Connect with us

Mobile

Windows Phone Facebook App Gets a Badly Needed Update

Published

on

Before filing for an IPO Facebook made quite a few changes to its service, and many of them have taken a long time to reach mobile apps. Today some of those new features have come to the Windows Phone Facebook app thanks to a badly needed update.

The Windows Phone Facebook app still follows the Metro design language that Microsoft developed for the platform, but it manages to pack more features into the layout, and make it look a lot nicer. The new app now has the Facebook “jewels” that inform users of friends requests, messages, and notifications in the top left corner of the app, making them easily available no matter where you are in the app.

Along the top of the app is an optional banner image, which seems to populate with images that you’re tagged in. Thankfully you can turn it off to turn the banner Facebook blue if you don’t like the photos it chooses, or you can just keep refreshing it until you get a combination you like.

Windows Phone Facebook app

In terms of functionality, the new Facebook app for Windows Phone adds in support for Groups and Pages which were sorely missing in the last version. Groups and Pages look just like profile pages, and have the same functionality.

Unfortunately the app still lacks some basic Facebook features. You’re still unable to use the app to tag photos, and you still can’t like individual responses to statuses. Timeline is also missing, though it does seem like it would be a difficult feature to put into the MetroUI.

Overall, the new Facebook app for Windows Phone is a big improvement. It looks a lot nicer, and works better as well. Scrolling isn’t as choppy as it was in the last version, and the new lists filters are a welcome addition. It’s still lacking some of the features of the iPhone and Android version (namely Timeline), but the app shows off the great design that’s possible in Windows Phone even without them.

Via: Windows Phone Blog and Facebook

4 Comments

4 Comments

  1. Chris Leckness

    02/14/2012 at 8:27 pm

    I wouldn’t say it was badly needed, it was a fairly good app as it was. It’s indeed much better now though.

  2. the person

    02/15/2012 at 6:14 am

    the review above isn’t entirely true.  You can tag your own photos, just not photos of others.  I think this is more to do with the fact that since this app is published by Microsoft on behalf of Facebook it is considered a 3rd party app and thus requires permissions unavailable.

    I’ll also say that Timeline is crappy on the PC browser, let alone a mobile app, I’d rather not see that choppy junk on a phone app.  If you want to browse someone’s life do it from a more appropriate venue.

    I’d like to see Microsoft turn this app over completely to Facebook and let them manage it.  This proxy arrangement isn’t ideal.

  3. Anonymous

    02/15/2012 at 5:17 pm

     https://lnk.co/IHOTL

  4. Gary

    10/26/2012 at 3:30 pm

    What is the best Facebook app for a htc windows phone

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.