Half A Million Download Facebook Home, With Mixed Reactions

Facebook Home, the app that provides a Facebook makeover for Android devices, has been downloaded more than 500,000 times, according to Google Play – but has received less than positive reviews from Android users.

The software effectively acts as a homescreen for Android smartphones, offering instant content and chat options from the social network without the need to open a dedicated application.

However it has an average rating of 2.2 out of 5 on Google Play following 11,484 user reviews, with 5,962 people awarding it the lowest rating possible.

Facebook Home reaction

Many complained that it took over their smartphone and made it difficult to use the phone for any other purpose, while others claimed that it offered few features that weren’t present in the existing Android Facebook app and that it had a negative impact on battery life.

Some of the negative comments were from people who had incompatible devices – and there were a proportion of users who genuinely enjoyed using the software.

Facebook Home was unveiled earlier this month and is compatible with a handful of Android-based smartphones including the HTC One, HTC One X, the Samsung Galaxy SIII, Samsung Galaxy S4 and the Samsung Galaxy Note II, with more devices added each month. Tablet support will be added later this year.

Once downloaded, content such as photos, statuses and events can be viewed directly from the home screen, while users can like, comment and interact directly without needing to open a dedicated Facebook application.

SMS and Facebook messages can be viewed directly from within other applications, appearing as ‘chat heads’ on the screen. These can be dragged around or closed as desired, while standard Android applications are launched by swiping the screen upwards from the bottom.

However some have questioned the point of Facebook Home, while a Microsoft executive has publicly ridiculed the idea as a collection of outdated ideas that his company implemented years ago in Windows Phone.

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