Facebook Home

Facebook Home was launched recently amid little media attention. Everyone anticipated a new phone, and in turn, anticipated another poorly sold new attempt at an OS. Instead, what was announced was an intelligently thought out move from Facebook by releasing an extension of Android via a launcher app. Facebook Home has been released in partnership with the HTC First and will be available on download for the HTC One, HTC One X, Samsung SIII, Samsung S4 and Samsung Note II. I don’t expect the HTC First will sell well, and in all reality, I doubt HTC are pinning any hopes on it to change their fortunes.

So what is Facebook Home? And how does it operate? How does it differ from the functionality of the other operating systems?

With Android, Facebook Home can be accessed via an app and in the words of Zuckerberg – it makes your Android device truly social. The partnership with HTC can be seen immediately with ‘Cover Feed’, a live-updated social feed that operates similarly to FlipBoard and the HTC One’s BlinkFeed. This Cover Feed swamps the entirety of the launcher screen with Facebook content but if you want to get away from it, the normal apps are available by simply swiping upwards.

     Facebook have also introduced ‘Chat Heads’ which turns Facebook Messenger into a more integrated messaging addition to your phone. Pop-up heads appear in the phone margins and can be responded to without leaving the app. I’ll put more out when I get a chance to play around with it but with my addiction to Twitter and other applications – I can’t see myself falling in love with it. That’s certainly not to say others wont.

Thanks for reading. Let me know if you download Facebook Home and what you think of it/ever use it. Would be interested in hearing your thoughts.

Check it out further here: https://www.facebook.com/home?ref=ts&fref=ts