Tag Archives: fbandroid2013

Facebook responds to Home privacy concerns, specifies what it will and won’t know

Posted on by

Some of the discussion about Facebook Home since its debut yesterday has related to concerns that it gives the social network too much access to user's information, and now Facebook has responded. Its blog post specifies that Home is subject to the same controls as everything else in a user's Facebook account. It states that Facebook will not track user's location any differently than the existing app, and while it could see what apps are launched, it can't observe what actions are taken within them beyond the already existing Facebook API hooks. As far as information that is collected, it will have a list of apps that are in the Home launcher, and tracks data including which apps are responsible for notification, which is kept identifiable for up to 90 days.

Filed under: , , , ,

Comments

Source: Facebook Blog

Editorial: The imperialism of Facebook Home

Posted on by

DNP Editorial The imperialism of Facebook Home

Business battles are often ecosystem battles, in which brands develop a matrix of conveniently connected products and services, in an attempt to lock customers into a dependency. Offline companies follow this tack (think razors and blades). But the internet, with its many connection nodes, crossovers to tangential realms and parallel on-ramps is where ecosystem wars are most elaborately waged.

Only rarely do market conditions cultivate a broader ambition in which a company has a chance to step beyond mere ecosystem competition to a higher level of sovereignty. Facebook's imminent release of Home represents a stab at that rare imperialism.

Filed under: , , ,

Comments

Editor’s Letter: The social smartphone

Posted on by

In each issue of Distro, editor-in-chief Tim Stevens publishes a wrap-up of the week in news.

DNP Editor's Letter The social smartphone

There's a good chance 2011's HTC Status, with its portrait QWERTY layout and dedicated Facebook button, never found its way into your social network. That last attempt at the mythical Facebook phone failed to garner much praise, but if social networks gave up so easily, well, we'd all still be using MySpace. HTC and Facebook are at it again, this week launching the $99 First, exclusively on AT&T in the US.

Yes, it's a name every commenter could love (or hate).

Yes, it's a name every commenter could love (or hate), a title cheekily reminiscent of the HTC One. This, though, is a rather different device, aiming more toward the mid-range and relying on some serious social integration to make it stand out. It's the first phone running the Facebook Home interface, which will be available on many devices starting on April 12th. It delivers a far more comprehensive Facebook experience than the previous apps have managed, and intriguingly Zuckerberg himself said that Home is "the next version of Facebook." The end of the web? Stay tuned.

Filed under: , , , , ,

Comments

The Engadget Interview: HTC President of Global Sales Jason MacKenzie

Posted on by

The Engadget Interview HTC President of Global Sales Jason McKenzie

Shortly after Facebook's big reveal this morning, we caught up with HTC President of Global Sales Jason McKenzie and spent a few minutes with him discussing the First. As expected, he was pretty excited about this collaboration between his company, Facebook and AT&T. Jason revealed to us that HTC's strategy involves ultimately catering the First to hardcore (or at least frequent) users of the social network, whereas a device like the One will be more appealing to those who aren't interested in staying constantly connected. Interestingly, HTC seems to have put Facebook in the driver's seat here, as the First will not only come pre-loaded with Facebook Home (and its firmware optimizations), but no sign of Sense anywhere. It's certainly a departure from HTC's usual branding efforts, so it'll be intriguing to see exactly how well the device sells on AT&T. We have our full interview with Jason below, so take a few minutes to get the First scoop.

Filed under: , , , , ,

Comments

HTC First hands-on (update: video)

Posted on by

After endless months of speculation, the collaboration between HTC and Facebook has finally been revealed to the world. It's not a Facebook Phone per se, it's simply a skinned Android smartphone that just so happens to bestow deep social media integration upon the OS, a move which makes the First -- as well as future devices that feature the newly announced Facebook Home interface -- an appropriate candidate for the term. The First will be available April 12th for $100 on AT&T, but it can be pre-ordered starting today.

While Facebook Home is taking the spotlight, let's examine the first piece of hardware it will be featured on. On the spec sheet, the First isn't going to take anybody's breath away: it's a midrange phone with 1.4GHz dual-core Snapdragon 400 processor, 1GB RAM, 5MP rear camera and 1.6MP front-facing cam, Android 4.1 and a 4.3-inch 720p display. We're just getting our hands on the device right now and will continue to offer up our First impressions, along with a full gallery of images.

Gallery: HTC First hands-on

Filed under: , , , ,

Comments

Zuckerberg: Home is the ‘next version of Facebook,’ not heading to iOS anytime soon

Posted on by

Zuckerberg Home is the 'next version of Facebook', not heading to iOS anytime soon

Like what you've seen so far of Home, Facebook's newly announced UI for Android devices? Well, get used to it because, according to Founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg, it's the "next version of Facebook." The people-centric integration, shown off today on the AT&T-exclusive HTC First, makes your individual user profile the "hub" and relies heavily upon a card-like interface for swipe notifications that can be easily read and dismissed. That Facebook would look to Home, a seemingly mobile-native implementation of the social network, as the framework for its platform going forward is unsurprising -- changes recently made to News Feed were done specifically to adapt it to the smartphone space. Whether or not that means you'll see this new interface take over your desktop anytime soon remains to be seen. But take this as a sure sign that Facebook, oft criticized for lagging behind in mobile, is in major course correction mode.

As for when Home will make the transition to iOS, Zuckerberg seemed less optimistic, telling reporters that Android's openness and lack of direct oversight from Google was the major contributing factor to its unveiling today. A version of Home for iOS would require a "partnership" with Apple, which maintains strict control over its "closed" ecosystem; a pairing that would implicitly see Facebook ceding some control to Cupertino. Frame it in that manner and it's easy to see why Home's First debut is a Google-based affair and may continue to be for the foreseeable future. It does seem likely, however, that Microsoft's Windows Phone platform could play host to Home before even iOS, as Zuckerberg's referred to the live-tile OS as falling "somewhere in between" due to the licenses involved.

Filed under: , , , ,

Comments

Source: Facebook

HTC First coming to Orange and EE in Europe

Posted on by

HTC First coming to Orange and EE in Europe

The HTC First might be launching on AT&T, but that doesn't mean this built-for-Facebook device is going to be limited to the US: we just learned it will eventually arrive in Europe too, on Orange and the UK's EE network. Unfortunately, whereas AT&T came armed with pricing and availability details ($100 on April 12th), we still have no idea when, exactly, the phone will hit these other carriers. If you want to try before you buy, of course, you should be able to download the Facebook Home skin through Google Play pretty soon.

Filed under: , , , ,

Comments

Facebook Home reaching tablets in coming months

Posted on by

Facebook Home coming to tablets in the 'coming months'

Facebook wants to put Facebook Home on as many devices as possible, and that includes tablets -- eventually. It just promised that tablets would get support, but only at some point in the months ahead. For now, it's phones only. The social network hasn't said which tablets might be at the forefront, although its plan to steadily widen hardware compatibility suggests that any support will evolve quickly.

Filed under: , ,

Comments

Facebook Home to hit select phones on April 12th in the US

Posted on by

Facebook Home to hit select phones on April 12th in the US

Facebook hasn't made Home official just yet, but we can tell you one thing for certain -- it'll be arriving on April 12th in the US. It won't be available on all Android devices that day, broader availability should be coming in the future. On day one it will show up as a download for select devices, which will include the rumored HTC First that we anticipate will make its grand debut shortly. As expected there will be no "Facebook Phone" or even a Facebook OS. Home is an app that will "transform your Android phone into a great social phone" according to the company. The roll out is starting with "just a few phones," (the Galaxy S III, S 4, the HTC One, One X+ and the Note II) but those lucky device owners will be able to enjoy Facebook's mobile vision starting next week.

Update: Zuckerberg and Co. also confirmed that Home for tablets is coming too, but it won't arrive until later this year.

Filed under: , , , ,

Comments

Facebook’s Android event liveblog

Posted on by

Facebook's Android event liveblog

The "Facebook Phone" sits up there with Bigfoot and the Loch Ness Monster in mythology and legend, but in reality it's just a term instead of an actual phone branded by the social media service. We've seen the title applied to several phones in the last four years: the HTC Salsa and ChaCha, the Motorola Motokey Social and at least three phones from INQ. Today that term may be attached to yet another device, the HTC First, though we're likely to see a handset with much tighter Facebook integration using a custom Android skin called Facebook Home. We've all heard plenty of rumors about today's event, but now it's finally time to learn exactly what Zuckerberg & Co. have in store for us. Join us for our live coverage of the Facebook event!

Filed under: , , , ,

Comments