For curious Android users with some tech savvy, a pre-release version of Facebook Home that leaked online gives them something to play with while they await the final release on 12 April.
Discovered by MoDaCo’s Paul O’Brien, the unfinished Facebook Home is available to download as three separate .apk Android application package files via Mega (Megaupload’s successor). The first contains the main Facebook app, the second is the Messenger app that integrates with the smartphone’s SMS services, while the third is the Facebook Home ‘shell’ app.
Users opting to install these downloads do so at their own risk as these pre-release files are both buggy and incomplete. To install the APKs also requires users to remove their existing Facebook app, which is a particularly tricky operation for the many for whom this app comes pre-installed.
For those not willing to take the risk, O’Brien has posted screenshots of how the unfinished software appears on his phone, with images appearing full-screen along with an overlay of text from updates and friends’ activities on Facebook, plus the option to comment or like.
Screenshots via Paul O’Brien/MoDaCo
