Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg today unveiled a new look, a new experience of Facebook on Android devices which he calls Facebook Home.
Last week when Facebook sent out invitations to media and asked them to Come See Our New Home on Android, rumors started flooding-in over the internet that Facebook is building its own Phone while some kept guessing that Facebook will come up with its own OS for phones.
But putting an end to all rumors, Mark Zuckerberg unveiled the whole new look of Facebook app for android devices. Facebook Home, as he calls it, is a whole new user experience loaded with lots of Facebook apps and
“You’re going to be able to turn your Android phone into a great social device,” Zuckerberg said.
Our phones today are designed around apps, not people. And we want to flip that around, he added at the event.
Facebook Home will have following features:
Cover feed
The first and the biggest thing to note in this new Facebook Home is the cover feed. The cover feed replaces the home screen and lock screen thus putting your entire social life on your phone’s main home screen. From your friend’s photo and status updates to your favorite page’s latest posts.
Chat heads
Chat heads is another cool feature of the new Facebook Home. Chat heads allows you to stay connected with your friends no matter where you are and what your are doing. Whether you are surfing internet on your phone or you are using any other app on the phone, chat heads allow you to keep chatting with your friends on Facebook. When your friend sends you a message on Facebook, a chat head appears with your friend’s face.
You can move around the chat head around and can respond to messages. What’s more, text messages are also integrated with chat heads.
Notifications
Notifications keeps you in loop with some of the most important and most concerned updates on your Facebook timeline. A notification will pop up on your Facebook home screen whenever something important happens on your timeline. For example, you will receive a notification on your home screen when a friend posts on your timeline. You can tap on notification to open it, or if you wish to see it later, you can simply swipe it to hid and keep flipping through cover feed until you want them back!
Apps
With Apps launcher integrated on Facebook Home screen, you can choose your favorite apps to be on your phone’s home screen. Swipe up to see your favorite apps in the launcher and rest of apps will live in a apps screen.
How To Get the new Facebook Home
At the event, the Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said that Facebook Home will be available as a free download from the Google Play Store starting April 12. Home works on the HTC One X, HTC One X+, Samsung GALAXY S III and Samsung GALAXY Note II. Home will also work on the forthcoming HTC One and Samsung GALAXY S4, and on more devices in the coming months.
Your Thoughts
So, with Facebook launching Home for android, what will you prefer? Will you buy new HTC phone with Facebook Home or you prefer to download it when it is available for download on April 12?Let us know your thoughts in the comment box below.