6 Facebook Apps for the iPad

Its now more than nine months since its launch, Facebook still hasnt got around to providing us with an official app for the iPad. While the Facebook website and its iPhone app perfectly well on Apples tablet, a number of third-party developers have stepped in with dedicated offerings. Are they any good? Lets take a look:

Friendly Plus

Taking its cues from Facebooks iPhone app, Friendly Plus is designed to let you manage all aspects of your account from a single, tablet optimised screen. The news feed, Events and Places have their own tabs and most features youll need are easily accessible once you learn where they are in the interface. Chat, for example, is hidden down in the bottom right-hand corner. Once you access a friends photo album, images are displayed in full screen.

Friendly is a solid, Facebook client that is also available as a free, ad-supported version.

Facely

Flying in the face of convention, this app opts for a bright red default colour scheme, although you can customise this to just about any hue that you prefer.

Similar to Friendly, Facely focuses on offering a tablet-optimised Facebook experience. The interface is a little easier to navigate than Friendly, with all options concentrated at the top of the screen. That said, couple of the icons dont make a lot of sense. Why is a globe used for notific! ations a nd a triangle for the Refresh button? Unusual UI choices aside, Facely does a great job at filling in for the missing official app.

Facepad+

As opposed to the portrait oriented Friendly Plus and Facely, Facepad+ is designed to be held in landscape mode. However, unlike those other apps, it essentially acts as an interface for Facebooks mobile website. A list of navigation options provide access to all aspects of your account, but they are simply loaded from the Web.

Theres nothing essentially wrong with this approach, although as it charges for what is essentially a simple navigation layer for a free-to-use website means it certainly isnt the best value for money here.

Pica HD

If you appreciate good visual design in your apps, Pica HD could be for you. A selection of five attractive themes are available and most Facebook features are supported with an easy-to-use interface.

On the downside, the app feels a little sluggish at loading data by comparison to the other apps here. Theres also no support for Places here, either so if you like to check in from your iPad youll have to look elsewhere. Still, in terms of sheer good looks, Pica HD wins out.

Buddies

The iPad is an excellent way to browse photographs and none of the other apps here have capitalised on that. Conversely, Buddies is entirely built as a Facebook photo browser. You can navigate recent updates from friends, leaving comments and even uploading images directly from the app.

Aside from photos, there are a couple of nods to other aspects of Facebook, with support for Chat and updating your status.As we mentioned in our review when Buddies launched, this app wont replace a more fully featured client but for photos its unbeatable.

Tap To Facebook Chat

Just as Buddies focuses on photos, Tap to Facebook Chat (as you might expect) is designed entirely as a Facebook IM client. On the iPad, the app displays a grid of your currently online friends and allows you to conduct multiple chats simultaneously.

As our recentreview of the app noted, the minimal interface here is ideal for Facebook Chat addicts. Theres no learning curve at all, you can just get on with chatting and push notifications mean that you can keep the app running in the background while you get on with other things.


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