Facebook for iPad Review

When the first generation iPad launched in April 2011, many early adopters were both shocked and disappointed that there wasn’t a native iPad app for the device. 18 months and many unofficial Facebook companion apps later, Facebook has decided to launch its official native app. Many of you are probably whispering under your breath, "Well, it’s about time...". So was the official Facebook app worth waiting for? For the most part, yes.

Once you get past the simple blue login page, you're taken to an interface that's quite reminiscent of the Facebook website, but clearly optimized for the iPad. While the visuals are nothing out of the ordinary, they are clean, well-designed and create an immersive experience. Instead of focusing on text, the developer chose to present content in a manner that draws the user's attention to the visual elements before text. For example, viewing your Friends page brings your friends’ photos to the spotlight and discretely places their names beside the photo boxes. This takes advantage of the iPad's high-resolution screen and makes the user experience significantly more captivating than viewing the mobile website. However, there are also times where this emphasis on visuals can be distracting and a bit of a nuisance when attempting to search for specific content.

Information is quickly made accessible through the use of the navigation sidebar that appears on the left side of the screen. This expandable area enables you to access your Friends, Messages, Events, News Feed, and more quite effortlessly. In addition to this, the top toolbar that we've all seen and grown to love enables quick access to messages, notifications, friend requests, and more. While mimicking the overall look and feel of the website, yet adding enhanced navigation and larger touch points, the developer has done a solid job of keeping the app extremely user friendly and intuitive. This may come off as being a bit of a "bore" to the more savvy audience members who were hoping that the delayed release would translate to the introduction of new and revolutionary features. However, the typical user is likely to appreciate this since new Facebook features rarely get introduced without a healthy dose of outrage amongst the user community.

The new Facebook chat is particularly impressive as it enables you to maintain chats while exploring other areas of the website. When you click on a buddy's name within the buddy list (which appears in a right-side panel), a chat window launches which takes the position of the buddy list. This is somewhat nice because it is space-saving, but it is also a bit annoying if you're looking to chat with several users at once and have to navigate back and forth several times. That annoyance aside, it is a step in the right direction and a welcomed feature in the app.

The News Feed hasn't been modified much, although the comments view has been enhanced. When you click to expand comments on an item, a new pop-up window launches which displays the item and its respective comments in a pleasing manner. Sharing content is as simple as ever with the ability to post your photos, location, and videos quickly from within the app itself as one would expect. While the previous versions of the iPhone app have had the capability to do this, it has always struggled a bit in providing a stable and pleasant platform for doing so. Fortunately, the iPad app has demonstrated superior stability. In my experience, the app was significantly more usable, although I did have to reinstall it after attempting to run it on the new iOS 5. Since the reinstall, I haven’t had any issues.

Another feature I thoroughly enjoyed was the "Nearby" feature which takes advantage of the iPad's powerful mapping abilities. Users with GPS-enabled models are able to accurately provide their check-in location which is plotted amongst their friends' on the map interface. Don't have a 3G device with GPS functionality? There's no need to fret because your device will estimate your location based on your WiFi connection. This feature offers a wonderful visual representation of your friends' locations and is an example of one of the application’s features that has been specifically created for the iPad.

If the features listed above aren't enticing enough, I’m sure you'll appreciate the support for full-screen gaming and HD video streaming using AirPlay. Both features work as advertised.

While Facebook for iPad is not as revolutionary as some were hoping for given its hype and tremendous delays, it is elegantly designed, stable, responsive, and a big step up from the mobile Facebook site. It looks like the days of paid Facebook apps for iPad are coming to a close. The official iPad app will keep most Facebook users more than satisfied.