iPad Facebook App Friendly Adds Support for Places

With Facebook's iPad app still missing in action, the Friendly Facebook browser has not only maintained a top position in Apple's iTunes store (currently ranking #4 for best-selling iPad apps and #8 for top grossing iPad apps), but it is keeping pace with continued updates from the world's largest social network. As has been much discussed throughout the tech Web, Facebook's launch of Places brought them squarely in the world of location based services (LBS), with functionality mirroring Foursquare. Through some fast coding, Friendly already has introduced support for Places in their app - letting you check in to Places, add venues and tag friends, just like the Web version, and Facebook's official apps.

The latest iteration of Friendly, upon login, features three main tabs, including the Live Feed, Events and Places. Places supplants the original third tab, which was Requests. (See: Friendly: The Best Facebook Experience for iPad)

The Newest Friendly Build Features Places

Adding a New Place via Friendly

As you would expect, the Places tab offers for you to "See where your friends are and share where you are." To check in to the place, just click the location pushpin, commonly associated with Google Maps, and select an existing location, or create a new one yourself.

Posting the Check-in to Facebook via Friendly

The Resulting Check-in and Tag on Facebook Places

Upon adding a place, you can add a description, and tag other Facebook friends who may be at the same location - just like the Web site.

The implementation of Places within Friendly is very straight forward, and looks like pulls data from the mobile-optimized version of Facebook, at touch.facebook.com, which no doubt speeded the coding. You can grab the Friendly app from iTunes for $4.99.

Friendly: The Best Facebook Experience for iPad

Facebook is the most popular social networking site in the world. The iPad is probably the hottest gadget in the world. It makes sense that the two products are on a collision course, as an increasing number of mobile Web users experience Facebook through their tablets and touch screens. But so far, Facebook has not yet debuted an iPad-optimized experience, relying on its solid iPhone application and its mobile Web site to make do. In this vacuum comes Friendly, from the team that brought you Twazzup, the innovative Twitter Web client, and the results, as you should expect, are very good. The experience is optimized for touch, and takes full advantage of the iPad's screen real estate. If the app were available free from the iTunes store, I would encourage everyone to switch immediately. As it is, its $4.99 pricetag is still alluring for those tired of compromise when it comes to Facebook and the iPad.

The Facebook Feed Experience Through Friendly on iPad

Cyril Moutran, cofounder and CEO of Twazzup, and previously the founder of Yokway, said in an e-mail yesterday that over the last few months the company has shifted its development efforts to the tablet format, and Friendly is the first major launch bearing the fruits of that labor.

As you can expect, thanks to the nature of the product, Friendly brings all the major elements of Facebook directly to the iPad, including browsing the news feed, full of updates from your friends, and enabling you to take actions on those items, or update your own status. The application is delivered in a very clean way, with tabs for "Live Feed", "Events" and outstanding "Requests".

My Facebook Profile Tab in Friendly On iPad

This tabbed model trumps the button selections on today's Facebook for iPhone offering. In those cases, selecting a section (like Photos) siloed your activity, while Friendly keeps you one click away from all major parts of the site. Atop the application are quick links to "Home", "Profile", "Friends" and your Facebook in box. As you navigate the product, you can hit any of these options, or click the back arrow to return to the previous page - just like a real browser, which is how the product is described.

Like Twazzup, Friendly Gets Rich Media Right

Like a real browser, Friendly does not compromise in its capabilities either. Clicking a YouTube ,video displays it in full glory on the iPad's screen, and you also gain the opportunity to edit Facebook fan pages, if you are an administrator, an increasingly important position for the network as activity morphs from being completely casual to more professional.

Editing a Facebook Fan Page on Friendly

There are some who may balk at putting down five bucks for a network which itself is free, but it seems the company has delivered a premium app for a premium product in the iPad. The product is built from day one for he touch-driven experience, and is certainly worth looking into. You can find Friendly on the iTunes store here: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/friendly-facebook-browser/id382011064?mt=8