When Phones Were Fun: HTC Status, 2011

Опубликовано 16 октября 2025, 3:00

No, it’s not a BlackBerry (or a Treo) – this is an Android phone, built by one of the most revered mobile manufacturers for a time when social networks were still fun places to share status updates with friends and family. It was a more hopeful time, when phones were sold with pastel post-it notes and the notion of a dedicated Facebook button didn't send customers running for the door. Erm, well actually ... maybe that last bit isn't quite true.

The year was 2011, and the phone was the HTC Status (a.k.a. the HTC ChaCha, a.k.a. the HTC ChaChaCha, a.k.a. ... the phone that got me my first job as a gadget blogger. Welcome back to When Phones Were Fun!


[ABOUT WHEN PHONES WERE FUN – HTC STATUS / CHACHA]

This is the latest in a series of MrMobile videos exploring the mobile tech world's most vibrant period in design and experimentation. In “When Phones Were Fun,” Michael Fisher re-reviews cellphones from the golden age of mobile, the decade-long span from the turn of the century to approximately 2013.

This episode was produced with an HTC ChaCha purchased through eBay by MrMobile. MrMobile does not offer manufacturers the opportunity to preview, edit or approve content before publication. Neither HTC nor any other manufacturer provided compensation in exchange for this coverage.


[CHAPTERS]

00:00 Not a BlackBerry – but a Facebook Phone
00:53 Naming nightmare
01:50 A refreshing alternative (even back then!)
02:51 An era of specialized smartphones
05:08 QWERTY just makes (HTC) Sense
07:04 The Facebook button
08:12 Phone photos, 2011-style
08:58 Fun, but a failure
11:22 How the ChaCha got me my job
12:35 Outro & Disclosures


[SOCIALIZE]

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[DISCLOSURES]

Additional information concerning MrMobile’s ethics policy can be found here: mrmobile.tech/ethics