Facebook Home is Not a Phone...yet.

What many people are calling a ‘Facebook phone’ is actually the HTC First. It is a mid-range Android that sells for $99. What is unique about this is that it’s the first handset to have Facebook software ingrained in its system (instead of an App or Apps). Facebook cut a deal with Android (Google) to implement new software for the home screen so they could better reach their global market and simplify interaction.

Let’s talk about the HTC First, It is nothing special. It has a 4.3 inch screen, runs 4.1.2 stock Android (Current is 4.2), has a 5 MP camera, 16 GB storage and a 1.4Ghz Dual Core chip. This phone will work for your average person who doesn’t use the phone for much more than calls and checking a few sites or emails. In comparison to today’s top of the line phones this really is a POS, but it will work if you want to give it to your 13 year old for their first phone.

The only kicker here is that it has Facebook Home. Home has basically collected the Facebook, messenger, and notification apps and built them together as a home screen for your phone called 'Cover Feed'. What this means is when you wake up your phone, you will automatically be able to see your Facebook Newsfeed and begin interacting with your friends.  Each update will show as a full page article and you can comment/like or scroll to the next article without having to open up any applications. Any messages you receive will pop up something called a ‘Chat Head’ that shows a little bubble of the friend who is contacting you. This leads us to notifications which show up as a rectangular box and can easily be moved with gesture controls. One advantage of Home is that it has integrated all of your notifications with its 'Cover Feed’ so that you never miss anything.

You can still access your Android app’s by tapping the menu screen. You can even turn off Home and just use the phone as the stock handset it truly is. However, the reason you would buy this handset is to better integrate your real life with your online life. It allows you to check and update much more efficiently than the application does and offers you a clean look to your ‘feeds.’ This is the prototype model and it may need to bake a little longer, but for now it is an interesting new user interface that promotes sharing in the online community.