Facebook is holding an event at its Menlo Park headquarters Thursday to show the world its “new home on Android.”
No one is certain what exactly Facebook’s “new home” will be, but we’ve got a few a few solid hints.
Although Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has always indicated — as recently as a few months ago — that a phone has “always been the wrong strategy” for Facebook, it looks like a phone may be just what we'll see the company announce on Thursday.
That "Facebook Phone" announcement, however, may not be what you think.
If the rumors are true, then Facebook will be announcing a phone called Facebook First, made by HTC.
HTC makes good hardware, which bodes well for an HTC Facebook Phone. That said, if you’re expecting top-of-the-line features like those found in company’s flagship handset, the HTC One, or fun software tricks like Samsung’s Galaxy S 4 –- you’re going to be disappointed.
Current rumors point the Facebook phone being a midrange smartphone with a 4.3-inch 720p display, 1GB of RAM, a dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 processor and a 5-megapixel camera.
Alleged pictures of the phone posted on the Twitter account @evleaks appear to confirm that rumor, and show a handset with three physical buttons at the bottom of the screen.
If the phone is priced to match other midrange phones, that would make it considerably more affordable — if not free — for Facebook enthusiasts who want to buy one. An FCC filing also suggests that the phone will run on AT&T.
Software is really what will make the “Facebook Phone.” Rumors point to Facebook showing off an Android launcher that will boot your phone up to Facebook, and offer easy access to Facebook features throughout the operating system.
Photos of what may be the Facebook phone’s operating system surfaced Wednesday on 9to5Google. Those images show your Facebook profile picture replacing the lock button on the device, with an ever-changing news feed update at the top of the screen, keeping you up to date on what your friends are up to.
A check-in, photo, and status message button are present throughout the applications menu at the top of the screen, providing quick access to updating Facebook, no matter what you might be doing at the time.
While Facebook’s OS might debut on a specific HTC device, don’t expect that phone to be the only place you can get the “Facebook Phone” experience.
During that same interview where Zuckerberg said a Facebook phone was the wrong strategy for the company he also said "We want to build a system which is, as deeply as possible, integrated into every major device people want to use," so if the company does release phone, you can bet it doesn't want those features limited to just a single piece of hardware.
The company will likely make much of the same functionality available for other Android smartphone as well, downloadable and installable from Google Play.
What do you think Facebook will announce Thursday? Let us know your thoughts in the comments, and be sure to come back for our liveblog here at 10 a.m. PDT/1 p.m. EDT to catch all the action as it happens.
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