Many of you have probably seen the inspirational Facebook ads about their new product: Facebook Home. Well it’s review time here at Arc Media Group and I’m gonna let you know my thoughts. Its easy to message (Home merges your text and FB messages), update status, and see what is going on with your friends. Home was created in the hopes of making Facebook the center of your mobile life. As far as that goes, Facebook nailed it.
Unfortunately, they didn’t ask the question, do people want FB to be the center of their mobile life? I believe most people would say no. They like their widgets, email, texts, etc within easy reach. Facebook kind of pushes all of this to the side, with the exception of the widgets which it disables completely. There’s no confusion as to who is running the show.
I think this is a really good fit for someone who is very relational and loves Facebook. A teen would love this setup, although many of them are now transitioning from Facebook to Instagram. This is not for the business user to be sure.
One of the most annoying things about it is how it interacts with my lock screen. It lets me in to navigate where I want, but then I have to open something to prompt the lock screen. Once I unlock it I can access apps, notifications, or the network. The process gets old really fast.
I think there’s some real potential here, but I think its stance on widgets will have to change in order to be successful. Power consumption was another issue many people noticed. Great concept, but it doesn’t feel like home just yet.