Is the Facebook Phone Finally Coming? Probably Not…

Well, that was unexpected. Well maybe just a little. Facebook sent out an invite to press about an Android event this week. The invite reads: “Come See Our New Home on Android“. The event which takes place on Thursday April 4th at 10 AM (PST) which is 1 PM in (EST) has brought up the speculation of the Facebook phone again.

There has always been talk about a Facebook phone. But there are subtle hints that the upcoming event might be the official reveal.

Why We Think It’s All About the Facebook Phone

Facebook Phone: The so-called Facebook phone rumors resurfaced mid last year. But a couple of weeks ago even more evidence came up about a HTC phone with the code name “Myst”. The evidence reported the specs of the Facebook phone, which include:

 

Display: 4.3 inch display (720p)
Processor: / RAM: unknown / 1 GB of RAM
Storage: 16 GB (non-expandable)
Cameras: 5 Megapixel rear-facing camera / 1.6 front-facing camera
Connectivity: LTE and HSPA
OS: Android Jelly Bean 4.1.2
and of course a dedicated Facebook button

The phone of course will have a different type of Android. It won’t completely rewrite the OS, but it will have the Facebook twist. It will heavy with Facebook features. Using native apps like Facebook messenger for communication. Another feature possibility would be “Facebook Home“. It would have a Facebook heavy home screen. For example, your news-feed updating in real-time on your homescreen. Let’s not forget that Facebook has launched calling features recently. They were moving in that direction.

Here’s some insight from TechCrunch:

“With deeper control of a modified operating system would come huge opportunities to collect data on its users. Facebook knows that who you SMS and call are important indicators of who your closest friends are. Its own version of Android could give it that info, which could be used to refine everything from what content you’re shown in the news feed to which friends faces are used in ads you see.” [Source]

Why We DON’T Think It’s a Facebook Phone:

If it’s not the phone, it might be software for current phones. Which can be difficult to explain or to win people over with. In my opinion it’s not going to be a phone. The competition is too fierce out there right now. Windows Phone is struggling to make it and they are advanced in their user interface and hardware. Facebook is probably bringing their games to Android, in the form of apps or an app store.

I can’t tell you how many requests I get a day from my friends to play Facebook games. It makes sense that they would want to grow in that market. With easy access to the games on their phones, user levels will definitely go up. This is an area that Facebook excels in. It would be easy for them to go from good to great. On 9to5 Google, photos of what the software might look like surfaced. It looks like a newsfeed that updates in real-time, and your profile picture as the “home” button.

We’ll just have to wait and see!

Do you think Facebook should be releasing their own devices? Do we need a social smartphone? What do you think about a “Facebook flavored” version of Android?