futtta's blog

With all the attention going to native Facebook-applications for the iPhone, Blackberry, Symbian and now also Android, one would forget that there is a mobile Facebook-website as well. Better yet, there is not one but two mobile website; http://m.facebook.com and http://iphone.facebook.com.

The difference? The iPhone-version (or ‘high-end’, as it works on my Android-devices as well) looks a lot more beautiful, but the m-one has all the features one would expect from a mobile version of the Facebook site. Just look at these (low quality) screenshots;

Facebook home on M and iPhone:

Facebook profile on M and iPhone:

Facebook friends on M and iPhone:

Basically, except for the default friends-page, iphone.facebook.com does not in any respect offer more or better functionality than the “low-end” version. On the contrary; the iPhone-version doesn’t even come close when compared to m.facebook.com.

Dear Facebook; bling isn’t everything and I really don’t want to install your application, so kudo’s for creating a strong, feature-rich mobile site on m.facebook.com, but do implement at least the same functionalities on iphone.facebook.com. And add some smart html5/gears-based wizardry (just look at what Google does for mobile gmail) to bridge the gap with native apps while you’re at it, maybe?

• Facebook drops iphone in favor of touch
• Bridging the gap between html5 and Gears
• Switching from Google Reader to Tiny Tiny RSS
• (Not) Obsessing over the iPhone
• HTC-dude, where’s my keyboard?