Bloomberg Reports Facebook Building Android Smartphones

destinyland writes "Reports are surfacing of a Facebook-backed smartphone running Google's Android system, built by INQ (who also manufactures a phone for Skype). GigaOm's Om Malik says he's been aware of the project 'for quite some time,' and Bloomberg News (linked above) reported that Facebook will release two AT&T smartphones in 2011, first in Europe and then in America. (Adding that 25% of Facebook users access the social networking site with their wireless devices.) " Whether it's pure semantics or pure misdirection, as of yesterday, Facebook acknowledges work with INQ, but describes the collaboration as customization, rather than a phone of their own.

Comments

Tinfoil hat time

[longhairedgnome]

Google and facebook, two of the most scandalous purveyors of communication, together on one mobile device that is with you everywhere you go...

Re:Tinfoil hat time

[hex0D]

Google and facebook, two of the most scandalous purveyors of communication

...hysterical much? Sure Google and Facebook have issues, and the potential to be truly evil, the only reason they are even ever referred to as 'scandalous' is because their misbehavior has been an exception to the rule of generally decent behavior.

What 'purveyor of communication' would you prefer? J Randolf Hearst's 'yellow journalism', or Fox News, getting us into wars that actually kill people?

Re:Tinfoil hat time

[kiwimate]

This has BAD ENDING written all over it, mark my words. Seriously, haven't you people learned ANYTHING??

Given that the average geek / Slashdot reader is falling over themselves to do almost exactly the same for Google, an entity that has demonstrated time and time again they have the ability and desire to be mining that data and already are... ...I think the answer is "not a bit".

Re:Tinfoil hat time

[Joe Tie.]

Oh yah, I'm terrified. I and everyone I know is just hardly getting by paying the massive debt incurred by school. The economy is shit, our retirement plan is going to be killing ourselves because we can't afford a real one, and I've been hacking my lungs up the past month because I can't afford to go to the doctor to get a prescription for the antibiotics I can't pay for either. We don't care, because privacy concerns are so minuscule compared to all our other problems. Rome's burning, it just set my hair ablaze. Fuck if I'm not going to enjoy the nice fiddle music as I burn.

There's room for irony here.

[pecosdave]

Does this mean that Facebook is finally going to build a mobile phone interface that doesn't just outright suck?

I used the Facebook client for the iPhone when I had an iPhone. It was buggy as hell and left something to be desired. It improved towards the end of my using an iphone, but I must say it still wasn't that great, still had caching and sync issues. I found I was much better off using Safari on all but a few specialized task, but that sucked also.

Now I'm using an EVO 4G. The Facebook program that came with it sucked rocks. It was arguable worse than the iPhone one, because instead of giving me out of date garbage cache, it gave me nothing most of them. That or code errors. I updated to a newer version yesterday, seems to be a little better but I haven't really put it to the test. I've been doing just like I did with the iPhone with my Android phone, using one or the other depending on my task at hand. Still at the end of the day it's sort of random as to getting everything or not.

BTW - I've never been happier to ditch Apple, I far prefer Android.

I think it's going to be hilarious if Facebook releases a phone that does everything but Facebook well.

Re:There's room for irony here.

[garcia]

I used the Facebook client for the iPhone when I had an iPhone. It was buggy as hell and left something to be desired. It improved towards the end of my using an iphone, but I must say it still wasn't that great, still had caching and sync issues.

I guess we all have different opinions on the topic but the Facebook application for the iPhone, for me, is 1000x better than the web interface. In fact, I'd rather visit Facebook via my phone than the website any day. Less clutter, no ads, no bullshit, and I can get shit done quickly--in and out--like websites were meant to be.

The only thing I still find "buggy" on the Facebook app for the iPhone is the chat feature but being that I don't chat with anyone for more than 1 or 2 quick lines, it's really a non-issue for me.

YMMV.

Re:There's room for irony here.

[gmhowell]

Given the disturbing level of nerd arrogance on slashdot, I'm amazed that your opinion wasn't automatically dismissed and modded down while 'people' questioned your parentage, the sexual practice of your mother, and your sexual orientation while simultaneously threatening bodily harm and various forced sexual acts on you due not only to having a Facebook account, and not only having a preferred method of access, but for committing that most cardinal of Slashdot sins: owning an iPhone.

wait

[darrenkopp]

they can't even make a decent facebook application for android... how are they going to make an android phone?

Data mining

[Wowsers]

And how much data-mining will they do to the call information? Let's face it, Facebook has an awful reputation for privacy.

Re:Data mining

[Darkness404]

As opposed to Google? As opposed to Microsoft? Lets face it, any company who makes the majority of their revenue on ads is not going to be privacy friendly because the less privacy friendly they are the more money they can make.

Re:Data mining

[Renraku]

I can see it now. You'll have to link your Facebook account to your phone.

"John Q called Sally A. 12:05AM - 1:22AM. Three people like this. Two comments."
"Suzie Q: OMG why were you calling that slut after I went to bed?? 9:32AM."
"John Q: We were just talking about work, I swear!"

Super Sweet

[EdIII]

I believe the customization part.

Considering there audience though, I find it really, REALLY, hard to believe there will not be "feed your chickens" and "harvest your crops" buttons directly on the phone itself.

Thinking about push communications technology I can further see that the buttons would be backlit when it was actually needed. Ohhhh! We could even make hungry chicken noises as alerts!

Re:Super Sweet

[iammani]

Good, now I could easily identify whom to stay away from.

Nothing new here

[VJ42]

I've got the INQ 1 phone - it was also sold as a product of collaboration between INQ and facebook, billed as "the facebook phone" as it was only £60, i.e. not smartphone territory, but mass market - I hope this is more of the same; a mass market Android phone would be great.

Re:Nothing new here

[hex0D]

I'd be totally OK with facebook subsidizing some the cost of new phone; just because they intend it for use on facebook doesn't mean a lot of clever folks won't find ways to repurpose it.

And yeah, this seems about as newsworthy as the TV they keep advertising that allows you to tweet and post to FB from your sofa and has dedicated buttons on the remote. BFD.

Re:Nothing new here

[RyuuzakiTetsuya]

Holy crap.

The INQ1 is what the Kin should've been. Cheap, fast, lightweight with 3G connectivity and Facebook/Twitter integration?

Re:privacy.....

[bennomatic]

They've got 500 million users; even if just 0.2% of those users decide that they love FB so much they need the official phone, that's a million sales. Probably more profitable than if they tried to sell Mark Zuckerberg bobble head dolls.

Oh great! I can see the endless text messages now

[Chocolate Teapot]

Your wife just commented on a picture posted on your secretary's MMS
kjsmith and 6 other lawyers like this

Re:privacy.....

[hedwards]

Actually, Zuckerber bobble heads would work. Whether you love or hate Facebook, I'm sure you could find a use for one.

Ads on the internet? You're Doing It Wrong

[znerk]

I guess we all have different opinions on the topic but the Facebook application for the iPhone, for me, is 1000x better than the web interface. In fact, I'd rather visit Facebook via my phone than the website any day. Less clutter, no ads, no bullshit, and I can get shit done quickly--in and out--like websites were meant to be.

Allow me to introduce your PC-based surfing to a little app called "firefox", with its addon friends "noscript" and "adblockplus". I absolutely love how they make my surfing experience faster - not downloading all the flash and graphical ads makes pages load ten times faster. (Yes, even facebook!)

Now, all I need to do is find a decent plugin for streaming together those articles that for some reason get broken up into one page per paragraph, and I'll be all set.