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Facebook for iPhone and iPad is Finally Worth Using

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The Facebook app update for iPhone and iPad that was originally thought to be out in July has finally landed in the App Store today and it offers stark improvement over the last version of the software that was comically slow and riddled with errors.

Facebook took its sweet time rolling out this crucial update for the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch but fortunately, the software was well worth the wait because the user interface zips, pages actually load, and the application doesn’t crash on a consistant basis.

Yes, there is finally a well-oiled, functioning Facebook app for iOS.

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Facebook has finally updated its iOS app.

Facebook 5.0 for iPhone and iPad Review

The previous version of Facebook, at least for me, was unusable on my iPhone 3GS. Content did not load, the application often crashed unexpectedly, pages were jumbled, and it was slow. Boy was it slow.

Fortunately, Facebook realized that its application stunk and decided to do something about albeit a little later than I had hoped. However, thus far, the update is good enough on my iPhone 3GS and new iPad, so good, that I will finally break my protest and start using Facebook on mobile again.

Performance

In the changelog, Facebook claims that it has rebuilt the application so that it’s faster and easier to use. With the past in mind, I was skeptical, but the new application, as I’ve said, is a vast improvement over the last version of the Facebook app.

The application finally loads up in a timely manner which means no more sitting around looking at a loading screen, waiting for my News Feed to pop up.

Speaking of that, my News Feed finally loads. Often times in the previous version, my News Feed would be disjointed. Photos wouldn’t appear and videos would be blank. With the update, I am finally able to see and interact with everything.

Scrolling through my News Feed doesn’t feel like navigating through rush hour traffic anymore. The app zips and doesn’t get held up when new stuff loads.

Going to individual profiles from within the app finally works as well. There would be times when the app just wouldn’t load someone’s profile. They load up properly with the update.

The performance here is top notch and because the final product is so good, I think I can forgive Facebook for taking so long to push this update out.

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The New Stories button is extremely useful.

New Features

The company also advertises a couple of new features that are on board the update. First, there is a neat little New Stories button that rests just below the navigation buttons that lets you easily get new stories from your News Feed.

Refreshing sometimes took forever, even on my new iPad, and now, it’s extremely fast and easy to get see the new stuff that my friends and family have posted.

Another feature in the update is the ability to use a quick swipe to close photos. It’s extremely fluid on my new iPad and it works well on my iPhone as well. Photos also load extremely fast as well.

Honestly, it’s nice to actually be able to see all of the photos in my News Feed. This little feature which makes viewing photos a little bit easier is just the cherry on top.

The last feature that Facebook advertises is quick notifications. There were many times that I had to wait for what seemed like years to have access to my new notifications. With the update, they load instantly. I like that. A lot.

Conclusion

Facebook has done a marvelous job here with its iOS update. I have been looking for stuff to pick on throughout the morning and thus far, I’ve found nothing but good.

Of course, it’s always possible that the app will deteriorate over the next couple of months but for the time being, I am going to bask in the glow that is this update.

If you use Facebook on your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch, this is an update that you need to install this very moment.

If you’ve been using a third-party application for your Facebook needs, you really should give the official application another try. You can find it for free on the iTunes App Store.

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