Andrew Melder

Facebook’s biggest problem is trust.

The above will seem obvious to some and acceptable to many. Through privacy issues, multiple changes to terms of service and a reputation for making changes first and asking questions later; using Facebook for many is deemed a reluctant necessity because “all their friends are on it”.

So when Facebook released their new software, Facebook Home, for Android devices it was unsurprising that many detractors were quick to voice their concerns: Facebook just wants to track where we are, Facebook wants to read our messages, Facebook wants to get all my phone numbers etc. There are more 1-star reviews for Facebook Home on Google Play than anything else and even respected tech journalists like Om Malik are targeting Facebook’s new software.

Funny thing is, many users who will jump to attack Facebook are also Google users. And while they will cry foul at Facebook allegedly tracking you, reading your messages and saving your contacts; they will happily allow Google to do the same thing without question. By default Android devices will send location data back to Google, people save their address book on Google’s servers for syncing with multiple devices and no one suspects Google of “reading” their text messages on Android devices even though they build the operating system.

Why? Trust.

However, in a very high level view, both companies are doing exactly the same thing: using information from your internet activities, searches, what you like and so forth to build a profile of who you are in order to better target ads in order to make money. In addition, all this is done via algorithms processing through your data without humans interacting with it directly.

So when you get past the scare mongering, fear inducing and, quite frankly, grossly over-exaggerated messages about Facebook Home’s privacy issues; you actually find a well designed piece of software that may provide a lot of value to you if you give it a chance.

The Home screen

When you first turn on your phone after installing Home, you are greeted with a photo from your News Feed, a digital clock and your profile picture appearing as a Chat Head down the bottom. After a few seconds, the text of the News feed items will appear and it will slowing start scrolling through your updates. You can manually move through the updates quicker by flicking side to side. From these screens you can double tap the screen to like a post, or tap on the Comments icon to bring up a list of comments or add your own.

New updates do tend to appear first, if you haven’t read them previously, and is a nice way to quickly check your latest updates. However, after around 5-7 News feed items it tends to revert to a Top Stories order instead of Newest First, While many won’t find this too annoying as they will most likely head to the Facebook app to get to their full News Feed anyway, it does play a bit with my OCD tendencies.

Holding your thumb on your Chat Head icon will reveal 3 shortcuts: swipe up for your applications (also available by tapping your devices home button), swipe left for Facebook Messenger and swipe right for your last app you were using. More about the Apps and Messenger options later.

One thing to keep in mind when using Facebook Home: your friends statuses and photos become your phones wallpaper. This is something I didn’t even think of until I saw the following as I powered on my phone. Awkward.

Chat Heads/messaging

Once of the most exciting new features is actually not in Facebook’s Home software but in an update to their existing Messenger application: Chat Heads. When you’re using the phone and you receive a Facebook or SMS message, a small round icon (Chat Head) will appear on your device. Tap it once to reveal the message along with any other conversations from that contact previously.

The real beauty of the Chat Heads functionality is that they allow you to view and respond to messages without exiting whatever app you might be on. They simply appear as an overlay and, once minimised to just the Chat Head icon, you can move it around the sides of the display to continue using your app and get back to the conversation whenever you wish to.

In short, Chat Heads alone are worthy of installing Facebook Messenger even if you don’t intend to use Facebook Home.

Notifications

Notifications work in two ways depending on how you got Facebook Home on your device. If you have Facebook Home pre-installed on your phone at the time of purchase, all notifications whether they are from Facebook’s app or any other third party app, appear as a popup as per the screenshots shown.

However if you have manually installed Facebook Home on your device (which is the majority of you), only Facebook and SMS notifications will appear on your screen. All other notifications will not appear. That includes missed calls and emails.

This may seem like a deal breaker for many, however there is a way to resolve this by showing the Status (Notification) Bar by default in Facebook Home. When you install Facebook Home, the status bar is automatically disabled and hidden until you either swipe down from the top of the screen or enter an app. Sure, you can check your status bar occasionally by swiping down from the top of the screen but this effectively defeats the purpose of having notifications in the first place.

In order to activate the Status Bar in Facebook Home, simply go to the Facebook Home settings (available in your applications list) and check “Show Status Bar” as shown below.

The app launcher

When you swipe up from the Home window, or press the home button on your device, you are brought into a fairly simple apps menu. Many Android enthusiasts will lament the lack of widgets, however many average consumers won’t be overly concerned by this oversight. Personally, 95% of my phone time is spent in an app and not in the launcher anyway.

The first screen will show you a list of customisable apps in a 4 x 4 grid. You can rearrange the order of the apps and which apps appear on this screen by dragging an icon from the “All Apps” menu if you swipe to the left.

You can have multiple pages of favourite applications by adding them to the right of the existing customisable apps. I currently have three 4 x 4 pages of favourite applications: Most used apps, multimedia apps and Google apps. There are no folders currently available to manage your application lists.

A lot of power users complain Facebook Home puts apps too many steps away from the main Home screen for it to be useful for them. I believe much of this is due to the fact people are tapping on the screen to bring up their Chat Head icon and then swiping up to access their favourite apps menu, making accessing your apps a 2 step process.

I have gotten into the habit of pressing the home button instead which simplifies that process into a single step every time, even when your Chat Head is currently not visible at the bottom of the screen. This may not appease those who are used to launching apps directly from their home screen, however I have adjusted my use in the few days I have had Facebook Home and now I find it no less convenient to access my apps compared to any other Android launcher.

The lock screen (or lack thereof)

For existing users of pin codes or pattern locks on their Android device, be prepared to either disable them or go through a different process. Normally a lock screen would appear as soon as you turn the phone on, however in Facebook Home this is not the case. You can access the Facebook Home as normal, browse the News Feed and even like and comment on posts without having to enter in your lock details. It’s only when you try to run an application that it throws you back into the lock screen to unlock your device.

This is extremely jarring and doesn’t flow very well with the entire experience. I expect Facebook to fix this oversight in the next release in order for users to have proper security on their devices. Right now you either have to deal with a non-complete security method or disable the security lock all together.

Facebook Home’s biggest hurdle: monetisation

There’s currently one thing you won’t see anywhere within Facebook Home: Ads. Currently the software is free of any ads or sponsored posts, just like the original days of Facebook. However they will come, even Mark Zuckerberg has confirmed this.

And they need to monetise it. Because for anyone but serious Facebook users, Facebook Home provides a better experience and enough interaction to fulfil most users needs. As such, there are decreasing reasons for me to actually go into the Facebook app itself where they can currently show me ads.

Being such a big part of the phone’s experience however means Facebook needs to be wary. Users aren’t going to put up with large obnoxious sponsored posts like they do in the apps. There is a big difference between seeing an ad when you voluntarily go into an app and having an ad show up on your screen when you just turn your phone on.

Conclusion

While it does have it’s pros and cons, Facebook Home isn’t the abomination that detractors will lead you to believe and it’s worth consideration for your device. It offers a more casual way to view your news feed that doesn’t make it feel like a chore, like the existing Facebook app used to do.

There are definitely improvements to be made such as better lock screen integration and improved app management, but even as it stands right now it is an impressive piece of software. So much so that I have decided to keep it on my phone despite initially planning to only leave it on for a week.

Facebook’s biggest problem going forward will be monetising Facebook Home without ruining the experience with excessive ads. It’s a fine balance and they will have to tread carefully.

NOTE: Software was tested on a Nexus 4. While it is currently not supported for the Nexus 4 at the time of writing, Facebook Home was downloaded via the Google Play Store and not installed manually via a third party site to ensure no bugs from outside sources hindered the review.