If you own an Android phone and you also use Facebook it has probably come to your attention that the official Facebook client is lacking in quite a few areas. These areas include things like like notifications, comments within posts, posting videos, sharing posts outside of Facebook etc. On top of that the app is buggy and slow and only sees updates semi-annually it seems.
Luckily for Android users there are alternatives available in the Android Market that seek to replace or augment the official application, and in my humble opinion the best of these apps is FriendCaster by Handmark. Previously known by the name Flow for Facebook it was created by Chris Banes as a hobby project due to the deficiencies he saw in the official Android client. It has since grown into the most popular third party Facebook app for Android. Chris Banes is still heavily involved in the apps development even after it's purchase by Handmark (makers of Tweetcaster a very nice cross platform Twitter client) in May 2011.
So why should you buy FriendCaster instead of the Official App?
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| FriendCaster Home Screen |
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| Official Facebook Homescreen |
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| Swipe up for the drawer |
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| Favorites Drawer |
As you can see with just a swipe up from the bottom of the page you gain access via a drawer to your favorite people, pages, groups and so on. This is very handy for those few people you actually care about on Facebook that you frequently interact with. By tapping on a profile picture you are taken to that person's wall or page and from there you can comment, etc. You add people to this favorite screen by selecting the star icon in the upper right hand corner of their page.Pull To Refresh
Yes, you read that right FriendCaster uses "Pull to Refresh" to update your news feed, individual pages and walls. Of course if you like shaking your phone like it ain't no thang you can always change the refresh setting to shake, I won't judge you (OK, maybe I might). It is my personal belief that Pull to refresh should be implemented in every app possible where it makes sense, it is just so intuitive and easy. Hopefully Handmark will take this design/ui cue over to their Twitter app Tweetcaster as it's sorely needed there.Below are just a few things FriendCaster will do that aren't available in the official application. These include:
"Tap and Hold" Android's hidden options
That's right, like a lot of things in Android if you just tap and hold on a comment or status update you get a row of options that can be very handy. You can "like" a post or a comment, you can jump to a profile, copy a comment or post, or even share a favorite post via another Android application such as a Twitter client or over email. In the news feed you can even hide annoying application spam...Hide Annoying Spam in your News feed
Admit it we all have friends (or perhaps you're the guilty party) who fill our news feeds with invitations to join them in a pirate adventure or answering 21 questions, or perhaps helping them till their virtual farm. Being able to eliminate this spam once and for all is worth the price of this app alone. Sometimes we all have some "friends" with way too much time on their hands... and don't worry you can always access those filters again and remove them if you so desire.Pictures and Videos and bears oh my...
FriendCaster also allows for uploading videos and pictures (multiple pictures are allowed) via the built-in gallery on your phone. You can edit the captions of the photos and select which Album's to upload the pictures to on your Facebook account. When you open up a picture in FriendCaster you can tag your friends, or even change your profile picture to the one you are looking at.* In addition by using the "intents" functionality of Android a user can upload/share a link from a web page or YouTube or Twitter etc... and have detailed information posted to Facebook, not just a URL. You can even identify separate security/privacy settings for each upload or post.Notifications
Now I've saved what I believe to be the best for last with regards to this app, and that would be the enhanced notifications. FriendCaster notifications cover the following:
- Comments
- Likes
- Inbox Messages
- Friend Requests
- Birthdays
- Events/Groups Notifications
Notifications work as a pop up that allows you to respond immediately, open directly to the item, dismiss it or use the back key and just send it to your notification tray. Notifications are delivered either by scheduled polling or Push via Gmail notifications. I personally use the Gmail Push and it works really well, though I must note in order to use Push notifications you must enable Facebook
Conclusion
I have been using this app since its "Flow" days and must say I've been thoroughly impressed by the developer both in his responsiveness and his willingness to take input from his users. I am further heartened by the fact he will remain on as developer for the application even with Handmark's purchase and re-branding as FriendCaster. I don't have many negatives for this app, but I do have feature requests I would like to see for the future, like native ability to change the profile picture and accept friend requests. I would also welcome the ability to unlike a page or group from within the application. You will probably notice I said nothing about Facebook Chat in my spotlight, and that is primarily because it is one feature I have no use for on my phone and so I do not care that it is not currently included in FriendCaster. However I note it here so as not to mislead those who live and die by Facebook chat.
All in all, for my daily use this application has been more than worth the purchase price. There are two versions available, a free ad-supported one and the paid Pro version ($4.99). I recommend the Pro version only because I like to support good dev's and I hate ad's in my applications. If you care to share any of your experiences with this particular app please feel free to comment.
Market Link:
*When you select to update your profile picture it will actually take you to the Mobile Facebook page, but even that is more than the official client allows.
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