Mobile maker HTC and social networking company Facebook announced the launch of the new smartphone "First" at an event on April 4 in California. It will be a "social" mobile phone with Facebook integrated inside and out.
Although the device is called "First", it is not the first HTC smartphone to be jointly with Facebook. Earlier in 2011, the same pair released HTC Uncle, Status and Salsa phones with special Facebook integration. First, however, will be the first handset to come with the newly announced "Facebook Home" software for Android and allow for more deep roaming on the social networking platform. The photo sharing application Instagram will also be available pre-loaded on the first smartphone.
The first handset powered by Android 4.1 Jelly Bean is available in four colors - red, light blue, white and black. It will not be too big in size. It will have a 4.3 inch 1280 x 720 pixel Super LCD display. The first phone with a rounded corner design with three capacitive touch buttons will have a 5 megapixel back and 1.6 megapixel front camera. It uses a 1.4 GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 processor. There is also 1 GB RAM, 16 GB internal storage and 2000 mAh battery.
The Forge LTE-enabled smartphone will go on sale in the US from April 12 at a price of. 99.99 under the AT&T banner. The smartphone will later be available outside the United States, but Zuckerberg did not give a specific date.