Facebook Home has reached more than half a million downloads in the little more than a week since its release. Sounds like great news, but most of the Android users trying Zuck's apperating system aren't too happy with the experience. With nearly 12,000 reviews, Facebook Home has scored an absolutely mediocre average rating of 2.2 out of 5 stars.
When Facebook Home launched, Wired called it a triumph in mediocrity. Home, and the first phone to feature it, simply aren't made for tech enthusiasts. It's for people who consider Facebook the Internet -- or at least half of the Internet, with Google being the rest. It's for your aunt who wants to like all of your photos or your friend who posts ten status updates a day. To that end, we gave Facebook Home a decent review.
But the people downloading Facebook Home have something else to say. More than half of the user reviews give it just one star. One. The criticism ranges from the fact it absolutely kills battery life -- Home is a total resource hog -- to too much Facebook to, oddly, too little Facebook. Here's a breakdown of Facebook Home's many, often conflicting, problems, according to users.
The "Too Much Facebook" Problem
One of the most common user complaints is that Facebook Home is just too much Facebook. These people don't like the fact that Facebook has overtaken their lock screen and home screen.
They don't like that Facebook Home takes over their Android widgets. And did we mention they don't like Facebook on their home screen?
And they certainly don't like seeing their Facebook friends pop up on their phones all of the time.
Especially if their friends are posting unsavory photos.
This much Facebook can lead to existential crisis.
"Not for me. I almost feel like Facebook becoming so blatant and upfront makes you not want to be on Facebook. It's like when you watch a video of a cow processing plant. Once you see it, so obviously in your face, it becomes unsettling. You almost start to question the importance of its use. Uninstalled. Off to take a cold shower and think about my life." -- Mark Theriault
Solution: It's called Facebook Home. So yes, it's a lot of Facebook. One quick way to deal with it: Uninstall. (As many of these users said they did.)
Too Little Facebook Problem
On the flip side, some Facebook Home users are dissatisfied with how little Facebook they get in Facebook Home. It doesn't offer much more beyond full-screen status updates.
It doesn't have advanced Facebook functions like posting status updates and photos... or they were too hard to find.
And instead of having everything available in Facebook Home, you still have to jump into the main Facebook app to see updates like notifications.
In short, Mitch Lin says Facebook Home is "not for power users of Facebook."
__Solution: __Facebook will need to add a lot more functionality to Facebook Home for its power users. Functionality like photo album integration, the ability to see profiles directly in Facebook Home and calendar integration are just a few of the features that would be useful in Facebook Home. The company says it is rolling out monthly updates, so you'll likely see Facebook Home grow in time.
Battery Life Problem
Beyond the too much/too little Facebook debate, there are some issues that Facebook will absolutely need to address if it wants Facebook Home on as many Android devices as possible. For one, many users say that Facebook Home sucks up too much of their phone's battery life.
Even those who like Facebook Home gave it low reviews because of its power-sucking tendencies. A phone isn't any use if it's dead.
__Solution: __For now, you can go into Facebook Home settings and go to the "Data Use and Image Quality" settings and choose the "low" setting. That will prevent Facebook from use a lot of data, and in turn battery life, refreshing the home screen. But this is definitely a key thing that Facebook will need to fix going forward.
Why Is It So Hard to Make a Call Problem
A phone also isn't of much use if it's hard to make a phone call. Even if you want Facebook at the center of your smartphone experience, you're still going to need it to do its core function: call people. Several Facebook Home users didn't like how difficult Facebook made it to actually use the phone as a phone.
One suggestion: Allow users to put a phone dialer on the lock screen.
__Solution: __Facebook, fix this.
I Don't Have Good Facebook Friends Problem
Finally, there's the problem when users just don't like their network of Facebook friends. Which in turn means they don't like Facebook Home. Naturally.
__Solution: __Get some good Facebook friends.
