Hello Is A Fresh New Facebook Client For Your iPad
Hello. App - Facebook for iPad ($2.99) by Kent Nguyen is another app for iPad users to access the popular social networking site, Facebook. The app lets you do everything on Facebook without forwarding you to the actual site like Friendly does.
The aim of Hello is to keep users on their newsfeed as much as possible. Pictures and links are shown with popup windows. Tapping outside the popup will take users back to their newsfeeds. This eliminates the need to navigate between multiple pages to view images and links. All of Facebook’s functions are accessible through the toolbar at the top of the screen. So it’s easy to update statuses, view notifications, etc.
Unlike Facebook and Friendly, the theme color of this app is not blue. The toolbars are black, which provides a new feel to Facebook. However, the links, like buttons, and icons are still the same. When you tap on a person’s name a wheel pops up that gives you options to poke, kick (whoa violent!), send a message or go to their page. I find this a little annoying because it takes three clicks to go to a profile page, rather than one.
There are several other drawbacks to Hello. First, you cannot zoom in on pictures (but neither can Friendly), and picture captions are not displayed. Hello also does not update newsfeeds in real time. Instead there is a refresh button located in the bottom left corner of the screen.
Overall, Hello is semi-fresh take on Facebook. Some features, like the settings, are easier to use than in other apps, but others are more difficult. In the end the apps do the same thing so it’s all personal preference. For those dissatisfied with the current Facebook apps for iPads, check out Hello.
