Facebook Home for Android was launched to much fanfare, though it hasn’t received the best of reviews so far. Regardless of the fact that it was downloaded half a million times in the first week alone, its popularity on Google Play Store has reportedly dipped, with most of the downloaders leaving a one-star review. That hasn’t stopped Google from praising Home, first it was Eric Schmidt who said that Facebook Home is a testament to the openness of Android. Now Android Design Head, Matias Durate, is singing its praises.
He says that Facebook Home shows an “incredible amount of polish” and that it has a superb attention to design detail. Durate says that Home does a pretty good job of expressing the Facebook experience, though there’s a lot of Google design experience with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich in it as well. He also added that it does not bother him that Facebook Home takes over Android’s homescreen, as the platform’s openness allows that. Since Home does not alter the underlying core Android OS in any way, it isn’t exactly squatting on Google’s own user experience innovations. Users can choose whether or not they want to use the stock Android homescreen on their devices.
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