Time for some old rumors to make new news, with the return of the Facebook phone. A few days ago, an unheard of device by HTC, dubbed the HTC Operaul made its appearance on NenaMark2 benchmarks, creating a bit of a stir in the community. A Snapdragon Plus dual-core engine and a 720p display indicated that this was not meant to be a budget feature-phone.

It now turns out that an extremely reliable source has confirmed that the HTC Opera UL (which we have come to know as the Operaul), is actually a production code-name for THE social-networking phone. For those who still can’t read between the lines, this is THE Facebook phone, that went quiet, almost as soon as it started getting talked about, almost an year ago.

If this is indeed what we think it is, it looks like HTC may be diversifying its focus from just physical handset products to a more service-  oriented hardware offering. And if it manages to carve a niche with a social networking giant as Facebook, then the future is limitless, given the advent of social-integration on Android.

Hey Mark, looks like it’s time to tell the world what’s up. After all, its better it come from you, than getting shared as a leak on FB.