Facebook reportedly at it again; FacePhone in the works

Reports are circumvoluted around the web that the massive social giant Facebook, which is now a public visitor, is still looking at creating their own hardware. The Facebook Phone, or the FacePhone? Who knows, but according to the New York Times CEO Marking Zuckerberg is seriously looking at the mobile market equally a means for future acquirement and ventures.

One Facebook employee is quoted saying the following.

"Mark is worried that if he doesn't create a mobile telephone in the well-nigh future that Facebook volition simply become an app on other mobile platforms."

We previously looked at rumours being published of Microsoft desiring Facebook to use Windows Phone to ability whatever possible hardware. Nosotros commented on how it would make more sense for the social network to prefer Windows Phone as a "Facebook certified platform" as such, since Microsoft's mobile OS is the only one on market which sports deep integration.

Employees of Facebook, among several hired engineers who were sought out past the visitor, say plans are prepare for a smartphone to be released by next year. According to these very souls, Facebook has hired more than a dozen erstwhile Apple software and hardware engineers who previously worked on the iPhone and iPad.

Facebook and HTC were reported terminal year to have entered into a partnership, and are still actively working on a smartphone, lawmaking-named "Buffy". With the added team members, many with Apple product feel, the company has been diving deeper into the development process. When pressed for a confirmation that a Facebook telephone was in the works, the company neither denied or affirmed the report.

"We're working across the unabridged mobile industry; with operators, hardware manufacturers, OS providers, and awarding developers."

Facebook has been secretively quiet, with little information beingness revealed to the world of the visitor'south plans. But Hugo Fiennes, onetime Apple hardware manager for the iPhone, explained difficulties Facebook would meet.

"Building isn't something y'all tin can just spring into. Yous change the smallest thing on a smartphone and you can completely change how all the antennas work. You don't learn this unless you've been doing it for a while. Going into the telephone business concern is incredibly complex."

What Facebook does have is the potential foundations of a platform. Messaging, contacts, calendar, video, photos, apps and even recently purchased Instagram are all under the Facebook umbrella of social connectivity. Carolina Milanesi, a vice president and analyst at Gartner, commented on the future plans:

"When y'all offer an advertising-based phone, you lot're targeting all the users on prepay that are budget-conscious of their communications costs."

This would pin Facebook up against Google with mass market pushing, especially with Google+ still around. The companies could take the same approach as Amazon past subsidising some of the costs through advertising to bring prices down on hardware for consumers.

But would a Facebook phone sell? Take a expect at how Microsoft is doing with Windows Phone. The button is a tough one, even with Facebook, Twitter, Windows Alive and fifty-fifty LinkedIn fully integrated into the platform. We know the question burning on your mind - what would this Facebook smartphone look like?

Source: NY Times; via: iMore

The AT&T version of Surface Duo is now getting Android 11

It's here

The AT&T version of Surface Duo is now getting Android xi

Afterwards a very long wait, the original Surface Duo is now eligible to receive its over-the-air Bone update to Android eleven. Here is what is new and fixed with the biggest update yet for Microsoft's first dual-screen Android device.