Facebook halts U.K. release of HTC First as it remodels Home
Bring on the hard hats. The social network is in construction-only mode, working to repair its Android software suite before trying to take over more phones.
Facebook Home is officially in remodel mode.
The social network said Thursday that it has decided to halt the U.K. release of the HTC First, the first smartphone to ship with Facebook Home, as well as limit support for additional Android devices until it can fix things up a bit.
"We've listened to feedback from users on their experience using Home. While many people love it, we've heard a lot of great feedback about how to make Home substantially better," a Facebook spokesperson told CNET. "As a result, we're focusing the next few months on adding customization features that address the feedback we received. While we focus on making Home better, we are going to limit supporting new devices and think it makes a lot of sense for EE and Orange to hold off deploying the HTC First in Europe."
Facebook Home is a bundle of social-networking applications for Android phones that's been installed on more than 1 million devices. The software package, labeled by initial reviewers as overly intrusive, turns a smartphone's home and lock screens into Facebook-only zones with a striking but inescapable News Feed-inspired feature called Cover Feed. Home ships native on the HTC First, a device that's received an unenthusiastic reception in the U.S., and can be installed on six other devices.
Facebook's decision to go back into full-blown construction mode on Home confirms what we've long suspected: Facebook Home is a dud.
[via Engadget]