The existence of a so-called “Facebook phone” has been a rumor that refuses to go away. Recently a new HTC handset called “Operaul” has been spotted in benchmarks. The actual name for the device is said to possibly be “Opera UL”. According to anonymous sources from Taiwan, that’s the name of an OEM product being made for Facebook.

Any time the Facebook rumor starts up HTC seems to be at the center of it, it seems this time is no different. According to what we know about the HTC Opera UL from benchmark tests, the device has a 1.4GHz processor of unknown core amounts (probably dual, maybe quad?). It also has a Qualcom Adreno 305 GPU and a HD display with a 128 x 720 resolution. As for OS? It will likely run Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, though it could run Android ICS or even Android 4.2 Jelly Bean, it’s really hard to say for sure.

Time and time again, Mark Zuckerberg has stated that a Facebook phone doesn’t make sense and isn’t in the works. Is this proof that he was just covering up the truth or is the HTC Opera UL just another HTC handset and nothing more? Until we have official word from HTC and Facebook, take this rumor with a fairly good-sized chunk of salt.

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Rumors have been flying recently about HTC’s intimate work with Facebook to create a “Facebook Phone”, but how much legitimacy is there to these claims? According to Mark Zuckerberg, through a Facebook Earnings Call today, there is no reason to make an actual Facebook phone. Zuckerberg pointed out that Facebook is the most-used app on all mobile platforms, meaning that basically every phone out there is a Facebook phone. This is in stark contrast not only to the rumors of HTC’s involvement, but also to claims from the New York Times that suggest Facebook has been stealing away a few engineers from Apple to work on their phone project. Pretty cut and dry, there is no Facebook Phone, right?

Actually, it’s really quite hard to call for sure at this point, but if you take a closer look at Zuckerberg’s direct comments, you start to see that he was very careful with his word choice, which might mean that the statements he gave where only a half-truths at best.

“There are lots of things that you can build in other operating systems, as well,” Zuckerberg said, “that aren’t really taking — that aren’t really like building out a whole phone which I think wouldn’t really make much sense for us to do.”

Dissecting that statement, Zuckerberg basically says they wouldn’t make a whole phone themselves and he also alludes to the idea of a completely new OS not being part of the strategy, but he doesn’t necessarily say they wouldn’t work with partners on a phone and use an existing platform (like Android) with a specialized, highly customized UI, similar to the Kindle Fire. This is obviously just my opinion on how to interpret what Zuckerberg said, so take it with a grain of salt.

Later Zuckerberg also mentioned that Facebook wants to not just have apps that people use, but as deeply integrated experiences in these systems as possible. Combining these various statements, it seems very possible that Facebook is working on something. What that something is though, it’s hard to say right now but time will tell.

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Here we go again. Even though HTC launched phones like the HTC Status with a dedicated Facebook button, we have yet to see an official Facebook phone. That could change as early as next year, complete with a totally custom operating system.

That’s the word coming out of Bloomberg. They’re saying that Facebook is once again “working closely” with HTC, except this time they’ve also put together a team of engineers from Palm and Apple to develop a “modified” Facebook OS. In all likelihood, it’s still some variation of Android at the core, but it’s hard to say just how far the modifications will go. Hopefully it’s not the HTC Status all over again.

Bloomberg isn’t saying anything about how the hardware will look, whether it’ll have a physical keyboard, or anything like that. Considering that the rumored launch is being pushed back from the end of 2012 to the middle of 2013, a lot can change on the hardware front in the meantime. I don’t know. Would you really want a Facebook phone? We thought it was a little odd when Google got into the smartphone game too and look at where we are now.

[Source]

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Instead of waiting for the package to be complete, it looks like Facebook is going about this by releasing bits and pieces at a time. You probably noticed the launch of the Facebook Camera app, for example, and this could simply be ported over as the native camera app on a Facebook phone. It just tacks on the Instagram filters and social sharing that everyone wants anyway.

There’s also a Facebook Messages app that is separate from the core Facebook app and this could bode well as the core messaging app on a smartphone, branching out to include SMS and possibly working as a powerful alternative to BBM or WhatsApp. And there’s already a Facebook app store too, so they’re fully prepared to tackle the iTunes App Store, Google Play, or Windows Marketplace.

The way things are shaping up, the Facebook phone will not be utilizing Android. Instead, it’ll be running its own dedicated OS, complete with its own app store, own messaging app, and so on. In fact, it’s rumored that Facebook wants to buy Opera, possibly to acquire the mobile browser for its new smartphone OS. The new OS will easily tap into existing Facebook frameworks for contacts, calendars, and other similar functions.

It’s hard to say when and if a “true” Facebook smartphone will hit the market, but it sure looks like they’re inching in that direction, one acquisition and release at a time.

[Source]

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To be available in stores starting on November 21, the MOTOKEY SOCIAL isn’t a smartphone. Instead, it’s a feature phone that is clearly geared toward the social networking fans in the audience. It comes with a 2.4-inch QVGA touchscreen, as well as a full QWERTY keyboard that includes a dedicated Facebook button.

Clearly hitting the lower end of the pricing spectrum too, the MOTOKEY SOCIAL is less than 10mm thin and comes with a 3MP camera. The user interface features five home screens, two interface themes, and plenty of integration to Facebook, Twitter, and so on. You also get Opera Mini and an email client. It’s no smartphone, but it’ll do the job for many folks. At $89.99 on prepaid, it’s pretty cheap too.

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So the Facebook Phone didn’t necessarily come directly from Zuckerberg himself, but none the less, HTC had took the stage in bringing these two social phones to existence at MWC 2011. These are without a doubt the Facebook phones that were rumored last month and expected to be released at MWC. How are they Facebook phones you ask? Well, they have a dedicated button for Facebook and the HTC Sense UI has “key functions of the Facebook service” integrated within. If you’re one of those people glued to the social networking site 24/7, when you wakeup before even brushing your teeth you’re on Facebook, these are probably the phones for you.

Both run on Android Gingerbread 2.3.3, with European and Asian markets getting it in Q2 2011 and the US later this year.

What HTC says about both these smartphones:

HTC ChaCha
Stay connected with the smartphone for the Facebook generation. The HTC ChaCha smartphone is designed to provide a seamless, social experience by enabling you to stay in touch with your friends anytime, anywhere. The unique tilt design shapes the display and physical QWERTY keyboard so it is easy to view and comfortable to type. Capture special moments in crisp, High-Definition detail or video chat with your friends using the dual cameras, including a 5-megapixel color camera with auto focus and LED flash and a VGA front-facing camera. The ChaCha smartphone also brings the Internet to your fingertips with a 2.6-inch, 480 x 320 resolution landscape touch screen.

HTC Salsa
Your Facebook friends never felt closer. Boasting the same deep Facebook integration as the HTC ChaCha smartphone, the HTC Salsa smartphone provides a fast, high-performance smartphone experience. Capture the moment in high-resolution stills or video with the 5-megapixel camera and immediately share it with friends on the generous 3.4-inch, 480 x 320 resolution touch display. Upload your photos to Facebook at the touch of a button. For face-to-face conversations on the move, the VGA forward-facing camera enables high-quality video calling.

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When asked about the possibility, Twitter CEO Dick Costello said that the company does not have any plans on creating a Twitter-branded smartphone in the future. Remember, though, that the Facebook PR people offered the same response when asked about the possibility of a Facebook-branded smartphone.

Costello did go on to say that he would like to “see deeper integration of Twitter on smartphones,” which is really what we’re getting now with the “Facebook phones” from INQ and HTC. Does this mean that we could soon be seeing “Twitter phones” anyway? Maybe.

For my part, I don’t want a Facebook phone or a Twitter phone. I want an Android phone and, if it happens to have some social networking integration, all the better. Does it really matter how it’s branded?

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INQ Mobile is showing off the prototype of their “Facebook phone,” an Android-based smartphone with deep Facebook integration called the Cloud Touch. It’s got Facebook chat, the news feed on the home screen, and FB events integrated into the Google calendar.

For those outside of North America, they’ve also integrated Spotify, which allows you to stream music from your home computer to your phone whenever, wherever. The service isn’t available in the U.S. or Canada yet, so when the Cloud Touch comes this way later this year we’ll have the default music player.

INQ will be releasing the phone to the international market in May, with an unannounced release date for North America.

This is not an “official” Facebook phone, it’s just optimized for Facebook.  We know where Facebook stands on having an official phone, this INQ handset could be what the rumors were referring to unless we see something from HTC in the days to come.

[Business Insider via Tech Crunch]

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The latest reports come by way of Dan Rose, head of business development at Facebook. He is outright denying that the popular social network is partnering on HTC to produce any kind of mobile device, saying that such a phone is “just another example of a manufacturer who has taken our public APIs and integrated them into their device in an interesting way.”

Note that Rose isn’t denying the existing of an HTC-made “Facebook” phone, per se. He’s just denying that Facebook is any way directly related to the project. In this way, we could still very much see two “Facebook phones” at MWC next month; they just won’t be Facebook-branded, as though anyone would care not to have a big blue F on their handset.

So many smartphone platforms come with heavy Facebook integration, including the syncing of calendars and contacts, so it doesn’t matter how official this “Facebook” branding is; so long as it works.

[Mashable]

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Up until now, Facebook has “only” been a social network. It spawned a huge number of apps, both desktop and mobile, but Zuckerberg’s team hasn’t really dabbled in hardware. Until now.

In direct contrast to Mark Zuckerberg’s claim not too long ago, there’s a report — whether true or not has yet to be determined — going around saying that there will be not one, but two Facebook branded smartphones being unveiled at Mobile World Congress next month. Just as we anxiously awaited a “Google Phone” for some time, a “Facebook Phone” could be just around the corner.

Interestingly enough, it’s being said that the first Facebook phones will be built by HTC, just like how the first Android phones were made by HTC (and how most Windows Mobile phones, back in the day, were also made by HTC). So, is there going to be a brand new Facebook OS to go with this too? Yes and no.

Apparently, the HTC-sourced smartphones will “run a modified build of Google’s Android operating system that will display information from a user’s Facebook account on the home screen.” So, it’s like HTC Sense or Samsung TouchWiz… only with Walls, Pokes, and FarmVilles.

[BGR via CityAM]

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