On Friday, Facebook introduced a new Android app called “Facebook Home,” designed to deepen user’s mobile integration with the platform, from their smart phones.
And we here at The Brandon Agency are excited!
Home will be available for download for Jelly Bean and Ice Cream Sandwich users, but not Gingerbread. A fully integrated new HTC smart phone, the HTC First, will also be available, only through AT&T, starting April 12, with the software pre-installed.
Users will now have a new and unique Facebook mobile experience, specifically with full screen photos, status updates and notifications. Among the biggest changes, full-screen Newsfeed updates, and a whole new Messenger feature, designed for easier navigation, without having to switch back and forth between several Facebook apps.
At first glance, to us it as if Facebook has hijacked the phone’s homescreen, which is essentially what the software is intended to do. This is because constant switching between apps can get annoying.
The biggest emphasis on apps is with Facebook Messenger. Within Home, a new feature titled “Chat Heads” allows you to essentially switch from your home screen to your messaging windows by way of tiny “headshots” of your Facebook friends that pop up on your screen when they message you.
One click on their face and you can start or continue your conversations, without having to leave what you were previously working on. Everything stays right in the background and you can pick up right where you left off when your conversation is over.
This. Looks. Awesome.
So essentially, you are turning your phone into a “Facebook Phone,” which is exactly the company’s goal, according to CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
“We asked ourselves — if we’re already spending this much time on our phones, how can we make it easier? What if they were designed around people first, and you could also just happen to interact with apps?,” said Zuckerberg.
The current plans are for Facebook to roll out a monthly update to add new features and make it accessible to new devices. Supposedly, Home will also see Tablet integration within a few months.
Visit https://www.facebook.com/home to pre-order the HTC First and for more information on how you can download Facebook Home when it becomes available from Google’s Play Store.
We’re looking forward to this great new social leap, are you?
Let us know, will you be downloading Facebook Home for your Android?