Microsoft tells Android users: 'Forget Facebook Home, get Windows Phone'

Microsoft has applauded Facebook's efforts to bring the 'people first' experience Android is "sadly lacking", with its Facebook Home UI, but said Windows Phone has been offering that for two years.

Frank X. Shaw, Microsoft's communications kingpin, said yesterday's event was "remarkably similar" to the Windows Phone launch two years ago, when Microsoft unleashed its own people-centric OS.

In a post on the official Microsoft blog, Shaw, who was complimentary of Facebook's efforts, cheekily joked that he had to check his calendar to make sure it wasn't 2011 when he tuned into coverage of the event.

• Is Facebook Home Android's worst nightmare?

However, he also "humbly suggested" that Android users shouldn't bother adding Facebook Home to their phones when it is launched on April 12, but should simply get "the real deal" Windows Phone instead.

Put People First

Shaw, Microsoft's Corporate Vice President of Corporate Communications, wrote: "When we sat down with a blank sheet of paper and designed Windows Phone, we put three words on the wall to guide the team: "Put People First".

"People are more important than apps, so phones should be designed around you and the people you care about, not the apps you might use to reach them. So, we got to work and built a phone that asked and answered questions like these:

"Instead of rows and rows of apps, why not have a screen full of the people that matter most to you, and start with them? Instead of having to launch an app to see what's behind that notification icon, why not just bring the content to the home screen? Instead of having SMS and Facebook Messaging as separate chat threads, why not bring them together in one conversation?

"Instead of having photos on your phone and photos in Facebook, why not bring those photos together in one place? Instead of having to launch an app just to check in, why not just tap your own face and do it directly?"

Just upgrade to Windows Phone, duh!

Shaw went on to talk about how millions of Windows Phone users are already experiencing many of the benefits Facebook unveiled on Thursday and claimed Android users had become frustrated by the app-centric approach.

He added: "So, we understand why Facebook would want to find a way to bring similar functionality to a platform that is sadly lacking it. But as Android owners know, that platform is complicated enough without adding another skin built around another metaphor, on top of what is already a custom variant of the OS.

"So, while we applaud Facebook for working to give some Android owners a taste of what a "people-centric" phone can be like, we'd humbly like to suggest that you get the real thing, and simply upgrade to a Windows Phone."