The Palm Pre Plus is one of two smartphones Verizon Wireless offers from Palm. The other Palm smartphone offered by Verizon is the Palm Pixi. This review will focus on the Palm Pre Plus and the Facebook app and mobile Facebook website it uses to access friends, updates, feeds, photos and more.
The Palm Pre Plus and Facebook's Mobile Website
The Palm Pre Plus can easily access Facebook's mobile website from its web browser and already comes as a default bookmark in the web browser application. The Facebook login page is large and easy to read and the login process is the same as it is with any Internet browser. Simply enter the account's e-mail address and password and click the "Login" button.
Once logged in Facebook users may notice some differences from how Facebook looks on a computer's web browser. The home page on the mobile Facebook website on the Palm Pre Plus only offers the News Feed, Events, and Requests.
While one of Facebook's many recent upgrades created two feeds, the News Feed which is Facebook's selection of popular status updates, postings, links, and pictures, and the Status Feed which includes all the updates from all of a user's Facebook friends. The News Feed can make it difficult to find postings from a specific friend because it is filtered from the Status Feed to the News Feed using an algorithim that only Facebook knows. The upside is that a user can quickly see what updates are most popular among their friends and which updates have generated and accumulated a lot of comments and likes.
On the Palm Pre Plus the Facebook News Feed is easy to read and very clear. The News Feed appears just like it does on the regular Facebook website with a small profile pic of each user next to the posting, the user's name in a bold blue font, followed by the update itself with comment and like links following. The News Feed also shows which users liked a posting and while it does not automatically show comments, clicking on the Comments link brings up the comments that other Facebook friends and users have posted.
Facebook Events on The Palm Pre Plus
Events is the second tab offered on Facebook's mobile website. Once the Events tab is clicked at the top of the screen a clickable list of upcoming events appears and RSVPs can be done directly from this page. The RSVP options are:
- Yes
- No
- Maybe
Clicking on the event title takes users to the mobile version of the specific event's page with three tabs for navigating. The first tab is Info which clearly and concisely lists all of the event details as provided by the event admin. The Palm Pre Plus from Verizon offers copy and paste capabilities so a user can copy the address for an event from Facebook then open the Google Maps or VZNavigator application and paste the event's address in to receive directions.
The Events section also allows user to view and post on the wall for a specific event and view photos that other users have uploaded.
Facebook Requests on Verizon's Palm Smartphones
Facebook requests appear exactly as they do on the Facebook website with a thumbnail of the profile pic of the requester followed by a name and the details of the request: if they are requesting to be added as a friend, if it's a friend suggested or recommended by another friend, or a group invitation. Event requests do not appear under the Requests tab and instead appear under the Events tab.
Other Facebook Features on the Palm Pre
Other features available to Facebook users on Verizon's Palm Pre Plus include the ability to view profiles, search for friends, and read messages received in Facebook's inbox.
While the viewing area on the Palm Pre Plus is noticeably smaller than the viewing area available on a netbook, laptop, or desktop computer Facebook remains highly functional despite the lack of the Status Feed and the ability to create new events. The Facebook features that have been integrated into its mobile website available on the Palm smartphones are done well and allow users to keep up with friends, share photos, and comment on others' updates, as well as create updates themselves.
Many Facebook users will find the smartphones capability to be a great way to stay connected with their friends in the digital age.
Tracey Carter - Tracey holds a B.A. in English from Hood College and is an avid reader, educator, blogger, and aspiring librarian.
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