Facebook has just unveiled ‘Facebook Home’, effectively a new launcher that the company hopes will “turn your Android phone into a great, living, social phone”. It includes features such as Cover Feed, which replaces the lock screen and home screen to see what’s happening with your friends. Another highlight is ‘chat heads’, allowing you to message your friends (incl SMS) if you are using other apps.
It offers a deep Facebook experience for the die-hard users out there. The company also sees it as the “next version of Facebook”. Facebook Home will be available to download on 12 April for select HTC and Samsung devices. Sony Xperia users aren’t invited to the initial party, but wider availability is expected in the coming months (Sony has signed up to the Facebook Home Program).
Despite all of the fanfare regarding this announcement, we were wondering just how many people are excited by this? A long time back, Sony realised the growing importance of Facebook integration into its phones resulting in ‘Facebook inside Xperia’ or ‘Xperia with Facebook’ as it’s now called.
Is this enough for most people or is a deeper integration craved by many? Whilst there’s no doubt Facebook Home is targeted mostly to teenagers, we are curious as to who else would be willing to sacrifice the look of their Android experience for Facebook? We’d love to hear your thoughts below.
