Here’s How To Get Facebook Home Running On Nearly Any Android Device

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In case you happened to miss the furor earlier today (or yesterday, depending on your timezone), Facebook officially pushed its Facebook Home launcher into the Google Play Store for owners of a select few devices to muck around with. Early impressions seem to run the gamut, but unless you had the right hardware you were plumb out of luck if you wanted to take Home for a spin.

Well, let me rephrase that: you were plumb out of luck. MoDaCo founder Paul O’Brien worked up a dead-simple way to get Facebook Home up and running on just about any Android device. Long story short, he patched a version of the Home app to keep it from figuring out what device you’ve just loaded it onto and showing you the customary it’s-not-your-turn screen.

All you really need to do is pop into your Android device’s settings and make sure it’s set to install applications from unknown sources (it’s in the “Security” section). From there, you just have to download and install his patched versions of the Facebook Home app, as well as his patched Facebook and Facebook Messenger apps. Already have those latter two apps installed? You’ll have to uninstall both of them and load up O’Brien’s cooked versions in order for Home to work properly.

That could pose an issue for some of the more curious among you — certain devices that have the Facebook app baked into it by the manufacturer (like the HTC One, for example) won’t play nice with this version of the Home app unless you root the device and remove the Facebook app yourself. Thankfully, rooting most popular devices is way easier than it used to be, but be sure to do your homework if you think you may take the plunge.

To test out O’Brien’s handiwork, I tried installing Facebook Home on two devices that it wasn’t supposed to wind up on yet: Motorola’s Droid RAZR HD and Samsung’s Galaxy Note 8.0 tablet. After an installation process that was completed in under two minutes for each device, Facebook Home was working mostly the way it should — it took a moment for messages to come through, but Facebook’s novel chatheads appeared on both devices, and I was easily able to see what my friends were doing on a Friday night while I stayed home to play with phones. That said, not every one of my friends’ news feed updates wound up in Home’s swipe-able stream, but that seems to be the case even if you’re running Home on supported hardware.

The only major missing feature I noticed was that neither device would let me send SMS messages from the Messenger app, an omission that seemed to plague most people that tried O’Brien’s builds. Granted, that means you don’t get the exact Home experience, but all things considered this’ll provide you a solid peek before Facebook officially brings Home to all the other Android devices of the world. As for whether or not you’ll find it to be worth keeping — well, that’s another story altogether.

Facebook Home vs Homeless: should you go blue for Android?

If you’re planning on adding Facebook Home to your device this weekend, you might want to consider the positives and negatives of doing such a thing. If you’ve got an HTC First, you’ll likely have purchased the device because you want Facebook on your device, and there’s really not a whole lot you need to consider. If you’re a Facebook user and have an Android device, you’ve got what might be a rather easy decision ahead of you.

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With the launch of Facebook Home you’ve got the ability to use advanced features (new this week) for Facebook without adding the Home launcher to your Android device. You’ve got three applications in the mix now where before you had two:

• Facebook for Android
• Facebook Messenger
• Facebook Home

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The first two have received updates today along with the update for Facebook Home which include connections to Home, but do not require Home to work. If you want to avoid Home entirely, you’re free to do so. With Facebook Messenger you get what Facebook calls “Chat Heads”, a rather awesome feature that you can learn all about in our Chat Heads First! post from earlier today. With Chat Heads you’ve got Facebook’s messenger service with you at all times – those heads can pop up anywhere!

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Facebook for Android stays largely the same if you don’t download Facebook Messenger or Facebook Home. In fact you’ve got basically an app with no real surface updates at all if you don’t download Messenger or Home – how about that? If you do download Home, though, you’re in for a real trip.

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When you first open Home, you’ll be treated with a full-screen presentation of one of your friends’ recent status updates with a photo that will be oversized enough to fit your display. This status will be accompanied by a short blurb – sometimes the full text, sometimes just a clip, and you’ll see some recent activity from your “updates” in the form of small bars with attached Facebook “Heads”.

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These Heads will continue to pop up throughout your experience with Facebook at this point. They’re just your regular Facebook profile photo living in a sphere rather than a square, and outside of Chat Heads, they’re just plain old Heads. You’ll find the SlashGear “head” to be more of a “Gear”, as it were.

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You can cycle through statuses from here, pretty pictures included if you have friends that post appropriately colorful bits and pieces. Whichever status you leave up, that’s the one that sticks as your “wallpaper” as you cycle through apps if you do choose to enter any app from this point onward.

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Your apps are all still accessible, and as our Facebook Home Review shows, you’ve got a really basic experience waiting for you. This Facebook Home environment makes for a real Facebook Front and Center situation, that’s for sure.

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The lockscreen isn’t actually a lockscreen in Facebook Home, it’s called “Cover Feed.” With Cover Feed as your first screen, you’ll often not really want to go far beyond – or if you do, it’s through Facebook that you’ll be doing it. Facebook Home covers you in a solid blue aura of Facebook. I nearly typed “of social networking”, but with Facebook Home, you don’t get your other social networking (or any other) updates on the Cover Feed, you only get updates from Facebook.

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Above: Facebook’s own camera interface makes its mark as your primary go-to shooter as well.

The story is a bit different when you get a Facebook Phone like the HTC First. Have a peek at our HTC First review to see how different the experience is – it starts with apps other than Facebook being able to give you notifications in-launcher. That can be quite an important decision point for you if you’re planning on working with Facebook Home one way or the other.

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Above: Your normal Android settings are available if you know where to find them. On the Galaxy S III you can simply pull your notifications bar down and hit the gear!

You can download Facebook Home right this minute from the Google Play app store for free and load it for a limited number of devices. After today there will be updates every once in a while adding smartphones to the fold – for now, it’s quite obvious that AT&T is being favored for the hero line-up. Have a peek at which devices can work with Facebook Home and let us know what you think!

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BONUS: What you’re seeing above is the Samsung Galaxy S III running the Quadrant benchmark test with Facebook Home running, then without Facebook Home installed at all. The differences can be seen two ways – extremely minor, or just different enough to sway you one way or the other. Consider your options!


Facebook Home vs Homeless: should you go blue for Android? is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

PSA: Why doesn’t Facebook Home work on my smartphone?

Today is the day Facebook Home is released for Android devices, and though it may seem possible to download the app for your smartphone or tablet, it won’t necessarily be in full working order this afternoon. Why would that be – you might ask? Because Facebook’s launch of Facebook Home is limited to just five devices – and one of them was just released to the market today.

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With the HTC First you’ll have the full Facebook Home experience from top to bottom – even when you download the Facebook Home app and load it to your device that’s not an HTC First, you’ll still not have full notifications for apps in your News Feed. Other than that, it’s basically the same experience. And what about your Motorola DROID RAZR HD? You’re out of luck – for now, anyway.

The Facebook Home app is working today for four devices other than the HTC First:

• Samsung Galaxy S III
• Samsung Galaxy Note II
• HTC One X
• HTC One X+

Why these four devices? The first two devices are some of the best-selling smartphones in the past year. The HTC One X and the HTC One X+ are also some of the highest-powered smartphones on the market – and they’re all four carried by AT&T along with the HTC First. Sound like a deal behind the scenes to you?

UPDATE: According to Facebook, the following devices will be available for Facebook Home compatibility very soon! Can’t wait!

• Samsung GALAXY S4 (Future)
• HTC One (Future)

If you’re hankering for a partial Facebook Home experience before Facebook updates their development to handle more than just the five (make that seven) devices above, you’ll want to update your regular Facebook app and download Facebook Messenger. With Facebook Messenger you’ll get what’s easily the best part of the Facebook Home experience without needing the Facebook Home launcher: Chat Heads. Hear all about it in our Chat Heads post from earlier today!

Have a peek below at some additional Facebook Home insight as well – don’t forget to check out the HTC First review we’ve got along with our full Facebook Home review too!


PSA: Why doesn’t Facebook Home work on my smartphone? is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

The Daily Roundup for 04.12.2013

DNP The Daily RoundUp

You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours — all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.

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Facebook Home Now Available On Select Android Phones

If you went out and purchased the HTC First because you thought you’d be the first and only person to have Facebook Home for a couple of weeks or months, we hate to burst your bubble but it looks as though Facebook not only released Facebook Home’s Chat Heads feature in its Facebook Messenger app for Android, but they have also just released Facebook Home entirely for some select Android devices.

The devices that currently can install Facebook Home are the HTC One X, HTC One X+, the Samsung Galaxy S3 and the Samsung Galaxy Note 2. The HTC One and Samsung Galaxy S4 are said to support Facebook Home in the future, but for you other Android users, you’ll need to be patient until it’s available on your device of choice. (more…)

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Samsung Tipped To Sell 1 Million Galaxy Mega 5.8 Devices Monthly , Motorola X Release Reportedly Pushed Back Till August,

    

How to Get Chatheads Without Dealing With Facebook Home

How to Get Chatheads Without Dealing With Facebook Home

Now you can get Chat Heads even if you don’t want the rest of Facebook Home.

Go Get Facebook Home for Android Now

Facebook Home for Android just went live. In addition to using it on the newly available HTC First, you’ll be able to get it on “select” Android phones including the HTC One, HTC One X, HTC One X+, Samsung Galaxy S III and Samsung Galaxy Note II. Go get your homescreen on. [Google Play] More »

Facebook Home delivered to Google Play – available for Android now

If you’ve got one of the few smartphones compatible with Facebook Home (the app) here at the launch, you’re in luck! It’s out now, available for download from the Google Play app store and it’s completely free. Devices that can download and use Facebook Home right this minute include the Samsung Galaxy S III, Samsung Galaxy Note II, HTC One X, and HTC One X+ (everyone else is currently out of luck.)

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What you’ll be doing to grab Facebook Home is heading to the Google Play app store and searching just that: “Facebook Home.” If you have one of the compatible phones listed above, you’ll see the app immediately and will be able to download and install with ease. When you first head back to your home screen after installing, you’ll be met by a pop-up that asks which launcher you’d like to use.

UPDATE: Facebook Home appears to be temporarily (hopefully) unavailable in the Google Play app store once again – check back soon!

UPDATE 2: Facebook Home is once again up and ready for action – you’ll be able to download it and make it work for some smartphones, but not all! Have a peek at our guide: Why doesn’t Facebook Home work on my phone?

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If you choose Facebook Home, you’ll be brought into a brand new Facebook-centric universe, yours for the tapping. You’ll also want to make sure you’ve updated Facebook Messenger and your normal Facebook for Android app too – they all exist together in harmony. Have a peek at today’s “Chat Heads” update for more information on what Messenger brings to the table.

Above: Facebook’s newest advertisement for the Facebook Home experience released today.

You’ll also want to head back to SlashGear’s full Facebook Home review as well as our review of the HTC First – the first smartphone to hit the market with Facebook Home installed right out of the box. Let us know if you plan on partaking in this lovely Facebook software experience on your Android device today!

Or if you plan on skipping the Facebook Home environment entirely!


Facebook Home delivered to Google Play – available for Android now is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Visualized: Facebook Home’s assortment of abodes

Visualized Facebook Home's variety of abodes

As you may have heard, Facebook Home has finally made its way to a select number of devices from HTC and Samsung. While the initial rollout was a little shaky, we were able to grab the social network’s latest mobile triumph on every device that officially supports it. What you see above is the full spread of devices that are listed as candidates for the downloadable APK’s launch (the HTC First excepted, which we have unfortunately already shipped away): from left to right, you’ll see the Samsung Galaxy Note II, Galaxy S III, HTC One X+, One X and the One. For folks who already have access to it, the One isn’t officially supported yet, but it’s been announced and it should be coming soon.

We’ve already gone into painstaking detail of Facebook Home in our review of the HTC First, so we won’t dwell too much on the downloadable version. In short, as we expected, the interface seems quite a bit more quiet than our experience on the First simply because it doesn’t offer the same system-level integration; in other words, the devices shown in the above image are only able to display notifications related to Facebook services. You can still access your usual suite of alerts through the status bar at the top of the screen, but just make sure to go into Home settings to enable this functionality. Aside from the difference in notifications, the downloadable APK differs from the First’s pre-loaded version in that no Google search bar sits upon the top of Home’s app menu. Other than that, you’ll be hard-pressed to find any major variances in Cover Feed, chat heads or the app launcher. If you’re curious to see exactly what it looks like on a Samsung Galaxy S III, check out our gallery of screenshots below.

Note: To ensure that everything works the way it should on your phone, make sure the official Facebook and Messenger apps are installed and completely up-to-date.

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Facebook Home hits Android today – Chat Heads first!

Today is the day that Android gets Facebook Home – but at this very moment, the big changes exist outside the final Facebook Home app, inside Facebook Messenger and the basic Facebook app instead! What you’ll be seeing inside Facebook Messenger is a push to what’s effectively Chat Heads. Chat Heads is a bit more of an aesthetic change than it is a change to your whole going-about of things.

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With Facebook Messenger’s newest update you’ve got a row of “Heads” above your display that you can easily flip through to speak with different Facebook users. While before you’d have had to tap a couple of times before switching to a new person to chat with, now you’ve got but a swipe. Perhaps most important of all is Facebook Messenger’s new ability to appear on top of any screen – if it’s on, it’s everywhere.

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This means that if someone sends you a Facebook Message and you’re watching a YouTube video, you’ll see their head pop up in a circle above the video. If you’re on a home screen and someone sends a message, their head will appear there – click in and you’re back to chatting. You can also hold down on their head and pull it down to the “X” that appears – this will dismiss their message.

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Facebook for Android (the basic app) appears to have fewer changes that we can see at the moment – we’re expecting things to light up a bit more when the full Facebook Home app appears later today. The HTC First (see our full review here) smartphone with Facebook Home built-in is available in stores today as well – go grab it!

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Facebook Home hits Android today – Chat Heads first! is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.