UPDATED: Facebook for iPhone – Review


(UPDATE: Never mind…as commenter Adam pointed out, version 1.1 was released this morning, and offers a solution for, it appears, every single complaint I had. It’s amazing what difference a few hours will make.)

I’m a fairly casual user of Facebook. I don’t spend just huge amounts of time on it…just long enough to get on, see what my friends are up to, and go on about my business. So, for me, the brilliant Facebook webapp was absolutely perfect. Simple to navigate, pretty well loaded with features, it was exactly what I needed to satiate my social networking fix. With the web app, I had access to virtually anything I could do on Facebook. The native app, however, takes huge steps backward in the way of functionality.

Gone is the ability to write on walls. Gone is the ability to look at users’ photos. Gone is ability to look at any interests, events, or personal information whatsoever. There is the ability to take a picture and upload it directly, but shouldn’t you be able to choose from pics that are already in your Camera Roll as well? One positive note, though…Facebook chat is an added feature. I don’t use it regularly, and I really feel like any IM app won’t be worthwhile until push goes live for developers in a couple of months. But to each his own.

All in all, the Facebook app is a surprisingly crippled venture from a company that released what was (and is) one of the best iPhone webapps around. Unless you’re jonesing to use Chat, there’s no reason to download this until it’s vastly improved.

Drew Corbitt is the newest writer for Apple Gazette. As a more recent switcher from PC to Mac, he brings a slightly different perspective to the world of Apple. He also posts at sister site TV Jab.


Drew

One Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

  1. Looks like you jumped the gun… Much of what you have just asked for got added in the now live update.

    x