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It’s time for another installment of Palm Discovery’s wReview Wednesday!

Facebook for iPhone and iPod Touch

Social networking is so prevalent in our lives nowadays. Whether you’re out at work, meeting friends or other social gatherings, it’s the talk of the town. Are you on this site or that site? And are you friends with this person or that person? One of the popular social networking websites that most will likely talk about is Facebook, as it seems to connect people from all ages ranging from young teens to the more mature individuals. As Facebook is mainly an online website portal, unless you’re always connected to your computer at home or at work, you are unlikely to be able to stay connected to all your “friends” on Facebook.

If you own an iPhone or iPod Touch, however, staying connected to all that’s happening with your friends is as easy as installing and running the Facebook for iPhone and iPod Touch app.

The Facebook for iPhone and iPod Touch app offers many of the popular online features that the website offers. You can “Like” a status update, link, article, picture, etc very much like the website version. You can comment on a status update, link, article just like you can on the site and view all other comments on that particular update, link, etc sorted chronologically. Plus, embedded videos posted on Facebook can also be viewed on the iPhone. You can view the “Live Feed” of all your friends, pages, etc or you can select from your personalized List. Of course, links in the posts and updates will immediately open up Safari on your iPhone and load, just like the website. You can view messages, events, profiles of your friends and go online via Facebook’s own Chat and chat with your friends in real time. The app will also provide you with notifications when a friend or someone comments on an update you either “Like”d or commented on, sends you a message, adds you as a friend and request to be added and much more. In other words, many of the things you can do on the Facebook.com website you can also do on the iPhone or iPod Touch. Isn’t that great? It’s like you never left, although that may not be great for those with Facebook addiction.

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For those who want to skip over all the detailed review and just want a summary, you can jump to the review summary

The Facebook for iPhone and iPod Touch app when launched for the first time (or after you logged off) will prompt you to either Sign in to Facebook if you have a Facebook account or ask you to sign up for a Facebook account if you don’t have one. Once you either log in or sign up for an account and then log in, you’ll be greeted by the main “News Feed” page screen that shows all the news and updates from your “friends”. Of course, if you are new, you won’t have much on this page and will need to look for friends. To do that, you’ll need to tap on the tic-tac-toe like icon on the top left hand corner. Next tap on the “Friends” button at the top right. Then, tap on the field named “Search Friends”. Tap on the middle tab called “Everyone” and type in your search in the field area. Once you’ve typed the name, tap on the blue highlighted “Search” button at the bottom right of your virtual keyboard and it will perform the search. Unfortunately, the iPhone app does not offer the “Find Friend” feature that the website version has where you can allow Facebook to connect to your email accounts and search for friends who have registered on Facebook with that email address. This may be the easiest way to find your friends on Facebook but unfortunately it’s not available on the iPhone app. The website version of Facebook can also check your IM account for friends via their IM ids and again, the iPhone app doesn’t offer this feature. Plus, the iPhone app doesn’t offer a way to “invite” friends who aren’t seemingly on Facebook to sign up for a Facebook account and keep a count of how many you’ve invited, something that the website offers.

On the other hand, the latest geo-based Facebook feature update called Places, is supported on the iPhone app. Places is a new way for Facebook users to let friends know where they are so that if friends are in the proximity, they can meet up. This is similar to that of Foursquare or Gowalla, Loopt or others but, unlike Foursquare, you aren’t “promoted” to certain fictional titles like the ‘Mayor’ or others which kind of takes away the “fun” out of it. Plus, you can view your friend’s photos and photo album and be able to view and leave comments on them. In addition, if you’ve been “invited” to events, you’ll be able to view and RSVP to them right from within the app. As you can see and as mentioned, the iPhone app does offer many of the most needed and most used features of Facebook making it a very good mobile replacement for when you are not at your computer at home or at work.

More details of Facebook for the iPhone and iPod Touch (taken from Apple iTunes store)

Facebook for iPhone makes it easy to stay connected and share information with friends. Use your iPhone to start a conversation with Facebook Chat, check your friends’ latest photos and status updates, look up a phone number, or upload your own mobile photos to Facebook while on the go.

Note: Places is only available for users in the US at the moment. We’re working on making this available in other countries soon.

What’s New In Version 3.2.2

- Fixes login issues

Note: Places is only available for users in the US at the moment. We’re working on making this available in other countries soon.

Slideshow of Facebook for the iPhone and iPod Touch

Video of Facebook for the iPhone and iPod Touch

Video review of Facebook for the iPhone and iPod Touch

Here are my observations:

I Liked:

Many website offered features supported on iPhone app

The iPhone app is a good replacement for the website for when you are not at a computer as it offers many of the features that “make” Facebook great and so addictive, if I can say it. If the app didn’t support the main or basic features, I don’t think that it will be as popular as it is right not. Personally, I use it when I’m not at my computer, if that says anything .

Supports landscape viewing

The Facebook for iPhone app supports landscape viewing, which really in my view, makes it great. Typing using the landscape virtual keyboard layout and viewing the News Feed in landscape truly enhances the experience.

Simple and straightforward to use

The app is very easy and straightforward to figure out and use. Navigating is by simply tapping on icons and buttons. It can’t get any easier.

Viewing and leaving comments supported

One of the most important features that *makes* Facebook what it is, is the “Comments” feature where you and other friends can comment on a post, whether it be a photo, a news article, a video, etc. And you all can view all comments made and interact with each other over it. This truly makes Facebook dynamic as it engages many people, in my view. Thankfully, this important feature is supported on the app.

“Like” supported

Another popular feature of Facebook, which is not necessarily as fundamental as the “Comments” feature is the “Like” button. This indicates to the person who posted the status that you and others “like”d it. Again, it may be important for some who “like” this feature.

Play embedded videos from status or link updates

As shown in the screenshots, embedded videos in the status updates can be viewed and rendered on the iPhone from within the Facebook app. However, the video playback will be rendered from the video player of the iPhone and not directly from inside the Facebook app. Although that’s the case, when the video finishes, it will go back to the Facebook app (whew!).

Geo-based “Places” status update supported

For those who enjoy geo-based tagging and posting, you will be happy to find that the latest Facebook update and feature that was rolled out on the website is also supported on the iPhone app. Unfortunately it is limited to US residents and of course, requires the built-in GPS feature of the iPhone or the 4th Gen iPod Touch. With it, you can “check in” to places to let friends know where you are and perhaps if you’re close to each other, meet up.

However, for those who are a bit more hesitant about disclosing their whereabouts, you can disable it.

Notifications supported

An important feature with any social networking app is the ability to be notified when someone contacts you. The Facebook app supports the Notifications feature and I find that, within minutes of an action, I will find that red Notifications bubble at the bottom of the app or on the app icon itself when I’m not running the Facebook app. This can be very useful to be notified of events and important messages, etc that you may find important.

Viewing and sending messages supported

Facebook has a “Messages” feature where you can contact a friend by sending them a message and vice versa. Fortunately the iPhone app will support the viewing and sending of messages. And of course, via the Notifications feature, you will be notified when someone sends you a message.

Chat supported within app

If you’re someone who’s into “chatting” online in real-time with friends, you’ll be pleased to know that Facebook Chat is supported in the app as well. All you need to do is “log in” to Facebook chat and you can chat with any of your friends who are “online”. It’s that simple

View and RSVP to event invites

From time to time, or perhaps very often, you may find that you’ve been “invited” to an event by a friend or a group, organization, or business. Not only does the app support the viewing of the event invitation, you can also RSVP to it right from within the app. Very handy.

Log in and out supported

For those who value privacy, the Facebook app supports logging in and out right from within the app. This is a very good way to ensure that unauthorized use and access to your account is minimized. Good feature to have.

Photo uploading supported

If you have an iPhone or the latest 4th Generation iPod Touch, you can easily snap a photo with the built-in camera and upload or post it on Facebook right from within the app. If you have a 3rd Generation or earlier iPod Touch, you can still upload a photo from your photo library and post on Facebook.

FREE!

Again, this has got to be another big reason for anyone to get it, not only because it’s a very worthy replacement for the website as it offers most of the important features but also because it’s FREE.

I Didn’t Like:

No “Find Friend” feature available on iPhone app

Especially for newbies to Facebook, it is very crucial to be able to find friends that may already be on Facebook instead of doing a “global” search for a friend’s name that may offer many results of people who share the same name. Not having the “Find Friend” feature in the iPhone app is a major disappointment for those who may not have a computer or just want to use their iPhone more often. Since this feature is only available via the website, it forces the Facebook user to have to go online via the computer to do this search.

No “invite” friends feature available on app

Similar to the previous mention, there’s no “invite” friends feature available on this app which, for some who don’t have a computer and only an iPhone, forces them to have to find a computer to invite friends to Facebook. Since this feature isn’t a hard one to have as many apps already have a “recommend” to friends feature, I’m surprised that it’s not there.

no access to Privacy features from within app

Especially with respect to Facebook and the history of privacy issues that it has, I think it’s crucial to be able for the app to access the Privacy features and settings right from within the app. By default, as many already know, Facebook allows practically everything you do (posts, photos, profile info, phone numbers, email, etc) to be publicly viewable by Facebook users and anyone who does a Google search. So, it’s fundamentally important for the app to access this privacy setting in my view.

No access to Account or other settings from within app

Similar to my previous mention, again the app doesn’t offer access to your Facebook account or other settings from within the app. Considering that even the mobile version of the Facebook website for the iPhone offers some kind of “Settings” access, I am extremely disappointed that the app doesn’t offer access when I think it’s superior to the mobile website. But what’s my opinion worth?

No access to games or other non-Facebook apps

This is just a dislike just for the sake of argument. One of the strong features of Facebook is the social games you can play in it. For obvious reasons (the app can’t and probably won’t handle other 3rd party games) plus privacy issues, you can’t play a game, like FarmVille from within the app. But then, you can just install the game and play it without needing Facebook. Plus, most of the games found on Facebook are available as an individual game from the iTunes App store.

Review Summary

Facebook for iPhone and iPod Touch is a as close in terms of popular features offered on the iPhone version as it is on the actual website. Features such as the “Like” button for status and links is available on the iPhone app as are the Comments which allows you to comment on a particular article, link, or status update in addition to reading and commenting on others’ comments. As well, the newly added Places (only currently available for iPhone and for US users) allows a similar “check in” feature that other services like Foursquare offers where you can announce to your friends “where” you currently are. You can view and RSVP to events you’ve been invited to by friends and view embedded video in Facebook updates. The only thing you can’t do is play FarmVille from within the app, but then, the game is already available as a separate app on the iTunes app Store .

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