Tag: Facebook Home

Oh Yeah, And Facebook Home Will Get Ads Too

Facebook, as you’ve probably heard by now, introduced Facebook Home today at a press event. This is essentially Facebook’s way of taking over your Android device. You can learn more about it here.

The main feature of the offering is called the Cover Feed. This sufaces the latest photos and updates from your News Feed on your homescreen, and lets you navigate through them by swiping.

Facebook didn’t show off any ads when they were demonstrating the product, but at the event, CEO Mark Zuckerberg did indicate that ads will be a part of it eventually. He is quoted as saying, “There are no ads in this yet. I’m sure at some point there will be.”

Here’s an ad for Facebook Home itself. And for more on the new HTC First phone, which comes with Facebook Home pre-installed, read this.

Last week, Facebook announced real-time cookie-based Facebook Exchange ads in the news feed.

April 4, 2013
Facebook Home: Here’s A Commercial For It

UPDATE: Was This Facebook Home Ad Altered Because the Original Sounded Way Too Much Like an Eminem Song?

Facebook has put out a new video/commercial for Facebook Home, its new Android-takeover experience. During a press event today, Facebook played a different, more humorous video with a tuba playing something vaguely sounding like this Eminem song (which is interesting given the Eminem references on Mark Zuckerberg’s alleged old Angelfire page).

Anyway, here’s the other one:

Here’s more on what Facebook actually announced, and of course that “Facebook phone”.

April 4, 2013
HTC First, the ‘Facebook Phone,’ Launches April 12th for $99

Today, at their big Android event, Facebook unveiled Home, the company’s new foray into Android. Rather than building a new Facebook OS of sorts, Home is a family of apps that takes over your Android device and turns it into a Facebook phone. With Home, your homescreen becomes one big, photo-oriented Facebook news feed.

So, in reality, any Android phone with Facebook Home is technically a “Facebook phone.” But that doesn’t mean that there wasn’t a true Facebook phone portion of the announcement.

As expected, the “Facebook Phone” is the HTC First. And though it’s not the first phone to come integrated with Facebook, it’s definitely the first to come this deeply integrated (with Facebook Home).

So, this is as close to a “Facebook Phone” as you’re going to get.

The HTC First will launch on April 12th exclusively on AT&T for $99.99. It will also come in four different colors: red, white, black, and light blue. The design is pretty minimal – a rounded rectangle with front and back cameras. It will sport a 4.3 -inch display and is powered by a dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 processor.

Facebook Home will also work on the HTC One X, HTC One X+, Samsung Galaxy S III and Samsung Galaxy Note II, and upcoming devices like the HTC One and Samsung Galaxy S4. Users with those devices can download Home on April 12th – the same day the HTC First hits the shelves.

Facebook says that they have already lined up partners to ship phones with Facebook Home preinstalled, including HTC, Orange, Samsung, Sony, Huawei, Qualcomm, EE, ZTE, Lenovo and Alcatel One Touch.

So, about that “Facebook Phone?” Facebook wants there to be tons of different Facebook Phones out there. And by coming up with Home, letting users of various Android phones download it, and lining up partners to ship phones preloaded with it – Facebook has done just that.

April 4, 2013
Facebook Takes Over The Android Homescreen With Home

During a Facebook event today, the social network announced Home, a deep integration of Facebook into Android. The idea behind Home is a phone that’s built around people instead of apps.

The main feature of Home is the Cover Feed. It brings up all the latest photos from your News Feed to the homescreen of your phone. Users navigate through the photos by swiping left and right. Users can also double tap images to like them, and can comment from the homescreen as well.

Notifications get a substantial update in Home as well. All notifications will show up on the home screen as separate entries. Tapping the notification will bring up the Facebook app for further interaction. If you want to get rid of it, you can just toss it off the screen. Holding one of the notifications will lump them all together if you so wish to disregard all of them at once.

Apps will not be affected by Home as they can be easily accessed by holding the image of your face and swiping.

The final feature of Home is called Chatheads. As its name implies, it collects SMS and Facebook Messenger in one place. The interesting part is that each message shows up at the top right as a small circle containing the profile picture of your friends. These will pop up regardless of whatever app you’re in.

Facebook Home will be available on Android phones that have both the Facebook and Facebook Messenger installed. If you meet these prerequisites, the Facebook app will contain a link to the Google Play store to download Facebook Home.

Facebook Home will be updated every month, just like the Facebook mobile app. It will also come to tablets in the coming months.

Facebook Home will be initially available on the HTC One X, HTC One X+, HTC One, Samsung Galaxy S III, Samsung Galaxy Note II and the Samsung Galaxy S4 starting April 12. It’s also coming to the HTC First, a phone built with Facebook Home specifically in mind.

April 4, 2013