Hasta La Gadget!

Since its unveiling, many individuals have been vocal about Facebook Home concerns, speculating about privacy and what information the service many gather. To mitigate the worries and clarify the issues, Facebook has released answers to several questions that have been posed repeatedly, talking about what information it gathers, how privacy works with it, and more.

Facebook clarified that users can continue to access the social network on their handsets the same way they currently do – there’s no need to use Home if you don’t want it. If you do choose to use the service, you can likewise ditch it any time you want, turning it off under “Settings” or removing it from the lockscreen. This way, users can try it out, but aren’t obligated to keep it.

As far as what information Home gathers, Facebook says that it collects data on how users use the service, such as what apps the user places in the Home launcher. It also pulls information about how the app is interacted with, such as commenting and liking. On pre-installed devices, Home will display notifications and Facebook collects certain information from the notification, with the exception of its content. This data is stored for 90 days, after which point indentifying information is removed.

Another big question is whether Home gathers data about other applications and how they are used. The answer is “no.” In the example given, Facebook would get data about an app that is launched using the app launcher, but it would not receive any information about how that app is used. Likewise, location information is used the same way the regular Facebook app uses it, and location services can be disabled by the user. For more information, you can check out the Data Use Policy.

[via Facebook]

Facebook addresses Home privacy concerns is written by Brittany Hillen & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

There are two HTC smartphones headed to the market in the next few weeks, the First of which is called the HTC First – fully equipped with Facebook Home for you social networking fanatics. The other is one that’s not been fully recognized is an iteration of the HTC experience with nearly the same specifications of the HTC First, this time called the HTC M4 – aka the HTC e1. The thing is, though, that the HTC e1 is already on the market in China, while the HTC M4 (code name similar to the HTC One‘s “M7″) might never reach the public.

So what’ve we got here? We’ve got a potential for three devices. The First two are confirmed, while the third might actually just be an early iteration of the second. The HTC First is the Facebook Phone which we’ve heard about this week, it’s specifications turning up to be mid-tier all the way, complete with a 5 megapixel camera on its back and a 4.3-inch display: these two specs will be important in a moment.

HTC First
• 4.96 x 2.56 x 0.35 (in) (LxWxT)
• 4.3 inch, HD 720p, 341 PPI
• Weight: 4.37 oz
• Android 4.1 Jelly Bean
• Facebook Home UI
• Qualcomm 8930AA, dual core 1.4 (Snapdragon 400 MSM8930)
• Internal storage: 16GB, available capacity varies (this spec suggests different editions are on the way)
• NFC, Bluetooth 4.0
• 5-megapixel camera on back, 1.6-megapixel camera on front, both front and back with BSI sensor
• 2000 mAh battery

See our full HTC first and Facebook Home hands-on walkthrough now!

This device is rather similar to the HTC e1, a smartphone released in China earlier this year with HTC’s own Sense user interface. This device also has a 4.3-inch display and a 5 megapixel camera on it’s back. It looks a lot more like an HTC One X than the HTC first does, on the other hand.

HTC e1
• 5.05 x 2.63 x 0.39 (in) (LxWxT)
• 4.3 inch, 480 x 800, 216.97 PPI
• Weight: 4.59 oz
• Android 4.1 Jelly Bean
• HTC Sense 4.0 UI
• Qualcomm MSM8960, dual core 1.5 (Snapdragon S4+)
• Internal storage: 8GB, microSD card slot for expansion by 32GB
• NFC (depending on operator), Bluetooth 4.0
• 5-megapixel camera on back with BSI, 1.6-megapixel camera on front, HTC ImageChip inside for image processing
• 2100 mAh battery

So the two are different enough not to be mistaken for one another on the street with their looks, but close enough in design specification-wise to have been created to attack the same market. Of course the inclusion of Facebook Home on one and not the other makes them utterly, utterly different when it comes to who will actually pick them up. Then there’s the HTC M4, a device that’s not get gotten a final market name.

HTC M4
• 5.05 x 2.63 x 0.39 (in) (LxWxT)
• 4.3 inch, HD 720p, 341 PPI
• Weight: N/A
• Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean
• HTC Sense 5.0 UI
• Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 MSM8930, dual core 1.2Ghz
• Internal storage: N/A
• Bluetooth 4.0
• UltraPixel camera on back with unknown megapixels, 1.6-megapixel camera on front
• Battery Size N/A

Sounds like a combination of the HTC First and HTC e1, doesn’t it? If you’re thinking about picking up an HTC smartphone specifically in the next few months and for one reason or another want to avoid the HTC One, you might want to wait for this un-named HTC M4 device – especially if it works with UltraPixel technology.

Of course if you want to roll with Facebook Home, you’ll want to consider the HTC First instead. Then again, you could still simply load Facebook Home to your smartphone via the Google Play app store like everyone else and have an UltraPixel camera on your device on top of it all.

Let us know what you think, and head down to our HTC first timeline below for more information on this brand new smartphone. And don’t forget to hit up our Android Hub while you’re at it!

HTC First vs HTC M4: should you wait to drop Facebook Home? is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Business battles are often ecosystem battles, in which brands develop a matrix of conveniently connected products and services, in an attempt to lock customers into a dependency. Offline companies follow this tack (think razors and blades). But the internet, with its many connection nodes, crossovers to tangential realms and parallel on-ramps is where ecosystem wars are most elaborately waged.

Only rarely do market conditions cultivate a broader ambition in which a company has a chance to step beyond mere ecosystem competition to a higher level of sovereignty. Facebook’s imminent release of Home represents a stab at that rare imperialism.

Filed under: Cellphones, Internet, HTC, Facebook

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In each issue of Distro, editor-in-chief Tim Stevens publishes a wrap-up of the week in news.

There’s a good chance 2011’s HTC Status, with its portrait QWERTY layout and dedicated Facebook button, never found its way into your social network. That last attempt at the mythical Facebook phone failed to garner much praise, but if social networks gave up so easily, well, we’d all still be using MySpace. HTC and Facebook are at it again, this week launching the $99 First, exclusively on AT&T in the US.

Yes, it’s a name every commenter could love (or hate).

Yes, it’s a name every commenter could love (or hate), a title cheekily reminiscent of the HTC One. This, though, is a rather different device, aiming more toward the mid-range and relying on some serious social integration to make it stand out. It’s the first phone running the Facebook Home interface, which will be available on many devices starting on April 12th. It delivers a far more comprehensive Facebook experience than the previous apps have managed, and intriguingly Zuckerberg himself said that Home is “the next version of Facebook.” The end of the web? Stay tuned.

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds, Transportation, Internet, HTC, Facebook

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On the day Facebook launched its new software for Android, Home, WIRED scored an interview with Mark Zuckerberg in order to chat about the product and what the future holds. Here are some choice cuts from the Big Blue’s head honcho, before you go read the whole thing. More »