Facebook Home
As we have reminded earlier, the hardware
is not necessarily built to impress - it's just there to give the pride of
Menlo Park: Facebook Home. Although Zuckerberg and its colleagues have done
quite a good job of presenting the demos of this new feature in action, there
are still many unanswered questions after the program.
What is Facebook Home? First of all, it is
not the minimized-version of Android or its own mobile operating system as many
of people had predicted before last week. In terms of technology, it is not a
deeply built-in interface like Sense and TouchWiz. Basically, it's not
different from a really interesting Android app launcher: in other words, it is
only a replacement to the standard lock screens, home screen panels and
application menus that we get used to seeing on the old Android devices. If you
have used the launchers like Nova, GO Launcher, or Apex, Facebook Home has the
similar settings. It will be available as a free download in Google Play for a
small group of high-end devices, including Samsung Galaxy S III, GS 4, Galaxy
Note II, HTC One New and One X+.
The
First integrates services such as calendar, Visual Voicemail, email and most
messages you will find in a standard pull-down tray - even "screenshot
captured" notification appears in the front and center on Home until you
stroke it.
However, regardless of the fact that it
will be available on the phones that were released (or will soon be released),
Facebook has asked HTC to make hardware with pre-installed Home. If it can be
downloaded on Play, then what is value? During the event on the fourth of
April, the managers claimed that there were slight advantages when having Home
preinstalled on the devices: the setup process is much tidier and more
importantly, by coordinating with manufacturers, Facebook has access to the
Android frameworks and core functions that it would otherwise unlikely to be
modified. In other words, the First provides the Home experience that is
optimized and deeply integrated. In particular, while the download version only
delivers the messages related to Facebook, the First integrates services such
as calendar, Visual Voicemail, email and most messages you will find in a
standard pull-down tray - even "screenshot captured" notification
appears in the front and center on Home until you stroke it. It also has a
Google Search bar in the application menu that you will not see on other
devices running the Home.
The
First integrates services such as calendar, Visual Voicemail, email and most
messages you will find in a standard pull-down tray - It also has a Google
Search bar in the application menu that you will not see on other devices
running the Home.
Now we have finished defining Home and
discussed why such a service excuses the existence of the First, we will go
deeper into the experience. The launcher focuses on two particular areas of UX:
images and gestures. Say what you want about Facebook and whether you feel it necessary
to be constantly connected to it, but Home provides a visually impressive
interface. The challenge is for the friendliness of the users - it's
interesting to look at, but the new First owners instinctively know what to do
with it?
Home can be divided into three separate
parts: Cover Feed, which is a lock screen/ home screen hybrid that presents
animatedly changing images to reflect your news feed; the main application
launcher, where you are able to put your favorite applications for easy access;
and a vertical-scroll app tray, which recalls so many memories of the
Gingerbread days.
Cover Feed
Cover Feed is the first thing that appears
when you open or wake the phone from sleep mode (you can change this in the
settings if you like). And it's like a surprise party every time you do one of
the two actions: the lights are on and you never know what you will get,
because the screen changes constantly to reflect the newest Facebook or
Instagram post. (Instagram only appears in your feed if you log into your
account first). During our test, we were satisfactorily amazed at the flowers,
beautiful landscapes and obligatory food shots. Considering the positive side,
there were several times when we are welcomed by the software wounds and dead
bodies in bikinis (yes, really). Naturally, just this action might be one of
the most entertaining aspects of Home, especially if you observe a selected
group of people.
Cover
Feed is the first thing that appears when you open or wake the phone from sleep
mode.
Cover Feed’s point of view is to offer you
a new and more normal way to browse your news feed, with the status updates,
links and images that occupy the entire display (and often scroll as a Ken
Burns style). As Facebook's Director of Product Adam Mosseri showed at the
launch event, the smartphone users open their devices on an average of a
hundred times per a day, and many of these cases are urged by a fit of boredom.
So if you have a minute or two to waste, why not use that time to investigate
quickly and easily what your friends and family are doing?
The images in Cover Feed often include
profile pictures, the pictures posted by your friends and Instagram photos, and
they often come with additional content, such as links, status updates and
other posts that your friends have liked. Each image on Home is often so big
that you are unable to see the whole on a screen, but you can zoom out and see
the whole picture when you long- press the image. In addition, the phone
regularly rotates your feed, giving different status updates and images every
30 seconds. To the Like of a given update, just double tap the screen and the
big thumbs-up shows up. If you want to comment on it, just click the relevant
button on the lower left corner.
Another significant aspect of the Cover
Feed is the way it processes the messages, which appear in the middle of the
front when you wake up the device. A couple of options are available to you at
this time: double tap the message to access its, swipe them away to remove them
one by one, or long-press to pack them up and remove all of them in one
gesture. The status updates are shortened when the messages show up, but you
are able to tap another part of the screen to expand the text and remove the
messages. Tap again, and you go back to the way that things were presented
before.
At the bottom of Cover Feed, you will also
find a circle holding your profile picture. You should pay your special
attention to this icon, because it is your escape from the world of cat and
unfinished food photos. Stroking it to the right takes you to the nearest
application, while stroking to the left brings to the messages and an upward
gesture of swiping takes you to the Facebook’s app launcher
