Software : Microsoft tells Android users: 'Forget Facebook Home, get Windows Phone'

Microsoft tells Android users: 'Forget Facebook Home, get Windows Phone'
Blip: Most time on smartphones spent playing games
Chrome 27 beta is 5 percent faster, adds new HTML5 features
Facebook Home's new Cover Feed replaces Android's lock and home screens

Microsoft tells Android users: 'Forget Facebook Home, get Windows Phone'

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Microsoft has applauded Facebook's efforts to bring the 'people first' experience Android is "sadly lacking", with its Facebook Home UI, but said Windows Phone has been offering that for two years.

Frank X. Shaw, Microsoft's communications kingpin, said yesterday's event was "remarkably similar" to the Windows Phone launch two years ago, when Microsoft unleashed its own people-centric OS.

In a post on the official Microsoft blog, Shaw, who was complimentary of Facebook's efforts, cheekily joked that he had to check his calendar to make sure it wasn't 2011 when he tuned into coverage of the event.

Is Facebook Home Android's worst nightmare?

However, he also "humbly suggested" that Android users shouldn't bother adding Facebook Home to their phones when it is launched on April 12, but should simply get "the real deal" Windows Phone instead.

Put People First

Shaw, Microsoft's Corporate Vice President of Corporate Communications, wrote: "When we sat down with a blank sheet of paper and designed Windows Phone, we put three words on the wall to guide the team: "Put People First".

"People are more important than apps, so phones should be designed around you and the people you care about, not the apps you might use to reach them. So, we got to work and built a phone that asked and answered questions like these:

"Instead of rows and rows of apps, why not have a screen full of the people that matter most to you, and start with them? Instead of having to launch an app to see what's behind that notification icon, why not just bring the content to the home screen? Instead of having SMS and Facebook Messaging as separate chat threads, why not bring them together in one conversation?

"Instead of having photos on your phone and photos in Facebook, why not bring those photos together in one place? Instead of having to launch an app just to check in, why not just tap your own face and do it directly?"

Just upgrade to Windows Phone, duh!

Shaw went on to talk about how millions of Windows Phone users are already experiencing many of the benefits Facebook unveiled on Thursday and claimed Android users had become frustrated by the app-centric approach.

He added: "So, we understand why Facebook would want to find a way to bring similar functionality to a platform that is sadly lacking it. But as Android owners know, that platform is complicated enough without adding another skin built around another metaphor, on top of what is already a custom variant of the OS.

"So, while we applaud Facebook for working to give some Android owners a taste of what a "people-centric" phone can be like, we'd humbly like to suggest that you get the real thing, and simply upgrade to a Windows Phone."

Blip: Most time on smartphones spent playing games

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If you're in the office now, look around you. The people you see looking at their smartphones are probably playing Temple Run.

This according to apps analytics firm Flurry which has posted some revealing stats breaking down how we use our phones. Looking at only US data, Flurry sees smartphones users spending 2 hours and 38 minutes a day on phones, with 32 percent of that time in games.

20 percent of the remaining time is spent using web browsers, and only 2 percent of the time in productivity apps. Shocked? Your boss is.

App usage stats

The only single app named in the data is Facebook, which accounts for a remarkable 18 percent of smartphone usage, or about 30 minutes a day for the average user. This dominates all other forms of social media which only account for 6 percent of the time in the research, as a collected figure of everything that isn't Facebook.

Blips are TechRadar's new news nuggets that you'll find percolating through the homepage - or you can see them all by hitting the blip keyword below.

Chrome 27 beta is 5 percent faster, adds new HTML5 features

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Google launched Chrome 27 beta today, bringing faster page loads and more HTML5 features to its already speedy browser.

On average, the company said that Chrome 27 beta is now 5 percent faster due to changes in the browser's resource scheduler.

"Starting with this release, the scheduler is more aggressive about using an idle connection," wrote Google software engineer Kinuko Yasuda on the official Chromium blog.

"[It demotes] the priority of preloaded resources so that they don't interfere with critical assets."

Chrome 27.0.1453.15 and its speedy 5 percent uptick in page loading is available for both desktops and Android devices through the browser's beta channel.

New HTML5 features

Chrome 27 beta is also bringing more efficiency with HTML5 date and time input forms.

"The month, week, and date <input> types now feature a simple, elegant user interface on desktop versions of Chrome," wrote Yasuda.

Behind-the-scenes, developers can use live audio as an input to the Web Audio API for extremely low-latency local audio manipulation and playback.

"When combined with the recent hook up of Web Audio and WebRTC PeerConnection, it enables analysis and manipulation of the input signal to WebRTC," explained Yasuda.

This desktop-only developer feature is joined by a Synch FileSystem API for offline storage when working with Chrome Packaged Apps.

"The files are stored in private sandboxes and can be manipulated with the HTML5 File API and FileSystem API."

With Google switching from WebKit to Blink for its layout rendering engine to improve its browser even further, Chrome may remain the most popular for quite some time.

Facebook Home's new Cover Feed replaces Android's lock and home screens

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The long-rumored "Facebook Phone" has taken the form of Facebook Home - not a phone at all, but "a family of apps" that will be deeply integrated with the Android OS.

Facebook Home is a custom Android interface that, among other things, replaces the lock screen and the home screen of your Android phone with the Facebook "cover feed."

The cover feed is what you see when you turn on or open your phone, and it shows a continuous stream of your friends' Facebook updates.

From the Facebook Home cover feed, a finger swipe accesses apps, phone calls and the other functions you expect from a phone.

The 'Facebook Phone' unveiled

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg took the stage today to introduce Facebook Home.

"Today we're finally going to talk about that Facebook Phone," Zuckerberg, who previously spent months denying the existence of a Facebook Phone, said. "Or more accurately, we're going to talk about how you can turn your Android phone into a great, simple social device."

That simplicity involves putting Facebook before your Android phone's other functions, so that instead of opening your phone and navigating to Facebook, the UI works the other way around.

"More and more we just want to know what's going on with the people around us," Zuckerberg said.

Facebook Home will be available starting April 12 on the HTC One X, Samsung Galaxy S3, the Galaxy Note 2, and other future devices, including the Galaxy S4.

It will come pre-loaded on the HTC First - introduced today as the closest thing to an actual Facebook Phone that we'll ever get.

Yahuui Blog

Friday, April 5, 2013