Get Your FaceBook On With Windows Mobile

Posted by: dgoldring on Jul 19 2008

How many of you out there in JAMM-land are on Facebook?  Probably quite a few.  Heck, even JAMM is on FaceBook (and if you haven’t already, check us out, here).  I use FaceBook quite bit.  It is a fun way to keep up with some of my long lost friends.  Heck, using FaceBook, I have even found friends from my childhood, high school, college.  You name it.  The problem arises, however, when I try to access FaceBook from my mobile device.  That can be just plain painful.  It really does not offer the same kind of access as your desktop at all, which can be pretty frustrating.  Well, now two applications are offering to give you a much more enjoyable and useful FaceBook experience from your Windows Mobile device.  So, let’s take a look at FriendMobilizer and Snap2Face and see how each can enhance your FaceBook experience.

FRIENDMOBILIZER

We’ll start with FriendMobilizer, which had been around slightly longer.  The first thing I noticed was the sign up website, which looked very promising.  Fill out a simple form with your name and phone number.  Then, you will automatically be taken to FaceBook where you can authorize the application to access your account.  Once you have done this, you can choose to download the desktop installation package or just install it directly from a cab file.

I was impressed by how quickly FriendMobilizer loaded on my device.  Since they do not use a graphic heavy interface, it snaps open.  The downside to this, however, is that while you can access much of the important FaceBook information, the pages are not formatted to look like FaceBook pages.  I felt it lost a little of the FaceBook feel as a result.

The main page shows whether you have any new notifications.  If you have any new wall posts, messages, friend requests, event invites, or group invites, they will be displayed on the main page.  Oddly, though, you could not tap on these to open them.  They served only to alert you to new information.

The worst part of the main page, however, was the giant ad on the bottom of the screen.  As if it is not bad enough that this ad space takes up a full quarter of the screen, it is not even a graphic.  Just a giant gray box with a text link inside.  Because of its size, this giant gray box becomes the dominant item on the page overshadowing the more important information on the page.

Navigation through the program is all done through the Menu on the right hand soft key.  From here, you can access your:

• Friends
• Status
• View your inbox and profile

Like the home page, all of these pages eschew the standard FaceBook look in favor of a less graphical approach.  While this did make the pages load faster, it also detracted from feel of the program.

Friends: When you access your friends, you will be met with a list of all of your FaceBook friends (in alphabetical order) This page actually reminded me quite a bit of the default Windows Mobile contacts screen, which is not saying a lot.  Scroll through the list or begin typing a name in the box to search for a specific person.   Once you have found the entry you want to view, select the friend by tapping on the entry and pushing the “Select Friend” button.  I did find it odd that you could not tap and hold or double tap to open the entry.

Once you select your friend, you will be taken to that person’s “page”.  From here, you can view their status (it is odd that you must open their page before you can see their status.  You can also

• view their wall,
• view photos
• view their profile
• poke them
• view an album
• view notes

All of these options actually directly connect to the mobile Facebook application.  So, you will be taken out of FriendMobilizer and into the mobile FaceBook application, which worked just fine, though it did seem to defeat the purpose of the program as a replacement for the mobile FaceBook page.  No matter, the transition was relatively seamless and really did seem to work well.

Status: To change you status, just select the Status option from the menu.  One of the nice things here was that, in addition to entering your own status message, you can also choose from a list of prewritten status messages.  This makes setting your status even easier than ever.  It would have been nice, though, if there had been an option to add your own preset status messages to the list.

View: From the View option, you can jump directly to your Inbox and profile.  Again, this is taking you out of the FriendMobilizer program, and transitioning you into the mobile FaceBook application.  You will notice, again, that this will be a more graphical interface, which means that it takes longer to load that pages within the FriendMobilizer program.  Another thing I noticed, which is not readily apparent, is that when the program transitions you from FriendMobilizer to FaceBook, it actually opens a new Internet Explorer window to do so.  Unlike your desktop, it is not easy to notice that this has been done.  As such, when you are ready to return to FriendMobilizer, you will have to hit Exit to leave the new window and return to the original window.

Overall, I though FriendMobilizer worked fairly well.  The non-graphical layout meant that it was much quicker loading pages, but it also lost some of the distinctive FaceBook feel and appeal.  Since most paths eventually led to a page on the mobile Facebook site, FriendMobilizer really served as a portal to the mobile Facebook site, rather than a complete  standalone program.

SNAP2FACE

 

Unlike FriendMobilizer, Snap2Face is designed much more around a FaceBook-style interface.  The main page shows much of the basic information from your profile page (including your profile picture).  From here, it is easy to change your status.  Though it does not have the preset status dialogues of FriendMobilizer, I really liked how easy it was to use.  Just tap edit and type in your status.

The icons along the bottom of the screen allow you to:

• upload photos to your FaceBook account,
• view photo albums
• check your inbox
• check your wall posts
• check your pokes
• accept or review a friend request

What I really liked here was that all of these features were formatted to approximate what you would actually see on FaceBook.  This is a much more graphical interface than FriendMobilizer, and even displays your friends’ profile images next to their messages.

 

Here, you can see the Snap2Face inbox, alongside the actual FaceBook inbox.  Snap2Face does a great job of approximating a mobile version of FaceBook. 

The second tab on the main page is your friends tab.  Here, again, you will notice the FaceBook-like interface, complete with profile images.   Just tap any friend to open their profile.  From here, you can:

• check their status
• view their photos and photo albums
• send a message
• send a poke
• read their wall
• check out their friends list
• sync their information with Outlook.

I really liked the graphical interface on Snap2Face.  I thought it made for a much nicer user experience than FriendMobilizer.  I also thought the features and options were slightly more intuitive on Snap2Face.  Particularly since all of the controls are located directly on the recipient’s profile page.  Unlike FriendMobilizer, it did not feel like a fancy portal to the mobile FaceBook site.  Snap2Face had a feel of being a standalone application, which was capable of accessing FaceBook data.

CONCLUSION

I thought both programs did an excellent job of presenting you with the basic communicative functions which FaceBook has to offer.  There were a few features, which I felt were missing, such as friend finder or the ability to visit groups and pages.  Who knows, maybe they will be coming soon.  However, if the basic purpose of FaceBook is to foster communications, both programs did a great job.

I did prefer Snap2Face’s more graphic oriented interface, however, this did not come without a price.  It is considerably slower than the almost zippy FriendMobilizer.  In the end, if you are a FaceBook fan, then you will want to check out both and see which one works for you: the graphically oriented Snap2Face, or the fast running portal to the FaceBook mobile page, FriendMobilizer.

Where to Find Them:

FriendMobilizer

Snap2Face

Both are free downloads.

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