Facebook Home "Family Of Apps" For Android

[jpeyton]

http://www.theverge.com/2013/4/4/4183172/facebook-home-android#ooid=l5OTNxYTpjEF2Zas8YU27AMg77Jlklbq

Interesting that they are pushing their own "launcher" for Android. I'm not a heavy Facebook user, but for those who are, I'm wondering if they'll be swayed by the fact that Facebook's premier mobile experience will now be on Android exclusively.

 

[tdawg]

I'll try it if no other reason than I love trying new user interfaces

 

[Bateluer]

Zuck says it'll have ads eventually . . . anyone willing to have Facebook's ads on your homescreens?

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

http://www.theverge.com/2013/4/4/4183172/facebook-home-android#ooid=l5OTNxYTpjEF2Zas8YU27AMg77Jlklbq

Interesting that they are pushing their own "launcher" for Android. I'm not a heavy Facebook user, but for those who are, I'm wondering if they'll be swayed by the fact that Facebook's premier mobile experience will now be on Android exclusively.

TBH Facebook has improved quite a bit for Android. There's still lingering issues like not using Google's C2DM and having a service running in the background and for some odd reason why it demands GPS use on startup, but overall I think the app is decent now with native code, and a decent UI. The notifications options are quite complex now and you can really fine tune the notifications too.

As long as they don't take 3 years to deliver an app, Home looks interesting. Probably not for me as this would be a battery drainer (and it's not just because FB is making it).

 

[tdawg]

Zuck says it'll have ads eventually . . . anyone willing to have Facebook's ads on your homescreens?

Once that gets implemented, I'll uninstall it, if not before.

 

[luv2liv]

a sign of things to come?
soon more apps will be moving away from iOS once they realize how restrictive it really is.

 

[Mopetar]

a sign of things to come?
soon more apps will be moving away from iOS once they realize how restrictive it really is.

I doubt that anyone cares so long as the money is better.

One of Apple's smartest moves may have been to feature third party apps in their commercials. I would imagine that being featured in a commercial results in a large spike in purchases.

What are you basing your assumption on? It sounds absurd based on evidence about sales and trends so far.

Otherwise, it looks like a slick device. Might just be what HTC needs to get out of the rut that they're in. The $99 price (with contract) is probably going to make this fairly attractive to some buyers as well.

 

[ponyo]

I think Facebook needs to go after the prepaid and unsubsidized phone market rather than contract. Basically create a Kindle Fire for phones for the rest of the world. But I'm not their target user. I don't use Facebook, Twitter, or Google+.

 

[QueBert]

a sign of things to come?
soon more apps will be moving away from iOS once they realize how restrictive it really is.

developers care about $$$ not restrictiveness, while I'm sure what you say will be true for a select few apps. iOS is where it's at for apps, period. I own both devices and could care less about how restrictive Apple is, the apps are fucking sweeeeet.

 

[jpeyton]

Here's a hands-on: http://www.theverge.com/2013/4/4/4183390/htc-first-with-facebook-home-hands-on

 

[thecapsaicinkid]

The phone is an 'exclusive' to a single carrier in the UK. I seriously hope this isn't a sign we're heading for bullshit carrier exclusive phones like the US.

 

[Red Storm]

The phone is an 'exclusive' to a single carrier in the UK. I seriously hope this isn't a sign we're heading for bullshit carrier exclusive phones like the US.

It's a low end Facebook phone, I don't think anyone really cares about it.

 

[QueBert]

It's a low end Facebook phone, I don't think anyone really cares about it.

Most people I know don't care, or even understand about specs. To them a newer phone more than likely means it's better. That fact + this being a Facebook device it could be a huge seller. My neighbor doesn't know what quad core means, but they use FB all day every day so they'd be drawn to a phone that's touted for how it works with Facebook.

 

[Red Storm]

Most people I know don't care, or even understand about specs. To them a newer phone more than likely means it's better. That fact + this being a Facebook device it could be a huge seller. My neighbor doesn't know what quad core means, but they use FB all day every day so they'd be drawn to a phone that's touted for how it works with Facebook.

I'm talking about the phone being exclusive to a UK carrier. Nobody cares.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

I'm talking about the phone being exclusive to a UK carrier. Nobody cares.

the fact that Facebook is helping the stupid carrier exclusivity deals is stupid. we should burn people who support this stupid model.

i'm ok with the phone itself. it's not that low end. mid range right? dual core 1.4ghz? Should outperform my SGS2.

 

[tdawg]

the fact that Facebook is helping the stupid carrier exclusivity deals is stupid. we should burn people who support this stupid model.

i'm ok with the phone itself. it's not that low end. mid range right? dual core 1.4ghz? Should outperform my SGS2.

Yeah, but only this phone is exclusive. The app will be installable on other devices, including some halo devices out of the gate. Facebook really has no interest in phone hardware; as long as they can get people to install the app and make it worth their while to stay with it, that's what matters.

 

[GT1999]

I have an S3. Removed the fb apps from my phone over a week ago and almost never log in anymore. Decided "News Feed" was dominating my life.

I work in IT, and frankly I'm already pulling my hair out with receiving so many emails every day, and I think I was being "pushed" out of fb.

Home looks nice, but the lesser connected I am, the better. Since I've quit using it, I've found my stress levels have gone down.

Later Facebook!

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

Yeah, but only this phone is exclusive. The app will be installable on other devices, including some halo devices out of the gate. Facebook really has no interest in phone hardware; as long as they can get people to install the app and make it worth their while to stay with it, that's what matters.

Well the announcement made it sound like it will launch on a few phones only, and they listed the SGS3, HTC One, etc. They're probably trying to control the experience well, and this is certainly an issue with fragmentation. Remember when Flipboard launched? You could only install it on a few phones, or you had to sideload. It would refuse to install through play store onto my HP TouchPad. I really hope Facebook doesn't do that where I can't install it on my LG Nexus 4 because of the weird resolution (1280x768?).

I'm of the belief that if you launch an app, it better work across the board for everyone. Maybe there's some weird resolutions you didn't design for, but I thought this was the advantage of Android over iOS in terms of resolution compatibility?

 

[Roland00Address]

i'm ok with the phone itself. it's not that low end. mid range right? dual core 1.4ghz? Should outperform my SGS2.

Very similar to the Galaxy S3 but in a smaller form factor (form factor is similar to htc one s).

S3 (US version) had a dual core krait at 1.5 ghz.

Facebook Home has a dual core krait at 1.4 ghz. The Facebook Home has the newer krait dual core (s400), which is the same architecture but with some tricks such as faster memory, faster caches, and some optimizations.

The facebook home also has Adreno 305 gpu which is faster than the Adreno 225 in the s3. 305 is about 15% to 75% faster than 225.

Both devices have a 720p screen, but the facebook home is 4.3" instead of 4.7" and is less wide than the s3.

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That said the gpu in S4 and HTC One (Adreno 320) is nights and day faster than the budget 305 gpu, where the 320 is about 3 times faster than the 305.