Hasta La Gadget!

If you’re thinking about picking up an HTC first device on the 12th of April, you might want to consider turning Facebook Home off. But why would I want to turn off the system that’s selling the smartphone, you might ask? Because there’s a completely clean Android Jelly Bean under that Facebook Home skin, that’s why! It’s time to deactivate Facebook Home before you even take the time to use it!

All you’ve got to do inside your HTC first is head to the separate app called Facebook Settings first. From there it’s the very first option on the list – the very first! The option there is to “Turn Off Facebook Home” – click it and bam! You’ve got an entirely Vanilla experience on your smartphone. Wasn’t that easy?

This means you’ll be rolling out with a Facebook Phone if you like – or a completely clean Android smartphone with Jelly Bean with a single click. Isn’t it strange that you’re able to get to a completely non-Facebook experience so easily inside this smartphone marketed as a completely Facebook Home experience? It’s as if HTC wanted you to be able to roll with no Facebook right out of the box – how about that?

Have a peek at our timeline of HTC first posts and be sure to stick to the Facebook Home tag portal for more information on this monstrous push by Facebook to take over your smartphone. Be sure especially to see the HTC first vs HTC M4 guide we’ve whipped up earlier this week – more HTC on the horizon for us all!

[via Android Community]

Deactivate Facebook Home in one tap: step-by-step is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

There is a new smartphone in town, and although this particular model that is known as the HTC First is not a flagship device, it still managed to capture the attention of the whole world, at least for a few minutes, where it was announced to be the inaugural handset to come with Facebook Home, a new way of using the social network app on your Android-powered smartphone that intends to keep you connected in an even friendlier manner than ever before. The HTC First will be made available as an AT&T exclusive, where and is currently the only smartphone that was designed around Facebook Home, instead of it being the other way around as with most smartphones these days.

First of all, just what is Facebook Home? Well, Facebook Home has touted to be the first mobile experience in the industry which was designed to give you your friends’ latest updates right there and then on your home screen, in addition to checking out messages that will bug you to attend to them regardless of what you are doing at that moment. I guess you can say that this is the ultimate Facebook device, if you cannot get enough of the social network regardless of where you are.

The HTC First can be yours as long as you place a pre-order today for $99.99 a pop, where that will include a two-year commitment, and it will arrive in AT&T stores as well as made online from April 12th onwards. Wait a minute here, what else do we know about the hardware concerning the HTC First? Since it runs on AT&T 4G LTE, you can be assured that LTE connectivity has been thrown into the mix, and there is a quartet of colors to choose from, namely black, white, red and pale blue. The HTC First will come in a thin form factor, looks modern and seamless with soft edges that help draw your attention to the updates from friends and family. In front lies a 4.3-inch glass display, with Android 4.1 Jelly Bean as the operating system of choice. There is a dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 processor to keep things chugging along, too.

Press Release
[ HTC First to arrive on AT&T copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]

Welcome to Thursday evening everyone. Today Facebook unveiled Facebook Home on the HTC first at an event in California. As a result, the social network saw its stocks jump 3-percent. Word was passed down that other devices will support Facebook Home in the future, but will initially be available on the HTC first and a few others on April 12.

We’ve got a hands-on review of Facebook Home and the HTC first, as well as the run down of the differences between Facebook Phone and Facebook Home on the HTC handset. We’ve got a detailed piece on the Facebook Home lockscreen, and it seems advertisements will eventually be part of the system. You can check out what Zuckerberg had to say; we’ve detailed the Chat Heads messaging system, as well as how to get Facebook Home.

In non-Facebook news, AT&T has rolled out a Jelly Bean update for the LG Optimus G (and its CEO was spotted at the Facebook event today). Verizon has released a 4G LTE router for $99, and Samsung’s Galaxy camera with Wi-Fi has hit the US for $449.99. In addition, Qualcomm will be improving WiFi in MLB stadiums.

On the Apple front, a patent has surfaced suggesting a convertible Macbook is on the way, its spaceship campus is behind schedule, and age recommendations have been added to the App Store. Rovio plans to launch Angry Birds: Friends for Android and iOS, Diablo III’s patch brings multiplayer improvements, and Peter Jackson teased the Star Wars VIII script. And finally, there’s something for Arrested Development fans: Season 4 will be hitting Netflix on May 26. That does it for tonight’s Evening Wrap-Up, we hope you enjoy the rest of the night folks!

SlashGear Evening Wrap-Up: April 4, 2013 is written by Brittany Hillen & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Investors appear to be cautiously optimistic about the announcements made today regarding Facebook and their new Android smartphone-based software experience. Stocks have jumped over 3% after the Facebook “New Home on Android” event, this allowing the stock to hit $27 and above for the first time in half a month. What we must assume is that the negativity in talk of a Facebook Phone (that is, a complete replacement of the operating system) was doused by the appearance of Facebook Home – a home screen replacement app for Android.

With the reveal of Facebook Home, we’re seeing an experience existing within Android, on top of it – not taking it over entirely. Even when you put your hands on the HTC first, the very first Facebook Home device right out of the box, you’ll be able to turn Facebook Home off if you like. But what of advertisements? And what of the idea that Facebook Home commands the entire user interface you’re working with on your phone?

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

Such things seem to not have struck investors as concerns as the stock hasn’t dropped since before the event began. Now we’ll see if this first smartphone to run the device does well – at $99 USD from AT&T with a 2-year contract, it just might. And we’ll see if Facebook Home is a software experience that people will want to try – or maybe even use regularly.

Have a peek at the timeline below to see the many angles at which Facebook Home has been covered by SlashGear today, and don’t forget to stick to the Android Hub for more on the insides. Also let us know if you’re all about the Facebook Home smartphone experience, if you’ll wait for the tablet edition, or if you’ll be skipping it altogether!

Facebook Phone event sends stock up 3 percent is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

The Facebook Phone will be coming to the UK with EE exclusively, this being the first time that EE has had an exclusive of such magnitude with the HTC first. This HTC first device will be available this summer on EE’s own 4GEE service but no pricing or release dates have yet been released. In the United States, the HTC first will be coming to AT&T on the 12th of April, 2013 – so we must assume this release won’t be long after!

The HTC first is the first Facebook Phone right out of the box, it working with the new Facebook Home Android app experience. This software creates a full Facebook experience for anyone using it as their homescreen launcher, decidedly separate from Android’s core. With this app you’ll be getting Facebook Home updates on the 12th of every month (according to Facebook) and you’ll have full access to your Facebook content.

UPDATE: See our HTC first hands-on here and now!

You’ll be seeing the following unique bits and pieces coming from this EE release of the HTC first as well:

• EE Film – the only service in the UK which combines 2 for 1 cinema ticketing, listings, trailers and digital film downloads in one place
• A discount of £5 per month on EE superfast Fibre Broadband – so they can get blistering speeds at home and on the move
• Fast track customer service by dialing ‘33’ from their handset
• Clone Phone Lite – giving people free storage to back up the content that matters most

Have a peek at the timeline below for more information on the HTC first as well as our Android Hub for more Android excellence through the future! In our brand new Facebook Home tag portal you’ll find all you need to know about this new experience and about the future of Facebook on your smartphone!

EE nabs HTC first exclusive in UK is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.