HTC Salsa Pro Reviews

The HTC Salsa is a nicely made smartphone, though the chassis is a bit iffy in places. The Facebook button is a bit gimmicky in that it doesn't offer anything new or special, but it does give you speedy access to Facebook features.

The HTC Salsa is a solidly built smartphone with a good screen, reasonable camera, fine UI and an emphasis on social networking, thanks largely to its clever Facebook button. This latter will endear it to ’bookers, but otherwise it doesn’t stand out strongly from HTC’s ever-expanding range of handsets.

Shame we didn't think of it first. Facebook has 750 million users. And you don't actually need all of them. Oh well, some of them are obviously a bird, a rodent or a fish but that's not the point. All you need is to get a mere one percent interested in the Salsa or the ChaCha. Stick a phone in the hands of half of that and you may as well clock out and go to lunch. HTC got it all figured out. And no, we're not making fun of the Salsa. Though honestly, we're not sure about the name. Anyway, getting your device to stand out is a tough job. Without the Facebook button, the HTC Salsa is just another midrange HTC droid that can easily get lost in the crowd. The Salsa is supposed to fill the gap between the Desire S and the Wildfire S. HTC do well to give their users a choice in the midrange. But the HTC Salsa fears being squeezed for space between a solid performer and a friendly mini. And the heavier price tag doesn’t help much.

The HTC Salsa provides easy integration with the world's most popular social networking service, but its ultimate appeal will depend on how much you use Facebook on a daily basis. The Facebook key is not a deal breaker, but putting that aside, the Salsa remains an excellent value smartphone with a great design.

If I'm honest, I struggled to like the HTC Salsa as much as other recent HTC smartphones. Admittedly, that's probably because I'm not a massive fan of Facebook, and the Salsa feels like a step backward in comparison to the recent slew of top-end devices that I've had from HTC, but I just didn't gel with it as much as I might have hoped. Perhaps if the Facebook integration was a bit more snazzy and provided a real step-up from the existing Facebook abilities of other handsets then I'd have been more impressed. In reality, the dedicated Facebook button does little more than the on-screen share button that can be found on all recent HTC Android devices. That said, I think this could be the perfect phone for the right person: someone who wants an affordable smartphone with decent specs and has a hunger for social networking. I dare say I'd have liked it far more if I was a full-time Facebook dweller, as many folks are these days - so if this sounds like you, then the Salsa could be worth a look.

We love the hardware and HTC's Sense interface runs exceptionally smoothly on top of Android 2.3, plus the Salsa works very well indeed as a mobile web browser and can handle the demands of Angry Birds' physics code with ease. If the camera worked a little more smoothly and if there was a touch (well, a lot) more app storage space, it would be the perfect mid-sized Android phone. It's a well-made phone that's enjoyable to use and a breath of fresh air in the world of bland black slabs – but today's app-hungry smartphone users will find its lack of onboard memory a daily frustration.

So if you're looking for a phone in this price range, you will fall into one of two groups, those who should get an HTC Salsa or those who'd be better served with an HTC Desire S or another similarly specced handset. If you consider your phone's primary function to update your status, send pictures to your wall and share music, then the HTC Salsa could certainly help speed up your social workflow. It's also a good size, well put together and ships with a nice camera. The main issue we have which we outlined earlier however is the price-point. Nuzzled between the HTC Wildfire S and the HTC Desire S, it's far nearer the upper end of that spectrum than the little blue button would justify. Perhaps when the price drops we'll be less hesitant to recommend it, but until then, unless you're totally hooked on your Facebook, the HTC Salsa will remain in the shadows of its bigger brother, Facebook button or no Facebook button.

But that said the HTC Salsa is a great Android smartphone, a good example of how great the Android experience can be on a mid-range affordable device. It isn’t going to compete on the multimedia front with its bigger brothers, but in the core Android experience it responds well. We prefer it to the HTC Wildfire S, it offers more power and a few interesting tweaks that give you a little more to play with. We’re not sold on the weird split colouring on the back panel, but otherwise, whether you’re a Facebook fan or not, the HTC Salsa is a great little phone.

The Salsa is an odd little phone. If HTC hadn’t bothered with the extra Facebook garnish, and instead made a low- to mid-tier Android handset with the sturdy chassis of the Legend, two-day battery life and most of the more appealing features from HTC Sense 3.0 only with a more affordable price tag, we would’ve readily said it probably had a best-seller on its hands.

The HTC Salsa may be a smaller, budget device, with Facebook at its core but it's actually a surprisingly grown up smartphone. It's smartly styled, speedy in operation, packed full of features, and can get you to Facebook nirvana quicker than you can say toasted Tortilla. Whether your desire for Facebook fripperies is strong enough to overcome the slightly high price is more of a personal preference issue but if you do like the idea then it's very well executed.