Internet is not really helping in keeping the existence of the device as a secret prior to its launch earlier this morning but here it is: say hello to the new HTC First, the first ever smartphone that comes preloaded with the new Facebook Home experience. Do excuse us for a little bit – we are going to use the word “first” for quite a number of times in this post.
The HTC First is not the first Facebook-oriented smartphone that the Taiwanese phone maker has released into the market as they have did it before with HTC Salsa and HTC ChaCha back in 2011 (both are equipped with dedicated Facebook button) although the HTC First obviously puts Facebook in the center stage through the new Facebook Home experience.
Specification-wise, the HTC First is essentially a mid-range smartphone that is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 MSM8930AA system-on-a-chip (SoC) processor which contains a dual-core 1.4GHz Krait CPU and Adreno 305 GPU. It also features a 4.3-inch display with HD 720p resolution and pixel density of 341ppi together with 1GB of RAM and internal storage of 16GB.
In terms of photography, the HTC First features a 5-megapixels rear camera with 28mm f/2.0 lens as well as an ultrawide angle 1.6-megapixels front-facing camera. It is also equipped with LTE connectivity, NFC and non-removable 2000mAh battery.
Priced at RM 1,386 (USD 449.99), the device is currently exclusive to US-based carrier AT&T and will be launched in US at the same time as the release of Facebook Home on April 12. European carriers such as EE and Orange are said to be next in the list to receive the new device very soon.
[Source: HTC]
