Android App of the Day: FACEBOOK MESSENGER!?!?!

YES! You read that correctly Facebook Messenger (download) is today's app of the day. When I first used Facebook Messenger, I couldn't really dig it because I didn't want to talk to my Facebook friends that much and it drained battery, but the latest edition has significantly changed what Facebook Messenger is. Like Handcent or Go SMS, Facebook Messenger is now, a TRUE messaging app. Let's dive into the features shall we?

SMS Support

That's right! Ladies and Gentlemen Facebook Messenger now supports SMS. This means that you can read and write texts in your Facebook Messenger app. If you don't have a contact image set, or if the contact's Facebook page is not linked to their contact information, the blank SMS default icon will appear.













Clicking the top right icon will bring up your Facebook Messenger list as well as give you the option to enter contacts you would like to message at the top. Clicking the + sign will bring you to a new text/facebook message screen. The sent/receipt notification is still present when conversing with people via Facebook message (not via text) fyi.

Emoji Support

That's right folks! Facebook Messenger now has NATIVE emoji support! This means that you will not need a plugin to see emojis from others or send emojis. It should be worth nothing that not all Android emojis are supported and so occasionally you will see blank spaces. Also emoji support is native to Jellybean, so if you do not have Jelly Bean (Android 4.1+) you may not see these.

Voice Messages

When talking to a Facebook contact, you now have the option to send small voice recordings to each other. This is a sort of pseudo walkie talkie function but it's pretty cool. All you have to do is click Record Voice and then when finished send it. You can play back both your recordings and your friends recordings as often as you like.














Chat Heads  Chat heads are the newest addition to Facebook Messenger. Each bubble contains the Facebook Profile pic, or the contact image (set on your phone) of the person you are currently
















Chat heads can be dragged all across the screen, and can be situated on either the left or right side of the screen. That chat heads will sit on top of any app you're in, allowing for easy access to your text messages (they're always one click away!) When you dont want the chat heads visible, simply drag them to the x at the bottom of the screen that appears when moving them. You can have 4 chat heads at a time, and they can be re-ordered so you can choose which head to display first (the head on the far right displays first).

Upon clicking a chat head, you are taken to the conversation immediately. You cans swiftly move between conversations by clicking the chat head of the participant you would like to talk to, or if you do not see them, you can click the far left icon to return to your Facebook Messenger list. To return to the app you're currently in, just click the head of the conversation that is currently open.











Clicking the options button at the top left of the box presents you with options to open the conversation within the app, go to the apps settings, view help or report a bug.

Pros and Cons

Pros

• The addition of chat heads offers functionality no other messenger app does: the ability to start or resume a conversation without ever leaving your current app. They are also really fun to play with
• Having emoji support is always a godsend for Android users
• It blends almost seamlessly with your text messages to allow for a virtually one stop shop for messaging. 
• The online messenger is tied to the most popular online messenger (Facebook), so your friends wont need to go through the hassle of configuring another app for instant messaging. 
• Record Voice function is fun
• Supports group chat and file share!

Cons

• MMS is unreliable. Often times pictures from my Galaxy S3 would not send. You'll still need your messaging app for this
• Messenger only supports file share for pictures, but not mp3 files or documents

Final Thoughts

The revamped Facebook Messenger is the silver lining that came as a result to this entire Facebook Home fiasco. Its integration with SMS is genius and efficient. Chat heads are creative and functional, and this app is now my default messaging app (until I need to send a MMS)

Everything You Need To Know About Facebook Home

For those of you who don't know, last week Facebook released its new "launcher" called Facebook Home. A launcher is supposed to be a different UI (User Interface) for your phone. Is that what Facebook Home is? Well not quite. Let's go into a feature breakdown:

Home Select

Before using Facebook Home, it's going to request that you make it your default Home Launcher. This is so that whenever you hit the Home button, you will automatically pop back into the Facebook Home app. It should be worth noting that everytime you enter the Facebook Home app, your default home launcher is cleared/reset.

Cover Feed

The cover feed is the biggest feature of Facebook Home. It takes friends posts (status updates and pictures) and displays them in a live wallpaper-esque format (the background picture is constantly moving). The text for each picture is displayed over the person's photo they posted, or over their cover page picture. From this screen, you have the ability to like or comment on the picture right there.

Notifications

When notifications come in, they appear on your cover feed and are able to be swiped away or clicked. Clicking the notification opens up the post on the Facebook app.














Upon tapping the screen, your Facebook profile picture appears at the bottom of the screen. This is kind of like the unlock icon on your lock screen.

Navigation

Upon tapping your name, you're presented with 3 options. 1 to go to the Facebook Messenger app, the other to your Facebook Home App Drawer, and the last to return to your previous launcher.

Shortcuts

When you open up your app drawer, you have the option to scroll through various pages of apps (like on the left) or view them all on one page and scroll up and down (like on the right)  

Settings

Facebook Home comes with assortment of settings, the first being the most spectacular of them all:

• Turn Off Facebook Home -  It does just what it says
• Show Status Bar - This is the top bar of your phone where the notifcations are. With this selected, it will always be visible.
• Show Home When Screen Turns On - This essentially turns your Facebook Home Cover Feed into your lock screen. When this is selected, a user can browse through your news feed, like and comment on pics, all before unlocking your phone.
• Data Use - I'm not entirely sure what this does. It's default is set on Medium, but my best guess is this determines how often your cover feed tries to update
• Messenger Settings - Settings for the Facebook Messenger app
• Facebook Settings - Settings for the Facebook app
• Everything else is self explanatory

My Pros and Cons

Pros

• The cover feed is a wonderful idea, and is absolutely gorgeous
• The cover feed can be used as your lock screen which is pretty impressive
• Notifications appearing on your Cover Feed is a nice touch

Cons

• Facebook Home literally tries to take over your phone. It does not play well with other launchers (Note: I could still execute some TouchWiz features like swipe to screenshot while within the app). The entire experience feels like two UI's fighting over control of your phone and in a way...it is
• No widgets
• Need to have the Facebook App and Messenger App installed to enable all functionality
• Drains battery a little bit
• Regardless of your security settings, someone can go through your news feed and comment on things if Facebook Home is set as your lock screen
• Opening Facebook Home ALWAYS resets your default launcher, and you have to reset it each time if you choose another.

Final Thoughts

Facebook Home is a great app if you are a super Facebook junkie, but it is not a true launcher. It will always fight with your OS for control, and that can be really irritating at times. I think that overtime, Facebook Home will be revised to become more useful though, and am will look forward to checking out any improvements. If you want to download it from the play store, you need a Galaxy S3, Galaxy Note 2, HTC One, or HTC One X, click here. IF not, follow the instructions below if you truly want to try it out, here are some steps courtesy of xda developers (I'll also add them below)(NO ROOT REQUIRED)

To install Facebook Home on any device here are the steps:

1. Download this file (the actual app)
2. Download the Messenger app with a chat heads fix here
3. Uninstall the original Facebook app (if already installed)(If it's pre-installed then you will need root permissions to remove it, sorry)
4. Extract the .rar files 
5. On your phone, go to your settings > security > and make sure "Unknown Sources" is checked
6. Place all files on your phone's sd card (does not matter if internal or external)
7. Install the com.facebook.katana app (Facebook) (have to navigate to it with your phones file explorer)
8. Install the com.Facebook.Home (Facebook Home) app
9. Install the com.Facebook.Orca (Facebook Messenger) app
10. Enable Facebook Home under the Facebook app settings
11. If you have any issues reboot your phone, if you still have issues and you have root permissions wipe your dalvikh cache, if you have issues and a reboot does not fix it and you do not have root permissions, uninstall all the above apps. 

Thank you guys for reading! 

Android App of the Day: Kii Keyboard! Swype + Swiftkey = Kii!?!?

Today's app of the day is Kii Keyboard! It has the functionality of swype but also has the excellent word prediction of Swiftkey! It's highly customizable and extremely accurate. With the addition of the Handcent Emoji Plugin, inputting emojis is a breeze! Try it out and tell me what you think in the comments below!

So I've Rooted My Phone....Now What?

Now that you all have an overview on rooting, it's time to dive a little deeper into what exactly you can, and should do after rooting. First off, there are a few key components to your phones software that you need to be aware of.

The four key software elements that control the functionality, performance, signals, and look and feel of your phone are the:

1.ROM
2. Kernel
3.Modem
4.UI

1. ROM
   
    ROM (Read-Only Memory) image files are the files that make up the barebones of the software in our phones, on cd's (CD-ROM's) .iso files, and old video game cartridges. The hardware simply reads the file, and displays whatever is in it. For learning purposes, I want you to think of ROM's as the skeleton of the software makeup of the phone.

2. Kernel
   
   Kernels are the components of an OS (Operating System) that serve as the bridge between applications and the software. It dictates how your phone handles information, and where it goes. The speed of processing, how much battery to use when requested to do something, all of this is determined by the Kernel. Whenever there are battery issues on your phone, it is usually the Kernel's fault for not handling something designed in the ROM well.  Boot Animations (the animation when you turn on the phone), and the Recovery (the special screen when booting up your phone that allows you to install all of these things, as well as make backups) are all Kernel related. Think of the Kernel as the brain of the software makeup of your phone.

3. Modem

    The Modem (to the surprise of many of you) determines how well your phone transmits and receives signals. Some modems may perform better receiving a gps signal or receive faster data speeds than others. Since your phone emits power while searching for signals, having a solid modem can prove to increase battery life by not wasting as much resources searching for gps, data, or wifi signals. Think of the Modem as the sensory parts of the software makeup of your phone.

4. UI
   
    The UI (User Interface) determines the look and feel of your phone. These are the skins, themes, and additional features of a phone. For Samsung phones, they come with a Touchwiz UI. For HTC phones, they come with a Sense UI. Nexus phones have no UI overlay on their ROMS, and are just pure Android. Think of the UI as the clothing of the software makeup of your phone.

So now that you understand the four different components that makeup the software of your phone, we can talk about how rooting your phone allows you to change each and every one.

   To attain the full benefits of rooting your phone, you're going to want to install modifications for one, or all of the items listed above. If you want a ROM that has no UI and has pure Android? You can have it. Hate the battery life on your phone and want to install a different kernel which can slow down your processor or handle resource allocation easier? Install it! Getting really crappy Wi-Fi reception? Install a new modem! Want to keep the features of a UI but want more customization? Install a ROM with that UI still baked in.
Want a Star Wars theme to your phone? Find one and install one! Rooting your phone extends the amount of customization you can do to your phone in these ways, and all you have to do is install them to have them take effect.

Some places to look for ROMs, themes, and modems are:

XDA-Developers - http://forum.xda-developers.com/
Android Central - http://forums.androidcentral.com/
Rootz Wiki - http://rootzwiki.com/index

Some important rules of thumb though!

1. NEVER install a ROM, Kernel, Modem, or Theme developed for another phone! This is a SURE FIRE way to brick your phone! (UNLESS approved by the developer)

2. ROM, Kernel, Modem, and Theme combinations don't always play nice together. Be creative when mixing and matching, but make plenty of backups (done in recovery) just in case some things don't work.

3. Kernels designed for a specific ROM type (I.e. Touchwiz ROMs) do not work on AOSP (Android Open Source Project) AOKP (Android Open Kang Project), CM (CyanogenMod) or any other Pure Android (No manufacturer UI) ROM. ONLY use Custom UI Kernels for ROMS with that UI. Double-check if you are unsure. This also goes for Themes.

I think that wraps that up for today! I'll make sure to add any updates I forgot. Have fun guys, be safe, and keep flashing!