[Announce] FaceBrick: Facebook client for Maemo with a rich UI
 

UPDATE - v0.6 release, desktop widget finally here! See http://talk.maemo.org/showpost.php?p...&postcount=677 (Tuesday 12th October)
UPDATE - v0.3 release, application posts added! See http://talk.maemo.org/showpost.php?p...&postcount=362 (Saturday 17th April)
UPDATE - v0.2.3 release, bugfix only! See http://talk.maemo.org/showpost.php?p...&postcount=277 (Monday 12th April)
UPDATE - v0.2.2 release, adds ability to like/unlike posts! See http://talk.maemo.org/showpost.php?p...&postcount=216 (Saturday 10th April)
UPDATE - v0.2 release, adds ability to post/read comments! See http://talk.maemo.org/showpost.php?p...&postcount=186 (Friday 9th April)
UPDATE - v0.1.1 - bugfix only! See http://talk.maemo.org/showpost.php?p...&postcount=149 (Thursday 8th April)
UPDATE - first release (v0.1)! See http://talk.maemo.org/showpost.php?p...0&postcount=81 (Wednesday 7th April)




I started this on Saturday, and have spent pretty much all of today getting it to run on the n900 (SDK issues, PR1.2 vs 1.1.1, a Qt/compiler bug, git problems .. I've been through all sorts of hell :P) - but as an early taster, I'd like to present a quick screenshot of my Facebook client for the N900.

I'm probably going to move "check for new posts" to the titlebar menu, for starters. I also intend to eventually try to produce a desktop widget that isn't so horribly useless as the Nokia one (if I click on a newsfeed story, a browser window opens up and takes me to it)

Feedback of all sorts welcome! (This is the first time I've run it on the device, so please be gentle. ;))

Oh, and if there's any features from Facebook you'd like to see on your N900, please let me know.

Re: My Facebook client for the n900
 

looks good! an app would be great, like the n97/iphone one

Re: My Facebook client for the n900
 

I've not used either, but yeah, I'm sick of using Facebook in the browser, so I want a seperate 'nice' application that integrates with the nice phone I have, haha. :)

Re: My Facebook client for the n900
 

If you need anything designed holler at me, I'd be more than happy to help out!

An idea:
Some sort of integration into Conversations, so if I click an online user it opens up Conversations for Facebook Chat.

Thanks

Re: My Facebook client for the n900
 

great work dude! finally the first facebook client for n900, i really need it!

it would be great if offers all facebook features, like photo, link, comments, like or unlike command, ect....

btw great work again, waiting for first release, i'd like to test it ;)

Re: My Facebook client for the n900
 

Hmm.

FB now have XMPP (or Jabber or whatever you want to call it), so you can sign in to FB chat easily enough... I might be able to hook in with Conversations somehow so that you can talk to them, yes. I'll try keep it in mind :)

Re: My Facebook client for the n900
 

I doubt it'll be available for a while yet, definitely not before PR1.2.

1) I need a few new bits and pieces it offers (and hacking them into my non-PR1.2 phone was hell, it'd be impossible to package)
2) I want to use even more of them (like automatic rotation)
3) I want to polish things up and get it a bit more presentable first.. it's a good start atm, but it's a bit of an ugly wart ;)

Once that's done, though, my plan is to start working on other features though, yeah. :)

Re: My Facebook client for the n900
 

Maybe a way to view comments, liking and comment on posts, I'd prefer it if I didn't have to go to the website at all :p

Re: My Facebook client for the n900
 

have a look at this

http://m.facebook.com/home.php

this is what n97 version is kinda like but not as good

Re: My Facebook client for the n900
 

Screenie of the N97/5800 facebook widget http://www.allaboutsymbian.com/image...emo/fbhome.jpg

If you have a Forum Nokia account you can take a peak in the RDA section (it's like VNC'ing, you control a real device), if not, make an account :p

Liking the app a lot, not sure if the API allows (most probably kept as an iPhone exclusive feature) but push would be useful here, instead of manually checking/checking at intervals, but I'm not expecting that since it's most prolly closed.

If you want pre-alpha testers I'm here :)

Re: My Facebook client for the n900
 

wow...looks nice...can't wait till its released

Re: My Facebook client for the n900
 

Can't wait

Also, make it such that when we do update our status, it comes via Nokia N900.

Also, hope you get ideas from this

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ua86RBiGMtU

Re: My Facebook client for the n900
 

Thanks for the tip re: Forum Nokia. I'm not sure I want to dirty myself by playing with Symbian, but maybe I'll give it a shot. :D

At a brief bunch of searches, I don't think push is possible for non-iPhone usage (sigh) - and in fact I'm not even sure it's entirely done on Facebook's side of things since the stuff I did manage to turn up seemed to imply that it uses some Apple tricks...

Pre-alpha might be an idea, but I still want to do a tiny bit more polishing. Maybe tonight :)

Re: My Facebook client for the n900
 

Thanks for the link! I'll be sure to take a look - although I will also be doing my best to make a *better* experience. And definitely one that is more integrated with the Maemo platform - seeing as that's one of the big reasons I started out doing this :)

Re: My Facebook client for the n900
 

would it be possible to make it look like facebook? i mean the colors and design, not in the typical n900 black.. that would make it a real good facebook application in my opinion.. maybe i'm the only one but wanted to ask;)

Re: My Facebook client for the n900
 

Probably *possible*, yeah, but I'm not sure I want to do this. I wanted something that blends in with the rest of the system nicely.. I'll keep it in mind, though, and we'll see what happens.

Re: My Facebook client for the n900
 

would be great, maybe a possibility in settings to activate a facebook looking-like UI, of course after you finished all the more important stuff and have implemented all functions you would like to:) thx

Re: My Facebook client for the n900
 

please include a chat feature if you can. even on microB it's kinda annoying and hard to tap...

if you can do like the iphone version, that'll be great =)

Re: My Facebook client for the n900
 

A much needed app for the N900 thank you. I would not mind if it was totally different from tne N97 version as it was cumbersome and slow as a turtle when I had my N97.

Re: My Facebook client for the n900
 

that's a very good idea ! and about the facebook like gui, i think it would be great, just like tweego, it has a very nice interface !

Re: My Facebook client for the n900
 

A great feature would be to make the app fail to install on the phones of the all the naysayers who believed that there was "no need for an app when you can just go to the full website" :D

I'm kidding of course!

Thanks a ton for this!

Re: My Facebook client for the n900
 

You can get FB Chat integrated with Conversations now, Facebook offers Jabber - Take a look at http://thenokiablog.com/2010/02/10/h...ut-of-the-box/

Re: My Facebook client for the n900
 

Not well known, but:

http://x.facebook.com

Is the high-end mobile site. It's better than the N97 client, and the iPhone one. Currently the best facebook experience on a mobile device IMO.

Re: My Facebook client for the n900
 

Technically, they're right - but I think this has the ability to be/feel a lot nicer, and to not require a network connection if you're suffering from spotty connectivity. :)

Re: My Facebook client for the n900
 

I use it myself, actually, good reference. :)

Re: My Facebook client for the n900
 

This redirects to www.touch.facebook.com for me. Is this supposed to happen? If so, it is well known on here, and there is even a link to it on the standard mobile Facebook site, right at the bottom.

Re: My Facebook client for the n900
 

Yeah...think that's what it is supposed to do.

touch.facebook.com isn't the greatest either

Re: My Facebook client for the n900
 

This is looking pretty good and is exactly what i've been hoping for. I have to agree with you that for me personally I'd prefer an app which intergrates with my device and looks and feels the same, this is one of the reasons why I enjoy using jabber for facebook chat through my phone so much, if I wanted it to look like facebook I probably would just use the facebook or facebook lite sites, although I think the option to change the look of the app to something a bit more "facebook like" would be a good option for those who prefer it.

Re: My Facebook client for the n900
 

Not necessarily push.. but what about registering it with CRON with a menu-configurable setting for how often to check? Thus making it somewhat a service that gives notifications every time some menu-configurable list of facebookey things change.. (status updates, comments on your status', posts on your wall, images tagged of you........... automatically remove tags on images tagged of you *cough* :D).

Other features on similar apps:
- Image Uploading
- Image Tagging
- Album creation, deletion, modification
- "Events" notifier
- Sync profile pictures with Contacts
- Comment on Posts
- View Wall, Pictures, Profile of friends/self.
- Delete Comments/posts

Not sure if any of these have been mentioned.. I only skim-read :D.

Re: My Facebook client for the n900
 

You could integrate this with Hermes too.

Also, you could add an "export to n900 calender" option for events.

Re: My Facebook client for the n900
 

let's give the guy a break. maybe we need to create a brainstorm or garage project to organize all these ideas. i'm down to test /design. i can put together a brand identity / icon for this. What are you thinking for a name?

Re: My Facebook client for the n900
 

i personally use, lite.facebook.com...waitin for you to release this app.

P.S i tried touch.facebook.com, but i like the lite version better, and it seems a bit faster as well! (i have chat with pidgin, which seems much better/faster then jabber)

Re: My Facebook client for the n900
 

Oh no, by all means, keep the ideas coming. I'm working at the moment, so I'm not able to work, but I am keeping an eye on it.

I've no name in mind whatsoever - suggestions welcome, again :)

I did do a little more UI work this morning, mostly just tidying things up. There's one last thing I want to address - the newsfeed list is *really* slow to draw/scroll.

Once I get that addressed, I'll get things ready for some testing.

Re: My Facebook client for the n900
 

i think making it facebooky might violate some copyrights especially since it is open source and not really an official app

Re: My Facebook client for the n900
 

There would definitely be problems if I used their logo or theme too blatantly, but simple colouring shouldn't be an issue I'd think.

Re: My Facebook client for the n900
 

Take a look at Bloo for Android. It's mostly a decent Facebook app and they had a similar problem when they first started. They called it something to do with Facebook and got contacted by Facebook to change the name.

You can look at the screenies and stuff and see the white/blue coloring scheme is still there and seem to be just fine. So you shouldn't have a problem there.

Re: My Facebook client for the n900
 

cant wait for this app! am sick of having to log onto the facebook site to reply to a message! ;)

Re: My Facebook client for the n900
 

Commendable ...kudos to you w00t. This is what many wanted - and I just looked at the Iphone app (installed on my wife's iPod) and its got a very clean slick look and feel.

Anyways this is one of the best things - instead of all those suggestions of "use the browser" and "the browser is how the internet is supposed to work" and all the lame excuses for not having a dedicated app in the first place.

So kudos to you again. These little threads like these make my convictions in open source come alive again and I feel tingled and excited.

Re: My Facebook client for the n900
 

Yeah i agree with that. The web browser may be superb, but apps do make for better productivity. Just like I use Twitter apps on my Mac, rather than the website, it is quicker and easier! Same principle for the N900 IMO.

Looking forward to a public release to see how it goes!

Re: My Facebook client for the n900
 

How about Maeface? Facemo? Maebook?