HTC has announced the Status for both AT&T and Telus today on a Facebook page, which is fitting as the phone is the first in the US and Canada to sport a dedicated and approved Facebook share button. The HTC Status hardware is unchanged from the HTC Chacha we saw unveiled at Mobile World Congress, with a QWERTY portrait keyboard mounted on a slightly angled phone with a 2.6-inch, 480 x 320 touchscreen up top. Other specs include 512MB of RAM and 512MB of ROM, an 800MHz Qualcomm MSM7227 processor, a 1250 mAh battery, and a 5-megapixel main camera with a VGA camera on the front.

That Facebook button hanging out on the bottom like a beauty mark? You can use it for quick wall posts and check ins, but it's also contextually aware, glowing whenever you're doing something on your phone that can be shared on Facebook. The phone also has Facebook chat built-in with an HTC-designed widget showing your friends' statuses.

The HTC Status runs Gingerbread with a version of HTC Sense fitted to the device's slightly smaller screen. It looks as though it will come in white on AT&T and be offered in both black and purple on Telus. Pricing and availability "coming soon" for both carriers. Grab a gallery of press images after the break.