The social networking company Facebook has released "Facebook Home" software aimed at deeply integrating with the Android operating system. The unveiling took place yesterday, April 4, at an event in California. At the same event, Taiwanese smartphone maker HTC and Facebook also announced their first "home" handset (HTC First).
"Home" is basically a Facebook software that will visually streamline your entire Android smartphone. Its coverfeed app will show live-feeds of Facebook friends' activities on mobile home and lock screen. In this case, there is no need to open any application or unlock the phone every time. Facebook Home will turn your Android handset into a "Facebook phone" that will make you feel "native" using the social networking platform. At first glance, after installing the software, the user interface (as a result of the redesign) of the operating system of the Android smartphone will seem unfamiliar.
Another key feature of Facebook Home is messaging. After activating the software, you will see a circular icon with a picture of friends on the screen so that the chatting window will appear when you tap it. This will further integrate SMS and Facebook messaging.
Gesture-dependent Facebook Home will introduce you to the new launcher. It will display a list of selected apps on one screen and use another screen to update status or photos with the full app drawer. Application advertisement will be given in future also.
In addition to new notifications on other apps installed on smartphones, pointing to the top of the icon, Facebook Home will display them in a new way. It will not sort all notifications by app and will present it to the person concerned. In other words, like the newsfeed of Facebook, 'people' have been given priority here.
Facebook Home can be downloaded from the Google Play Store for mobiles running Android 4.0 or later. The software will be available for HTC One X, Samsung Galaxy S3, Galaxy S4 and Galaxy Note 2 from April 12. Facebook Home is also coming for more smartphones and tablets in the future However, there is no word on whether the app will be available for Apple iOS and Microsoft Windows Phone OS.