As you probably know, a few days back Facebook has finally broke the ‘Facebook Phone’ rumor by releasing an Android launcher, along with a phone partnered with HTC. The event was streamed live and it was mentioned that ‘Facebook Home’ – the launcher app, will be available for selected devices in Play Store on April 12th.
Interestingly, a pre release build of the app has been leaked and you can install and use it right now.
Installing Facebook Home
Before you get ready to try the launcher, note that it’s a pre-release build. It’s very laggy on my Galaxy Nexus and looks unfinished in many areas. The Chat heads feature doesn’t work at all. But you do get a overall feel of how Facebook Home looks like.
Not every phone can run this pre release build, though. Your Android needs to have a maximum resolution of 1280 x 768px and there should be no traces of Facebook app in your phone – that includes Facebook app downloaded from Play store and even the system app which comes by default in many ROMs. To remove system apps, you need your device to be rooted.
But if you’re running a custom ROM like Cyanogen Mod which doesn’t have Facebook as a system app, you’re in luck.
After you have made your phone free of Facebook, go ahead and download these three APK files – main Facebook App, Messenger app, and Launcher app. Transfer them into your phone and install in that order.
Now try going back to your phone’s homescreen. It’ll ask you to choose for the launcher, select Facebook Home. That’s all. If you really like it, you can even make it the default launcher.
Source: MoDaCo