This morning, Facebook announced that it will be launching its new Facebook Home interface on April 12. The service will essentially hook into users' existing Android handsets, offering a fully immersive experience for those who primarily use Facebook for social networking and correspondence.
One of the major features of Home is Cover Feed, which replaces the lock screen and home screen on an Android handset with your Facebook news feed. "Chat heads" will appear on the Cover Screen indicating that you have a new message, either via SMS or Facebook. Notifications won't be aggressive—they'll appear with the chat head of your friend, and you can freely move their face around the screen or flick them away to deal with them later. Additionally, Facebook Home will serve as a launcher for any Android apps that you download from the Google Play store.
HTC also announced that it would be launching a handset that ships with Facebook Home already integrated into it. We got some hands on time with it, so here's a closer look at what's to come from the social networking giant and HTC's collaboration.
Chat heads appear in the Cover feed, which acts as the Lock Screen for Android when Facebook Home has been integrated.
-
Chat heads appear in the Cover feed, which acts as the Lock Screen for Android when Facebook Home has been integrated.
-
You tweak the settings in Facebook Home from a entirely seperate Settings application. It can't be turned off as the default launcher from the Android Applications settings.
-
The First features an all-black chassis with a matte back. Inside, there's a dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 SoC. The phone features multimode LTE and a 4.3-inch glass display, and it will be available in four different colors.
-
The HTC First comes preinstalled with Facebook Home laid over Android 4.1.2.
-
The HTC First also features hardware controls for the home and back buttons.
-
A closer, albeit somewhat blurry, look at the hardware buttons.
-
Facebook Home notifications on the HTC First.
-
On other Android handsets, you can choose which app to set as the launcher. Galaxy SIII users, for instance, can choose whether or not they want to stick with Samsung's proprietary Touchwiz UI or switch to Facebook Home.
-
Facebook's App screen features stock Android stylings.
-
A Facebook employee shows how to swipe away notifications.
-
Notifications are well distinguished, letting you know precisely which app or service each notification has arrived from.
No comments: