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Facebook Home over a week later: only 500K installs with a two-star user rating

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Re: Facebook Home over a week later: only 500K installs with a two-star user rating

#61
post #35

The title feels clickbait-y. It should be pretty obvious why there were only 500K downloads- it's only available on around three devices. I'm interested to at least take a look at it, but I can't. As for the reviews, many of them are of the "I hate Facebook" variety, but others seem to state (correctly) that it need some work. Given Facebook have committed to monthly releases, I don't think this is the end of Faceboo…

Even if the 500k number is acceptable since it's only available on selected devices, the 2 stars average rating is undeniable.

As comparison, Facebook for Android app has the average rating of 3,5. So I guess the 2 stars should be taken as an alert for the Facebook Home developers to keep working on it.

Re: Facebook Home over a week later: only 500K installs with a two-star user rating

#62
post #35

The title feels clickbait-y. It should be pretty obvious why there were only 500K downloads- it's only available on around three devices. I'm interested to at least take a look at it, but I can't. As for the reviews, many of them are of the "I hate Facebook" variety, but others seem to state (correctly) that it need some work. Given Facebook have committed to monthly releases, I don't think this is the end of Faceboo…

Even if the 500k number is acceptable since it's only available on selected devices, the 2 stars average rating is undeniable. As comparison, Facebook for Android app has the average rating of 3,5. So I guess the 2 stars should be taken as an alert for the Facebook Home developers to keep working on it.

A lot of people rate Facebook at 1-star because they don't like Facebook as a whole (I think I saw the term "protest vote" somewhere else in this thread). The reviews that just say "I hate Facebook" clearly aren't indicative of Home as a whole.

Re: Facebook Home over a week later: only 500K installs with a two-star user rating

#63
post #8

This is irrelevant. those intrusive apps are made with carrier integration in mind. You can't uninstall Facebook from any Samsung phone. And you won't uninstall Facebook home from the new s4 and updated s3 and notes. So, why care about user ratings?

You can't "uninstall" any app that the carrier forces on you, but you can disable it as of ICS or better. The app is both prevented from running and hidden from the app drawer. In practice, the amount of storage you're denied from not being able to completely wipe these apps is miniscule. Just one of the neat bits of control that the newer Android versions give you :)

Wait, can you do that for the Google-default apps too? I have a half dozen Google+ settings/messengers/other things that I can't uninstall from my phone (Nexus), when I really just want to hide them from view.

Re: Facebook Home over a week later: only 500K installs with a two-star user rating

#64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even if the 500k number is acceptable since it's only available on selected devices, the 2 stars average rating is undeniable. As comparison, Facebook for Android app has the average rating of 3,5. So I guess the 2 stars should be taken as an alert for the Facebook Home developers to keep working on it.

A lot of people rate Facebook at 1-star because they don't like Facebook as a whole (I think I saw the term "protest vote" somewhere else in this thread). The reviews that just say "I hate Facebook" clearly aren't indicative of Home as a whole.

Yeah, there must be lots of people like that. I'm just comparing it to Facebook app which has 3,5 rating (which I'm sure lots of haters 1-star it too but still end up with acceptable rating)

Re: Facebook Home over a week later: only 500K installs with a two-star user rating

#65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Has it occurred to you that there might be a use-case mismatch between treating a social network as a source of always-on, in-your-face infotainment and a communications vehicle with imperfect yet valued human beings you know and care about? Or do you expect everyone you know to be excellent, always-interesting, content curators?

I expect users of a social network service to understand the most basic details of how such a service works. Slamming the service because you don't like the postings of people you chose to subscribe to is just a little bit ridiculous. It would be like subscribing to political blogs on $rssApp and then leaving bad ratings for the app because your news stream is filled with political news. Facebook's tools have been pr…

You're not getting his argument. I can have friends and colleagues that I want to stay in touch with, but I don't necessarily want to read everything they post. Facebook doesn't give you very effective tools for filtering content as opposed to people. Mind you, this is general problem in social, I'm not trying to single out FB particularly.

Re: Facebook Home over a week later: only 500K installs with a two-star user rating

#66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can't "uninstall" any app that the carrier forces on you, but you can disable it as of ICS or better. The app is both prevented from running and hidden from the app drawer. In practice, the amount of storage you're denied from not being able to completely wipe these apps is miniscule. Just one of the neat bits of control that the newer Android versions give you :)

Wait, can you do that for the Google-default apps too? I have a half dozen Google+ settings/messengers/other things that I can't uninstall from my phone (Nexus), when I really just want to hide them from view.

Yes, you can Disable (most of?) them (in the same place you would Uninstall another app.)

Disabling some of them, like the Google Play Services component (famous for killing batteries on Nexus 7 tablets), will cause apps (like G+) to nag you to Enable them.

Re: Facebook Home over a week later: only 500K installs with a two-star user rating

#67
post #18
post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Flipboard does quite a good job of grabbing content from multiple sources of your choice and displaying them in an attractive format. It's not a homescreen thing, but that's probably for the best. Do you really want non-urgent things shoved in your face constantly? Google Now has the most useful approach here, and I'm eager to see that developed even further. If you could populate it with selected RSS feeds, that wou…

Flipboard does have a Daydream mode, where you can let it take the screen over whenever your Android device is docked or charging (you decide which, or both) This way essentially Flipboard-formatted RSS becomes your screen saver.

This is an awesome new feature discovery for me, but I don't think my phone will ever have a net gain in charge anymore.

Re: Facebook Home over a week later: only 500K installs with a two-star user rating

#68
post #9
post #5

They should have released two different products. Chat Heads and Facebook Home. I think Chat Heads looks like a strong product (only from referencing the videos though, I don't have it). Without Chat Heads, would Facebook Home have been released to such a fanfare?

Unless I'm mistaken, they did . Chat Heads is part of the most recent Facebook Messanger update. You can get it without Home.

and that's why I uninstalled Messenger. I don't want messages (which is facebook's version of email) drawing on top of my other apps.

Re: Facebook Home over a week later: only 500K installs with a two-star user rating

#69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can't "uninstall" any app that the carrier forces on you, but you can disable it as of ICS or better. The app is both prevented from running and hidden from the app drawer. In practice, the amount of storage you're denied from not being able to completely wipe these apps is miniscule. Just one of the neat bits of control that the newer Android versions give you :)

Wait, can you do that for the Google-default apps too? I have a half dozen Google+ settings/messengers/other things that I can't uninstall from my phone (Nexus), when I really just want to hide them from view.

My Galaxy Nexus lets me do it, anyways. I tried on the Play Store, GMail, etc. Looks like the only things it doesn't work on are the apps that are the interface to basic phone functions (dialer, messaging, etc).

Re: Facebook Home over a week later: only 500K installs with a two-star user rating

#70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A lot of people rate Facebook at 1-star because they don't like Facebook as a whole (I think I saw the term "protest vote" somewhere else in this thread). The reviews that just say "I hate Facebook" clearly aren't indicative of Home as a whole.

Yeah, there must be lots of people like that. I'm just comparing it to Facebook app which has 3,5 rating (which I'm sure lots of haters 1-star it too but still end up with acceptable rating)

I mentioned this downthread, but Google unlike, say, Amazon doesn't let you rate things you haven't downloaded/purchased. If these really are protest votes, that would mean users are going through the effort of downloading the app, then uninstalling it, then leaving the crap rating.

So either there are some dedicated facebook haters out there, or the people who tried this app really hate it that much...

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