Just in time for the Pixi's grand debut, webOS devices (that's just Pixi and Pre) now have their first official
Facebook app, joining the ranks of iPhone and
Android... and we're sad to report that it's about as barebones as they can get. It pulls from the raw live stream, seemingly unfiltered -- even if you said "no" to Farmville updates on your main feed, they'll show up here. Clicking a YouTube link brings you to the YouTube app, clicking links go to browser. You can update your status or upload a photo, but that's about it. You can't seem to search Facebook for any info, view events, or anything else, and clicking on someone's name or photo brings up their contact info. And that's about it -- can someone give
Joe Hewitt a ring? Still, it's better than nothing.
WebOS 1.3.1 is required, not that you had any reason to hold off upgrading.
posted Nov 16th 2009 12:51AM
Yeah, Palm didn't spend 6 months just developing a Facebook app. Get your head out of your ass.
Bleah :X oh well I guess it's better than nothing for am i rite lol
Not when the browser version is immensely better...Sounds like they just wasted their time...
Now, go find and befriend Dominique ButterNuts LAWL
I don't know what the deal is with facebook apps, but they're always pretty barebones when they come out. I mean the iPhone app was pretty pathetic when it was first released... maybe not this basic though.
Doesn't WebOS already natively pull information from Facebook? So is there really a need to search for contacts, etc. in the actual app? (I could be wrong, as I don't have a WebOs device)
The Facebook on WebOS situation isn't horrible, but it's really confusing. Synergy pulls in contacts, the mobile site is useful for some stuff, you can upload pics right from the built-in Photos app, Status reading and commenting works well though the official Facebook app, and Palmbook is a very promising homebrew app (though not yet feature-complete).
As a Palm Pre owner, I can interact with Facebook just fine (especially considering how little I actually care about using Facebook). However, there's not one single go-to application that has all the features that anyone could possibly want.
Once upon a time, lol meant "laugh out loud". Now, it just means "I'm uncomfortabel in my own skin".
The Facebook app for the iPhone was rather weak and disappointing until 3.0. Although the damn timezone glitch is annoying as hell and has yet to be fixed... But it took awhile for the iPhone one to become something visually appealing, easy to use and functions wonderfully. Too bad the developer flipped Apple the bird and handed over the reigns to another engineer. Maybe he will go on to help improve the Facebook app on other platforms.
One of the features the article mentions is missing is events, however facebook events are synced directly into the calendar app, always have in WebOS. This is far more useful than having it in a facebook app.
I would still like facebook chat, but again in the messaging app, not a seperate facebook one. Facebook inbox synced into the mail app would also be preferable. All facebook photos having thumbnails synced to the photo app would be great. If all of that happens, what is the need for more in a facebook app? The groundwork is being laid.
@David Austin
laid.. you said laid
Palm probably had to beg for the app seeing as Facebook doesn't take anything non iPhone seriously. I'm surprised its this half-hearted though. Hopefully more features are added in subsequent updates.
Well not really, with regard to your iPhone comment.
Kinda, at least... http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/12/facebook-app-developer-rejects-app-store-irony-ensues/
Shouldn't Engadget have an article about the Facebook app on iPhone? Looks like they consider it significant enough to have one when on the Pre.
I'm looking forward to their review of the Tetris app on thePre.
Don't be such a smuck. Apple constantly begs developers to build a OSX version of Window apps.
@Freakin Ijit
Engadget != Kotaku
iPhone Facebook App has been out for months now.
funny someone downranked you. i'm wondering if you offended a palm, iphone, or facebook user. cause it could have been any of them.
Third !!!
Well at least he's actually third.
*Cue fight with Solidus* (well, maybe a bit later)
nice to see that facebook is going to other platforms :)
Suck my kiss!
I tried, but got a mouthful of lcd.
It's decent. Even though i still need more time to give it a better description.
I see that trapster app you have. Hmm... running red lights, are we?
WOW this is craptacular
This App is about as good as..well nothing, it's totally pointless and Palm should be embarrassed.
I'm sure there must be a better 3rd party solution?! I use babbler on my G1 since the official app sucks.
There are actually two other 3rd party Facebook apps on WebOS, one free, one paid. Both of them are way better than the official one!
Looks better than the WinMobile version. Happy with android and blackberry fb for now.
How is this better than the WinMo version?
I'm with Harney. The WinMo Facebook App is definitely better and possesses more features.
As much as I like WinMo, the FB app is just plain pathetic!
Simply signing in doesnt even refresh the feed! Any time you change from your home to profile, you need to manually refresh it. Also, In the version I am using, on the sign up screen, instead of a sign in button, the label says "Button 1", if that says anything.
I just use HTC Sense to pull facebook data onto the phone.
Bahahahahahahaha @ Dominque Butternuts.....*ahem*
Its ok just live feed for now but I'm sure more is coming.
I'm still not a fan of facebook friend integration in my contacts...only some, but the "associate" not so good friends people, bleeeh
Just put Palm and WebOS down already.
Can't be as bad as Facebook for BlackBerry
*cough* Ahem, I said....CAN'T BE AS BAD AS FACEBOOK FOR BLACKBERRY
I know you're listening RIM, now fix it already
they put out a update a few weeks ago. go under options and click check for updates...
Oh I know....that didn't mean they fixed it.
FriendsFlow from the official app catalog and Palmbook (homebrew) are both good alternatives, and of course x.facebook.com works great on the phone as well.
Try touch.facebook.com. I tend to use that on my android device because facebook for android sucks just about as bad as this. When I have wifi, I just use the iPhone app on my iPod touch.
FriendsFlow was pretty decent when it was homebrew. When it moved to the official appstore and got a makeover, it was pretty much unusable. Did they fix it again? I'm not willing to buy it if its anything like it was after the move.
Eventually when this updates it'll become much more useful. Don't get me wrong, I'm still complaining about this horrendously useless app as well, but when it's fully useful then people will be happy. Thanks for the effort at least Palm and Facebook. Now fix synergy so I can delete people I don't really give a shit about.
This looks more like a decent Twitter client than a Facebook client.
Palm screwed up with the WebOS SDK. No good SDK results in no apps and no apps in a smartphone results in no sales. Too bad, they really had a chance. Even if they got the SDK fixed it'll be too late since by then we'll have Android 2.0 big time and maybe even iPhone OS 4.0. Poor Palm wouldn't stand a chance.
A "native" SDK would be nice for other reasons, but there's actually nothing that one would want from a Facebook application that couldn't already be accomplished through the existing SDK.
Think about it: Facebook is a website! What else do you need that a well-written web app couldn't do? I'm sure that the stuff you'd actually want hardware access for, like photo capture and uploading, is possible though the MojoSDK. Facebook could easily make a full-featured app for WebOS using the existing tools, they just haven't yet.
> ..Facebook is a website!...
I was under the impression that "Facebook-the-entity" (as opposed to "Facebook-the-web-site") had an API for doing all sorts of stuff and THAT was what was being used for real "Facebook apps".
That is to say, "real" Facebook apps aren't working simply by accessing the web pages.
And THAT is what Palm is failing to do here.
You're misunderstanding. "Facebook-the-entity" stores content. They have an API, which 3rd party apps use to access that content. That's EXACTLY what Palm IS doing to make Synergy work, and what other WebOS apps like FriendsFlow and Palmbook are doing.
The API is not an issue, and it's not what Atheos was complaining about. He seems to think that the WebOS SDK is insufficient to make a good Facebook app, which is total nonsense. Anything that the "native" Facebook app for the iPhone does COULD be done in a WebOS application using the SDK that is available now.
There are certain things that are not possible with the current SDK. Serious gaming is out, but Facebook doesn't make games anyway. Also, Facebook couldn't make an app that integrates their chat with the built-in Messaging application on the Pre (without working with Palm). Apple's "superior" SDK doesn't allow that either (not that it could, since the iPhone can't even do IM without an app).
Just take a look at the Facebook app for the iPhone, and tell me if you see anything that wouldn't be possible using Palm's SDK. I don't think there is anything. Meanwhile, there are certain things that you CAN do on WebOS that you can't do on an iPhone (run in the background, for example), which Facebook could use to build a better experience than is possible using Apple's "native" SDK.
The article that these are comments for suggests that palm has failed to use the Facebook API to the extent it could be used.
And I'm apparently not the only one noting that:
http://www.palminfocenter.com/news/9997/facebook-for-webos-cops-a-drubbing/
Palm made it them selves.
In preware, palmbook is a homebrew client thats great and getting better all the time.
All of the Facebook apps are crap. Total crap. They don't implement anywhere in the vicinity of all of Facebook's web features, which aren't exactly a lot. And hell, the stupid Android app redirects you to m.facebook.com in some places for features that the native app already implements. Not to mention the fact that it still redirects to m.facebook.com on devices like the Droid, which are more than capable of running the superior Facebook Touch website. For a company with the funding and resources of Facebook, there's no excuse for releasing apps that aren't any better than what some guy could throw together in an afternoon experimenting with the Android SDK. Facebook's official apps are literally nothing more than glorified RSS feeds. I say this as an avid Facebook user, with love. I'm not mad, son; just disappointed.
The iPhone Facebook app is actually pretty darn good, I'd go so far as to call it excellent.