Nokia Messaging for Social Networks Beta2 App Review
I’ve been using the second beta to Nokia Messaging for Social Networks the weekend before today’s official announcement. If you need a reminder, the first beta was released at Nokia World, supporting only Facebook. The new version adds new options for Facebook and adds support for Twitter. Read on for some of my feedback.
Nokia’s Announcement Video
If you see an error in the video player, we still need to wait for Nokia to make it public. Here’s the Youtube link.
The Nokia Messaging team listened to the user feedback from the first release. The major addition is Twitter support. Product Manager Davis Fields explained, “We’ve added much more to this release including Twitter, all delivered live to the homescreen on your Nokia.” Clicking on a tweet or a friend’s Facebook update opens the full client displaying the relevant page so you can quickly respond.
Enhancements
- Full profile support
- Events: view upcoming events and birthdays
- Search
- Adding support for Twitter
- View / reply to your Tweets
- Update status on Twitter
Going Above and beyond (for Facebook only)
Location
- Integration with device GPS
- Integration with Ovi Maps (add map link to location and points of interest)
Enhanced communication:
- Click-to-call
- Click-to-SMS
- Click-to-FB email
Device native apps:
- Integration with device calendar
- Video and picture uploads
Feedback
Nokia would like its users to try out the beta give them some feedback. You can download the app at messaging.nokia.com. This beta supports the Nokia N97 N97 mini, and the 5800.
My feedback. It’s great that they’ve added Twitter, but it’s definitely very basic. Pressing on most of the options usually ended up with a coming soon message. You can update, view mentions (hidden below the “what’s happening” form), and favorites (also hidden).
During a pre-briefing, we were told that this will not replace full-featured Twitter apps like Gravity, and the final software will be more targeted towards new users. I sort of disagree since I think new users will probably have a better Twitter experience using the Gravity application.
One bug I noticed that needs to be fixed immediately is the Twitter reply. It does not register the original tweet, hence not showing the “in reply to” submessage.
I also found this beta to be very slow at times even on my fast wifi connection. For example, my friends’ Facebook wall and photo albums take too long to load while there’s a considerable waiting time for the Facebook calendar to load as well. I’m not sure whether to blame the hardware I’m using which is the Nokia N97 mini or the beta software.
I really can’t complain too much since Nokia Messaging for Social Networks is still in beta. I’ve provided my feedback and Nokia is hoping to hear from you, too. I’m looking forward to the upcoming releases to see more improvements.
