Facebook updates its Android Messenger app—can anything best it?

[Brendan Hugo]

If chatting all day on Facebook is your thing, then your thing has gotten much better this week. The app was updated on Thursday, and brought several improvements. First off the app looks a bit nicer. Nothing massive was changed visually, more like a light application of makeup.

The mechanics of the app did change significantly, however. First of all the app runs a bit faster while sipping less battery, both always-welcome changes. Where you would have previously clicked in the upper right corner to start a conversation, the message icon is now a plus sign. Clicking this will take you to your top chatted friends, with your online friends below that. Topping it all is a button to create a group message at the very top. Group messaging is probably the one thing that has benefited most from this update, now being perfectly integrated with standard messaging.

Android apps these days almost always contain an update pertaining to Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, and this one is no different. We don’t know what exactly was changed, but the app now has “better support for Ice Cream Sandwich.” Version 1.6.003 also brings us the ever-ambiguous “bug fixes” line item, whatever that means.

I have always been a subscriber to the “every tool is a muti-purpose tool” mentality, and have had little time for single-purpose applications. But I don’t know of any third-party apps that work as well as the in-house Facebook Messenger does for Facebook chat. In fact it is the only single-purpose messaging app on my phone. Does anyone know of a good multi-purpose app that includes Facebook chat? Or do you all feel that the Messenger is as good as it gets, and worth its own space on my smartphone?

[Google Play]

[CrowdAds]

[The DarkSide]

Facebook on Android sux,...period!!! I would know :-/

[steinburger1109]

I've never had a gripe with it, and subscribe to the don't fix what ain't broken theory so I've never used other apps. The first thing I noticed in the update is that none of my messages take a prolonged amount of time to send.

[The DarkSide]

I guess I need to update. My phone (Atrix 4G) is slow as HELL with even LOADING Facebook.

[saratoga]

Originally Posted by The DarkSide

I guess I need to update. My phone (Atrix 4G) is slow as HELL with even LOADING Facebook.

It is probably the shittiest mainstream app on Android. I'm not even sure how its so slow, the actual facebook website is tremendously faster and also doesn't crash. You'd think their app would work at least as well as a webpage, but apparently facebook thinks otherwise

[The DarkSide]

^I agree^

[steinburger1109]

Originally Posted by The DarkSide

I guess I need to update. My phone (Atrix 4G) is slow as HELL with even LOADING Facebook.

Well, I don't even really use the actual Facebook app, just the messenger app really. All I've used it for recently is messaging. So I'm not sure if it's crappy or not. I don't remember it being horrendous, though.

[Marvin the Martian]

anti-facebook avatar.png

[saratoga]

Things like this make me wonder about those facebook android phone rumors. You'd think if they were really making an Android phone, they'd have someone at the company who could write Android apps. Well that or whatever phone they make will be total garbage like their apps.

[The DarkSide]

Originally Posted by Marvin the Martian

Attachment 11674

We know, your socially & technically challenged,...

[Marvin the Martian]

Originally Posted by The DarkSide

We know, your socially & technically challenged,...

Facebookers=the new iSheep!

[nathan]

I use IMO app on Android. I think it's way better and like having all my social accounts in one messenger app where I can see all my contacts. But yeah, I pretty much only use facebook to contact someone who I don't have their e mail or phone number.

[The DarkSide]

Originally Posted by Marvin the Martian

Facebookers=the new iSheep!

Says the cave-dwelling ipod loving antisocial hermit,...

[Marvin the Martian]

Originally Posted by The DarkSide

Says the cave-dwelling ipod loving antisocial hermit,...

I used to be quite the social guy....then I sobered up and suddenly nobody was interested in me or how I was doing anymore, so they can all go censored.gif. Now I socialize with you guys.

[steinburger1109]

Originally Posted by Marvin the Martian

I used to be quite the social guy....then I sobered up and suddenly nobody was interested in me or how I was doing anymore, so they can all go Attachment 11675. Now I socialize with you guys.

[The DarkSide]

Originally Posted by steinburger1109

+1

[nathan]

Facebook doesn't have enough time to make a decent app because they're too busy spending a billion dollars on a crappy hipster app with limited photo editing abilities (cough histogram).

http://www.engadget.com/2012/04/09/f...#disqus_thread

[Master Devwi]

Originally Posted by Brendan Hugo

Does anyone know of a good multi-purpose app that includes Facebook chat? Or do you all feel that the Messenger is as good as it gets, and worth its own space on my smartphone?

I generally just use the Messaging hub on Windows Phone, which supports both Windows Live Messenger and Facebook Chat, as well as texting. But that doesn't exactly help people on Android...