Smartphone manufacturer HTC has announced two of their new smartphones, the HTC ChaCha and HTC Salsa, will be available exclusively through the Vodafone network. The phones can be purchased from 6 July.

“HTC understands the growing value of social media and has taken that to a whole new level by introducing HTC ChaCha and HTC Salsa. These two new devices bring customers a refreshingly easy user experience and a more immediate way to engage with Facebook through a mobile device,” said Ben Hodgson, Country Manager, HTC Australia and New Zealand.

“These innovative, intuitive devices come with a dedicated Facebook share button which enables contextual sharing of all content including status, photos, messages, web pages, locations, music, and videos with a single push.”

"Vodafone are committed to delivering innovative new products that allow customers to engage with their devices in simple, easy and fun ways.  The HTC ChaCha and HTC Salsa are perfect for social networking and are sure to excite and engage our customers by allowing them to use Facebook in a simple, easy and new way through their mobile,” said Ross Parker, General Manager Devices and Pricing, Vodafone. “We are thrilled to add these two new devices, with their innovative social media features and high-end performance, along with competitive price points to our current HTC range.”

The HTC ChaCha and HTC Salsa focus on the popularity of social networking from your smartphone, and the smartphones feature a number of new Facebook widgets which target the Facebook-obsessed market. For example, when you receive a call on the new devices, you can also view the caller’s latest Facebook update, uploaded photos and it will also display an alert if they have an upcoming birthday.

The HTC ChaCha features an 800MHz processor, 5-megapixel colour camera with auto focus and LED flash, VGA front camera and 2.6 inch touchscreen.

The HTC Salsa features an 800MHz processor, 5-megapixel colour camera with auto focus and LED flash, VGA front camera, a Micro SD memory card and a 3.4 inch touchscreen. Each of the new phones features the latest version of the Android Gingerbread operating system (2.3).

The HTC smartphones will be available for $0 upfront on a $29 24-month contract, or $0 upfront on a $45 Infinite plan. The HTC ChaCha can also be purchased for $299 on a Vodafone prepaid service.