2010, I checked Facebook
obsessively. But over time, the
novelty wore off and opening
Facebook's app to check photos, links
and posts from friends turned into a
chore.
In a sense, I'm the ideal target for
Facebook's new Home app. Those
photos, links and posts I couldn't be
bothered to check on the social
network's app automatically come to
the screen when I turn on the phone. I
can see friends' musings scroll by, as
photos they've chosen to highlight
take up the entire screen in the
background. A new one appears every
seven seconds.
It's as if Facebook has taken over the
phone's prime real estate and pushed
Foursquare, email, weather, YouTube
and my alarm clock to the slums.
Home is ideal for people whose lives
are centered on Facebook. Others
might not feel at home.
At first, the free app is available only
on certain phones running Google's
Android operating system - HTC
Corp.'s One, One X and One X Plus
and Samsung Electronics Co.'s Galaxy
S III and Galaxy Note 2. It will work
on the Galaxy S 4 when the phone
goes on sale in the coming weeks.
If you have a Facebook app already
installed on one of those phones, you'll
get a prompt when Home is ready to
download on Friday. Otherwise, visit
the phone's Google Play store to get
it. Home comes already installed on
the HTC First, which ships Friday and
costs $100 in the U.S. with a two-year
AT&T Inc. service contract. I had a
chance to spend several hours with a
First that Facebook Inc. lent me to try
out ahead of Home's public debut.
Facebook has no current plans to bring
Home to the iPhone, iPad, BlackBerry
or Windows devices. That's because
Google makes Android available on an
open-source basis, free for anyone to
modify, so it's easier to make
changes.
That last part is key to the Home
experience. Normally, Google's apps
and services are front and center.
Android makes it easy to get on
Gmail, navigate with Google Maps and
search for things using its Google Now
voice assistant - all with a tap or two
on the phone. Facebook is taking
advantage of its rival's open-source
policy to place its apps and services
front and center.
Right from the home screen, you see
the things your friends are sharing on
Facebook. Not interested in what Dave
has to say? There's Mary replacing
him in seven seconds, and Jennifer
replacing her seven seconds later.
Mixed in are posts from some of the
groups you follow. Facebook says
you'll eventually get ads there, too.
Facebook calls this the Cover Feed. I
call it Facebook on steroids.
I hardly have time to digest a post
before a new one appears, and in
many cases I'm seeing only the first
several words in a post, hardly enough
to convey a thought. The good news is
that I can pause the stream and view
the full post at any time by tapping
the screen. In doing so, I can
comment on a post or hit a "like"
button. The scrolling stream continues
with another tap.
As the text of your friend's post
appears, you'll see in the background
the person's cover photo, the large
image your friend chooses to display
at the top of his or her profile page.
Because cover photos are horizontal,
and the app is designed for vertical
use, you're seeing only a snippet at a
time. The part that is visible shifts
over those seven seconds, as if a
camera is slowly moving across,
similar to the panning technique used
in Ken Burns documentaries.
If the post is of a photo, you'll see
that image rather than the cover
photo in the background. Again, you're
only seeing a snippet - a part of the
elephant, but not its whole. To view
the full photo, you have to tap and
keep your finger on the screen -
though that can block part of the
image. I prefer the way Facebook's
regular app handles photos: More of
the image fits on the screen, even if
it's smaller.
I had a few Facebook chats going as I
was testing Home. The profile photo
of the person I'm chatting with
appears in a small circle to the side. I
simply click on it to open the chat
screen, where I could type a reply.
Text messages I get appear this way,
too. I found the Chat Heads feature
fun, as I moved my friend's images to
the left, to the right, to the corner -
and eventually to the trash.
The fun ended when I tried to use the
phone for other things. When I tried to
dial a phone number, for instance, the
friend's head obstructed the number
3, forcing me to move it before
continuing to dial. Chat Heads became
intrusive, even off to the side.
To get to those other things, you drag
a circle with your profile photo to one
of three buttons. One gets you
Facebook's messenger app, which lets
you chat just like Chat Heads. Another
gets you the menu of apps on your
phone, including the app for making
calls. A third is supposed to take you
to the most recently used app, though
it's hit or miss whether it's actually the
last app I used.
I wish I could add other buttons for
frequently used apps, such as
Foursquare and Instagram. Although I
hardly use the phone to make calls, a
quick button would help, particularly
for emergency calls. To get to
Android's traditional home screen on
the HTC First, I had to drag my profile
photo to the App Launcher, swipe the
screen to the right and click "More..."
A button to get you straight there
would have been nice, too.
Facebook has promised to update
Home with new features and bug fixes
at least once a month. So it's possible
my gripes will be addressed over time.
In fact, Facebook is limiting Home to a
small number of devices so it can
make sure it's done right. I look
forward to seeing where Facebook
goes with it.
The one feature I like from the start is
Notifications. With Android, alerts
such as new messages and missed
calls typically appear as tiny icons at
the top of the screen. You have to
drag down the top to get details. With
Home, those details pop up in the
middle of the screen and demand your
attention. It's similar to how the
iPhone and the iPad handle alerts.
Facebook was late in setting me up
with a phone and app to try it out, so I
didn't have as much time as I would
have liked with Home. It's quite
possible I'll warm up to Home after
spending more time with it.
I might not get that chance, though.
I'm fearful of what it'll do to all the
non-Facebook apps I now use and
enjoy, so I'm not sure I'll be rushing
out to download Home on my personal
Android phone on Friday. As much as I
like not having to do a lot of work to
use Facebook, all that ease makes
doing other things on the phone a
chore.
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