Facebook attempts to put people before apps with today's release of
Facebook Home, a family of applications that recreates popular social-networking
functions such as chat and News Feed and embeds them within the home screen
experience on select Android devices. The software suite is now live in the
Google Play store.
Excluding the HTC First, which is optimized to run Facebook Home, the
software package is currently compatible with six devices: the HTC One, One X,
and One X+; and the Samsung Galaxy S3, Galaxy S4, and Galaxy Note 2.
To get Home working on these handsets, you'll need to also be running the
most recent versions of Facebook's standard Android mobile application and
Facebook Messenger for Android.
Facebook Home is either just the right amount of Facebook or extreme
bloatware, depending on your social-networking preferences.
In my view, Facebook has done a marvelous job of transforming your home
screen with Cover Feed, a visually arresting slideshow that pares down News Feed
to just photos and "likes." The Home software, however, forces you to split your
attention between Facebook and Google, and will likely never appeal to those who
don't trust the social network with access to their smartphones.
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