HTC Salsa Pre-Review

So we decided to do a pre- review on the HTC Salsa in the UK,  until our review unit finally gets here! Sometimes we just can’t wait long enough for HTC so we went into a phone shop and had a play with it for an hour and a bit, certainly enough to get our conclusions, the only thing we cannot comment on is the battery life of the model! If you want to find that out I would advise TestFreaks as the site to check out.

Software

As usual this baby runs HTC Sense of the 2.1 variety on top of the Gingerbread Android operating system. This phone offers extra Facebook functionality, with a touch of the Facebook button, whatever you’re doing is instantly posted for the world to see! In fact the software is maybe the best featured social version of the software ever.

Hardware

With a speedy 800MHz processor and 512MB of ROM and RAM this baby is practically the insides of a Desire Z in a smaller package — it speeds through most tasks with ease. However the touch screen is a bit of a let down with the iPhone packing only a .1″ bigger touch screen you would have thought that the resolution would have been more than a measly 480*360 resolution.

The plastic build is also slightly underwhelming compared to HTC’s normal standard. The 5MP camera is a sturdy snapper ideal for those Facebook Photo addicts.

Verdict

For any Facebook fanatic this is the phone to get, however the cheap build, expensive £384.99 unlocked or unfortunately pay the price for the exclusivity on the O2 network. Furthermore the screen is a let down and the phone may not be enough of a step up from the already capable Wildfire S to attract consumer attention!

But if it is a Facebook phone you want then this certainly is as capable as the INQ or ChaCha, but for most those cheaper options may suffice, in fact considering you can buy a LG Optimus 7 with the awesome WP7 Android app, with the soon to be included in the Mango update. In fact for £200 this LG would outdo this phone, when considering the huge gap in price.