Well today was Facebook’s big press event out on the west coast. Mark Zuckerberg said that they would never make a Facebook phone. The new product the unveiled actually lets him technically get away with that statement. Introducing Facebook Home, a new app that allows for deeper FB integration throughout your Android device. Inside lies the full details.
Facebook Home acts like app launcher with its own UI running on top of Android. It takes over your home screen and lockscreen.
Coverfeed is the way to view photos as it takes up the entire screen w/ small text in the top left corner.
Chatheads is Home’s new messaging hub that puts text and FB Messages into one central place. Home’s notifications are focused more on people contacting you rather than using apps. Example: you can be in Chrome browsing something and a Chathead will pop-up in the top right-hand corner. It will linger until you view or dismiss it. You can swipe it away to view later or long press it to get rid of it.
Facebook made sure to take over your phone without doing so completely.
You can still access your apps and the rest of your phone outside of Home by swiping up from the bottom like BlackBerry 10. Home is its own app launcher so from its app drawer you can post a status, check in, or upload photos. Unfortunately there will be no folders or widgets at launch but Facebook hopes to update Home once a month w/ new features. Oh and expect to see ads within Coverfeed but not at launch so there’s that.
Expect the app to land in the Google Play Store onApril 12th. Only select devices will be compatible with it like: the HTC One, One X, One X+, Samsung Galaxy III, Galaxy S4, and the Galaxy Note II. Home will make its way to tablets in the next few months. Check out some demo videos showing Facebook Home in action below.
