Mark Zuckerberg announces new Facebook Phone, HTC First

In an event held at the Facebook head office today, Mark Zuckerber, founder of the Social Media Giant, introduced the new Facebook phone from HTC or as they say it, Facebook Home.

Mark Zuckerberg explains the device as a Facebook home for people. Although the device from HTC runs on Android but it is designed in such a way that the Facebook network is brought to front and is given more importance when it comes to notifications and screens.

This is exactly what Facebook CEO talked about earlier in interviews that they are not just looking to introduce a new Facebook Phone but instead they are focusing on bringing something new to the people. This is exactly what the new HTC First portraits and this is what we call the new Facebook Home.

“You’re going to be able to turn your Android phone into a great social device,” Zuckerberg said at the unveiling. “Our phones today are designed around apps, not people. We want to flip that around.”

So what’s new about the Facebook Phone

HTC First consists of an additional layer on software level that comprises solely on Facebook. So it gives a new level of interaction between Facebook and the people. That is why it is named as Facebook Home. Facebook Home is actually a combination of four new features that are described below

Cover Feed

Instead of a traditional lock screen with a clock and wallpaper, it will now have Facebook Cover Feed. This feed will show the status updates, photos and link shared by your friends that you can scroll down without unlocking the device, giving the same user experience as the typical News feed does. Even if any of your friends mention you in a comment or a photo, you get a notification straight on the Facebook Home.

Pop Up Notifications

New notifications will now pop up on the lock screen showing the update with the person’s Facebook profile picture. It’s not confirmed, but we think that people can directly jump to that person’s profile by clicking on the photo.

App Launcher

You can now launch apps from the lock screen by swiping on the screen. Just press and hold the profile picture and you will see a list of bookmarked applications.

Chat Heads

The final component of the Facebook home is the new Chat head that combines both Facebook messages and SMS that pop ups even when you are playing a game or doing something else and lets you reply instantly.

The new HTC First that comes preloaded with Facebook Home will be available from April 12  at $99.99 sold exclusively by AT&T and the new Facebook Home can be downloaded through Google Play just like any other app for other devices.