Database Users

Specifications for a "Blackberry Facebook App" equivalent

After jealously observing the Facebook app on my wife's Blackberry Pearl, I am shocked that neither ShoZu, Snap2Face/Skybook nor FriendMobilizer have come close to matching the simple elegance of Facebook for Blackberry. Each of the aforementioned Windows Mobile apps, I believe, will fail to become very popular among users because they are trying to do fundamentally different things than the official Blackberry and iPhone apps.
So I'm going to attempt to specify the basic features that would make for the best "Facebook for Windows Mobile" application. The developer who carries these out will, I predict, quickly dominate the rest.
What we already have
A couple of mobile-friendly versions of the FB user interface. Whether you use http://m.facebook.com in PIE, or http://iphone.facebook.com in Opera Mobile/IrisBrowser, or indeed desktop-level Facebook in Skyfire/Opera Mini/etc., we already have great ways to passively view most of Facebook. FB apps for WM appear to have devoted most efforts to remaking their own, sometimes uglier interfaces for viewing the same information. While this introduces the possibility of offline synchronization, this is nowhere near a key functional benefit offered on Blackberry and iPhone. The trend is toward more users having data plans and ubiquitous data connections.
A way to access Facebook Chat. 3rd-party multiprotocol chat applications offer this for Windows Mobile already.
Several ways to update your status. You can do this through Facebook Mobile, SMS, etc.
A crappy way to upload mobile photos. You can send an MMS to [email protected] - not ideal and lacks the ability to place photos in specific albums, tag, etc. But it is a start.
A crappy way to receive notifications. The FB notifications feed is actually available via RSS, and several free RSS clients exist for Windows Mobile.
A really crappy way to new FB message alerts and everything else. Suppose you registered a new Gmail account devoted solely to receiving Facebook notification emails. You could register that address with your Facebook settings, set it as the address to receive email notifications and then turn on notifications for everything that happens on Facebook. After setting up this email account on your Windows Mobile device, you could receive regular alerts from Facebook on your mobile device. (Heck, with System SEVEN beta or some other service that utilizes the IMAP IDLE feature, you could essentially have "push" FB alerts).
What we don't have (but Blackberry does)
Based on the features listed at http://na.blackberry.com/eng/devices/features/social/facebook.jsp , you can see that the man feature that WM users don't have is "push"-style homescreen notifications. On the Blackberry homescreen, the number of new Facebook notifications and messages sits beside a little FB icon. It is updated immediately as new messages and notifications are received.
Thus I would propose the following specifications for a WM Facebook app (or suite of mini-apps). The Facebook Developers API should be used, not some unreliable html-parsing library.
1. New/unread FB messages and notifications on a "push" or rapid-refresh basis. This either means (a) a Today screen plugin that lists the unread message counts and points Pocket IE to the appropriate http://m.facebook.com link when tapped, (b) WM popup notifications of the same, or (c) a MAPI interface library that allows the FB Inbox and/or FB Notifications feed to be added as regular mail accounts in Pocket Outlook - letting WM take care of popups if the user so desires.
2. A photo upload and tagging tool. The user must be able to select a photo (or take one) and then choose to either add it to any existing album or create a new one, followed by the option to tag that photo.
3. Dedicated Facebook chat. If it is easy, of course.
Everything else on Facebook - contacts search, Phonebook, etc - is just as easy to access on the existing Facebook Mobile site. My instinct is that developers inevitably waste our memory with bloated software when they make "native" interfaces that just rehash the content at http://m.facebook.com/
Or am I missing something? Maybe others have thoughts. I'm no developer and I don't mean to sound demanding - I'm just trying to give developers some ideas here.

would be fine if someone would fix the iphone.facebook.com java problems

libpurple already incorporates facebook im but i dont think there is a client for windows mobile that uses it. As for uploading, you can upload pictures but not videos directly from a touch series phone (videos are uploaded to youtube). If the protection can be stripped from an ipa and the can be decrypted then I dont understand why we cant port the facebook.app. I have an iPhone 3G and an iPod Touch, both jailbroken. I'll SSH into them and grab the files for the facebook app but the rest needs to be done by someone else. Just give me sometime to find them.

1. New/unread FB messages and notifications on a "push" or rapid-refresh basis. This either means (a) a Today screen plugin that lists the unread message counts and points Pocket IE to the appropriate http://m.facebook.com link when tapped, (b) WM popup notifications of the same, or (c) a MAPI interface library that allows the FB Inbox and/or FB Notifications feed to be added as regular mail accounts in Pocket Outlook - letting WM take care of popups if the user so desires.
2. A photo upload and tagging tool. The user must be able to select a photo (or take one) and then choose to either add it to any existing album or create a new one, followed by the option to tag that photo.
3. Dedicated Facebook chat. If it is easy, of course.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
wFacebook will have ALL of these things that you mentioned. A little patience is all that is needed. I started developing this only 2 weeks ago Thanks for the breakdown though, it gives me something to work towards. I hope to have facebook chat up and running in the next release. Push style notifications will come as soon as I can figure out an "always signed on" connection to facebook. Photos and tagging are very easy to do, I just haven't gotten around to implementing it.
What you have to realize is that the blackberry apps and iPhone apps are both designed by facebook. They access facebook's data directly. Facebook does not allow this in its API so we have to find workarounds. Blackberry has nothing to do with it's facebook application (as far as I know). Facebook developed and maintains it.
Also, thanks for the tip on the rss feed. I did not know this and this may help with notifications!

Give computerjunkie some time....
And all the requested features will be hopefully implemented.
Btw since you have a BB and have positive feelings regarding it's user experience and user interface it would be great if you could dedicate some time to write down some detailed specs !
Ciao
Marco

The BB app doesn't really have a "push" notification system. All apps that use notifications, like Facebook and MySpace, are simple emails. When the same email account is registered under the BB profile, and Facebook profile, it recognizes the FB notification email as the app specific notification, and gives the notification instead of the email.
But, on the app, I really don't like it much, so I don't suggest it as your "template". All it really does is give you the notifications, allow you to update your status and view your friends list. You can't view profiles or photos through the app, it opens the browser, and you have to login! Further more, the news feed only shows the notifications, like birthdays and comments.
Try something like the BB MySpace app, I love that one! You can flow through pictures and view everything in the app.

wFacebook will be like the BB myspace app. You won't have to log in to the website to see info. It will be fetched from the application itself. Also, it will have push style notifications (maybe not ALL notifications but most: Wall, Inbox, photo comment, etc.). I am looking into an always on (or as close to always on) so when the notification occurs, wFacebook automatically fetches the info THEN notifies the user so all the user has to do is start up wFacebook and check the item. Also with the semi-always on connection, wFacebook users won't have to keep logging in to facebook which right now is taking about 1.5 minutes with wFacebook because of data speeds on mobile machines.

Problem with the xda app is it requires .NET 3.5
iphone.facebok.com in Skyfire is the best solution for me.

though I think a windows mobile facebook app is much needed I have to agree the very Bloated net cf is def not the way to go. I do appreciate all you are doing as this app has potential to be very useful . thanks again for all your hard work. pleasyo code in "C"

Instant Messaging Query (AIM/MSN)

I apologise if this is a stupid question, but I can't seem to make sense of it.
Looking at the features between different builds (as demonstrated nicely in this table http://www.simonwalkerphotos.com/android/android_build_information.asp I notice that the official T-Mobile and other builds seems to support AIM, MSN and Yahoo!
I'm using JFV1.51 CRB43 EU (1541), which seems to support MSN/AIM.
I can add MSN/AIM/Yahoo details to my contacts, but how do I then chat over it?
I get the feeling its got to come down to third party app support, but if it does, then why would some releases support it when others dont.
Could someone enlighten me, please

The ROMS that support IM built in use the T-Mobile IM app. To enable a chat from your contacts, (within cupcake) simply click on "chat using AIM/MSN etc." From there it should take you to the IM app and have you sign in or take you to a message window.
Hope that helps

Thanks for the swift reply.
OK, so:
I create a new contact, give them a name and enter a phone number.
I hit enter Chat Address and I get dropdown options for AIM, Windows Live, Yahoo, Skype, QQ, GoogleTalk, ICQ and Jabber.
I enter known GoogleTalk, AIM, MSN and ICQ Addresses. Hit done.
I now go and find my contact (mr aaaTest) and I have 6 options.
Call/Text
Chat using: Google Talk / AIM / Windows Live / ICQ
Chat using google talk promps me to invite the address set for the contact.
Slightly annoying as I already have that contact in gTalk, just under a different name, but it seems to be working.
Clicking on Chat Using AIM/Windows Live / ICQ does nothing.
Well, it responds to the button press, but nothing happens on the device.
If I have a look using logcat then on teh button press I'm told:
I/ActivityManager( 63): Starting activity: Intent { action=android.intent.action.SENDTO data=imto://msn/[email protected] }
E/ViewContact( 130): No activity found for intent: Intent { action=android.intent.action.SENDTO data=imto://msn/[email protected] }
So, as I am running JFV1.51 CRB43 EU, should I expect this to work?
The only thing I can think is that its a US only feature. -Can anyone advise please.

It may only be a US feature. I know it is featured to work with the IM application that comes on the T-Mobile US builds.
I'm not sure about the EU versions, as I have never used them. You could try pushing the IM app and other files needed from the JF US version and see if that works, assuming the IM app will work on the EU build.

I believe this is a feature made available in the US by the use of a SMS->IM gateway, which most other operators in the UK/EU don't do. Mainly because it's a horrid way to do things

jonc said:
I believe this is a feature made available in the US by the use of a SMS->IM gateway, which most other operators in the UK/EU don't do. Mainly because it's a horrid way to do things
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
what he said - but if you do want it working, this may work:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=519980

Thanks for all the replies.
Using a SMS gateway is abhorent and well worth avoiding.
Thank you Joinc for the warning and afflaq for telling me how to do it. I probably won't bother setting it up, but it could be amusing to try.
I suppose if I want to be using these protocalls then I'm going to have to download third party apps for each. I wonder if a) they work nicely and b) tie in nicely to contacts.
gTalk in the browser chaims that I can contact people with AIM accounts -I might have a play with this and see if it will work on the phone.
Thanks to all for your help -as a long term lurker, I'm really impressed by the friendly and helpful replies to my first post

Android 2.0 SDK / Official video

From the android developers blog.
Download SDK 2.0.
Official Youtube video.
New User Features
Contacts and accounts
+ Multiple accounts can be added to a device for email and contact synchronization, including Exchange accounts. (Handset manufacturers can choose whether to include Exchange support in their devices.)
+ Developers can create sync adapters that provide synchronization with additional data sources.
+ Quick Contact for Android provides instant access to a contact's information and communication modes. For example, a user can tap a contact photo and select to call, SMS, or email the person. Other applications such as Email, Messaging, and Calendar can also reveal the Quick Contact widget when you touch a contact photo or status icon.
Email
+ Exchange support.
+ Combined inbox to browse email from multiple accounts in one page.
Messaging
+ Search functionality for all saved SMS and MMS messages.
+ Auto delete the oldest messages in a conversation when a defined limit is reached.
Camera
+ Built-in flash support
+ Digital zoom
+ Scene mode
+ White balance
+ Color effect
+ Macro focus
Android virtual keyboard
+ An improved keyboard layout to makes it easier to hit the correct characters and improve typing speed.
+ The framework's multi-touch support ensures that key presses aren't missed while typing rapidly with two fingers.
+ A smarter dictionary learns from word usage and automatically includes contact names as suggestions.
Browser
+ Refreshed UI with actionable browser URL bar enables users to directly tap the address bar for instant searches and navigation.
+ Bookmarks with web page thumbnails.
+ Support for double-tap zoom.
+ Support for HTML5:
Database API support, for client-side databases using SQL.
Application cache support, for offline applications.
Geolocation API support, to provide location information about the device.
<video> tag support in fullscreen mode.
Calendar
+ Agenda view provides infinite scrolling.
+ Events indicate the attending status for each invitee.
+ Invite new guests to events.
New Platform Technologies
Media Framework
+ Revamped graphics architecture for improved performance that enables better hardware acceleration.
Bluetooth
+ Bluetooth 2.1
+ New BT profiles: Object Push Profile (OPP) and Phone Book Access Profile (PBAP)
New Framework APIs
Android 2.0 includes several new developer APIs. For an overview of new APIs, see the Android 2.0 version notes.

WEEEEEE i totally cannot wait

Hi!
Sorry for the noob question,but how will we be able to update our phones (hero obviously) with the new android OS? Will HTC probably make a RUU or something alike?
THX for answers

Hi!
i have question about the bluetooth thing.
Wikipedia says that opp is a bluetooth profile for sending vcards and appointments. Is it possible to send/recieve other files with that? Im asking that because opp is using obex, which imho does that.
greetz

dickeplatte said:
Hi!
i have question about the bluetooth thing.
Wikipedia says that opp is a bluetooth profile for sending vcards and appointments. Is it possible to send/recieve other files with that? Im asking that because opp is using obex, which imho does that.
greetz
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That is the burning question, which we all want to know! I would assume since as you say the Object Push Profile is based on OBEX, and it the Bluetooth Stack supports 2.1, it should be possible, but I am no expert on the matter.
Can ask in the developer forum.. encouraging though!

bejgli said:
Hi!
Sorry for the noob question,but how will we be able to update our phones (hero obviously) with the new android OS? Will HTC probably make a RUU or something alike?
THX for answers
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
umm..... the released thing isnt the os. its just the sdk to update current softwares for eclaire. its mainly for software developers.
for os upgradation we need the source code and we just got source code of 1.5 a week ago and at this rate 2.0 will be releasing next year April or later

PHEW ultra nice!! hope we get this as fast as possible (i can abandon 1.6) ;-)

mostly this point: "Developers can create sync adapters that provide synchronization with additional data sources." sounds very nice to me.. cuz here in germany people do morely use networks like studivz rather than facebook.. so one can/will (!) implement such a contact integration for our networks here

if a test rom for dream can be made be from sdk then rom for hero can be made from sdk. isnt it guys?

calling our hero devs. guys, dream devs r running eclair in their phones and we r craving for it. plz do sumthing. plz port it for the sake of our beloved HERO.

dying4004 said:
if a test rom for dream can be made be from sdk then rom for hero can be made from sdk. isnt it guys?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
think so, cuz we got the kernel source code

[Q] Booking system app for Android

Hey guys
I'm an entrepreneur from Brisbane, Australia. I'm looking into introducing a new product and am wondering if you guys would be able to help me clarify a few questions. I have to add I have no idea what so ever about programming languages or whats possible or not. I just going to post my vision of the application I will need and hope some of you guys can tell me what of that will be possible, what not and how much effort / money it would take to realise.
Firstly of all and most importantly I need the the Phone application to work with several other systems which would be at the moment : - Iphone, Windows Mobile, Blackberry Android, a Website interface, Windows Vista / 7 and Mac OS. I need this to work in two ways. One for the user to sync their data on different apps and secondly for the admin to receive and send data from the main system (that would be working on Windows or Mac)
On first interface the user would have to log in with a username and password, high security would be welcome, after the log in the general interface should be offering the user a booking request form with the ability to use a saved lists of items which have been previously use / prepared but also a interface for add one or editing
It also should offer a open bookings lists and the ability to edit this lists. This should also be able to be synced to the other systems. A third interface showing a history and updates should be also available.
If possible it should offer different accounts and groups where admins can edit the bookings of other users. If this is possible it also should offer a control for the admins which shows bookings and history of other group users.
I would like this obviously to be a professional looking app which offers a good service and is secure and bug free. If anyone has an idea if this is realisable or what parts of it would be difficult or have to be changed please do me the favour and comment.
Thank you for your help in advance.
JPM

Hello,
If you're looking for developers for your project, please contact [email protected]
Example of similar (ok, a bit different but technical approach is the same) web app and mobile clients for several smartphone platforms is in my signature.

[Q] Stateless IRC Protocol for mobile devices

Hi guys,
There are plenty of proprietary messaging applications available for Android but I've been sitting on the idea for the last couple of days on creating an open protocol similar to IRC for smartphones.
What would separate it from existing clients like AndIRC is the ability to switch your phone off/close the client and go back to the rooms at a later stage and see the last 20 or so messages posted.
The big issue with the above is that it will be yet another chat network and it will be suffering from the chicken and egg problem where nobody would use it as nobody else is using it.
So I'm wondering if any rom developers would be interested in bundling such an application with their rom (for instance creating a chat room with other users that use the same rom). You'd obviously have a large say in how it should be developed and perhaps some branding opportunities.
Overall my main goal is to create an open and decentralized network that anybody can write clients and servers for - ultimately getting rid of this proprietary locked in mess that smartphones currently have. A big emphasis is on group chat instead of private messaging like Gtalk/SMS.
Any android/iPhone developers are more than welcome to join in.