HTC and Facebook have just announced the First, a new smartphone that puts Facebook front and center and runs on AT&T's network. Despite its name, the First isn't the first device that Facebook and HTC have partnered up on — back in 2011, HTC released the ChaCha, Status, and Salsa, all of which had special Facebook integration. But the First comes with Facebook's new Home launcher out of the box, offering a much richer Facebook experience than the earlier efforts. AT&T CEO Ralph de la Vega says that it offers "the most immersive engagement I've ever seen." Underneath Facebook's Home launcher is Android 4.1 Jelly Bean. Facebook says that the First will have some deeper integration for system notifications than the version of Home available for download on other devices and it will also come pre-loaded with Instagram, being the only phone on the market to do so.

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The First will come in four colors: red, light blue, white, and black. It has a very minimal design, and is said to "not be huge" thanks to its 4.3-inch display, 1280 x 720 pixel Super LCD display. Below the display are three capacitive buttons, and the overall shape is a generic rounded rectangle with cameras on the front and back. It is powered by a dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 processor clocked at 1.4GHz and paired with 1GB of RAM, making it one of the first phones on the market with this chip. It also has 16GB of internal storage and a 2,000mAh battery. Its rear camera is a 5-megapixel unit with an f/2.0, 28mm lens, while the front camera is a 1.6-megapixel sensor. The First supports AT&T's 4G LTE network and will be available April 12th for $99.99. Interested customers are able to pre-order it starting today. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg says that the device will also be released on Orange and EE in Europe, though a release date was not provided.

You can check out a super cut of Facebook's presentation where it announced Home and the First below.