Facebook for Android Gets Another Big Overhaul
Facebook’s pushed an update today for all Android users that still weren’t satisfied with the app after the last major upgrade. The newest version of Facebook adds some nice features and makes some quirky enhancements that should hopefully shorten that list of issues everyone seems to have had with the app.
Aside from an almost complete face lift, you can watch videos directly within the app now. From the homescreen, you can access
requests and events which can be acted on right within the app itself – Facebook’s dying need to cut down on having to kick users to the browser. Also on the main screen is a photo reel with a stream of your friends’ recently updated photos and albumss. Not too shabby, I must say.
Notifications in the app are now accessed by pulling up a sliding drawer. The timeline view remains largely the same but there’s one key change: clicking links within a status update no longer requires long-holds. In previous versions, you’d need to click the status, then long hold the status once you’ve gone into the individual status view if you wanted to open a link. A lot of Android users didn’t know how to do this so it’s good that they’ve cleaned this part of the app up.
Many users are still pulling for Facebook Chat and other quirky additions, but Eric Tseng’s work at Facebook definitely shines through with this update. I’d love to give my impressions on the app but my Froyo-laden HTC EVO 4G won’t install it (anyone else having this problem?). Head over to the Android market to download it now.