back to article Facebook Home gets SMACKDOWN from irate users

Facebook's app that takes over mobile phones has been met with a flurry of negative reviews, as people complain at just how much Facebook Zuck & Co. have put into their phones. The "Facebook Home" app became available to download on select Android devices on Friday, and at the time of writing had a rating of 2.4, with almost …

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  1. Sorry that handle is already taken. Silver badge

    I wonder...

    ...what they were expecting?

    1. LarsG
      Meh

      Live in purgatory.......

      God no,

      A home screen that rolls inane, uninteresting, insignificant and boring updates from uninteresting boring insignificant self important peoples lives who live with this false belief that their egotistical self importantance is in anyway of interest to the rest of us.

      This is what happens if you are bad and go to hell when you die......

      Purgatory......

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        @ LarsG

        "uninteresting boring insignificant self important people"... given we're talking about what you're seeing on your news feed, are you referring to you and your friends then?

        Remember, you can be friends with whoever you choose, if you choose those people, then more fool you.

        1. Mephistro
          Unhappy

          Re: @ LarsG (@ AC 08:32 GMT)

          "Remember, you can be friends with whoever you choose, if you choose those people, then more fool you."

          From what I've seen in friends and acquaintances FBs, even if you only befriend interesting people, Nobel prices and porn actresses , 99.99% of their updates end up being junk, leaving you in a big stream of crap with only the very occasional pearl. The culture of being always 'in touch' that is inherent to FB seems to suck human brains dry in a short time.

          My hope is that this 'always in touch' shit is only a temporary fashion.

          1. Thing

            Re: @ LarsG (@ AC 08:32 GMT)

            'Stop hitting yourself'

            Unless they know actual Nobel prize winners or porn actresses then what they are following are public feeds of public people. If you want interesting updates from real people:

            A) only befriend people in reality who you actually want to be friends with.

            B) only befriend people on Facebook who you are friends with in reality.

            Most people seem to instinctively grasp the former, but a lot of people (like you and your friends) seem to struggle with the later. I don't eat food I hate, I don't sit and watch TV I don't like, I don't read Barbara Cartland so why would I follow the feeds of 'uninteresting, boring, self-important people' on Facebook/twitter and then complain about the content of the channel which I have crafted for myself.

            Off to do something I want to do, and as far as possible, avoid doing things I don't.

            1. Mephistro

              Re: @ LarsG (@ AC 08:32 GMT)(@ Thing)

              I think that you are -quite elegantly- sidestepping my point. And my point is that no matter how much talent a FB user has, the constant peer pressure to 'keep in touch' and send updates will, in the end, have most of said updates being inane junk.

      2. Anonymous Coward
        FAIL

        Re: Live in purgatory.......

        An App for 13 yo girls, but no-one else...

      3. Muscleguy

        Re: Live in purgatory.......

        Ben Elton wrote a book about what life must be like for those people, except it was made compulsory for everybody. Be afraid, be very afraid.

      4. Metrognome

        @Lars: Live in purgatory.......

        Well, excuse the pedantry but apparently purgatory is a state granted only to those who die in grace. It is a temporary state but it cannot lead to hell.

        In a way it may be what graceful souls experience temporarily before uninstalling and hence going to non-FB heaven. But to me that looks like the very definition of hell.

      5. Stuart Castle Silver badge

        Re: Live in purgatory.......

        This is what happens if you aren't selective with your choice if friends on facebook.

      6. Ian Johnston Silver badge
        Unhappy

        Re: Live in purgatory.......

        inane, uninteresting, insignificant and boring updates from uninteresting boring insignificant self important peoples lives who live with this false belief that their egotistical self importantance is in anyway of interest to the rest of us.

        Is Stephen Fry on Facebook as well, then?

      7. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Live in purgatory.......

        I don't suppose it would be any more inane than it would be on your PC. It doesn't sound as if Facebook would appeal to you on any platform.

        Right! Me neither!

    2. Katie Saucey
      Pint

      Re: I wonder...

      It's alright, he's from Barcelona!

    3. Phil O'Sophical Silver badge

      Re: I wonder...

      XKCD knows about star-rated reviews...

      http://xkcd.com/937/

      1. Dave 126 Silver badge

        Re: I wonder...

        I can't imagine it does one's battery life much good, either.

    4. moylan

      Re: I wonder...

      aren't the only people who can vote and comment on apps in the google play store g+ users? slightly biased perhaps?

      1. LosD

        Re: I wonder...

        You mean you can't be both?

        News to me.

        In fact, I thought most were not so much G+ users, as "has a Google account, but never uses G+"-people.

        1. reno79

          Re: I wonder...

          "In fact, I thought most were not so much G+ users, as "has a Google account, but never uses G+"-people."

          That certainly applies to pretty much every Android user in my office at least. I logged in once to see what it was like and left pretty swiftly.

      2. Tom 35

        Re: I wonder...

        No, people with google+ accounts, that they give you automatically.

        You don't have to be a google+ user, or have even looked at it once.

      3. jonathanb Silver badge

        Re: I wonder...

        Everyone with an android has a g+ account. Doesn't mean they use it as the Oompa Loompas intended.

        1. M Gale

          Re: Everyone with an Android has a G+ account

          No they don't, regardless of how much Google wants them to have one.

          Some people respond to the G+ requirement for ratings and reviews with "fine, fuck you, I won't give you my opinion. One less data point for you."

        2. Sporkinum

          Re: I wonder...

          Not true. I have a hacked Nook color running Cyanogenmod, and I don't have G+. I think you have to have G+ if you want to rate or comment on something through the play store though.

        3. Vector

          Re: I wonder...

          @jonathanb 1800GMT

          "Everyone with an android has a g+ account"

          Not true. I've been using Android handsets since the Moto Droid came out and do not have a G+ account. I've stopped reviewing apps because I refuse to join G+ just to voice my opinion. I find that a rather annoying attempt at cross-pollination on Google's part.

    5. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      They live in a bubble.

      They live in a Silicon Valley Bubble. Always harping on about the USER EXPERIENCE....

      But for the rest of us that translates into having our lives & souls sold to advertisers....

  2. Martin 71 Silver badge
    Joke

    FIFY

    "This is an experience for [Facejunk] access," he told us. "The phone is designed for people that want to be tools."

  3. Graham Marsden
    Devil

    All your smartphone...

    ... are belong to us...

    ... bitch!

  4. skeptical i

    If Fecebook users have their own phones now, does this mean other phones will be Fece-free?

    Please?

  5. Mitoo Bobsworth
    Meh

    Different form, same approach.

    The more things change, the more they stay the same.

  6. Winkypop Silver badge
    FAIL

    Is the new App compulsory?

    No.

    Is Facebook compulsory?

    No, not yet.

    Then what's the problem?

    1. danR2

      Re: Is the new App compulsory?

      There is no problem...yet.

      But when the ads start following your eyes around on the Samsung S4 next year.

      But don't worry, it will be so hypnotic it won't even bother you.

      You're getting sleepy. veerrryyy sleepy.

    2. DF118

      Re: Is the new App compulsory?

      As sure as night follows day, given a story like this there's always some smartarse commenter comes along to point out that [insert name of thing] isn't compulsory. Slow claps all round.

    3. lglethal Silver badge
      Thumb Down

      Re: Is the new App compulsory?

      Facebook use might not be compulsory, but it"s various apps are usually pre-installed on every phone you get these days (and normally can only be removed by rooting the phone!).

      The worry for all of us is that on the next phone you buy, this piece of cr-app might be pre-installed on the phone. Combine that with a waz to prevent people rooting their phones and what are you going to do?

      1. thesykes

        Re: Is the new App compulsory?

        The worry for all of us is that on the next phone you buy, this piece of cr-app might be pre-installed on the phone. Combine that with a waz to prevent people rooting their phones and what are you going to do?

        Easy... don't buy it. If manufacturers or operators see that Facebook-riddled phones don't sell, they won't stock any more.

      2. Dana W
        Happy

        Re: Is the new App compulsory?

        @lglethal Thank you for giving me another reason to add to my "why buy another iPhone" list. No Facebook unless you are fool enough to actually INSTALL it.

        1. lglethal Silver badge
          Meh

          Re: Is the new App compulsory?

          Hey Dana,

          Check the story that just appeared on the Reg. Facebook are in discussion with Apple about implementing some form of Facebook Home. So this may soon be affecting your iPhone soon enough...

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Coat

    Perhaps they should have called it.

    InYourFACEbook

  8. Fihart

    Pretty much as expected.

    Their record shows that anything Facebook is going to be invasive. I don't condemn Facebook outright -- it's useful to me as an effortless way of keeping in contact with friends/family overseas. I can see that people much younger than me use it to organise their social lives -- particularly as this generation seems more group-oriented and less concerned about privacy. Where I differ is the cost -- I avoid using the mobile phone unnecessarily, let alone paying inflated data costs for something as marginal to me as Facebook. My teenage lifestyle may not have been quite so frantically mobile -- but we managed to organise ourselves even before we could afford a landline.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Pretty much as expected.

      Who pays (inflated data costs) per megabyte for data access in this day and age, unless you're roaming, granddad?

      Assuming you're UK based, virtually every tariff I can find comes with some kind of data allowance, 250MB per month at minimum, which would suffice for the bulk of light users.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Pretty much as expected.

        'merikans don't travel to foreign parts these days. They think that everyone on this planet is about to kill them all (or so their TV Propaganda would have them believe) so roaming charges are not really an issue.

        Data limits... that is a whole different ball-game. I'd fully expect this to blow many users limits easily and then it will hit them hard in the pocket.

        US phone plans are not much more than a joke when it comes to data limits unless you are willing to virtually sign your life away.

        15Gb for £15 (or thereabouts) a month is hard to beat. There are countries where it is beaten but compared to the US, it is an absolute bargain.

        anon because I spend half my time in the US. My Dual SIM phone is a godsend but the US bills are frankly astronomic when compared to the UK.

        1. Vector
          Childcatcher

          Re: Pretty much as expected.

          "15Gb for £15 (or thereabouts) a month is hard to beat. There are countries where it is beaten but compared to the US, it is an absolute bargain."

          Holy Carp! I had no idea the shaft was that big. 12Gb costs us poor 'merikans $120 or, effectively, 6.5 times as much.

          oy...

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    "Really, what did these people expect?"

    That pretty much sums it all up.

    It seems to be exactly what it was intended to be - something to attract die-hard facebook users, not something to attract the outcasts into the fold.

    The real test will be when sufficient numbers of the true targets get their hands on it. Then we'll see if Facebook have judged their users right.

    1. danR2

      Re: "Really, what did these people expect?"

      "true targets"

      They be the ad-peddlers. ka-ching!!

  10. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Roll out usual down-with-Facebook comments

    Oh looky, Facebook story, and the predictable "Facejunk is rubbish, only has idiots on it, why would anyone want to stay in touch with their friends using it?!?!?!" comments.

    As usual, ignoring the fact the "idiots" on it are people YOU choose to be friends with.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Facepalm

      Re: Roll out usual down-with-Facebook comments

      That's because it's crap and makes Google's data mining look amateurish. I do find it amusing that you are hiding behind AC to defend Facebook, anonymity and Facebook are an oxymoron.

      You want to end up on pinkmeth then go ahead and use Facebook.

    2. Arctic fox

      Re: "Roll out usual down-with-Facebook comments". Well old chap I am an old fashioned....

      ........sort of guy and people I care about get e-mails, phone-calls and even something so impossibly old hat as a (yes I know, you can scarcely believe what you are reading here) hand written letter. In fact I even go as far as taking the radical step of actually spending time in their company (steady on now, you will scarcely believe this) face to face - I'll bet you are positively aghast to hear that, something so not this century.

  11. Jess

    It looked like a third liked it.

    Suppose that follows through, they only have to get 10% of android users to use it to be a bigger platform than Windows Phone.

  12. Bob Vistakin
    Holmes

    It's a great way to instantly identify assholes though.

    That's anyone using it beyond the 5 minute curiosity window. 100% reliable, too.

    1. Arctic fox
      Thumb Up

      "Re: It's a great way to instantly identify assholes though." Well Bob, it is not often that.......

      ...........we agree but on this occasion I have to say thumbs up. A very compact description of the sociological criteria for instantly identifying someone that one would instantly wish to avoid.

  13. Will Godfrey Silver badge

    What I find quite scary is the number of people who appear to think this is a good use for a phone and that facebook is a substitute for actually getting out and meeting real people.

  14. adnim

    I must be old fashioned

    Friends are people I know, people I care about, people I trust, people I want to spend time with. Acquaintances are people I sort of know, people I care less for (I might not risk my life for them), people I might eventually trust, people I might have the odd pint with.

    What are Facebook "friends" ?

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