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Facebook Announces “Home”, A Homescreen Replacement For Standard Android

techcrunch.com

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Re: Facebook Announces “Home”, A Homescreen Replacement For Standard Android

#81

Post by Taylorious »

cadetzero wrote: post #61

Wow, they built this when their Facebook app on android still consumes an ungodly amount of system resources? I have no faith in this from a technical perspective.

I have to agree. This whole thing puzzles me. The Android FB app is terrible. Absolutely terrible. Some basic functions don't work. Like when someone tags me in a photo and a notification pops up, I click the notification and their app crashes. It can't display a friggin picture from a website. FB is just a website, how can they not get their own app to work with their own website?

Seriously if you cant make an app in Android that works, how are you going to roll your own version of the OS?

Re: Facebook Announces “Home”, A Homescreen Replacement For Standard Android

#82

Post by MatthewPhillips »

yalogin wrote: post #63
51Cards wrote: post #5

My initial thoughts (without having a ton of time to really absorb this yet) is that Apple's closed operating system may have just become a liability. The open 'intent' model of Android is really at the core of making something like this possible. In turn though does this also allow Facebook to take over "too many" aspects of Android and cut into Google's revenue streams as well? All things I'm still pondering. As an…

You seem to assume this is something people want. This is just an app trying to take over the whole OS experience. Being closed system is a good thing in this case as I don't want facebook to change my OS experience. I like apps to behave like apps. In fact I would go as far as saying that this is one way Android could become sucky over time - Too many apps trying to push for a new experience.

This is at the core of the differing philosophies about software. You see something you dislike and look for a white knight to prevent said bad thing from existing. I see something I dislike and don't use it.

Re: Facebook Announces “Home”, A Homescreen Replacement For Standard Android

#83

Post by cma »

ameen wrote: post #13
51Cards wrote: post #5

My initial thoughts (without having a ton of time to really absorb this yet) is that Apple's closed operating system may have just become a liability. The open 'intent' model of Android is really at the core of making something like this possible. In turn though does this also allow Facebook to take over "too many" aspects of Android and cut into Google's revenue streams as well? All things I'm still pondering. As an…

Apple is working on something similar to Android intents (afaik) for cross app data sharing, etc. Although Facebook essentially monitoring most if not all of your mobile communications would really set off Apple's Privacy warning system.

Apple isn't worried about your privacy. They are worried about third parties busting their exclusivity of privacy violation on Apple devices.

Re: Facebook Announces “Home”, A Homescreen Replacement For Standard Android

#84

Post by psbp »

isopod wrote: post #19

The giant gap between the beautiful photos of beautiful people doing enviable things in beautiful places used in demos such as these (and in Apple ones as well) and the mundane, poorly-focused, washed-out, ill-composed photos and meme reposts that are most likely to appear on your FB feed at any given moment always takes the shine off of products such as these for me, despite how much more useful or technologically a…

Exactly. How terrible will this be when you're not in the mood to socialize or when something discouraging happens in your social life? This has a good use case for 10% of smartphone users maybe 80% of the time.

I'm going to predict that this will turn people off of facebook more than it creates more engagement.

Re: Facebook Announces “Home”, A Homescreen Replacement For Standard Android

#85

Post by Tomdarkness »

yalogin wrote: post #63
51Cards wrote: post #5

My initial thoughts (without having a ton of time to really absorb this yet) is that Apple's closed operating system may have just become a liability. The open 'intent' model of Android is really at the core of making something like this possible. In turn though does this also allow Facebook to take over "too many" aspects of Android and cut into Google's revenue streams as well? All things I'm still pondering. As an…

You seem to assume this is something people want. This is just an app trying to take over the whole OS experience. Being closed system is a good thing in this case as I don't want facebook to change my OS experience. I like apps to behave like apps. In fact I would go as far as saying that this is one way Android could become sucky over time - Too many apps trying to push for a new experience.

If you don't want it then don't use it. I personally don't want it either but I'm sure there is someone out there who would like to use Facebook Home. You can easily replace homescreens on Android, you don't need your device rooted or anything like that.

I'd say that having the choice is the more important factor here. I'm not sure how "Well someone people are not going to like that" is a compelling argument for not having the option in the first place.

Re: Facebook Announces “Home”, A Homescreen Replacement For Standard Android

#86

Post by gavinflud »

yalogin wrote: post #63
51Cards wrote: post #5

My initial thoughts (without having a ton of time to really absorb this yet) is that Apple's closed operating system may have just become a liability. The open 'intent' model of Android is really at the core of making something like this possible. In turn though does this also allow Facebook to take over "too many" aspects of Android and cut into Google's revenue streams as well? All things I'm still pondering. As an…

You seem to assume this is something people want. This is just an app trying to take over the whole OS experience. Being closed system is a good thing in this case as I don't want facebook to change my OS experience. I like apps to behave like apps. In fact I would go as far as saying that this is one way Android could become sucky over time - Too many apps trying to push for a new experience.

Yes, of course this isn't something everyone would want. However, I for one know of lots of people that this would suit down to the ground. People who solely use their phones for calling, texting and Facebook.

At the end of the day, it's an option. You don't have to install it and you don't have to use it. The beauty of Android is that if this isn't to your liking, you can uninstall it and install any number of other launchers, home screens, etc.

Re: Facebook Announces “Home”, A Homescreen Replacement For Standard Android

#87

Post by kamkazemoose »

yalogin wrote: post #63
51Cards wrote: post #5

My initial thoughts (without having a ton of time to really absorb this yet) is that Apple's closed operating system may have just become a liability. The open 'intent' model of Android is really at the core of making something like this possible. In turn though does this also allow Facebook to take over "too many" aspects of Android and cut into Google's revenue streams as well? All things I'm still pondering. As an…

You seem to assume this is something people want. This is just an app trying to take over the whole OS experience. Being closed system is a good thing in this case as I don't want facebook to change my OS experience. I like apps to behave like apps. In fact I would go as far as saying that this is one way Android could become sucky over time - Too many apps trying to push for a new experience.

It's not as if you're forced to use this as a new home screen. It's an option available to the users. So likely anyone who is using this wants it. I think it is good when users are offered a choice. Let people have the experience that they want.

Re: Facebook Announces “Home”, A Homescreen Replacement For Standard Android

#88

Post by slouch »

pifflesnort wrote: post #44
51Cards wrote: post #5

My initial thoughts (without having a ton of time to really absorb this yet) is that Apple's closed operating system may have just become a liability. The open 'intent' model of Android is really at the core of making something like this possible. In turn though does this also allow Facebook to take over "too many" aspects of Android and cut into Google's revenue streams as well? All things I'm still pondering. As an…

I'd call the inability for Facebook to usurp control over Apple's vertically integrated platform to be a market advantage, not a liability, as long as too many users don't start clamoring for a facebook-iphone. [edit] Remember browser toolbars? Now that Facebook is doing this, I expect this is just the beginning.

I don't think a launcher app like Facebook home can be associated with the Android home button automatically when it is installed, so the browser toolbar comparison isn't perfect.

Re: Facebook Announces “Home”, A Homescreen Replacement For Standard Android

#89

Post by mikeleeorg »

There are some interesting parallels to the Windows Phone UI here. As I understand it (and I don't own a Windows Phone), Microsoft's intent was to provide a UX that is more social and tied to user tasks rather than apps. Facebook Home looks like they use a similar underlying concept, with a stronger focus on social interactions rather than user tasks. Apps are still there, but are not the main focus.

I rarely use the Facebook app on my phone, so I'm not their target audience. However, I've seen a fair number of teens and young adults absorbed in the Facebook app on their Android phones (yup, Android, more than iPhones, because they're cheaper). So it will really be interesting to see if that audience takes to Facebook Home too.

Re: Facebook Announces “Home”, A Homescreen Replacement For Standard Android

#90

Post by andrewmunn »

mik3y wrote: post #11

Setting aside the Launcher replacement, the most technically surprising aspect of this demo was the messaging app: it showed avatars and a messaging window hovering above the currently-focused app. As far as I know, this isn't possible on stock Android. You can make a non-fullscreen window, but you can't continue to interact with the layer behind it. This may be the motivation for the "set of OEM guidelines" Mark ver…

Actually chat heads works on stock Android! Not sure the exact wizardry that went into implementing it, but it's very impressive to use.
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