By: iPadfanzz Editor on April 5, 2013
Facebook is leaving no chance to delve deeper into our mobile lives and what better way to reach consumers than the most prominent screen on the phones in their pockets. The social networking website, without making a phone of its own, introduces a new app that replaces the home screen on some Android smartphones. The new software is called “Home” and it replaces Android’s standard interface with its own homescreen and lock screen, allowing people to make handsets they already own into Facebook-centric phones.
Facebook Home falls between an app and an operating system. Home will be available both pre-installed on the new HTC First device and also is downloadable on other Android devices, though the downloadable version won’t have all the features that the HTC First does.
The biggest message that Facebook wants to deliver to its users is to improve their ability to communicate with loved ones on mobile.
In technical terms, Facebook home is a collection of apps acting as one organism to deliver a full-skin Facebook experience for your Android phone, putting your Facebook contacts' photos, status updates, and chat icons front and center.
Instead of traditional wallpaper or a "lock screen," users with Home installed will see a new Facebook "cover feed" that displays a rolling ticker-tape of photos, overlays messages, icons, notifications, and other text on top, status updates – and eventually, ads - from Facebook's network. It will be a horizontal side-scrolling photo theme in which you can flick to advance. Since this is still an Android phone, Facebook Home will surface notifications from Facebook, as well as for third-party apps, like e-mail, missed calls, and texts.
Also once you tap on icons and images to like them, you’ll be rewarded with huge "thumbs-up" animation, and read and leave comments. For messages posted without a picture, Cover Feed will pull in your friend’s Cover Photo to use as the backdrop. At the bottom of the screen will be your own icon, tapping on which will open a mini onscreen navigation array that lets you go back to a previous app, open messaging, or navigate to your apps launcher. Traditional notifications are supported as well, and show up in the center of the screen. Swiping a notification dismisses it, while tapping on it will launch the app. There’s a bit of learning curve that you have to understand for smooth navigation.
The messaging functionality of Home is called Chat Heads. When you receive an SMS or Facebook Message an image of the sender’s face appears on the home screen as a notification in a small, movable bubble. Tapping on the bubble will launch the conversation with that person. If you’re not interested in talking, then you can dismiss the chat by dragging the Chat head down to the bottom of the screen.
Chat heads are movable. Suppose your friend sends a message while you’re reading an email, then you can move him to the top of the screen while you finish reading, and then tap on him once you’re done.
You can also place Chat Heads in different locations on the screen. It’s a pretty amazing feature!
At the same time it’s as easy to get to your apps in Home as it is on any other phone. Swipe up to see your favorite apps in the launcher. There's also a screen containing all of your apps, and you can drag your favorite apps to the launcher.
"We're not building an operating system. We're building something that's a whole lot deeper," Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said. He reiterated previous statements on Facebook's mobile plans. "A great phone might sell 10 or 20 million units. Our user base is at about a billion. Even if we made a great phone, we'd only be serving one or two percent of our base."
Facebook said Home will be available as a free download from the Google Play Store starting April 12. Home isn’t compatible with all Android phones. It will only work with Android “Ice Cream Sandwich” and “Jelly Bean” handsets. Home will work on the HTC One X, HTC One X+, Samsung GALAXY S III and Samsung GALAXY Note II. Home will also work on the forthcoming HTC One and Samsung GALAXY S4, and on more devices in the coming months. Home will also be available pre-installed on phones through the Facebook Home Program.
Analyst say Facebook has done a pretty brilliant job in brining two people so close. It’s a really good proposal to millions of us who are increasingly browsing the Internet using our hand-held devices by unveiling software that turns regular mobile phones into always-connected Facebook devices, they say. Stuart Miles, founder of technology and gadget site Pocket-lint, said the arrival of Home marked an important milestone for Facebook.
"It remains to be seen whether Home will wrest control from Google in terms of being the primary port of call on a smartphone."
Let’s see how Facebook’s people specific strategy works out in the long run.
