Late last week, Facebook addressed a crucial issue and eased the woes of many users with a new software update for its mobile app. As most of the world drifts from web to mobile, Facebook has also announced that most of its audience uses its mobile app vs their web platform. However, they failed to address the slow lag time until now.
Facebook 5.0 is all about speed and a sleek, fresh look. Upon updating, users will notice that the app starts immediately. Facebook engineers worked hard to improve the overall experience by removing unneeded features. “We’ve rebuilt the app from the ground up, so now the app opens much faster and your news feed and notifications load right when you open Facebook,” wrote Mick Johnson, product manager of Facebook in a blog post announcing the update.
Along with a much needed speed boost, you might have noticed a few subtle changes to the design. If you “like” something, it highlights in blue, the bar across the top is slightly different, and the picture view has changed. However, there are a few cons but they’re fairly insignificant and hopefully will be addressed in another update. While most of the app is noticeably fast, unfortunately the pictures load slowly. You have to watch them slowly render and come into focus as the newsfeed loads. That is a bit painstaking. Especially if you’re eager to see the photo and let’s face it; most of us peruse Facebook for the latest photos our friends have posted so this issue is a bit cumbersome. However, with the new update, you can now upload multiple photos vs just one at a time.
Another annoying feature is the bar at the top that constantly tells the user that there are new stories. Maybe I’m the only one that hates this but while I’m scrolling I don’t want to know that I’m missing out on 50 fresh new stories up top. I don’t know whether to continue scrolling or go back up and look at the new stuff. This only causes me to waste more time in the app but perhaps that’s what Facebook wants – to turn us into hamsters.
Have you upgraded to Facebook 5.0? What do you think of the new update? Let us know in the comments below.
