VizualBusiness: Facebook Beta For Windows Phone Arrives, Exactly What Was Needed

Wednesday, May 1, 2013

Facebook Beta For Windows Phone Arrives, Exactly What Was Needed

Facebook Beta For Windows Phone Arrives, Exactly What Was Needed:
Just today afternoon I was filling in a survey that Nokia had sent out about which apps I thought were lacking. One such app that I had a lot of say about was Facebook. Microsoft’s all metro Facebook app just wasn’t cutting it, and I always resorted to using Facebook in the browser because of that. Space was wasted, the UI was completely different from Facebook’s other offerings, and using it was otherwise frustrating as well.
Windows Phone Facebook Beta

Thankfully you do not need to deal with that anymore. A brand new beta has just been made available by Microsoft that takes its design cues from Facebook’s iOS and Android offerings, and in the process will make a lot of users happy. I’ve been playing with the app on a 512 MB RAM packing Lumia 720, and I’m glad to say that the performance isn’t bad at all, and this is still a beta. Scrolling is smooth, the slide gestures to the right and left in order to reveal chat and the navigation bar is specially fluid.
The beta finally brings the ability to view your newsfeed by ‘Top Stories’ or ‘Most Recent’, something I have really missed. But since this is still a beta, there are bound to be some issues. The app takes a bit of time to resume, and that is something Microsoft really needs to work upon. This means that while Messages can still be pinned to the homescreen, they won’t be able to work like the ‘Facebook Messenger’ because of this reason.
This is what Microsoft has to say:

As you’ll see, the app is undergoing a major redesign and now includes several much-requested features, including new support for high-res photos, post sharing, and Facebook Timeline. Once you’ve put the beta app through its paces, we hope you’ll pass along bug reports, feature requests, and other feedback by going to Settings>About in the app. You can also post a Store review. Your comments and suggestions will inform future releases.

You can keep both version of Facebook running side by side. Click on this link from your Windows Phone to download the Facebook for Windows Phone Beta.