Facebook Event On Android

We all remember HTC’s 2011 efforts with the F-button on the Salsa and the ChaCha but those phones, while mid-range Android devices back in the day, were mostly disappointing in what they tried to achieve. According to recent rumors HTC and Facebook are at it again, teaming up once more, this time for a “real” Facebook phone.

“Come see our new home on Android” says the press invite above and we’re pretty certain it will be more than the two aforementioned devices. The event happens next week on April 4 in California and we’re pretty excited, not because the world needs another mid-range Android device, but because it is said that there will be many interesting and exclusive features and modifications to the experience. We’ll keep you posted and up-to date with everything happening the way you’ve gotten used to our coverage by now.

                                                                                                                              Via: Pocketnow.com

Google+ Update Brings Ice Cream Sandwich-Like Interface

If you've been following our Google Android 4.0 IceCream Sandwich coverage, around the time the first screenshots were leaked, a couple of ICS-specific applications have also surfaced on the internet and Google+ was one of them. 

Now Google has officially updated the application and, aside from the usual bugfixes and performance enhancements, it also brings a completely new user interface. Ice CreamSandwich is written all over it but aspect aside, you can now sign out the application and add people to a circle from circle profiles. Follow the source link below to download or update. 

Skype For Windows Phone Allegedly Still On Track For This Fall

Initial Skype plans for Windows Phone go way back to this year's MIX when an application was promised for the Redmond platform. Since then Microsoft acquired Skype for $8.5 billion in cash, a deal that was not long ago officially finalized.

It appears that the application which will bring videocalling to Windows Phones is still on track for a release this year, according to recent reports. It's still unknown whether it will be a stand-alone application of a software update with the Skype bit deeply integrated (but according to what we already know, it won't have such a huge People's Hub integration at the beginning). As for the wave-one and two devices without a front-facer, you'll hopefully be able to do voice calls. 

Facebook For Android Updated With Several Features And Fixes

If you're frequently using Facebook on your Android phone then you'll be glad to find out the application has been once again updated. The new version not only fixes several bugs but also improves functionality.

With the new version it is easier to share things as there is an improved sharing tool that adds privacy controls on posts and match your settings on the web site. You can now also tag friends and places in posts and use the iPhone-like pull-to-refresh action. Profile and Group Walls have been redesigned, photo browsing and notifications are improved and much more. Head over to the source link to update or check with your Market application to get the latest version. 

Facebook For iPhone Updated To Version 3.5, Adds Features

Facebook continues to keep the iPhone application up and running with frequent updates that often add new features or bring user interface changes. The latest version is 3.5 which is available as of now for free in the Apple iTunes App Store.

With the new application version you will be able to tag friends and places in posts, share external links from a web view, as well as enjoy the new design for Profile and Group Walls. The sharing tool has been improved to add privacy controls on posts and match your settings on the web site and there are also a handful of improvements and bug fixes, like speed of Notifications, fixed Chat bugs and so on. Follow the source link to download or check with your computer's iTunes/device's AppStore for the update. 

Skype On Windows Phone Might Not Be An App But OS Integration

If you've used Windows Phone Mango or seen thedemo videos you know just how deep the Facebook integration is. You can post an update, upload a picture, check out albums and even chat without the need of the dedicated application. Turns out Windows Phone might not need a Skypeapplication either to do stuff.

Neil Stevens, Skype's Vice President and General Manager of Products and Marketing, hinted towards tight Skype integration with Windows Phone, unlike other platforms like Android and iOS, where there's a dedicated application for it. "People don't want to start an app when they're making a call", said Stevens, so we'll probably be surprised to see that Windows Phone will offer Skype integration the same way it currently handles Facebook. 

Facebook Messenger App Contains Code For Video Chat

We've already speculated on the possibilty of Facebook bringing video chat to mobile phones -- as we know about the Skype integration in Facebook -- and it appears that the social network does indeed plan to bring such a feature to phones (or at least they're playing with the idea).

Yesterday's Facebook Messenger app for both iOS and Android turns out to contain code that hints towards video integration. The video chat bit would work on both iOS and Android as well as with Facebook's (upcoming) Skype-powered video chat solution. The code, as contained in yesterday's initial release of the app, is not final and thus not working but we definitely expect a refresh of the software on both platforms once Facebook flips the switch on video chat. 

Editorial: Facebook Chat Is the New Standard for IM

While being frustrated by all of the various instantmessaging clients available for mobile devices and PCs, I noticed that the majority of the people I know were often available on Facebook chat. I had been thinking about this for a while and recently I noticed the same thoughts expressed by Zack Wittaker over at Zdnet. There's no need for Blackberry Messenger anymore, everybody you know is on Facebook and Facebook chat is supported by all major operating systems on smartphones, tablets, laptops and desktop computers.

Blackberry Messenger only ever worked on Blackberry devices. You couldn't instant messagesome one on a PC. Apple's new "iMessage" feature in iOS5 aims to bring instant messaging to all of their iOS devices including WiFi-only iPads and iPod Touch devices. It still doesn't have a web-based client, or PC client, or support on any other non-iOS device. It's not even compatible with Apple's own iChat on a Mac. I suppose one advantage is that little indicator that shows the other person whether you've read an instant message yet, but is that more important than actually being able to contact people regardless of what device they're using?

Apple and Blackberry would like you to communicate only with people who own the same type of device that they've already sold to you. That's why there's such a market for things like WhatsApp, KIK, etc.--apps that let you send instant messages to other users with the same app but maybe not the same type of phone. Then there's the originally PC-based instant messengers like AIM, Gtalk, Windows Live Messenger, and Skype which also integrate voice and video messaging, but aren't so big in the mobile-device messaging arena. Wouldn't it be great if there was a standard for instant messaging just like there's a standard for email, phone calls, and text messaging? 

Well there actually is a standard called XMPP (Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol) and that's exactly what Facebook chat uses. Anyone can make an IM client that interfaces with XMPP since it's an open standard. Jabber and Gtalk also use XMPP for instant messaging, but there's often no centralized server that communicates with all of these other networks which is why you can't really IM Gtalk users from Facebook.

A number of the largest proprietary centralized-server type instant messaging networks have recently added Facebook chat support. Windows Live Messenger is one of the largest IM networks with about 330 Million active users and they've added some great Facebook integration last year. Even more recently, Skype and their 882 million user network has also started integrating with Facebook. Skype even enables video calling between Facebook chat users and Skype users. Facebook's network is around 750 million users, but not everyone uses Facebook chat I guess so the number of instant messaging users there might be smaller. That should take care of a huge number of people on the PC based side. There are still a few million people using other instant messaging networks that aren't compatible with Facebook just yet. AIM still has about 53 million users, Yahoo has 22 million, and ICQ has 4 million. Then there's one large super power country that actually blocks Facebook from everyone who lives there, but they've got a niceTencent QQ instant messaging network with about 448 million users.

What about mobile? Of course the iPhone's Facebook app supports Facebook chat with push notifications so you can stay logged in at all times and receive messages as they arrive. The Android and Blackberry Facebook apps do the same. Actually, as I was writing this, Facebook released a new app for iPhone and Android called Facebook Messenger which makes it much easier for users to access Facebook chat in a dedicated app (along with Facebook group messaging and a few other cool features.)

Windows Phone 7.5 Mango has Facebook chat fully integrated right along side Windows Live Messengerand SMS/MMS text messaging along with the awesome speech UI for hands-free instant messaging. Yes, the speech UI works with Facebook chat in case that wasn't clear. Palm's Web OS 2.0 will have Facebook chat integrated with the messaging app as well (eventually). Even if you're a die-hard old-school Windows Mobile 2003SE-6.5 user, you can get a Facebook chat program.

You might not want everyone who you're friends with on Facebook to always be able to instant message you no matter where you are. Luckily on Facebook's website you can create lists of people who you may want to appear online or offline to. When you log into Facebook on the web, the little chat bar has a settings button with an option to limit availability. From there you can turn on/off lists of people that you may or may not want to appear online to. You'll have to go to Friends > Manage Friends first in order to create lists of people you may want to use in the chat permissions feature first though.

Is Facebook Chat cool enough to possibly be the world's leading instant messaging platform? 

Twitter 2.0 for BlackBerry Leaves Beta

Two weeks back, RIM invited BlackBerry users to check out one of its latest apps, offering Beta Zone members the opportunity to test version 2.0 of its Twitter client. Now that beta testing period has wrapped-up, and the company has published the final build of Twitter 2.0 to the App World for all to enjoy. 

Changes in store for users new to Twitter 2.0 include a new navigation bar to let you move through theapp's screens more fluidly. There's also a more comprehensive search function that augments a simple text search with tools for finding users and trending topics. If you're on a device running BBOS 6.0, the system-wide universal search will dig up results from Twitter now, as well. A more prominent compose tweet button will let you publish your thoughts straight away, without having to navigate around to the right screen, and a spruced-up UI offers a sleek black chrome look to the app. 

BlackBerry users running system software 4.5 or better can check out Twitter 2.0 in the App World now.