Facebook Home Announced: First Smartphone Specs Revealed

Facebook has finally revealed the Facebook Home features. Mark Zuckerberg took the stage at the company's campus in California to make the announcement.

Zuckerberg made it pretty clear that the new feature is not only about a new hardware, or new operating systems, but also about “building something that’s a whole lot deeper than just an app.” Now the new Facebook Home will be placed between the OS and the apps, and will replace the home screen, lock screen, and notification systems.

Facebook demonstrated the software, which will be available for download for a limited number of Android phones starting April 12, and also invited partner HTC to unveil the highly anticipated HTC First. HTC First is the first smartphone to arrive with Facebook Home pre-installed.

The Facebook Home-modified functionality offers users the option to engage in multiple conversations with just a single tap. This includes what the company calls "Chat Heads." Chat Heads are basically interactive profile pictures.

Chat Heads will be offering message previews, allowing users to get into conversations with one tap, and embedded within the entire phone experience. This means that users will find active Chat Heads placed on top of the screen while the user is doing something else on the phone. The flying heads will work with both Facebook messages and standard text messages.

The following devices will support Facebook Home: the Samsung Galaxy S3, Samsung Galaxy Note 2, Samsung Galaxy S4, HTC One, HTC One X, and HTC One X+

As far as the First is concerned, HTC has revealed the smartphone’s specifications. The 4.3-inch First is set to be the first phone to arrive running a Snapdragon 400 SoC, with its dual cores operating at 1.4GHz. However, since it’s a mid-range device, it will only have 1GB of RAM. There will be 16GB of internal storage, with NFC capability and a 2000mAh battery.

There is also a 5-megapixel primary camera.