Updated: Facebook Home Beta Leaks, Along With Download

We’re not even a week out from Facebook’s announcement of the HTC First and their new home replacement called Facebook Home, and we already have a leaked beta build to play around with. Thanks to Modaco, you can give Home a spin as long as your device has a screen resolution of 1280×768 or less and doesn't have Facebook baked into your system (meaning you can uninstall Facebook). If you have a Nexus, it would be the perfect phone to test this on. 

Below, you’ll find .apk files for the Facebook app, new Messenger client, and the Home launcher itself. Before you begin, it’s a good idea (maybe even required) to uninstall Facebook completely from your phone and then start fresh with these three .apk files below

Again, uninstall Facebook from your phone. Then install these. I had success by installing Facebook, then the Launcher, and finally Messenger. Once done, log in to Facebook and enjoy.

You’ll notice that one of the most important features, Chat Heads, is missing. For whatever reason, that feature is not working at this time.


UPDATE: it looks as if Facebook has disabled the home launcher on there server, all i get is a blank black screen when using Fabebook Home launcher. 

Download link:  Facebook App | Messenger App | Home Launcher

Source:  Modaco

HTC First To Launch On AT&T April 12 For $99

Facebook Home, we got our first official look at the device that will run it right out of the box: the HTC First. Available April 12 for $99 on contract, the HTC First is an LTE-enabled AT&T device with modest specs and a minimal design.

Coming in black, white, red and light blue, the First features a blank body with nothing but a camera on both sides and three capacitive buttons on its face. Under the hood you’ll find a Snapdragon 400 chip powering a 4.3-inch display, with Android 4.1 running underneath Home.

If you're looking to pre-order the HTC First click the link. Off contract, the First will set you back $450.

Source: AT&T

Facebook Unveils Facebook Home For Android

Facebook Home does just this, in a beautiful redesign of the Facebook experience. No longer do you have to pull up an app or a mobile website, pictures are right there for you on the lock screen. You don’t have to open your phone to see what your friends or loved ones are doing, it’s all right there in front of you. With a simple swipe of a finger, you can breeze past photos, status updates, making the experience even more natural than it was before. Zuckerberg said people look at their phones 100 times a day, so making Facebook an increasingly engaged product is smart.

New features brought to Home are Chat Heads, Notifications, Cover Feeds and App Drawer, all designed to make navigation, engagement and use much easier and friendlier. “We think this is the best version of Facebook there is,” Zuckerberg said during the presentation.

I couldn’t agree more. I was blown away by how engaging and easy it is to use.

The main facet to take away is not only the hundreds of millions of Android devices this will be on eventually (initially it’s launching on smartphones, but I was told a tablet version will come within the next several months), but the increased engagement, which Facebook can eventually monetize. Zuckerberg was asked about this during the Q&A portion of Thursday’s press conference, and though he laughed and claimed to forget what the question was about, monetization of Facebook Home is important.

Eventually there will be advertisements on Facebook Home, but not on the first version. What isn’t clear at this time is how Facebook will integrate ads into the product without ruining the experience, but that question isn’t for today. Wall Street wants to see more engagement, which will ultimately lead to more ads and higher revenue, and the Street got just what it wanted.

Not only does this put Facebook in the forefront of users faces again, it could signify a thawing of the frosty relationship between Google and Facebook. Facebook Home runs on both the Ice Cream Sandwich and Jelly Bean versions of Android, something that makes it available to millions of Android users, and isn’t dependent on Android updates. That’s a smart move by Facebook to not make this a forked version of Android, but something more. Google was aware of what Facebook was building, and though Google shares fell sharply on Thursday, it could be a start to bigger things between the two companies.

Facebook really impressed me with Facebook Home. Now it’s time to see how users feel about it. We’ll all find out soon enough when it launches on April 12th, available on Google Play.

Evleaks Offers First Look At Facebook Home

With Facebook’s Android-themed event under 24 hours away now, leaks on what they plan to announce keep rolling in. We’ve already got a good idea of what the device that unveils “Facebook Home” will include and how Facebook Home will be deployed (essentially as a home replacement launcher available in Google Play). Now we’ve got a peek at what Facebook home will look like.

9to5 Google has scored an @evleaks exclusive featuring the first look at Facebook Home’s UI. If the leaks are accurate, Facebook Home will build on stock Android to offer a design-heavy minimal interface with social front and center. Exactly what part of Facebook Home we’re looking at in the latest leaks is a little confusing, but it’s beautiful nonetheless.

Source: 9to5Google