HTC, AT&T and Orange unveiled the world's first phone to ship with Facebook Home built in. It is already available at AT&T for just $99.99 with a new two-year contract or up to $449.99 with no bindings. It will also be available in France (at Orange) for an undisclosed price.
The HTC First will be available in white, black, red and pastel blue and has modest specifications for today's standards sporting a 4.3-inch 720p display, a dual-core 1.4 GHz Qualcomm 400 processor, 1GB of RAM, 16GB of storage and 5 megapixel camera. It is only the Facebook integration what makes the HTC First stand out from the crowd.
When you switch on the phone, the Facebook launcher (dubbed Facebook Home) takes all the control, managing the Android applications, pulling status updates from your account and even integrating Facebook messages with regular SMS. Surprisingly, Facebook Home can be switched off at any time for those missing the stock Android build (quite useful if you get the HTC First as a gift and want to get rid of the ubiquitous Facebook presence).
Here you are with some Facebook Home highlights:
- Cover feed: A constant, fresh stream of photos and updates from your newsfeed, cover feed is always present when you wake up your phone. It lets you stay up-to-date on your friends' latest activities in real-time, all the time.
- Notifications: Notifications from apps and friends appear right on your home screen. It's easier to see when you have a missed call, calendar reminder or new message. Open a notification with a double tap or clear them away to see your Cover Feed.
- Chat Heads: The mobile messenger lets you jump in and out of conversations while you do other things, like watch a video and browse the web. Reply right from chat heads, or move them around if you're not ready to respond. Plus you can send and receive texts and Facebook messages from the same spot.
- App Launcher: See your favorite apps and post right to Facebook from the same spot. You choose what's on your app launcher—press and hold an app then drag it anywhere.
You'll find more information about the HTC First in our Smartphone Gallery.