Review: FriendsFlow 38
FriendsFlow ($1.99 in the App Catalog) has been around in various incarnations since before there were paid apps, being one of the very first third party Facebook clients for webOS in the homebrew section. Since then, Palm has released its own Facebook App, another third party app called FriendsBook has hit, and Facebook has been updating their mobile site on a consistent basis. So that begs the question: how does the only paid Facebook app in the Catalog stack up against the competition?
Features and use
FriendsFlow gives you everything you’d expect from a fully features Facebook client: the ability to view peoples profiles, write on their wall, view pictures and those sorts of things. Viewing and managing events, watching imbedded videos, and everything else along those lines still has to be done from the mobile Facebook site.
To get the program up and running, you have to allow it access to your Facebook account. Most people are okay with this type of set-up, but remember: you're granting nearly unfettered access to your Facebook account to a third party program.
There’s really no excuse to having such a lousy user interface this day in age, and FriendsFlow is bad. Navigation elements are put into the upper left hand drawer that is normally reserved for preference and account menus, and they don’t persist in every scene; if you’re viewing somebody’s profile, for example, you’ll only find “edit” and “help” instead of the navigation options you’d expect to find. My suggestion to the developers? Emulate Pivotal Lab’s example in Tweed and implement a persistent navigation bar at the top of the screen.
Beyond that, everything else in the program represents the bare minimum. Text is generally un-formatted and in a large, sometimes difficult to read font. They didn’t bother to integrate with the native photo viewer, so pictures are displayed in white space. There are notifications, but they aren’t configurable, which means that you’ll be getting a notification every time somebody updates their status, comments on your status, or likes your status. If you have a busy Facebook feed, this quickly becomes a feature you’ll want to turn off.
Summary
In all, using FriendsFlow feels like I’m using a poorly made (though run at native speeds) webpage that was created by using a geocities site builder - the user interface and overall look is really that bad. They really need to step up the look and feel.
While I would love to have a Facebook application in the same league as what the iPhone platform enjoys, the app we got from Palm (see Dieter's review here) honestly suits 90% of my mobile Facebook needs (quickly checking status updates, commenting on them and posting my own status updates, sometimes with pictures), with all of my other needs being supplanted by the mobile site. Not only are both options free and on the whole more pleasant to use than FriendsFlow.
Pros
It's a functioning Facebook clientCons
The $1.99 asking price is far to steep.
38 Comments
I've been using FriendsFlow since the day it first hit the homebrew scene. I've tried the other clients and I keep going back to FriendsFlow. It works in my opinion and works well.
And for a 2 bucks supporting a guy that was there and developed something that was better then x.facebook.com back in the 1.2 days of webOS is just small thank you.
I agree some what. I keep going back to it, because it meets more of my needs when taking a quick second to check Facebook.
That being said, not much more progress has been made in developing this app. I liked it when it was homebrew and saw improvments in it that convinced me to buy it. Hopeing further development would happen. It hasnt and I feel like the developer just took my money and ran. I would pay again, if they would develop it into a full fleged FB app. With chat and integrated video.
I have to agree with you here Robert, it lacks a nice "feel" and options worth paying for.
you can customize the look in the options.
Yes, black or white background. The appearance still looks very novice.
my friendflow looks totaly different why? I like it but since the new update webos 1.4 it gets stuck the whole time I have to constantly close and reopen
FriendsBook is the way to go.
I totally agree ...it is a much better app and plus it's FREE! .. only needs the ability to view/comment on pix in photo albums...
until they get the chat option then I will consider it a good app
when is the new facebook update suppose to be coming for the pre??
I just bought the fb chat app it loads forever after I enter email and password and that's about it
since the update facebook main site works great. What's even better the chat works great too! Save ur two dollars and bookmark the main site.
works for me
..
Does not work after 1.4 update. Gets stuck at loading wall. The beta works, but the official app doesn't in 1.4.
I feel like x.facebook.com is the way to go. It looks the best and offers everything I need.
It's a good thing you have negative reviews on here, too. If you're always saying everything is so great, your opinion becomes useless.
Typo: The $1.99 asking price is far too steep.
Also, why is it that none of the Palm Pre Facebook apps (truthfully, I haven't used FriendsFlow) show you who likes a status. I don't just care about how many people liked it, but I want to know who did... especially for my own posts.
This sounds like the perfect applicator for the iPad.
like I said...since the 1.4 update the full site works great. The chat feature works great. Save your two dollars and bookmark the full site.
like I said...since the 1.4 update the full site works great. The chat feature works great. Save your two dollars and bookmark the full site.
I believe they have a free version of this which I tried and did not like.
I have bought this application on day one and absolutely love it. The formatting seems ok, the notifications are not available in any other app and the overall usefulness is more than the Facebook updated pages out there.
You current news feed comes in and if someone writes something on your wall, comments on a post or picture or sends you anything, you get a notification.
I would like only to add the ability to upload photos but everything else hits the mark for what I am looking for.
although I've only used the earlier and free version of the app, I feel like there are always problems after I use the app while other things are running.
it has a very unpolished feel, and doesn't have much in way of settings.
however... As an earlier pister mentioned, the developer did release this when there were no other options... But (always a but) that being said, the developer has also had a headstart & should be ahead of the rest...
FriendsFlow is my preferred Facebook app (usually the Beta version found in PreWare), but the review is fair and accurate.
I get the feeling the developer has abandoned the program because I'm not aware of any updates in quite some time.
I've been using this since early beta and still use it.
It works fine. I agree with the UI, but the developer has been nasty to anyone that's commented on the UI. With one exception: he's provided a way to (somewhat) do your own. By creating your own style sheet, you can make this look quite different (although this doesn't solve UI problems like having items in the menu that should be elsewhere). I think he's gone with the "I gave you the ability to code your own style sheets, so don't bug me" sort of attitude.
Moreso, the developer is not happy that he hasn't made more money. He was the first to develop a Facebook app and, I suppose, expected that this would be enough to earn him a pile of money. Then, when Palm released a free app, it was clear that he wasn't going to make the money he expected.
He's said that he doesn't plan any more work on the project, unless there is a business case to do so. At present, he's looking for someone to buy the rights for the app from him, so that he can make the money he wanted without having to spend the time required to do further coding.
I don't blame him for giving up. Even though I happen to like this app more than the others, I don't think I would have bought it had there been others. Now that there are free apps, why should he bother?
Seems odd to do a review, however, on an old app where the developer has all but abandoned it. Why now?
If he just gave up because of that poor excuse for a FB app Palm came out with, then he probably shouldnt be a developer. It doesnt take much to beat the Palm app.
I got it close to day one.. Can't say I use it much. The regular site works a little better for me. Then again I've wasted 2 bucks on Teal baby sleep Trainer, and still can't get the kid sleepin' on a schedule... Oh well...
A good effort at the beginning when there wasn't much to choose from. It just seems so blah.. And plain for my liking.
I use FriendsFlow. Tried the others, but keep going back to FriendsFlow.
Yes, it should be mentioned that if any of you are going to purchase this app in hopes more features will be added, forget about it. He's announced he's not further developing any new features cause he's frustrated with the money the app has made him. Real bummer as there was lots of potential here now being thrown away.
"There are notifications, but they aren
+1 +1 +1 +1 +1!!!
Obviously he didn't navigate those menus he dislikes enough, because the notification customizations are quite detailed! It's a shame that this review got published, because FriendsFlow is by far the most robust fbook app available for WebOS.
I always liked FriendsFlow. It was always the ugly duckling, but was the fastest most usable product (although nothing compares to the iphone native app).
However, after 1.4, me and a zillion others say its broken and his answer is 'its a coincidence. facebook did something. and not everybody is affected.
Either way, I paid for it, and now I have to basically uninstall it and move on.
Unless you hear otherwise, do NOT buy it until there are claims its compatible with 1.4 or better.
I've seen several comments above about this not working on 1.4, but I don't have a problem. It's a shame that this app seems abandoned, as it basically serves my needs. I paid for it hoping it would be further developed. So far I haven't tried the mobile site.
I tried it when it came out, found it wasn't for me. I too prefer using site from browser on Pre.
Friendsbook is trash. Id try this if I cared THAT much about Facebook on my phone.
Good post, thank you for sharing. Keep up posting.
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