HTC Salsa review: "Like" it or not

Introduction

It takes two to tango, HTC seem to think. The HTC Salsa joins the ChaCha in a bid to treat young Android users to as much Facebook as they can handle. The little blue button makes an appearance again, this time in a more familiar context. While the ChaCha takes its QWERTY keyboard off the beaten path, the Salsa is a typical Android package. It’s got a solid build and seems like a well spec'd midrange smartphone - an HTC Wildfire S for Facebookers.

The HTC Salsa official photos

The Salsa has something the ChaCha doesn't: a family tree. The Salsa is part of the new generation of midrange phones by HTC, along with the likes of the Wildfire S. But calling it a Facebook-centric Wildfire S would be oversimplifying or just plain wrong. As a matter of fact, HTC went on to give the Salsa more than just that tiny Facebook button. It tops the Wildfire S in terms of screen size and processor clock speed, and throws in a few features that the Wildfire S didn't bother with - like video calls, HD video and web Flash support.

Let's take a look at the complete feature list and the possible deal breakers.

Key features

• Quad-band GSM and dual-band 3G support
• 7.2 Mbps HSDPA and 384 Kbps HSUPA
• 3.4" 16M-color capacitive TFT touchscreen of HVGA (320 x 480) resolution, Gorilla glass
• Android OS v2.3 Gingerbread with HTC Sense
• 800 MHz CPU, Adreno 205 GPU, Qualcomm MSM7227 chipset
• 512 MB RAM and 512 MB ROM
• 5 MP autofocus camera with LED flash and geotagging
• D1 video recording @ 30fps
• Wi-Fi b/g/n and DLNA
• GPS with A-GPS
• microSD slot up to 32GB (2GB card included)
• Accelerometer and proximity sensor
• Standard 3.5 mm audio jack
• Stereo FM radio with RDS
• microUSB port (charging) and stereo Bluetooth v2.1
• Smart dialing, voice dialing
• Front facing camera, video calls
• DivX/XviD video support
• Compact aluminum unibody
• HTC Locations app
• HTCSense.com integration
• HTC Portable Wi-Fi Hotspot
• Ultra-fast boot times (if you don’t remove battery)

Main disadvantages

• Below-par screen sunlight legibility
• Camera not the best we’ve seen
• microSD slot under the battery cover, not (quite) hot-swappable
• No HD video recording

There seems to be so little to worry about but we're yet to get into the details. As a mid-range smartphone, the Salsa will not set your expectations too high. But users who know what to expect will not be disappointed. The unibody design, the hallmark build quality and the latest Android are all in the deal.

HTC Salsa live pictures

So, it's a neat little smartphone with a thing for Facebook, one that many are getting ready to befriend. As for us, we have a job to do before we hit "Like". Our usual tour of the hardware coming up.