This morning, Nokia announced the second beta of its Nokia Messaging for Social Networks, v2.0, with improved Facebook support and the addition of basic Twitter functionality. I’ve been testing this new client out on my Nokia N97 over the weekend, and find it pretty interesting.
For starters, Nokia Messaging for Social Networks is only supported on three different devices right now - the N97, the N97 Mini, and the 5800 XpressMusic. When I pressed the team for more information on non-touchscreen support, they said it’s on the roadmap, but they had to start somewhere, so touch is where they started. They’ll also be adding more in-depth support for each network, as well as additional networks over time, so don’t expect this beta to be the end-all-be-all.
That being said, let’s check out what it does do.
The first Nokia Messaging for Social Networks beta was only launched a few months ago at Nokia World 2009, with basic Facebook support and was only available on the N97. This second beta brings a host of new Facebook features, and is also much faster and more stable, which is definitely nice to see.
The team has also improved on the features available, so that you can now comment on and like your friends’ updates.
You can also upload videos and pictures through the new client, which is definitely nice. In addition to this, you can view your friends’ photos as they upload them to their Facebook, which is yet another improvement.
Another convenient addition is the ability to contact your friends directly from their updates, either via Facebook message, phone call, or even an SMS (if they’ve added their mobile number to their profile). You can also easily add events such as birthdays directly to your phone’s calendar, which is awesome.
After using Nokia Messaging for Social Networks for a few days on my N97, I can easily say it’s miles ahead of the default Facebook widget, both in speed and in terms of overall functionality.
The other new aspect in Nokia Messaging for Social Networks v2.0 is the addition of basic Twitter functionality. You can now login to a single Twitter account and view your timeline, reply to others, and open links that others include in their updates - all the basic functionality for most users.
Unfortunately, the Twitter features pretty much end there. The interface includes buttons for direct messages, viewing followers, and viewing Twitter trends, but all give you a ‘coming soon’ screen, which is rather frustrating. There is also a button next to the Tweet box that would allow you to update with a video or picture, but again, attempting to use it only gives a ‘coming soon’ message.
The Nokia Messaging team acknowledged that the Twitter support, at this point, isn’t going to replace a powerful application like Gravity or Twittix, but it’s a good start, and for normal consumers, it probably has just enough features. It definitely duplicates the functionality of many of the applications in our Ultimate Guide To Twitter On Symbian.
Homescreen Widget
There’s also an updated homescreen widget that offers a plethora of information, and you can even interact with it from the homescreen. You can scroll up or down to show either your Twitter feed, Facebook feed, or a recap of updates from the various services. Unfortunately, this widget seems to have trouble for different themes, specifically light-colored ones. This is likely something the team can improve quickly, though.
Here’s a quick video featuring Davis Fields, very much the public face of Nokia Messaging, telling about the various features:
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You can get more information about Nokia Messaging for Social Networks v2.0 here.
