than 500 million mobile users accessing the social network per month.
Zuckerberg has also repeatedly said that Facebook is now a "mobile company" but it hasn't quite delivered on that promise. For example, its two most recent announcements (Graph Search and the new News Feed) came to the desktop first with promises of coming to mobile eventually.
[Via Unwired View]
