Facebook unveiled their new “Home” software for Android at a press conference at its Menlo Park California headquarters yesterday. And just to clarify, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has insisted that there is no Facebook phone. Instead, Facebook Home is software for Android.

According to Zuckerberg, Facebook Home is not just an app, but it’s not an operating system, either. Facebook’s aim was to create an app that closely mirrored their deskop version. He also mentioned that building a phone outright would not be the best strategy for the company. The company says that if they were to build a phone they would not be able to reach, or even make a dent in the current cellphone market.

Facebook Home only be available on Android devices, Zuckerberg said:

Look, I would love for that answer to be yes. Facebook is in a very different place than Apple, Google, Amazon, Samsung, and Microsoft. We are trying to build a community. We have a billion folks using our services now, and we want to get to 3 or 5 billion one day. We’re going to do that by building the best experience across all devices. Android is growing quickly, and we’re excited that the platform is open and that it allows us to build these great experiences. I think that this is really good for Google too. Something like this could encourage a lot of people to get Android phones, because I think people really care about Facebook. In a lot of ways, this is one of the best Facebook experiences that you can get. Of course, a lot of people also love iPhones—I love mine, and I would like to be able to deliver Facebook Home there as well.

So how does it work?

The launcher on an Android phone determines what your home screen, lock screen and what other elements look like. Facebook Home is therefore just an alternative launcher, which you can download for free. After the launcher has been installed, the general layout of the phone changes. So, where the lock screen would be, you will get full-screen images from Facebook and you will be able to swipe through your Facebook status updates, as well as normal notifications.

Users will still have access to Gmail, Chrome, and Maps as you would with any other launcher.

Chatheads is a big feature on Facebook Home. When users receive a message, an icon will pop up with the sender of the messages face on it and a brief preview of the message. Pretty handed as you wont have to move from the app to the message and vice versa.

According to Facebook, Facebook Home will be updated monthly and advertsiments will eventually appear in Home further down the line. Zuckerberg said:

The ad ranking doesn’t influence the organic ranking at all. Basically, for every 10 or 15 pieces of content, we insert one that’s paid. There’s no interaction between those two things. And we try to make the ads as good as possible too. Also, whenever we do some correction to show users more of what they want to see, the result is less “page” stories from businesses and brands. That makes the sponsors unhappy, even if it actually is the best thing for the billion people who are using Facebook.

Facebook Home will be preinstalled on the HTC First. The HTC First will launch on 12 April 2013 in the States, and will have a dual-core processor, 1 GB of memory, a 4,3 inch display with 720 puixels, a 5 megapixel rear camera and a 1,6 megapixel front camera. Pretty average hardware, by our reckoning.

HTC CEO, Peter Chou said the device was a “great opportunity to bring mobile and social together.”

Primarily Facebook Home will only be available for the HTC One X, HTC One X+, Samsung Galaxy S III and Samsung Galaxy Note II.

[Source: Techland, Wired, Wired, CNet News, Mashable, Mashable, Youtube, YouTube]