MARK Zuckerberg has showcased the "Facebook phone" as he revealed the social networking site could become the central feature on Android mobiles.

At a highly anticipated event at the firm's Menlo Park headquarters in California yesterday he said consumers would be offered something far more than an ordinary app – a "new experience" called Home.

He said: "We are going to talk about how you can turn your Android phone into a great social phone.

"We are not building a phone and we are not building an operating system but we are building something that is a whole lot deeper than an ordinary app."

Mr Zuckerberg said: "We're really proud of Home and we're excited to get it in your hands ... we think that this is the best version of Facebook there is."

He was joined by Peter Chou, the chief executive of handset maker HTC, to reveal the companies' collaboration to produce HTC First – the only phone which will come with Facebook Home already installed.

In a short explanation of how Home would work, Mr Zuckerberg said: "The homescreen is really the soul of your phone. You look at it about a hundred times a day."

In a short demonstration, he showed viewers how the new product would appear on the homescreen of an Android phone and offered users the "highest quality experience". Home will be available for download or on the HTC model from April 12, he said.