Facebook for Android Review

by Antonio Wells Sep 25, 2009 9:55 AM – 15 Comments

Install

Facebook for Android makes it easy to stay connected and share information with friends. You can share status updates from your home screen, check out your news feed, look at your friends’ walls and user info, upload photos and share links.

Price: Free

Tested on: Nexus One
Content Rating: Medium Maturity

AndroidTapp.com Android App Review:

Pros & Cons:

Pros

Connects to your Facebook account
No dealing with Permissions issues
Has an Android Widget with quick link to open full app (Wall entries)
Likes and Wall Comments are available
It’s speedy

Cons

Inbox (actually there’s a loop hole to get to it via checking Friends Profile… see small link to Inbox. Of course the Mobile Facebook app displays as referred to my rant on Babbler Android App Review)
Can’t view friends or your photo gallery
Can’t send/accept Friend Requests
Limited features

Features:

The app that dupped us all into thinking it was the official Facebook app for Android, yet a 3rd party developed Facebook app. The app is pretty limited in features in comparison to top apps like Babbler and Bloo. Upload photos, take a pic and upload, view your Feed, read/write to your Wall, Comment on Friends Wall, Like and Dislike comments.

Video: Facebook for Android

Watch on Mobile

: Facebook News Feed

: Facebook Timeline

: Facebook Share Pictures

: Facebook Messenger

: Facebook Messages Notifications

: Facebook for Android My Wall

: Facebook for Android Typing Status

: Facebook for Android Friends Comment with Likes

: Facebook for Android Upload Photo

: Facebook for Android Settings Menu

Usefulness:

Facebook apps have such a high demand because so many people use the social network.

Ease of Use:

The app is intuitive and easy to use.

Frequently Used:

Possibly multiple times daily.

Interface:

The user interface resembles what could come from Facebook’s brand. Clean, organized, and mobile optimised.

AndroidTapp.com Rating

(3.9 out of 5)

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Developer: Facebook

Tags: Android Apps, AndroidTapp.com App Review, Facebook, Facebook App, Facebook for Android, Official Facebook Android App

Categorised in: Social

15 Comments

By Henning on September 25, 2009 at 1:12 pm:

In the last few weeks, I have installed and tried several (free) Facebook apps, but I didn’t find any one that is really complete in terms of functionality. The official mobile site is sometimes hard to use, and they don’t let you comment on your own posts anymore, unless someone else has posted a comment. There’s a nice wrapper around the Facebook mobile site, called fBook. To get some advanced features, I’m using the mobile site along with Babbler which gives a quite complete set of features. Both applications don’t feature chat functionality, so I’m using Meebo for that. Quite a mess having to use three independent apps to get the most out of Facebook And there have been rumors that there won’t be an official Android Facebook app as Facebook is allegedly boycotting Google for some strange reason.

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By Guy on September 25, 2009 at 1:43 pm:

Actually just so you know, this is the official face book app. Why do you think it doesn’t have to request any permissions?

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- By Android Tapp on September 26, 2009 at 2:24 pm:
  
  Ummm… it’s not official. 3rd party, no permissions because it doesn’t have features that need to request permission.
  
  Also, have a look at the Gmail support email address: http://www.cyrket.com/package/com.facebook.katana
  
  Then have a look at the contradictory note Facebook placed in the Information field “This application was not developed by Facebook.” http://phandroid.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/facebook-app.jpg
  
  Reply
  - By Gyuri on September 27, 2009 at 3:34 pm:
    
    According to TechCrunch, it IS official.
    
    http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/09/08/facebook-on-android-not-much-to-review-but-we-do-it-anyway/
    
    This is an “official” Facebook app, the company tells us, even though the page says “This application was not developed by Facebook.” That’s because, as we previously reported, Google has actually built this themselves – obviously having a Facebook application was strategically important to them.
    
    Reply
  - By Nate on October 9, 2009 at 9:56 am:
    
    Burned on your own website!
    
    Reply
    - By Android Tapp on October 9, 2009 at 1:45 pm:
      
      I really didn’t think it needed to be pointed to Gyuri once again, this is NOT the official Facebook app. (The quoted proof is contradictory to his statement). I read the TechCrunch back when they reported it, and read clear English that Google developed this and NOT Facebook. Hence “not the official Facebook app”.
      
      To make it simple to understand… if Facebook developed a Gmail component within their website, does that make it “the official Gmail app”???
      
      Reply
      - By Cyclolink on October 16, 2009 at 12:04 pm:
        
        I am not arguing whether it is official or not but your argument is the dumbest argument I have ever read. Since Google developed it, it must not be official – that is complete BS. Lots of companies will hire 3rd Party developers to develop software for them. Infinity Ward is the creator of Call of Duty however Treyarch created Call of Duty 3 and Call of Duty: WaW. By your logic that mean those are not official Call of Duty games.
        
        Horrible, horrible argument.
      - By Android Tapp on October 18, 2009 at 7:55 am:
        
        Yet you chimed in on “dumbest argument ever”??? Your analogies are comparing apples with oranges.
      - By hahaha on February 20, 2011 at 3:24 pm:
        
        No, but it would make it the official google app for facebook
By cireasa on December 7, 2009 at 9:00 am:

Been to Facebook official app, been to Babbler, now I’m happily “married” to Bloo. Slickest of them, most features.

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By Brian_S. on December 27, 2009 at 6:52 pm:

Has anyone tried m.facebook.com? It will detect you are using a Droid phone and switch over to touch.facebook.com which I think most will find much better.

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By Glenn on January 4, 2010 at 12:38 pm:

Reasonably good, though there’s nothing this can do that the Touch website can’t do and it’s quite annoying with some features as it just takes you to the browser. Also I’d rather it took me to the Facebook touch website, rather than the standard mobile one as that works better with my phone.

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By Liz on February 16, 2010 at 8:35 am:

I can’t see any messages in my notifications even though messages is checked in the notification settings. how can i see and respond to fb messages?

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By chirag on July 27, 2010 at 3:46 am:

I need source code for this application for uploading photo only
Can any one help me????

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By Laura on November 8, 2010 at 5:54 pm:

I don’t know why you would download anything that wasn’t the official Facebook app – doesn’t it make it easier to not have to request permissions and stuff all the time?

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