Nop, it’s not a Facebook mobile device, it’s not a forked Android ROM, it’s a interactive and innovative Android launcher named Facebook Home. A way to convert all the Android devices in the world to a Facebook phone literally, with Home for Android. It’s not just an app, its a completely new experience for every Android device with more emphasis on people.
It all starts with Cover feed which replaces the lock screen and home screen. It’s a window into what’s happening with your friends- which is basically your Facebook Newsfeed where you can like, share and comment your friends posts right from the home screen. Home act us both your lock screen and home screen, where you can flip through to see more stories, and double tap to like the stories.
Another interesting features is the chat heads which allow you to keep chatting with friends even when you’re using other apps. When friends send you messages, a chat head appears with your friend’s face, so you see exactly who you’re chatting with. It can be accessed from anywhere, whether you’re checking email, browsing the web, or listening to music. Users can move chat heads around and respond to messages. And since SMS is integrated into Facebook Messenger for Android, chat heads include Facebook messages as well as SMS texts.
User will receive notifications with their friends profile pictures on Home screen, like a friends posting on timeline. Users just need to tap them to open and read the notification or if they don’t want to deal with it right at that time they can just swipe to hide them. Another feature is the customized app drawer, you can just 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 to use them.
Coming to the official release, Facebook Home for Android will be available as a free download from the Google Play Store starting April 12. It will work on HTC One X, HTC One X+, Samsung GALAXY S III, Samsung GALAXY Note II and forthcoming HTC One and Samsung GALAXY S4. Facebook will start supporting more devices in the coming months.
HTC First with Facebook Home
Facebook has partnered with HTC to build the HTC First which comes with Facebook Home out of the box as its main launcher instead of HTC’s Sense UI. It brings in 4.3-inch super LCD screen with incredible clarity, powered with Qualcomm 1.4 GHz dual core processor with 1GB RAM running Android 4.1 Jellybean OS. It comes with 5MP rear camera that supports 1080p Full HD video recording and 1.6MP BSI front camera.
- 4.3 inch super LCD screen, HD 720p with 341 PPI
- Android 4.1 Jellybean OS with Facebook Home
- Qualcomm 8930AA, dual core 1.4 GHz with 1GB RAM
- 16GB Internal Storage
- 5 MP rear camera and 1.6MP front camera
- 4G LTE, 3G, 2G, WiFi,NFC, Bluetooth 4.0connectivity
- 2000 mAh Li-polymer battery
Source – Facebook Home for Android