Quick social fix: HTC has launched two handsets - Salsa (left) and ChaCha (right) - which will allow owners to access Facebook at the touch of a button
By pressing the ‘F’ logo users will be able to instantly share photos, music and even their exact location on an in-built map from their mobile phone.
At the moment, owners of iPhones and similar products have to use a touch-screen process to access pages on the popular social networking site.
In a clear attempt to target the teenage market, the Taiwanese phone maker called the two phones Salsa and ChaCha.
Parents faced with children badgering them for one of the new gadgets may only have weeks to save up the cash as the phones may be on sale in the UK in April.
However, it is unclear how much money they will need because the makers refused to say what the phones will cost as they unveiled them at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.
Salsa is a touch-screen-only phone with a 3.4-inch screen. ChaCha has 2.6-inch touch-screen with a separate keyboard, which looks a lot like a Blackberry.
HTC and Facebook have spent two years developing the two phones.
The devices have Facebook built into their contacts system, allowing users to see Facebook friends and message them.
Facebook events appear in the phones' calendar and there is also a built-in Facebook chat application, which will rival Blackberry’s instant message service.
The dedicated Facebook key pulsates when the user shares information.
When taking photos, the user simply has press the F button and the images will appear on their Facebook profile.
Similarly, when using Google maps owners of the phone can press the F button to give friends their exact location.
Industry experts expect the phones to be a big success. They point to research from Comscore which found the number of Europeans accessing social network websites from their phones increased by 75 per cent last year to 42million.
Nick Dillon, from technology analyst Ovum, said: ‘These smartphones certainly raise the bar in terms of mobile implementations of Facebook.
‘This deeper level of integration could make the mobile experience of Facebook more compelling than other mobile versions of the application.
‘It’s inevitable that the ChaCha and Salsa will become known as Facebook phones, even though they are not a result of a joint venture with Facebook but rather a clever partnership dating back to 2009.
‘But in a very real sense they deserve that tag.’
HTC confirmed that the phones are not being officially branded as Facebook phones.
HTC
The company hopes the integration of the social network will appeal to a generation of new consumers who use the site to run their social calendars.
Peter Chou, CEO of HTC, said: ‘We wanted to create the ultimate socially connected phones with mass market appeal.’
Henri Moissinac, head of Facebook's mobile business, added: 'HTC has brought Facebook to these two new devices in an innovative way enabling people to connect and share easily whenever they want, wherever they are.'
