25 March 2011

Social Application For Symbian^3 Devices
Gets An Update And Number Of New Features

Those of you who already own some Symbian^3 powered device (Nokia N8, C7, etc) or are about to get one, would be happy to know that Nokia that new BETA version of Nokia’s Social application for Symbian^3 devices is no available for download from Nokia Beta labs (requires valid Nokia account).

Nokia Social app version 1.3 brings number of new features and allows you to stay connected even easier. Integration with the native Contact application is significantly improved and now you can see your friends’ status updates right from their Contacts Card and see what friends are up to before you make a phone call.

From other hand on Social app client, a Linked Contacts indicator enables you to see which friends' Contacts Cards are linked. Now you can manage your social networks more efficiently. No need to sync all your Social contacts at once, just pick and chose your closest friends and always know what they are up to.

A photo sharing is improved as well and now allows you to add captions when sharing pictures from your camera to bring your photos to life. But that’s not all, application is now capable to process and upload pictures at higher resolutions —up to 4 MB—so what you share is clear and sharp.

Anyway, considering that application remains pretty much the same after the update below you can find my couple of weeks old app preview below, just in case you didn’t read it already.

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I know there are plenty of applications that enable you to get connected with your favourite social networks easily, but all of these are individual apps that only allow you to access one service at a time and that's where the Social comes in.

Social is Symbian^3 application developed by Nokia itself that allows you to connect to two most popular social networks nowadays and receive all the updates in one centralized place, instead of loading several apps, now you only need one app to rule them all.

Nokia has completely overhauled the user interface, application is now more finger friendly, home-screen widget looks really nice and it is a pleasure to look at and to touch although it still has some rough edges and needs further refinement.

Beside the completely refreshed interface, latest version adds several noteworthy new features and brings a closer integration with default phones applications and it is probably the most significant improvement. Now you can easily connect Facebook profiles with contacts on your phone and even easier share a photos either on Facebook or twitter on pretty much the same way as on the Nokia N900.

Media sharing

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Whether it’s a picture you’ve taken on the Nokia N8’s 12MP camera, or from your photo library, uploading your favourite pictures onto Facebook with a title and location can be done in a matter of seconds, not to mention that it’s just as easy to post video content too.

Unfortunately but it's most certainly not all that good and there is a plenty of room for improvements, first of all uploads goes to mobile uploads album so you can’t choose where to upload neither you can tag photo or post a comment which means that once uploaded you’ll need to run browser, locate photo and then tag it or comment it.

Media sharing

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The upload process is completely in the background and you’ll be only informed when upload starts but unfortunately there is no any information that upload is successfully done neither you can cancel upload, so again you will be forced to run the Social or browser and check if photo is really there or not.

Speaking about photos I need to say that I am completely disappointed with the photos and albums managing in the social application. The idea of viewing album’s photos in a kind of a slideshow is a nice and well implemented but unfortunately it lacks some advanced features such as tagging and commenting!

Albums Viewer

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This means that if you came across a photo that you would like to comment you’ll be again forced to run the default browser (which is by the way the worst part of this phone) go to Facebook, find a profile, album, photo and then comment it which is really not a user friendly if you ask me.

What I hate the most is fact that there is no notification tab so if you to see if there is something new comment or like in posts or photos that you are subscribed to you’ll need to find certain post or photo and refresh it to get new content or again go to default internet browser and check it through the desktop or mobile or touch friendly Facebook page.

Missing Stuff
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I also miss an option to see who is like something, application indeed shows a number of likes but you can’t see who actually likes your post, status or photo and you guess to check that you’ll be again forced to run default browser.

The integration with phonebook and calendar application can’t be simpler and better, merging Facebook profile and phonebook contact is a matter of a touch. All you need to do is to open person’s profile on social, touch a small phonebook icon on top of the screen and than simply choose a certain contact from your phonebook that you would like to merge it. Once merged, you’ll get an option to quickly interact with your friends straight from the phonebook or access the contact card from social application.

Integration with phonebook
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Nokia N87's fully customizable homescreen and an improved Social widget combines the best of the mobile phone and personal Internet to provide the Twitter and Facebook addicts an easy access to the most popular social networks. It allows you to quickly and easily and enjoy direct and immediate access to the world’s most popular social networking sites, whenever and wherever you like and stay logged in as long as you want. The social widget on the homescreen means you are only one tap from sharing and staying connected no matter are you a Facebook or Twitter user or you like them both!.

Missing Stuff
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All in all, Social application looks much better now, I really refreshed user interface, integration with the phonebook application, ability to share location when updating status as well as the one click sharing option that need some improvements as soon as possible but there is a still lot of space for improvements and I just hope that someone from Social app dev team will actually read my review and implement some of the suggestions and make this app a perfect solution to socialize, stay connected with your friends and keep up with the latest news and posts while you are on the go.

Integration with phonebook
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Facebook and twitter are currently the most popular social networks in the world but what also makes social networking on the Nokia N8 so popular is the power it gives individuals to maintain and expand their online activity and stay connected with friends and people who share a similar interest, profession or hobby.

Integration with phonebook
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Context-aware widgets, accessible directly via the home screen, mean you can make the Internet truly your own by filtering information according to who you are, where you’re from and what your Facebook friends are doing.

Last but not the least, the review is mostly focused on Facebook functionality, as a matter of fact I didn’t even test the Twitter part of the app as I am really not a huge fan. If there is a twitter fan among you how would like to add few sentences about twitter integration, just contact me, I’ll glade to add it to here!