# Facebook Announces Android Event April 4



## Kid_Eternity (Mar 29, 2013)

Is the Facebook phone coming?


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## editor (Mar 29, 2013)

A Facebook phone sounds a terrible idea, unless it's going to be something that's advertising funded and thus can be just about given away free to kids. It'll still be shit but I can see them shifting loads of them.


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## elbows (Mar 29, 2013)

The rumours seem to have evolved away from it being a phone, towards it being some sort of extra layer for Android. Whether its a deep OS modification or simply a new launcher is the sort of question people have at the moment.


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## Lazy Llama (Mar 29, 2013)

HTC phone with a version of Android altered/layered to put Facebook front-and-centre is what I heard.


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## UnderAnOpenSky (Mar 29, 2013)

Why? You can use Facebook fine as it is.


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## editor (Mar 29, 2013)

elbows said:


> The rumours seem to have evolved away from it being a phone, towards it being some sort of extra layer for Android. Whether its a deep OS modification or simply a new launcher is the sort of question people have at the moment.


Yeah, that's what I've been reading too.


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## Lazy Llama (Mar 29, 2013)

Global Stoner said:


> Why? You can use Facebook fine as it is.


I would imagine it's because it would be relatively easy for Google to gradually put more and more features into Android which push users towards Google products and Google+ in particular. Which wouldn't be in the interests of Facebook, so they're getting in before that happens.

Might never happen but you can see why they'd be worried about Google stealing their lunch.


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## Firky (Mar 29, 2013)

So it's essentially a way for Facebook to track you with greater detail?

What's worse is Charlie Brooker's probably going to do another crap contemporary fable if this is true.


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## elbows (Mar 29, 2013)

Firky said:


> So it's essentially a way for Facebook to track you with greater detail?


 
Thats the inevitable reality of all these services we are using that we dont pay for directly. Especially when they have been obscenely valued on the stock market and pressure to make silly money going forwards exists. I think we've had threads in the past about the chances of there being a crash at some point due to the almost impossible expectations that online advertising etc faces going forwards.


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## FridgeMagnet (Mar 29, 2013)

Lazy Llama said:


> HTC phone with a version of Android altered/layered to put Facebook front-and-centre is what I heard.


That sounds pretty believable.

On a more general note, I and others may think the idea is weird, in the same way that we laughed at people thinking "the Internet" meant "AOL" or "that blue 'e' you click on on the desktop", but there were still lots of sensible people in that position, there are a lot of people now for whom "the Internet" means Facebook. They've successfully positioned themselves as a walled garden within which you can do most things you might want to.


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## Firky (Mar 29, 2013)

When I think of the internet I think of kittens or searching for something innocent and finding the kind of pornography you only dreamed about.


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## AverageJoe (Mar 29, 2013)

Firky said:


> When I think of the internet I think of kittens or searching for something innocent and finding the kind of pornography you could never imagine was ever possible.


 
Fixed for you


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## Barking_Mad (Mar 29, 2013)

Global Stoner said:


> Why? You can use Facebook fine as it is.


 
haha have you seen the reviews for the android version on the play website. Continually shite over many years. Not that i use it.


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## UnderAnOpenSky (Mar 29, 2013)

Barking_Mad said:


> haha have you seen the reviews for the android version on the play website. Continually shite over many years. Not that i use it.


 
I thought it had been rewritten recently in native code?


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## Kid_Eternity (Mar 29, 2013)

Lazy Llama said:


> HTC phone with a version of Android altered/layered to put Facebook front-and-centre is what I heard.


 
This seems to be the top current rumour...wonder how well that'll do, another fork of Android.


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## Kid_Eternity (Mar 29, 2013)

FridgeMagnet said:


> That sounds pretty believable.
> 
> On a more general note, I and others may think the idea is weird, but in the same way that we laughed at people thinking "the Internet" meant "AOL" or "that blue 'e' you click on on the desktop", but there were still lots of sensible people in that position, there are a lot of people now for whom "the Internet" means Facebook. They've successfully positioned themselves as a walled garden within which you can do most things you might want to.


 
Well the internet for a lot of people, particularly young people seems to be apps that give you access to Twitter or Facebook...


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## elbows (Mar 31, 2013)

For the youngsters I recently came into contact with, the internet = facebook + youtube + spotify + torrents.


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## Barking_Mad (Mar 31, 2013)

This is depressing.


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## FridgeMagnet (Mar 31, 2013)

A much larger number of people think the internet means the web, which is also not true yet Google sell computers based on the idea.


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## editor (Mar 31, 2013)

This looks the most likely thing to be coming out of this announcement:


> The customized OS will feature deep integration into Facebook’s services. Its Messenger, Photos, and Contacts apps will be the default apps for the OS, with the Messenger app being used to both IM your friends on Facebook, as well as sending out SMS texts.
> 
> Facebook is working together with HTC to launch Facebook Home. Facebook is planning on debuting an HTC handset, the HTC Myst, running Facebook Home at its event. The device is said to resemble the iPhone 5, with a home button located on the bottom-middle portion of the phone, with capactive buttons on both of its sides. The device will have a 4.3-inch screen, and is said to be nearly the same size as the iPhone 5.
> 
> ...


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## FridgeMagnet (Mar 31, 2013)

The thing is that this isn't really much different from the usual android, which syncs your contacts with google contacts, calendar with google calendar, you sign in with your google account etc.


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## Kid_Eternity (Apr 1, 2013)

FridgeMagnet said:


> A much larger number of people think the internet means the web, which is also not true yet Google sell computers based on the idea.


 
They don't sell that many compared to how many people buy apps and think of that as the web. The web is something for over 30s, younger people increasingly view things differently, and as consumers of tomorrow they'll be the ones driving the direction of online experience....


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## RedDragon (Apr 4, 2013)

Three hours to go ... presumably The Verge will be live blogging, now all I need to do is find my enthusiasm.


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## editor (Apr 4, 2013)

RedDragon said:


> Three hours to go ... presumably The Verge will be live blogging, now all I need to do is find my enthusiasm.


*looks around

Nope. None here either.


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## RedDragon (Apr 4, 2013)

Ok, purely for the benefit of my cat, here's The Verge's live blogging link. 


Oh, and TwiT.tv have their usual irreverent live commentary.


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## elbows (Apr 4, 2013)

I hate these Facebook knobs. "We want to talk to people, not apps". Blah blah bollocks. Chat Heads. Oh what a great name for a feature.


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## Fez909 (Apr 4, 2013)

So it's a fucking app? An 'event' for a new Facebook app?


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## elbows (Apr 4, 2013)

I'm not surprised, the rumours have been pointing this way for a while. A dedicated phone would be stupid and android forking wouldnt be much better, and there is no need to when android lets launcher type apps sit at the heart of the system as far as most users are concerned.

I dont trust Facebook enough to let it sit there on my devices.


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## elbows (Apr 4, 2013)

And as also widely predicted here comes a phone thats been designed with Facebook Home in mind, at least from a marketing point of view


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## moochedit (Apr 4, 2013)

Is this going install itself next time i get an update from play store for the facebook app? or is it a completly different app? i don't want it fucking up my phone.


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## elbows (Apr 4, 2013)

Its a different app, and its only rolling out to different devices slowly. I expect it will need a slightly different set of permissions too, so even if they tried to make it an update to the existing app it would likely need a manual update. And you'd have to let your phone use it as the default launcher.


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## Kid_Eternity (Apr 4, 2013)

Well that was one big meh.


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## editor (Apr 4, 2013)

Has it already happened? No interest at all here.


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## elbows (Apr 4, 2013)

Just to ensure there is no excitement here, apparently its US-only to start with as well.


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## grit (Apr 4, 2013)

So... its just a homescreen launcher?!


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## Kid_Eternity (Apr 4, 2013)

Seen some of the hands on video now...have to say while this isn't my bag can see it doing well. On a broader point very happy to see HTC look like its getting back in the game. Android has become far too dominated by one company, not good for what is meant to be an open platform.


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## fen_boy (Apr 5, 2013)

What, exactly, is it?

I should add I've read a number of articles on it from various tech sites, none of which adequately explain exactly what 'it' is.


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## elbows (Apr 5, 2013)

There are a few different ways I could try to describe it. Here is a first attempt:

It makes various bits of facebook appear throughout many of the standard screens of an android phone. So when you wake your phone up, facebook stuff shows up on the lock screen. It looks like your wallpaper becomes photos from Facebook, and whatever other app you are in you can carry out facebook messaging.

It is facebooks attempt to get people to look at facebook stuff far more times per day as they use their phone.


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## EastEnder (Apr 5, 2013)

Will any journos actually bother going to the next "big" FB announcement??

"At today's press conference, in front of a packed crowd of industry experts, Zuckerberg announced the all new Facebook embroidered tea towel range!!!"....


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## RedDragon (Apr 5, 2013)

What I found more interesting was the number of top mobile executives in attendance willing to dance to Mark's idiotic tune.


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## fen_boy (Apr 5, 2013)

elbows said:


> There are a few different ways I could try to describe it. Here is a first attempt:
> 
> It makes various bits of facebook appear throughout many of the standard screens of an android phone. So when you wake your phone up, facebook stuff shows up on the lock screen. It looks like your wallpaper becomes photos from Facebook, and whatever other app you are in you can carry out facebook messaging.
> 
> It is facebooks attempt to get people to look at facebook stuff far more times per day as they use their phone.


 
That's what it does, I want to know what it is, how it does what it does. Is it an app, is it an app launcher, is it an android fork? A lot of the functionality described sounds to me like it needs a custom ROM, if so how do they expect it to work on phones that are running other ROMs?


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## Kid_Eternity (Apr 5, 2013)

Video from launch here: https://live.facebooklive.com/videos/322/facebook-home

Watching it and considering it properly I'm inclined to think this is going to be huge...there's tons of people who don't give a shit about what phone they have like geeks do, they care more about the people or things they want to know about. Younger people in particular (think snapchat generation) are going to lap this up.


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## Lemon Eddy (Apr 5, 2013)

Kid_Eternity said:


> Video from launch here: https://live.facebooklive.com/videos/322/facebook-home
> 
> Watching it and considering it properly I'm inclined to think this is going to be huge...there's tons of people who don't give a shit about what phone they have like geeks do, they care more about the people or things they want to know about. Younger people in particular (think snapchat generation) are going to lap this up.


 
Are you taking the piss?  Young people aren't concerned about what tech they've got?  Having the latest phone is as much part of day to day bling rivalry as trainers.


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## Kid_Eternity (Apr 5, 2013)

Lemon Eddy said:


> Are you taking the piss? Young people aren't concerned about what tech they've got? Having the latest phone is as much part of day to day bling rivalry as trainers.


 
You're conflating the two points I made; I didn't say young people don't care I said there are tons of people that don't. Young people love instant comms between friends (see texting/bbm/FBing volumes) and this plays to that.


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## moochedit (Apr 5, 2013)

i don't think i'll bother. i have the existing fb app and if someone sends me a message on facebook, it appears on the notification screen on my samsung galaxy s2 anyway and it makes a noise.
that's all i need and i don't like the sound of the other app messing with the "launch screen", etc. I'm quite happy with it as it is.

unless they are  eventually going to close down the current app and force you to "upgrade"?   (hopefully not)


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## elbows (Apr 5, 2013)

fen_boy said:


> That's what it does, I want to know what it is, how it does what it does. Is it an app, is it an app launcher, is it an android fork? A lot of the functionality described sounds to me like it needs a custom ROM, if so how do they expect it to work on phones that are running other ROMs?


 
It's just a launcher as best I can tell, perhaps with a couple of other components that are other android activities/apps. It certainly doesnt require a custom ROM, it will be available as an app download on the store just like other launchers are.

During the presentation Facebook went out of their way to say that this wasnt a forked version of Android.

Due to the fact that a new HTC phone that was touted as being specially tuned to Facebook Home was announced, some press asked questions such as what more this phone would do that a normal android phone with the facebook home app downloaded couldnt. The answer was pretty weak because the difference at this point is very slight: it sounds like the new phone has slightly tighter integration when it comes to notifications from certain other apps blending in with the Facebook Home launcher. I beleive the example the mentioned was Spotify. The precise technical details of this are not entirely clear to me.


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## fen_boy (Apr 5, 2013)

I've seen some discussion where they say for the HTC first that they didn't fork android, but 'extended' it - whatever that means.


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## Barking_Mad (Apr 5, 2013)

Well they've still not sorted the Android app of FB, so I don't hold out much hope for the launcher.


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## editor (Apr 13, 2013)

Looks like Android users aren't too keen. 


> A day after launch, an astounding 44% of users who have reviewed the app on Google Play have given it just one star, with a mere 19.4% of users opting to give Home a 5-star rating. All that equates to an average 2.5-star rating in Google Play, not exactly an ideal first-day showing.









http://mashable.com/2013/04/13/facebook-home-bad-rating


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## elbows (Apr 15, 2013)

Can't say I'm surprised. There are a lot of powerful, quality launchers out there and people dont want facebook plastered all over everything. Doesnt bode well for the future when facebook hope people will tolerate more adverts on all things facebook. All that drivel about profiting from the social graph, well balls to it, capitalism will not get its teeth into this aspect of peoples lives to the extent the facebook share price was based on.


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## editor (Apr 15, 2013)

It's a healthy sign that people aren't falling over themselves for this thing.


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## mauvais (Apr 15, 2013)

The Messenger-driven Chat Heads is cool. I can't help wondering if it's actually allowed though, and what happens if everyone else does it too.

In case you haven't seen it, it's this:






Oh, you think, a modified homescreen. Nope. Regardless of what home screen you have, that thing appears over the top of everything, all the time, until you get rid of it. You can click it, but you can still interact with whatever is underneath too. No real past precedent for this on Android, except a handful of system stuff and a few oddball apps.


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## editor (Apr 15, 2013)

It's already annoying me.


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## elbows (Apr 15, 2013)

What do you mean by actually allowed? As far as I know although Google are free to issue guidelines, they dont exert control over the user experience in the same way Apple do.


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## mauvais (Apr 15, 2013)

elbows said:


> What do you mean by actually allowed? As far as I know although Google are free to issue guidelines, they dont exert control over the user experience in the same way Apple do.


They don't, but ultimately if they really don't like you doing something - e.g. these overlays - then it will be gone in the next set of APIs (Android 5 or whatever). I know how Chat Heads is achieved, and it's public APIs, but not exactly intended for general consumption - really for system apps etc., so I wonder how long it will remain possible, at least for normal developers.


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## elbows (May 14, 2013)

That HTC phone that was the first device to come preinstalled with Facebook Home is already rumoured to be approaching doom.

Even this story, which says it's discontinuation hasnt been confirmed yet, paints a gloomy picture at the end.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57584271-93/htcs-facebook-phone-not-dead-yet/


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## 89 Til Infinity (May 14, 2013)

Gaining greater access to your phone and contacts. I can see it strangely going something a little like this:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-21242767


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## editor (Jun 8, 2013)

It's been pretty much a disaster. 
http://www.techradar.com/us/news/software/applications/latest-facebook-update-brings-app-tray-to-home-launcher-1157320


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## Kid_Eternity (Jun 9, 2013)

mauvais said:


> The Messenger-driven Chat Heads is cool. I can't help wondering if it's actually allowed though, and what happens if everyone else does it too.
> 
> In case you haven't seen it, it's this:
> 
> ...


 

They brought that to the iOS app too for when people inbox you. Was novel at first now it's fucking annoying.


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## editor (Jun 25, 2013)

it's been a fantastic flop:
Study: More than 90% of U.S. smartphone owners have no interest in Facebook Home


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## elbows (Jun 26, 2013)

AT&T tried their best to spin the failure of the HTC First into a success story. Not exactly convincing.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-57590819-94/at-ts-mobile-chief-weve-sold-out-of-the-facebook-phone/



> "We sold a bunch more when we lowered the price," he said in an interview on Monday. "We sold everything we had on that."


 
​


> Even if AT&T managed to rid itself of the HTC First, few would disagree that the phone was a flop. But De la Vega said that he is committing to working on different iterations of products with its partners.​De la Vega compared the HTC First to the Motorola ROKR, which was the ill-received and ill-conceived music-centric phone that was technically Apple's first foray into the cell phone world (a la the ability for the Motorola-designed phone to work with iTunes). AT&T sold the ROKR, and while that phone was a failure, De la Vega believes it helped AT&T get the inside track on the iPhone.​"We have a great relationship with Apple just like we have a great relationship with Facebook," he said. "We look forward to working with them to make Home better."​


​Bollocks.​


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