facebook

You should know by now that Windows Phone "Mango" has Facebook Chat built in to the Messaging app (see our full Mango review). Turning it on is actually pretty simple: navigate to the Messaging (SMS) app, hit Setting and enable. Or you can do it under Settings --> Applications --> Messaging. Easy enough, so why the how to? Well, this is more a "troubleshooting" thing i.e. you're one of the very few who can't it to work.

See, since I've been running "Mango"  (nearly a month next week), I could not get Facebook Chat enabled. Yup. Every time I'd throw that lil' switch, it would ask me to setup Facebook Chat, it would then open what looks like an embedded IE window where it would return with a "Page cannot be found". Seriously. It did this dozens of times and I just thought "welp, it's not enabled yet".

Long story short: I didn't have my Facebook account linked to my Windows Live one. Who knew it was necessary? It would have been nice for an error message to explain that but alas, I was lost till I ran across Mobility Minded's excellent step by step guide on setting this up. The guide was perfect right up to the point when I had to enable the feature and bam...it still didn't work.

The solution was an extra step not in Mobility Minded's otherwise great write up: delete the Facebook account on the phone and set it up again (just name and password). The next time I headed to Messaging --> Settings, Facebook Chat was magically enabled and all is good. Of course the funny part in all of this is I don't use Facebook or Chat period, except for testing. Still, this issue was nagging me and hopefully if any of you have something similar, it'll help too.

The search giant is pushing forward with its latest social media product (anyone remember the rise and sudden fall of Buzz?) called Google+ and beta testing has been well underway with invites being rolled out. TechRadar reports that Google has confirmed that an iOS app will be hitting the App Store in the closing future which will feature native support. Question is, will they support Windows Phone 7?

Google+ is seen as the potential Facebook Killer and has a lot of hype to live up to according to the social media sphere. Since we already have Facebook and soon-to-be Twitter integration, I think Google+ could be a worthwhile addition. If we look at the current Google presence on WP7, it's nothing to be proud of. Users of docs, calendar, GMail, GTalk and other services have to switch between apps and there's no fluidity.

Google+ could become a hub of sorts, which could include all the social features which is present on the web version (chat, video conferencing, messaging etc.) while bringing in other Google services into one location. Then again, we do have Skype coming and WP7 is a very social integrated OS already. Would we really need another social network?

Via: TechRadar

Yup. Today is a huge day for Windows Phone indeed and, to top it off, the official Facebook app just hit 2.0 and finally (finally!) brings Push Notifications (Toast + Live Tile) to the game.

What's really great is just how much you can choose to be notified on: Message, Wall Post, Feed comment, Feed comment reply, Photo tag, Photo comment, Tagged photo comment, Photo comment reply...etc, etc. All of those are optional for notifications, which gives you the user some great control over how the app works.

Overall, the app feels smooth and now, dare we say, is complete? Go get it here in the Marketplace. (Thanks, @wp7ap, for the heads up!)

Seesmic, the free Twitter/Facebook app, received a major update today. Watch out! With all these new features, it's only a matter of time before the app outgrows its human oppressors.

Seesmic version 1.5 changelog:

Improved user experience: We worked hard to improve the user experience with the context menus, and we hope you'll agree that the experience is slicker than ever before.
Saleforce Chatter: We improved the UI to make navigation more intuitive.
Speak a tweet: Yes, tweets read outloud to you! We are not kidding!
Trend integration: Check out "What The Trend".
SMS Integration: Send a tweet via SMS.
Hyperlinks: You choose how you would like to open hyperlinks, either in-app browser or Internet Explorer.
Spring cleaning: Yes, we got rid of a few pesky issues in Facebook timelines and complications with Twitter logins.

The Speak a tweet option is the most promising new feature. You just click on a tweet, expand the menu at the bottom of the screen, and choose ‘Speak.’ Seesmic then reads your tweets back in a frightening robotic voice, but it’s still a great idea. I’d like a Speak button to join the Reply, Retweet, and Favorite buttons at the bottom of the screen instead of having to expand the menu first. The feature seems like it would be most useful while on the road or when your hands are otherwise full, so less clicks is better.

Seesmic is a great way to tweet and check your Facebook feed and messages. Pick it up here in the Marketplace.

We’re fans of moTweets ‘round these parts, the features and UI make it one of the top Twitter clients for Windows Phone 7 at this point. Looking at the features that are coming in version 2.2 we can’t help but get excited. In addition to fixes to GPS retrieval and some other bugs; Panoramic is adding themes, Facebook integration, and support for tools like Twitlonger and Plixi/TweetPhoto.

Keep an eye out for both the free and $0.99 versions of moTweets 2.2 in the Windows Phone Marketplace. The full moTweets 2.2 change log is after the break.

The official Facebook application, brought to you by Microsoft, is experiencing some odd crashing issues with some users. Checking the Marketplace for the application and reading some reviews featured on the app summary page displays a clear indication as to the scale of the problem.

We have attempted to reproduce the issue ourselves, and were only able to report one instance (Samsung Focus - another Focus worked however) that experienced crashes when running the Facebook app. It appears (at this early stage) to be randomly tripped with no apparent cause(s) being identified.

Reading the reviews back to the beginning of March, it seems as though it suddenly sprung on unsuspecting users, who are now understandably frustrated. Much like the Youtube offering from Microsoft being a complete flop, this is a serious concern that must be addressed soon to prevent further negativity clouding the WP7 experience and continuing the painful reminder of the pre-NoDo update.

Are you familiar with these recent issues? There is a temporary workaround for posting statuses and commenting on friends updates via the built-in integration the Windows Phone 7 platform sports. At least we have some way of spying on people we dislike while the official gateway to social goodness is unreliable or simply not working.

Thanks mk for the tip!

MyBookie, the fantasy betting app for your Windows Phone, is getting updated. The update will offer Facebook expansion by adding Office Pools into the mix.

Office Pools are designed to add a competitive spirit to the game allowing you to bet against your Facebook friends as well as betting against the house. The update will allow you to join existing Office Pools or design your own.

For those not familiar with MyBookie, it's a fantasy sports betting game that has you betting virtual currency against real-world sporting events. The game pulls in real-time betting lines for events and covers NFL, NCAA Football, NBA, NCAA Basketball, MLB and NHL games.

The update is expected to be available on Super Bowl Sunday through your Marketplace updating system. You can catch the full press release after the break and you can find MyBookie here (opens Zune) as well as MyBookie Lite (the free version) here at the Marketplace.

Have a lot of friends on Facebook? Do you have people added on your contact list that you don’t know, possibly residing in a different continent? If you don’t contact them via the social giant, why would you want them accessible on your phone?

Although Windows Phone 7 performs extremely well with integrating with Facebook, some of us just wish to have a more personal experience with our phone should our social network contact list be rather large. Many potential WP7 users are asking (and have previously asked) about turning the synchronization feature within the People hub in the OS off.

While you can’t completely turn it off without removing the Facebook account, there’s an easy and simple setting within the People configuration section that sets between “Show all my Facebook friends” and “Only add Facebook information to existing contacts”. To achieve the desired alteration, go to the following location:

Settings > Applications > People

If you’d like to have your Facebook friends added automatically again, simply reverse the change. Personally, I began kicking people off my friends list and kept my phone synchronizing everything.