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"\"We're not building a phone and we're not building an operating system.\u201D That\u2019s what Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said on Thursday as his company launched Facebook Home, something that essentially turns an Android phone into a Facebook phone, and keeps you inside the social network in such a way that it might feel a little bit like an OS.\nAt the very least, Facebook Home and the first Android phone to support it, the HTC First (naturally), is a new kind of phone and a new concern for partner Google and competitor Twitter.\nWhat Facebook Home accomplishes, with its Cover Feed, Facebook-only notifications and Chat Heads is an always-on, wholly immersive Facebook experience that, except for when you access the app launcher, pretty much eschews everything outside of the Facebook universe. (I\u2019m actually not sure if you\u2019ll see notifications from anyone besides Facebook and its partners.)\nFor Twitter, it means Tweet notifications will be at least a level or layer deep and won\u2019t even have the benefit of competing with notifications from other social platforms. For Google+, it means that Google Version 2 is about to find it that much harder truly compete with Facebook.\n No Surprises\nWhile some of the nitty-gritty details weren\u2019t explained, the Facebook Home announcement was pretty much what every rumor promised it would be. In fact, both of the leading rumors were right. Facebook Home is a collection of apps you can install to transform an Android phone into a Facebook phone simulacrum. The phone, or HTC First, is a Facebook Phone that Facebook did not build, but in some way helped design \u2014 at least the interface. They also clearly had an impact on the price, which is about half of what you pay for today\u2019s leading big-screen, LTE smartphone.\nWhich means that Zuckerberg\u2019s statements were somewhat disingenuous. I guess he\u2019s trying to have to both ways. We\u2019re not competing with iOS or Android, but we want to transform the latter so it\u2019s better than what Google or any of its typical partners can give you. \nOf course, it\u2019s also worth keeping in mind who Facebook is targeting with this phone \u2014 which is the same audience it\u2019s steadily losing \u2014 teenagers.\nAs many have already noted, The HTC First\u2019s price and interface are designed with a hyper-socially aware teen in mind. An ever-changing homepage with images and comments from your friends should appeal to them. Plus, Chat Heads, which are basically little floating onscreen heads that can pop up over whatever you\u2019re doing to get your attention, may be more appealing than boring-looking notifications. I bet they\u2019ll also get a kick out of dismissing said friends with a gesture.\n The Risk\nThis may, in fact, be the perfect phone to hand to your just-turned 13-year-old. They sign up for Facebook, you hyper-manage their friends list and then they live in the walled garden of Facebook.\nThat should last about 3 months \u2014 or less. As soon as they go to school, their friends will mention or show them a new social platform that everyone else is on. They will quickly install the app (if it\u2019s on Android) and then skip right on out of Facebook Land... er, Home.\nSoon, they\u2019ll be asking how they get rid of Facebook Home so they can spend time in their new favorite social network.\nThe Tech\nFrom a technical perspective, I\u2019m impressed. It certainly looks like Facebook built an Android skin that can stand toe-to-toe with, say, the best that Amazon and Barnes &amp; Noble have built. As I told my Twitter followers, Facebook Home is a lot like the Amazon Kindle Fire Android skin, but instead of being permanently fixed to one piece of hardware, it\u2019s ready to be dropped on almost any Android handset that supports it.\nOn the other hand, I\u2019m not so sure why Mark Zuckerberg kept repeating that you\u2019d get monthly Facebook Home software updates. Is that really what everyone wants? The odds that a few of them will be duds or introduce an unforeseen glitch are pretty high, especially since Facebook Home has its hooks so deeply into the OS and will eventually be on more and more somewhat disparate Android hardware. What happens when they start supporting tablets?\nFriendly Competitors\nI asked Google, Twitter and Apple for comment on Facebook Home. At the time of this writing, not a single one of them has responded. What can they really say?  This is either an awesome idea that may have Google thinking about locking in Google+ as the home screen for future Android phones and Twitter working with Apple to create some new kind of integration for a future version of iOS, or it\u2019s a massive dud that no one, not competitors or consumers, care about.\nAs far as I\u2019m concerned, the jury is still out. What do you think? Has Facebook hatched a brilliant idea or laid a giant blue egg?\n[Update: After we published, a Google spokesperson offered this comment, \"The Android platform has spurred the development of hundreds of different types of devices. This latest device demonstrates the openness and flexibility that has made Android so popular.\"]\n\n\nFacebook Phone Event\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nImage via Justin Sullivan/Getty Images"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://mashable.com/2013/04/04/facebook-home-puts-facebook-first/>