HP TouchPad will launch with its own Facebook app built by HP 102
By now, you've no doubt read the rumors of the Facebook tablet application launching first on the iPad. As it turns out, that's seemingly all they were -- rumors. While it was actually HP, and not Facebook, building this app, some new leaked images have now popped up which clearly shows the first official Facebook app running on the soon-to-be released HP TouchPad. Judging from a first-looks perspective, it looks pretty darn good right now.
All of the features you would expect appear to be in place within the app. Newsfeed, Messages, Events, Places, Friends, and Photos -- all there and nicely laid out for easy viewing. We can't really speak to how well it functions without first going hands-on, but needless to say we're excited to see it. You can skip on past the break for more images.
*Update* TechCrunch has confirmed with Facebook that HP in fact built this app, not Facebook. Also, we can't forget the BlackBerry PlayBook already has a Facebook app as well designed for tablets. It was in fact made with the help of Adobe and Facebook.
Source: Techcrunch
102 Comments
Cool. I like it.
Nice that we are the first and kinda suprised that the iPad doesn't have 1 yet!!
Well to be fair this isn't an official app. We all know how bad Palm has been about keeping the webOS FB app updated lately --well, those of us who force FB to use TLS know what I'm talking about at least.
Facebook's stance is that they don't consider tablets to be a mobile experience, and I sorta. Using the full-fledged Facebook site on the iPad is a perfectly good experience, that is unless you care about receiving notifications about every inane thing your friends from college are up to these days.
Tablets as a whole need far fewer apps than mobile phones, given their screen real estate and powerful browsers.
LOL! Man, here and in the forums webOS takes a lickin when we say the browser supports Flash and as such won't need as many apps as iOS has. Now that webOS gets an app up on iOS it's OK to use that argument? SMFH.
Difference: Full integration with the notifications, full integration of FB-chat into the messaging application
The only advantage that you have on most Apps over using the Website usually is only the following:
1) You don't have to type your password
2) The view gets customised to be better viewable on a small screen
But if your browser can save your login-data and you are using a tablet, then both points aren't necessary any more.
Well mobile consumers are living high on that "its all 'bout apps" moto by dear Steve so they don't even bother to go to websites anymore (more and more are becoming touch optimized) but they would rather consume recycled web content trough app framework. Thats why you have NY Post situation and more websites will go that route.
to be fair, this is the official app, its just developed by HP. If it wasn't the official app, they wouldn't legally be able to call it Facebook or use the logo.
That app looks heavy. Are there even any apps for that app? It's also too expensive. And I bet the icon on the screen gets fingerprints all over it.
go fly a kite
Pretty sure he's (or she)joking.
What's an app for an app?
I don't know but the iPad has thousands of 'em!
Uh oh, this thing might actually have a chance now!
I wonder how places will work... will the TP have GPS?
The 3g/(4g?) will have a GPS while the WiFi only will rely on network based locations.
See: HP Touchpad Specs on home site.
what about facebook chat? hopefully integrated into the messaging app and into this facebook app. PLEASE!!! oh wait we have flash and the browser is decent so i can use it in there
YAY
It will probably just work in the Messaging App using Synergy.
That's exactly what was announced (and I think that I even saw a video of it already).
Nice. Odd since you can use the web browser to access the full site but nice that you can use the app!
Here I actually can see the point in making a separate App:
1) Full integration with Notifications into the OS
2) Integration of Facebook-Chat into Synergy
3) Full integration of your Facebook-Contacts and Dates into Synergy
Ummm. No. The BlackBerry PlayBook has had a Facebook app for quite a while now.
I'm sure all 20 of their fans are offended by this error.
In any case, it'll end up being a two horse race with Apple and HP being the two. Android tablets just aren't selling and RIM is in freefall.
Somebody should tell Asus and Samsung this because they seem to have no problem shipping Transformers and Galaxy Tabs, respectively.
In fact, both of those products are - as of this writing - outselling iPad 2 16GB Wifi on Amazon. Of course, this is partially due to the fact that Amazon cannot keep iPad 2 in stock, but these two tablets are still the cream of second place.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/bestsellers/electronics/1232597011/ref=zg_bs_nav
I expect TouchPad to compete, but the only "two-horse" race at the moment is for second place.
I dont think the Playbooks Facebook app is an official app. I think they are trying to say the Touchpad will have the first official tablet app. Idk maybe im wrong.
What about the PlayBook? Doesn't it already have a Facebook app?
So this is what patience will get you. I can wait for more of this.
playbook already has a facebook app, techcrunch is stupid
Meh. Most tablets, including the Touchpad have screens in the 1024x768 range. That's big enough to run the real Facebook web page. Apps are useful for phones with their small screens. For devices with PC sized screens an app feels unnecessary.
The Facebook web page was developed to be used with mouse and keyboard. On the other side, the app is 100% touch friendly.
As stated above, the main-reason for me to use this over the website is the following:
1) Full integration with Notifications into the OS
2) Integration of Facebook-Chat into Synergy
3) Full integration of your Facebook-Contacts and Dates into Synergy
Looks excellent.
oh.. and
*generic comment referencing Sprint Pre3*
*generic comment whining because HP hasn't "made things right"*
*generic comment dejecting said two previous comments*
*acronym representing my laughter*
And in more news, the first Flash mobile platform will be released on the Palm Pre...
Maybe you should edit the headline to reflect the Playbook being first to market with the Facebook app.
Yay! I like apps. This looks good.
So where's the excuse for no youtube app again? You can use the browser and battery inefficient flash for playback.. whoop!
Does the browser supports html5? If it does, you can use youtube without flash, and it probably has hardware accel.
I just as one of the demo guys said in one of the videos: We (HP) are not going to build an app for a competitor when you can use the webpage.
Facebook != competitor then, but google==competitor big time :)
not buying a touchpad but im all for it as long as we get more apps. its great hp is taking the iniative to develope apps if third parties wont. hope the touchpad sells well so that other devs will get on the bandwagon
how do "we" get more apps if you are not buying one? this would put you out of the "we" group wouldn't it?
just askin
He will probably be getting other WebOS devices so how is it not a "we" situation?
yes...big name devs getting on board with webos.
i got a pre plus, a veer but what i really want is the pre3
A dedicated app needs to have features which make it compelling to use over the regular Fcaebook webpage. On a tablet what advantages does this app have?
Optimized UI for Touch interface? (I haven't seen it but I assume as much)
It's been mentioned a few times through this thread, but the biggest advantage will be Synergy integration. That means FB chat as part of the messaging app, which I think is pretty awesome.
Cool story Bro
Look at the last pic on the bottom. One of the articles is a story of, "Woman Accused of Spraying Breast Milk at Deputies". lol
Now, hopefully someone has built or is building a twitter app that looks as fantastic as this news feed.
Somehow the webOS team always makes a facebook app interface which I prefer to use over the desktop version due to looks, organization, and simplicity.
Agreed.
tic, toc . . . .
What makes an APP better then just going to a web page is what makes WebOS, WebOS ... the notification bar and syncing your contacts
or that the app can't be replicated by a webpage.
Like, GPS, NOVA, Garagebandtype app, Kindle, video editing, camera apps, etc.
But this isn't a phone! How often do you use your facebook contacts on your PC/Laptop to communicate with? Perhaps you may, but I have never done it.
I use them everyday on FB :)
All joking aside, it doesn't hurt if they are there. I know that I will often look up someone's email address on my phone because their FB addresses are populated in my contacts by Synergy. I think it's sweet.
Totally funny Bro!
This was expected right? I could have sworn i saw an icon or something. Maybe i was wrong but i always assumed they were making a facebook app that would be ready at launch.
I don't speak for everyone but I expected it because the WebOS UI is Mo' Betta than the Facebook Web UI for a touch screen.
It looks really good! (The facebook app in the playbook is awful, it's like the cellphone site expanded).
so HP built this app - now get on a Netflix app already.
All links in feedburner rss-feed are still broken.
Hi all,
This proves what I have contended all along, that if need be HP will write apps, have apps written, (and pay for it themselves), or supply the money, manpower and expertise to port popular apps to the webOS platform.
I am very pleased that HP is following thru on what I was sure needed to be done.
Take care,
Jay
One down, 100,000 or so to go.
I think the bigger get is going to occur when WebOS starts getting some integrated apps like TweetDeck or Seesmic that present social networks in a polished, aggregated fashion so you don't need to keep multiple cards for Facebook, Twitter, etc. open.
I mean on a platform where multiple mailboxes are integrated, and chat/IM/SMS is integrated, it makes no sense for the social networking to be so disjointed.
First there was...
- Email Synergy
- Contact Synergy
- Calendar Synergy
- Messaging Synergy
WebOS 3.0 will bring...
- Photo Synergy
- Music Synergy (with later update)
and now a new suggestion...
- Social Synergy!
I like! But to be honest, the order in which the Synergy sources have been rolled out matches my own personal priorities perfectly.
Photo synergy is...lacking compared to other platforms, even the 3.0 version. i just read a lengthy Touchpad review in the forums that says that when you're browsing through photos it STILL takes a number of seconds to fully render each individual picture. This was lame on the original Pre, and it's beyond lame that the Photos app still does this on a dual-core tablet running the latest software.
Music synergy....still waiting to hear any details.
Social would be awesome, tho.
Photo synergy has nothing to do with the rendering speed. Photo Synergy means that you can have your photos from Facebook, Snapfish and Photobucket in a same app. Plus, it is opened to developers to integrate new services, like twitpic or flickr.
Windows Phone 7 already does that without rendering lag, and Windows 8 will on the tablet front as well.
Nobody needs 100,000 **** flashlight, and soundboard apps! What people who buy a tablet need, are apps that help you be more productive. TouchPad will have access to those right out of the box with email (looking at you Playbook), calendar (again Playbook), and Citrix Server's capabilities. I'm sure there will be a TweetDeck app coming down the road...don't worry your little head!
Who wants Tweetdeck when we have Spaz and soon Incredible? :)
Spaz only supports a few services, and one post in Incredible takes up the entire screen just showing 1-2 posts in a - strictly my opinion - pretty ugly UI.
who knew you couldn't say f a r t on PreCentral...lol
Most apps are public domain books, wallpapers and clones!
What about the incoming Incredible! app?
How about working on that other WebOS platform HP? Our FB app is long out of date and no longer supports all of FB.
I hate to **** on the Touchpad parade, but what about pre users? Will the new facebook app come to webos 2.x (I'm not going to bother asking about 1.x)? The current fb app is OK, but really needs an update... I find myself using the mobile fb site more and more nowadays.
If Failbook is their idea of the "essential" app, then that's a major fail.
We need apps like enterprise class email that doesn't crash, documents editing, and solid PIM functionality.
I connect to Exchange email and Gmail. Not once has the email client on my Pre ever crashed.
I use Excel voraciously, but not a single office editing app on any mobile device supports editing pivot tables, which are present in 95% of all the Excel files I work with. So for me, I will only use a desktop for Excel.
Solid PIM functionality -- I think WebOS is about 80% of the way there. They need threaded conversations in email, ability to create meeting invites in calendar, support for categories in Gmail and notes. I don't use tasks and for notes I have the Notes app from Inglorious apps.
Exactly, I also expect that they are on the right track now.
Btw. I also would like to have a stock-agenda view and I want them to show me this information also on my lock-screen. Then I will be perfectly happy with my Pre 3, with Skype and Document-Editing and some other new features they are already covering most of the thing that I was missing on my Pre :)
Facebook is used by 500 million people all over the world. So yes, it is indeed and essential app.
HP makes app for third-party service because third-party service will not make an app for the platform. Why is this good news? Why is this news? Palm was already doing this, were they not? It will be news when a third-party developer actually writes a native app for the platform.
Wait, you mean like WebOS Internals?
They have plenty of native apps.
Also I think it's great that HP is writing more apps. Who knows WebOS and Enyo better than anyone else in the world? HP does. Who knows how to write creative and killer apps? HP does. Why you ask? Because they made it. And don't say 'Oh Palm made it' because whatever left of Palm is now HP.
I'd MUCH rather have HP making apps then have other people making apps for them. It shows they have CONFIDENCE, unlike RIM/BB.
"Who knows how to write creative and killer apps? HP does."
Ah yes...the much heralded HP app designers. Truly, they set the bar for mobile and desktop app design.
I've spoken to more than 100 developers, many currently struggling to build tablet apps for Android and BBOS tablets. They committed to those projects before HP TouchPad had a definite ship date. All of them, without exception confirmed that they would write a webOS app as soon as they had finished their current projects, and that resource bandwidth in their teams was their main issue. Their sentiment on Android and BBOS goes something like this, (and I'm generalizing to preserve anonymity of reports yet to be published)
Android has great promise but the development experience is frustrating, that's why you're only seeing 40-50 new Honeycomb apps per month. We know we're headed for major rework in a couple of months when the phone and tablet OS unifies. Sigh...what can we do? It's crazy but they're number 2.
I'm really sad RIM struggled with PB launch and came to market too early with a great OS in a not so great execution. Right now, I'm committed to finishing my current PB project because I promised to ship (some even have devices) but their message of supporting Android in a layer makes me wonder if my time is better spent on Android. They need to be clearer and sell those PBs like ****
HP - I don't know, they are looking more serious, but my engineers are fully stretched dealing with iOS 5 beta, Honeycomb and this RIM commitment. I'm sure I'll have a webOS app out in v1.0 by year end, but there's no bandwidth right now. The OS and UX looks great though.
Make your own conclusions...
HP wrote the FB app for TouchPad in two days just to show the simplicity of porting. It's not a full featured Facebook App and the website will still be the 100% experience. There's also aspects of Fb integrated directly into Synergy, like contacts, calendars, messaging and photos.
I think the more important message here is the app building signal HP is sending. Major apps where developers lack the bandwidth at the moment will be built by HP in v1.0, with the developers' permission of course. HP TouchPad lags iPad and iOS by a long distance, but it will DEFINITELY launch with more TABLET apps than Android's Honeycomb. The market will realize this very quickly once people like David Pogue and Walt Mossberg point it out.
Care to site your source on the "two days" comment? And you say "porting" -- what did they port it from, the article says there is no other Facebook app for tablets. Sorry, but I call B.S.
My source is someone who has hundreds (approaching 800) of HP TouchPad native apps running on his TouchPads. Yes, he has several devices and is 100% reliable. This whole meme about webOS lacking apps is the stupidest thing ever, because it assumes that developers can't write apps.
HP TouchPad's biggest weakness isn't apps, it's hardware acceleration. Some things run fast but don't scroll as smoothly as you'll see on iOS. There's a perceptible lag in some apps. It will be improved upon significantly in the next few months, but that's probably a bigger issue than apps.
HP is already looking at Honeycomb in the rear view mirror in terms of apps.
Nice to know they are working in hardware acceleration, that is just what webOS needs.
Two days...wow that is impressive and deserves some headlines if true. I was beginning to wonder when HP's Facebook app would make an appearance since HP/Palm has been steadily making FB work on webOS for some time.
Either way, I'm excited and keep up the great work HP. Sorli...
I hope you aware that the TouchPad is second on the Facebook app list, As much as I love HP, Pre's, and the TouchPad, I have to be honest and give credit where credit is due. The Blackberry Playbook had the first Official Tablet Facebook app, and it is pretty darn good, Picture and Video uploading, messaging, account settings, etc.
Just so your aware.
Looking forward to the awesomeness of the TouchPad!!!!!!
The Facebookk app in the PB isn't official either, it was developed by Adobe to prove the power of Adobe Air. The same goes for FB for BB smarthphones, it was developed by RIM.
when are they going to fix the mobile site so that i can post from my pre- running 1.4.5????????????????????????????????????
I don't use facebook, I don't understand the benefit of allowing everyone you know to have so much information about your daily life.
No thanks.
Cool story bro.
Thanks sis!
What's up with the story in the 4th picture? "How to talk to little girls?" Is Ron Leach a pedophile?
I know you're trying to be funny about something that's not so funny:
It's actually a story about parenting and building confidence in young girls who are often afflicted by terrible insecurities about beauty, eating disorders and extreme cultural and peer pressure. It was written by Lisa Bloom, an author on the topic.
Her book is: Think: Straight Talk for Women to Stay Smart in a Dumbed Down World'
I was legitimately concerned. I think the person who was trying to be funny was the author of said article. What I do find amusing, however, is the title of the story below it.
On second thoughts, I agree with you, the author of the article chose a strange title.
So no Facebook groups? :(
As a person who has played with the Facebook app being discussed here I can give you the following feedback:
1. I totally don't understand why this is a big deal. Frankly, no one at HP I've spoken to thinks this is a big deal. The app was put together very quickly by HP engineers as an Enyo dev demo and doesn't even have all the features you can find in the browser (as far as I can see).
2. Facebook is integrated into webOS Synergy, that's the more important piece and it works seamlessly as demoed in the photos app. Since the webOS browser is full feature including Flash, every Facebook feature ever rolled out to users will be on HP TouchPad on Day 1.
3. The app was revealed several weeks ago in the posters that went out after TouchPad release date was announced. There's absolutely no question of this being a major reveal or leak, anyone you asked would tell you that this app was there.
4. In addition to the apps ready for July 1st release date, there are hundreds of native TouchPad apps going through QA and bug testing right now that won't be ready on July 1. HP's productivity rate of new native tablet apps exceeds Android's and that trend will only accelerate.
5. The beauty of Enyo is that once the app is written for the 10 inch tablet, it's ready for any other device coming down the pipeline.
6. There are some key apps HP was hoping to get that haven't come through yet, e.g., Netflix was referred to as one of the holdouts. Those conversations continue.
Hardware acceleration is the main issue, not apps. Not sure how and to what extent HP will change this without philosophically changing OS. webOS is a webkit engine UI on top of a Linux kernel. Since webapps are written in Javascript, they cannot be precompiled. The alternative, which produces compiled apps, like in iOS or Windows, relies on a philosophy that costs more to develop and creates snappier apps.
As long as non-technical users begin to understand this difference, HP will be okay because apps quantity, in and of themselves, will ramp very quickly. The "lagginess" you see is a feature, not a bug, but explaining OS-philosophy to non technical users is a challenge. You can build PDK apps for webOS that will run just as snappy as iOS, but that's not the long-term, open web-standards route in the marathon. I wonder what HP will decide.
It was mentioned a few months ago that some CSS operations and other javascript methods were going to be GPU accelerated in webOS 2 and beyond. I would imagine that making more of these operations use the GPU as well as making the Javascript jit compiler use the GPU where applicable would be high on HP's priority list.
Agree, but it won't be done by launch day and no promises were made.