Gadgetory

Facebook found a way to give you more Facebook I'm Bridget Carey and this is your cnet update facebook wants to be more than just one of the apps on your phone it wants to be the home screen skin of your device the facebook phone that everyone has been talking about is actually a skin for Android called Facebook home when the phone is turned on instead of a home screen of apps you'll see the most recent photos posted from your friends it's called the cover feed and you can interact with those photos with likes and comments all by tapping and swiping you no longer have to open a facebook app to start interacting on facebook if you get a message from someone their Facebook head pops up in a bubble called a chat head if you get a notification about someone their picture also appears with Facebook home the phone centers around your Facebook feed and connections the software can be downloaded from the google play store on April twelfth but only a few of the latest Android phones will be able to try it that's the HTC One which isn't out yet the HTC One X and X plus the galaxy s3 and s4 and the galaxy note 2 there's even a new phone coming out that has facebook home pre-installed it's called the HTC first and pre-orders begin now if you want to be among the first with the first it's a hundred dollars with the contract on 18t and comes in four colors if you're considering downloading facebook home here's a look of what to expect first the cover feed which is just a feed of recent status messages and post from your friends in the demos we see pictures of cool people doing cool things but think about the photos posted on your feed motivational pictures with lots of tiny text on it maybe some blurry pet photos pretty much any picture can turn into your wallpaper for the moment and you'll also see advertisements yeah not at first but advertisements will be coming eventually because that's what we want on our phones as for navigation there's a circle with your head in it tapping it gives you three options send a message open the menu of apps for your phone or open the most recently used app you also see little head circles pop up when your friends send a text message or Facebook message facebook calls them chat heads and shad heads can be moved around the screen they just hover over whatever you're doing staring at you waiting for a reply or you can throw the icon away if you don't want to answer this seems like a program you want a facebook is you're only social network that you obsess over and for many people that is the case a recent study says smartphone users are on Facebook three times longer than on other apps when it comes out April twelfth those with a compatible phone can also just try it once before committing to a complete switch over and it'll come to tablets over the next several months that's your tech news update you can find more details on facebook home on our show blog sina com / update from our studios in New York I'm rocha Carrie