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Phones [News] Dud alert: 'Facebook phone' on sale for 99 cents
- Thread starter gkarris
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Given most people installed home on their device and then turned it off.... Not surprised its not the draw Facebook thought it would be. Mind the device itself when Facebook Home is turned off is a decent enough stock android device.
The stock android is the true silver lining on this phone. Turn off Facebook home and the phone is an excellent mid range device especially for the price.
That is what they are saying over at androidcentral.com
http://www.androidcentral.com/using-htc-first-without-facebook-home
Great link.
I would imagine a lot of people will be recommending it at this price then posting how to disable or re-load it without FB Home to make it a standard Android device.
You can fully disable it too from the apps menu in settings and it will be completely gone from your app drawer and everything as well. The performance on this thing looks excellent.
I have never liked Facebook as an application. Why the hell would I want that crap hogging up an entire phones screen and processor? The first Facebook phone failed (what was that called? Cha Cha or something as lame.) Why would any manufacturer get in bed with Facebook, knowing the phone would only appeal to a very small niche group?
HTC should have made Home a secondary piece of software (like Blink feed) and advertised it as an exclusive app which ships embedded on the First. But keep it behind Sense 5, not in front of it. Then, Facebook should break apart the individual apks and allow downloading of each component by both iOS and Android users (for example Chatheads, because that seems the most popular.)
At least then HTC would not have lost all that money tooling and manufacturing for a phone that will never sell.
HTC should have made Home a secondary piece of software (like Blink feed) and advertised it as an exclusive app which ships embedded on the First. But keep it behind Sense 5, not in front of it. Then, Facebook should break apart the individual apks and allow downloading of each component by both iOS and Android users (for example Chatheads, because that seems the most popular.)
At least then HTC would not have lost all that money tooling and manufacturing for a phone that will never sell.
Nope. This is not a nexus officially.
Updates will still have to be sanctioned through htc, then Facebook, and then your carrier.
But apart from that it is a good small size stock phone. For a nice price too.
Maybe because once you get rid of FB Home, what you're left with is a pretty good device (very good 720p display, decent CPU, nearly stock vanilla Android, and not your typical extra large device). Comparing this device to most of the other midrange Android phones and this one likely comes out on top more times than not. And considering it looks like these are going for about $275 on eBay, it's a pretty good value.
If you want a decent vanilla Android device the Nexus 4 is right there and very cheap, and also free on contract (in the UK anyway, not too sure about the US but I can't imagine it's exactly expensive).
Edit: even the Samsung Galaxy S4 is free here so I just don't see the big deal personally
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Most people don't know that you can strip FB off it. That might even include FB themselves.
Michael
Oh I don't disagree, Nexus 4 is a bit better and comparable in price here in the states ($349 off contract for 16GB model). I also hear plenty of complaints on how all new quality Android devices are too big and most smaller devices are crap--this actually isn't terrible when you strip away the FB garbage and take a closer look at it. Short of the camera, it's a pretty solid mid-sized device.
Yeah it's not bad, although it does look a bit too much like an iPhone KIRF for my likings I can see why some would like it, especially once xda have their hands on it.
I just think if you're getting an Android phone on a 24 month contract you're better off with a higher spec device. Again I'm not sure about the US but here you can get the Galaxy S4 for free on a new contract too, with unlimited data for £35 a month. If you want a smaller device there are better options from both HTC and Samsung in that area too. So I can't help but wonder why I'd choose the HTC First over a higher spec alternative. Especially bearing in mind the S4 in particular has a massive developer community and an unlocked bootloader.
Now if I'm paying the full price of the phone upfront, that's another matter and I can certainly see the appeal in that case. But if you're getting it on contract anyway? Well, why would you?
If you want a decent vanilla Android device the Nexus 4 is right there and very cheap, and also free on contract (in the UK anyway, not too sure about the US but I can't imagine it's exactly expensive).
Edit: even the Samsung Galaxy S4 is free here so I just don't see the big deal personally
You missed the part where he said that htc first is smaller than most big phones out there. Some people do take it as a plus.
I'd argue the Nexus 4, HTC One S and Samsung Galaxy S3 Mini are better small screened mid-range phones personally.
I'm just failing to see what's so special about this phone.
I am sorry but did you put the nexus 4 with one s and gs3 mini? The one s and mini are 4.3 and less, the nexus is 4.7 which is a significant difference.
Also apart from the cam, all of the nexus internals scream high end.
The htc first is a 4.3 inch phone.
The Nexus 4 is significantly larger than the One S, First, and S3 Mini. As far as the One S and S3 Mini, both have vastly inferior displays--alone enough for me to not even look twice at those.
Anyways, not here to argue specs or champion the First. I honestly didn't look twice at it before this thread as I wasn't looking for that sized device (already had my eyes on the One
) and had no interest in a Facebook skinned phone. That being said, I think it's fairly underrated considering the price, especially off contract on the secondary market.4.7 is still small compared to 5+, especially since the new trend seems to be with phablets that are at least 5.5. But obviously the other two are significantly smaller yes.
The Nexus 4 is significantly larger than the One S, First, and S3 Mini. As far as the One S and S3 Mini, both have vastly inferior displays--alone enough for me to not even look twice at those.
Anyways, not here to argue specs or champion the First. I honestly didn't look twice at it before this thread as I wasn't looking for that sized device (already had my eyes on the One
How are the displays inferior? Honestly I see a lot of people complain about displays in phones but I don't see the big deal. Unless you're looking for problems with them they're all basically fine in the mid to high range. They all have similar PPIs, similar display technology, etc. The only major difference I see is between AMOLED and LCD, which is pure personal preference. I can easily use both and the type of display doesn't really do much to sway my decision on a phone but personally I do slightly prefer AMOLED.
Speaking of the One, rumour has it that HTC are coming out with a smaller version of it too. Perhaps those wanting a smaller phone should wait on that.
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Of course, if you want a real small screen, you can always get a Q10
Sorry but they're significantly different and while the newer Super AMOLED displays from Samsung are much better (Note 2, S4), the pentile matrix versions in the Mini and One S are definitely outclassed by the display in the First. You may like Super AMOLEDs better but I'd guess if comparing these 3, most would disagree.
S3 Mini: Super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors, 480 x 800 pixels, 4.0 inches (~233 ppi pixel density)
One S: Super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors, 540 x 960 pixels, 4.3 inches (~256 ppi pixel density)
HTC First: Super LCD capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors, 720 x 1280 pixels, 4.3 inches (~342 ppi pixel density)
Because they are pentile. Amoled coupled with pentile = bad.
I thought the one s had a great screen too until I got my hands on a one x. Then I found what I was missing.
I thought the one s had a great screen too until I got my hands on a one x. Then I found what I was missing.