Facebook creates a beautiful, though broken, Home on Android

Where Facebook Home is preloaded, like on this HTC First, logging in to Facebook is part of the setup process.

(Credit: Josh Miller/CNET)

Facebook finds the heart of your smartphone with Facebook Home, a family of applications that bring social-networking mainstays such as the News Feed and Facebook Messenger to your mobile device in radically altered designs.

The software package, shown off at a press event last week, is moving to select Android devices April 12. The HTC First, the first handset optimized for Facebook Home, hits the market on the same day, exclusively with AT&T.

After spending a few days with a review unit of the HTC First, I believe Facebook has created a visually arresting mobile home like no other. The problem is that the social network unwillingly shares custody of your attention with Google's Android, and also draws attention to the flaws of the Facebook apps we're all used to.

For additional perspective, read CNET Senior Editor Jessica Dolcourt's official review of the HTC First and ... [Read more]