Facebook Phone to use Android OS?

Facebook is making a smartphone and rumour has it that they will be using the Google Android operating system as the template.

The news may not come as a surprise to observers who have seen a tense competition forming between Google and Facebook over the years.

Facebook has attempted to take on many of Google's qualities including a similar advertising revenue system and search within Facebook.

When the owner of Wikipedia declared that he wanted his company to eventually replace Google, Wiki was quickly punished in the SERPs.

But Google would be powerless to stop Facebook adapting the Android OS. The social networking company, which now has 500 million users worldwide, wants to branch out and offer its services on a mobile platform.

Facebook liked the look of the Google Nexus One and the company realised it could not achieve what it wanted to simply through the use of an application.

Facebook mobile products head Erick Tseng, who was recently pinched from the Android mobile team, said at the MobileBeat 2010 conference: "We really see mobile as the future."

Facebook creatives Joe Hewitt, who previously worked on the Firefox browser, and Matthew Papakipos, whose experience includes Google Chrome OS, may now be turning their attentions to a Facebook phone.

Expect the Facebook phone to include a calendar based on your events and, of course, your extensive Facebook contact list. It also might make it easier to use Facebook applications such as Places.

Rather than building an operating system from scratch, Facebook will have access to one of the fastest-growing smartphone services and all of its third-party applications.

At the same time it is likely that a Facebook Phone would fragment users of the Android OS even more.

Root your Android Mobile

Did you know that you can unlock the potential of your Android mobile by rooting it?

First of all rooting should not be tried by anyone who does not feel extremely comfortable with the more technical aspects of Google's Android OS. You're basically hacking in and changing the phone system permissions with the risk of making your Android totally useless while voiding the warranty in the process.

On the other hand a successful rooting can give you access to all sorts of cool features including advanced firewall apps. Furthermore you can get a ROM which allows you to download the latest version of Android well before other people.

However it should be noted that the manufacturers are wise to this and Android Froyo 2.2 is particularly difficult to root. The process is similar to jailbreaking as carried out on iPhones. Yet a simple Google search on how to root a certain phone can often pay dividends via the forums.

There are now apps available for HTC/Google Nexus One, Motorola Droid, Milestone and other phones which gives you one-click rooting. All you have to do is install the app with an the APK file on your SD Card, locate it with a file-management app and tap it to start the installation. Follow prompts and when the rooting apps appear in the App Drawer launch it. For full instructions on how to root your Android mobile see this article.