Hasta La Gadget!

This week the Android user experience known as Facebook Home has been revealed, and with it, whispers of advertisements served to you front and center. Not unlike what you’ve seen with Kindle series of tablets, the Facebook Home app will indeed be serving advertisements to you through the lockscreen portion of the UI. What’s not known at the moment is if this will be a reality just on the app download version of Home or if it’ll be present on the Facebook Phone experience too.

If you’ll take a peek at our Facebook Phone vs Facebook Home article you’ll find that there are indeed a few differences between the two. With the app download you’ll not be getting notifications from all of your apps the way you will with the HTC first smartphone (see our hands-on here!) With advertisements popping up in the Question and Answer portion of the presentation today, we must assume there’s another big feature difference between the two.

“There are no ads in this [Facebook Home] yet, I’m sure that one day there will be.” – Mark Zuckerberg

After being asked about advertisements and hearing that response, another Facebook team member made it clear that ads would be coming to the Cover Feed portion of the Facebook Home experience. Soon after this, Zuckerberg was asked to repeat whether or not there’d be ads on the Cover Feed – responding with a resounding “yup!”, it was made clear that Facebook believes “[advertisements] are just another kind of content.”

Another question was asked during the Q and A session on searching:

Q: How will what I search for influence the ads I see?

A: Searches will be tracked in your activity log, and search won’t influence ads at all.

So no worries on having your activities tracked in Facebook Home… for advertising through the search bar, anyway. Sound reasonable to you? Let us know if you’re all about the Facebook Home experience right this minute!

Have a peek at our new Facebook Home tag portal as well as our Android Hub – we’re coming at you from all angles!

Facebook Home will have ads (just not at first) is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Facebook Home brings a variety of features that make it more than just an app. One of the new features will be the new “Cover Feed”. Cover Feed will be the first thing you see when you open Facebook Home. It will bring you the latest and important status updates from your closest friends as soon as you open the app. That will make sure that you never miss out on an important event again.

Facebook is concentrating on making your phone more about people rather than just apps, something that Zuckerberg has been echoing throughout the entire event. With Cover Feed and Facebook Home, you will always be connected with your closest friends and family members. Everything is available to you at a moment’s notice. Like Zuckerberg said, everything is just “one swipe away”.

Facebook Home will be available on the upcoming HTC First, that is set to be announced. It does feature lackluster specs, including a dual-core Snapdragon S4 processor, 1GB of RAM, 5MP rear-facing camera, and a 1.6MP front-facing camera. The only things carrying the device are 4G LTE and Android 4.1 Jelly Bean. However, luckily for us Facebook lovers, there are plans for more phones coming in the future.

Alongside Facebook’s Cover Feed, Facebook has announced another new feature called Chat Heads, that gives you an “immediate personal connection” to those you’re close with. Even if you’re using another app, if someone messages you, you will be notified via a bubble on the top corner of your phone. Be sure to check through the latest Facebook news today through our Facebook Tag Portal. Also check out our Android Hub for the latest, important info on Android.

Facebook Home Cover Feed lockscreen detailed is written by Brian Sin & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

This week the folks at Facebook have teamed up with HTC to show off the first of what may be many Facebook Phones in what’s called the HTC first. This smartphone brings the full Facebook software experience to you in an Android-based user interface called “Facebook Home”. This smartphone is a mid-range unit when it comes to hardware specifications and will be offered in a variety of color casings.

With the HTC first you’ll be rolling out with a 4.3-inch LCD display with no less than 720p resolution for your everyday sharp Facebook interactions. This device will be rolling out with a lovely Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 dual-core processor, this being the same SoC that you’ll find on the Samsung Galaxy S III and the DROID RAZR HD. On the back of the HTC first you’ll find a 5-megapixel camera while the front works with a 1.6-megapixel camera for Facebook video chat and messages.

UPDATE: This device is NOT using the Snapdragon S4 as previously noted – instead it is one of the first devices on the market to be using the Qualcomm Snapdragon 400. This smartphone will also be coming with 3G/4G “multimode” LTE and will be available on the 12th of April for $99 USD attached to a 2-year contract.

You’ll be knocking out the apps with 1GB of RAM and a brand new user interface that’s based loosely on HTC’s own Sense 4.5. You’ll of course have wi-fi, 4G LTE from AT&T (at first, additional carriers on the way we must expect), and Android 4.1.2 right out of the box. We’ll be presenting some fabulous hands-on action with this device soon – there we’ll have additional insight in to how this device functions and if it’ll be the smartphone you’ve just got to have in 2013.

Have a peek at our Android Hub as well for more information on the Android universe at large! We’ll be bringing you more Android and Facebook Phone (and regular old Facebook) action all day – stick around and check the timeline below for updates, too!

HTC first official: Facebook Phone unveiled is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Hey everyone! In just a few moments, the Facebook Home on Android event is set to go live, and we’re here to bring you all the bits and details as soon as they appear. Earlier today, we saw AT&T CEO and president Ralph de la Vega enter into Building 16 on 1 Hacker Way, signaling that AT&T, like before, will most likely be getting exclusive rights to Facebook and HTC’s upcoming phone.

Facebook is set to debut its new Facebook on Home software, which at first we thought would be Facebook’s custom Android operating system, but it may in fact be more of a launcher. We’ll find out which is which soon, but our bets are lying with the latter option. Of course, the launcher or OS is going to be highly integrated with Facebook, and Facebook will be replacing several default apps with its own. For example, it will most likely be replacing Android’s default messaging app with its own messaging app, which will handle both Facebook Messages as well as SMS messages.

The HTC/Facebook phone set to debut today isn’t much at all. It is codenamed the HTC Myst, however it may be released as the HTC First. The specs are extremely lackluster. It has a 4.3-inch 720p display, dual-core Snapdragon S4 processor, 1GB RAM, 5MP rear-facing camera, 1.6MP front-facing camera, Sense UI 4.5 (with Facebook modifications), Bluetooth 4.0, and Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean. Jelly Bean and 4G LTE are the only features that make this phone worthwhile.

The event is starting in just a few minutes, so stick around to see the latest features Facebook will have to offer to the Android operating system. Be sure to keep track of our Facebook Tag Portal for the latest news from both this event, as well as future and past events pertaining to everyone’s “favorite” social network. Also be sure to check out our Android Hub for the most important news in the Android world.

Facebook Home on Android event: we’re here! is written by Brian Sin & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

It’s time to check out the Facebook Phone early – a full software build from the device has been leaked and it would appear that HTC is, indeed, onboard. What we’re having a look at here is a full APK (application for Android) that will live inside the device code-named HTC Myst. This device has been leaked before, and according to the leak Android Police has secured, (and promises isn’t an April Fools joke,) it’s set to be a real oddity in the market.

Hardware: HTC Myst

The first place we’ll be seeing Facebook’s new software is the HTC smartphone still code-named “Myst”. We’ll likely see this device shown by HTC later this week with the name “Facebook Phone by HTC” or something equally appropriate. The device is being delivered as – more or less – an idea palm-sized smartphone made to compete with the size segment Apple is still king of at the moment.

• HTC Myst (code-name)
• 4.3-inch display, 720p
• AT&T 4G LTE
• 1GB RAM
• Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 dual-core processor (MSM8960) (same as Galaxy S III)
• 5 megapixel camera on back
• 1.6 megapixel camera on front
• Sense UI 4.5 (Facebook Home modifications onboard)
• Bluetooth 4.0
• Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean

Sound like the mid-range winner for you? Will Facebook offer this device for sale straight from their site? That might be a winning situation – something like Google Play does with the Google Nexus smartphone and tablet lineup?

Facebook Home App

Facebook Home will be essentially a Home Screen Replacement app. If you’re working with Android on your smartphone, you’re able to download a variety of Home Screen Replacement apps that will allow you to work with a user interface that’s totally different from what you’re working with right out of the box. Here with Facebook Home, it would seem that everything will be just a bit different – from your lockscreen down to your settings.

Some interesting bits and pieces discovered in the Facebook Home APK thus far:

• TouchWiz permissions (for future Samsung smart devices)
• Icon changes (simple differences making Android look more “Facebook-like”)
• Google button (indicating Facebook’s willingness to use Google – not just Bing)
• Chat Heads – a new way this user interface handles your contacts
• Facebook Apps out-of-box integration

Given what we’re seeing here in this, effectively a full leak of Facebook’s intentions, it would appear that the HTC Myst will be a device that works with Facebook Home, one of the first (or only) Facebook Phones on the market. Otherwise it may be that Facebook releases Facebook Home as a stand-alone app you can download yourself for your own device – wouldn’t that be fabulous?

The Full Story

We’ll be live in-effect at the Facebook event later this week – stay tuned to SlashGear for the big show, starting Thursday, April 4th at 10AM PST! Make sure you have a peek at our Facebook tag portal until then and keep up to date on all things Facebook coming your way!

Facebook Home leaked – the HTC Facebook phone spills its guts is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.