Microsoft announces new Facebook beta for Windows Phone 8, revamped and more features

i gotta agree with ammarmalik2011 that banner at the top was a waste of space.

amarmalik is a Troll, don't feed this isheep!!

troll or no troll when he makes a valid point people will agree. particularly on this subject he just happens to be right.

I Dont agree or believe in encouraging trolls whose sole reason for visting wpcentral is to make troll comments in all the articles.

It wasn't an objective point, so there whether it is valid or not is strictly up to the user. I, for one, quite liked it. I infrequently use the app itself thanks to integration, but it was actually one my favorite design elements.

 Don't fight. Switch.

next time you think of posting, dont. Spare us.

I have a 620, not a good phone to have a third of the screen wasted on lol..some apps do it really nicely, some just take almost half the screen :-/

+1000

Agreed.

That gigantic banner at the top took way too much space.

I agree, it is completely unnecessary to waste space on a banner. If I want to look at my own pics then I would go through them. It reminded me of IE explorer for pc/laptop, where there are a bunch of buttons available that no one will ever use but takes away valuable viewing space. It's annoying.

I am pretty sure that you are talking about IE8 and below.
 
IE9 and IE10 has most of the rarely used buttons hidden: just the way I like it.

Except now you have the time bar, then the navigation bar, and then a banner image if you're on a profile or page. Makes perfect sense. 

Looks like an iPhone version. Not digging how it looks, at all. The old version looks so much nicer. Guess I shouldn't complain too much, especially considering I don't even have a Facebook, lol.

this does maintain the metro look and feel of windows phone. it provides in your face information on the timeline and notifications and maintains all the buttons flat and devoid of chrome. still has the pan to the left and right. its just the layout of the app that has changed and i for one prefer it.

The majority of people will compare it to the iOS version. But there's a reason why the iOS and Android versions are designed like that...they're most functional that way. BB10 has even copied their format, albeit with less functionality. Facebook for Windows Phone was an eyesore. I like how there are some nice WP touches with this redesigned app.

The problem with the original Facebook app is that Microsoft tried to make an app that is a hybrid of Metro design and Facebook design and the just doesn't work.  It's like making a sport car that is also a truck.
 
Had Microsoft made a Facebook app that is entirely Metro, it would look like the People Hub. It would work fine, but it would look nothing like Facebook.
 
Microsoft finally gave that up and basically went entirely with Facebook design. 

Yes ur right, its a port of the Android version that I have seen, haven't checked the IOS, but its good and easy to navigate!!

How are the notifications? That's my biggest gripe with the current Facebook app. Edit: I like the new design so far. It conforms to the official touch interface while still retaining some metro influences.

Am I the only one that thinks it's slow compared to the old app?
I'm on a L920

Probably a side effect of the beta. 

Remember that it's still in beta.

Yes, is slow also on my 920.
But is a Beta, I hope that get fixed on final version :)

Its much faster on my 822

Yes, slow on my 920 but appreciate it is a beta. Like the new design though, shame about losing the nice looking picture bar.

That gigantic banner took way too much space.

I liked it. It drew people's eye when I showed it on my phone and it even brought back some pics/memories from the past.

Exactly.. Im disappointed too. My friends with the s3 and iPhone were all in praise for how beautiful the Facebook app looks. If only they could add the features with a similar interface :(

Dont update. Stay with the old one

my lumia 920 too..very slow loading..but its okay because its beta..hope full version they can fix n add to tagging people..:)

You can tag people

How do you tag people? That's the one thing in waiting for in a WP8 fb app

http://i1100.photobucket.com/albums/g405/conasca/temporary.jpg

Was hoping you could type their name in like on ios and android so you could type their name into the status/comment

much faster on my 8x

Same here. It's definitely an improvement on speed for me on the 8X.
The old app used to lag a lot to open new messages for example. It's still not the fastest thing ever, but it's a huge improvement in usability and style for me.
There's still a few kinks to solve in this beta though. For example, the red notifications indicator won't go away until I've moved away from the notifications screen, even if I press the start button and return to the Facebook app.

Agreed plus it now has many of the features that the iOS version has, finally getting parity on this app. I just switched to the 8x from the iPhone 5 and the Facebook app was very antiquated. This is a huge step in the right direction.

Nope, it is. But it is a beta. Just think of the design. The old was also slow in the first versions!

Its pretty fast on my 820. Looking forward to see how notifications work.

Dang, I keep getting an error in the store!

Same here. Get an 805a0194 error.  Using Samsung ATIV S on Telus (Canada).

Same error on my HTC Trophy.
 
Edit: I just noticed it's only for Windows Phone 8 anyway ): balls.

Restarted my phone and it works now. Loving it!

Same thing , after a restart it installed fine.   Liking the new app.

It might be your region or carrier as I have it on a UK Ativ S

Just give it a bit. It's not available in your area is what the error means.

I got the error when click on the install button on the windowsphone.com.  However, when I checked my phone, it was there in the apps list. 
The apps looks good and seems much faster.  It definitely does the job and I see the additional features like Sharing that have been missing until now.  It is much less modern that the current app.  I liked some of the modern design elements in the current app, I think they were just missing some of the features.  If the new version sticks with the current design, I can delete the last remaining Facebook alternative app that I have on my phone, as there will be no use for it.  Most of the alternative apps are based on the iOS design.  While the Beta closely resembles the iOS version as well, I do like it and I think most users will prefer the design, especially those coming from iOS and Android.

I connected it to Wifi and the error went away. :) 

what is Facebook?

A place where you post stuff about yourself which is collected by the zuckerberg team. And now they are into politics :)

Then Zuckerberg hands it all over to Obama's minions, and if you're a conservative they take you away to reeducation camps. Oh, wait - that's next week.

LOL!

LOL that's funny.

Edit: Hmmm, Can we not do < strike>?

They also make mediocre Android launchers, I heard

LOL

What's an Android? :D

A robot

An OS that's used be crazy people who are happily giving away tons of info about themselves by using crapware

Ok thanks, I'll try and avoid both. ;)

Bishop in Alien !

He prefers to be called an "artificial person". 

A type of robot, who wants to be and copies human

Ha! Good one.

Something that is way more useful than tired, old 'What is..' tropes.

Just downloaded this....still a bit buggy but CHAT IS BUILT RIGHT INTO THE APP LADIES AND GENTLEMEN!!!

CHAT WAS BUILT INTO THE OLD APP TOO. WELL, MESSAGING WAS. SAME THING YOU DUMBO

Did the chat really work like a chat for you? For me it did not, which might not caused by the app itself but facebook^^

Only thing it didn't show which basically all chat platforms show is when the other person is typing..showed location, when they saw the chat, whether they were on mobile or not. I loved it

Facebook Chat is built into the messaging hub. Why would I want to use the chat in the application?

That for me has proven unreliable. Sometimes I wouldn't get the other persons response and they wouldn't get mine. Same thing for Messaging app on W8

messaging app on WP8 for me is unstable and connection is dropped often but I have no problems with the messaging app on W8, it works perfect imo.

This is so true. I had a week of practically no facebook chat in the messaging hub. then just the other day it's working again. just so weird.
 
so back on topic, This version is slick! I am yet to find annoyances but over all this is a great beta i was under the impression it's a final version.

i agree, although it doesn't play nice with people on their iphone/android only thos on facebook desktop.  not WP's fault, but they get blamed for it

I keep the hub chat turned off because I don't like being bothered all the time. It's nice to have it available in the Facebook app for when I need it.

Chat will only work in Messaging if its person to person. I have a chat group for our Facebook Page and none of those will come through to Messaging because it involves multiple profiles I guess. 

does it replace the default Facebook app or is it a new one?

Separate app

It is a different app called Facebook Beta.
The 'normal' facebook app is still there, and it doesn't replace the baked in facebook features.

New one.

well i don't use the default Facebook app. The 'Me' tile, People hub and Messaging hub are enough for basic Facebook-ing. For more, there's IE :)

Agree

Basic FBing, the baked in stuff is neat. Sometimes I want to do a little more and the new app seems to have the chops. Unlike the old one.

I'm guessing its a WP8 version only

Who needs FBH?
Update. Having used this app some more, i really like the design and layout. If the rumour about the start screen notification center are to be true then the left to right swipe menu in this app maybe an insight into MS plan for that implementation. This app is a great example of how a new start screen with notification center would look and operate imho and i like it.

how could you left and right swipe a notification center when the whole systems programming is based on apps where you swipe left and right? :O

I assume he means from the start screen which is what many have suggested.

well -  than you have to press a button and swipe. notification center should overlap everything and always be accessible. why would i need the notification center on the start screen where THIS startscreen already provides the notifications in form of tiles?
I'd rather see it with double taping start or not at all

If ms done a double tap then the ios fanboys would berate us for "copying" and apple may even try to sue. However MS implements the notification center, the transition of menus in the FB app is a great way to navigate.

Wow the new design looks really good.

I agree.

Looks just like an iPhone version, or mobile web. I like the metro look of the old fb app. This one is too....meh & boring looking.

It is a bit too similar, but the animations are nice and for me it is very smooth so I'm liking it nonetheless.
I hope they can improve the notications and chat that's built into WP for FB at the same time.

I really like the new design, and going by the review scores - most people do / prefer it.

Hardly. It looks great and functions nicely...the old one is awful. Half the features aren't supported, the entire thing was slow, you couldn't really search for people and that interface was hard to navigate. This one is done right and looks more like an official client. Yes, it lacks a touch of metro but I'm okay with that if it means a reasonable amount of functionality.
Not to mention that it actually looks and performs a bit better than both the iOS and Android versions.

Well it looks similar to the iPhone/Android Version... Thats the result when working with the Facebook team I guess :P but hey Facebook worked officially on this Face App this time HURRAY xD!

+1000000

FINNNNNALLLLLLYYYYYYY!

Woohooo

Much better than the last app. In fact I already deleted that old joke of an app

Same here.

Me too! Awesome app!

My god, that actually looks really good! I avoided downloading the Facebook app on my Lumia 810 because I saw how crappy it was on my friend's 710, but I may just have to install it on my new 920 when it arrives!

So nothing for windows phone 7.8?

this!
 

Same question here!

At least you got 7.8

I was waiting for someone to bring this up. I also own a 510 guys but the truth is phone 7 is a forgotten story. Like Terence Howard being replaced by Don Cheadle, we just have to accept it and move on :(

*sigh* Nothing for Windows Phone 7.  Thanks MS.  
MS has really made me a convert...... To Apple or Google.

it's still beta though. i do hope when its official theyll consider 7.8 users as well.

Stop hoping. WP7 is dead except for maybe security and bug fixes.

I got it! It seems really smooth n just as fast as other platforms. Similar to the iPhone app

One word... YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Love the new look, finally chat is integrated properly... yay!

i know
double yay! 

Looks an awful Lot like the iOS an android version which I prefer so kudos facebook.

Microsoft make this app...

Well then kudos Microsoft. Either way I like it but sadly don't own a win8 phone so I can't play with it. No love for my win 7.8 

Booo just as i send my phone for repair lol.

"Sliding to the right will expose the navigation bar and sliding to the left on the main news feed reveals the chat interface"

This is absolutely my favorite feature

thanks for the tip. future notification center implementation?

Sadly it is just the same way that the android and ios versions work so it's unlikely to be pointing toward a notification centre

While I appreciate the update, what took so long? We're half passed the 920/820 life span already. (for annual upgraders :) )

Finally a "pull down to refresh"!!

+1

+1000000

Woo! +1

Still beta, but it's way better than the original app. Was waiting for this.

Slide to refresh doesn't seem to work on my 8X.

You got to hold it for a second and then release. :) 

I like the design, STILL cant add photos in personal messages though, dont see why we cant when we can on the news feed.

THIS! Annoys me so much. And not being able to search for words in a chat is quite annoying (but that last part I believe is lacking in all platforms?) But this app is awesome. The fonts remind me of the metro mock up design I remember seeing somewhere in the forums ( for navigation fonts and all).

It's certainly optimized for touch. It was real pain to touch the rich button earlier

Finally something to cheer..!!

WORKS GREAT WITH WINDOWS PHONE.

OH THANKS GOD! I thought for a second that it only worked on Windows Mobile 6.0

lol

Haha I got a decent laugh outta that. Well played.

Damn, no love for us on WM 6.5,5. :'( ....:D

Nice design and fast

99% of the time i use the people hub.  but this seems nice

Wish they would improve the people hub, by 10% then Facebook app would not be used, besides for Events.

finally ,, very nice app :)

The swipe gesture so nice !!!

It doesn't show ,when our contact see our messages   , still miss this features , hope they will ad it !

Give feedback in the app in Settings -> About as the beta program blog states if you want something.

Wow!  This new interface is so much better.  It's faster and easier to access the chat feature.  You also get the pull to refresh feature.  I'm sure there is a lot more to be worked out but this looks like a great step in the right direction.

Yay a lot smoother than the old one. Not quite metro design but it looks a lot nicer than the iOS app. Like the swipe right and left to get the the menu and online contacts. Checking to see if message toasts are working better now.

I don't think all apps need to be metro if the design is good and the functionality is good too. In fact, I like a bit of variety in app design, again as long as it's functional.

Used it for all of a minute and it's already leaps and bounds beyond the original app.

Wow, really nice and smooth. I hope this goes to show some of you that MS does indeed pay attention.
Unfortunately, there's still too many tears.  SMH.

Not getting message notifications (but built-in messaging hub received it).

Nothing for wp7.z!!! :(

Hey look another app not available for me

The old Facebook app was a pain: I ended up just using touch.facebook.com
 
The new app is much better.

I like the original app better. Sure it's a little more comfortable to use but you still can't attach pictures to messages. Pretty much just a different skin, I preferred having a random picture header than my cover photo, felt different and unique. Oh well.

Remember, this is a beta. It's a re-write so they can build off of, meaning what is lacking now can be added later. The important thing is to start with a solid foundation.

Why redesign the whole app. It looks like an android port. The uniqueness of the UI is one of the only things WP has going for it, and its nice to have something that looks both better and different. Dont see why they couldn't follow the "metro" design and just add the missing functionality instead.

I like this design better, personally. And the old one never seemed very metro to me, anyway. And I don't find metro to be all that important if the design is still good and the all is still functional, or in this case, even better.

Settings -> About and give them feedback, that's the point of this public beta, they even say so in the blog.

OMG!! I'm so excited! First this, and then the upcoming official Instagram app!!?(I'm speaking through faith--Windows phone faith)

Also iHeartRadio is due to be re-released in mid summer!

I don't really care for iHeartRadio, but that doesn't mean others don't care thnx for the update

I keep getting an error :/ Lumia 920 US

Same, "Sorry, you can't get apps in this region. Please check the Store in your region"

im in the us and i got it.

Maybe I'm not getting it because my phone is UK unlocked but I'm using it in the US? My store and region are set to US though. I'll try searching from the store instead of using the link.

Not sure what happened but I clicked the link again and this time it worked.

I'm in Thailand, I got it too.

I got an error and then it just crashed everytime I opened it...  I uninstalled and reinstalled and it works fine now.

Same, from US and I got the same error.

Broken download atm for me!

Yes, I my thumb is 5-inch long. =__='

I can't click the Bing Vision button fast enough to download this!!

I want to be able to tag people in comments..

Feedback on the app. Go to settings on the beta and then click on feedback.

Think you can only give feedback once, as tried to leave a second comment but failed. May be an app issue. Also, extremely difficult to close the app. Keep hitting back, but just rotates around stuff I looked at.

Weird, every time I hit the feedback button, it takes me to an option screen where my Gmail email option pops up and I can send feedback in that form. Do you have email set up on your phone? And if that keeps on happening, you may want to delete the app.and reinstall it.

Wow... Much better. Design is much more akin to Modern UI. It's performing rather well, too.

Still pretty buggy, but the general layout is top notch =)

Yeah, it seems that it's constantly downloading Info.

OMG! This is really nice! Its just so smooth ...must better experience than on Android .. Thank You MSFT! :D 
 

Really never knew what was wrong with the old version butnoh well. Nice to have updates

Most apps are all wp8 nothing new would install on 7.5 or 7.8 and T-Mobile won't hurry up and release a Nokia Lumia 920. :(
 

I like to type in confusing runon sentences like this wont people understand what im saying just read it three times

I know many will say it looks too much like iOS and Android but there is nothing wrong with that and acutally helps convince people to switch.  Works very well on my 8X; seems faster than the prior app IMO but I never used it much before. 
My initial review is that it is much better and a move in the right direction. 
We now have an updated Twitter, Tumblr and Facebook app.  Just need Pinterest and Instagram and the social media world will be complete LOL

No, now they have these new things called Path and Vine. Something new every other week I tell ya... and I know you said you didnt use the prior app often but in actuality, it was faster than this beta
 

I have to agree, the beta is a bit slow (from what I understand and gathered from the comments here on wpc, those on nl920 are experiencing slower app response than those on 8x and other).

Vine looks cool but I don't much about Path anymore.  Vine is only only iOS (last time I checked) so it will be a while before WP will see it.  I believe Cinemagraph (or something like that) just came to Android from iOS.
There is always something new but having Pinterest and Instagram will at least give us the big players and help motivate the smaller ones from moving over too.

Cinemagraph is a Nokia app.

That's a funny slip up on my part.  I meant Cinemagram.  It's very similar to Vine.

Only Windows Phone made like this? BlackBerry 10 does it too!

Download link not working here. HTC 8x Verizon

Here are some initial thoughts....
 
1. very fluid. Smooth navigation through different functions. No jarring delays
2. is similar to other platforms (doesn't have the iphone circles (from the latest update)(although i haven't figured out how to use that on the iPhone)
3. Newsfeed filtering is limited, can't filter for friends groups (although i rarely use it)... just something I noticed in comparison to the iPhone.
Correction... you can filter for friends through your friends lists under friends - not directly through the newsfeed function which is the case on the iphone
 
4. notifications (the globe button on top) is awesome unlike in the iPhone. opens onto the entire screen unlike a pop up. Very fluid.
 
5. Cannot search for people outside of friends. Although noticed this cool feature. Under friends if you search for a friend and swipe from the right to left, you can see the same search filter applied to your chat / messenger as well
 
6. privacy settings can only be changed throught the browser - the app opens the mobile website
7. I think what the app is missing is calling through facebook - i honestly don't want facebook to know when i called and how long i called... I'm fine with that being a part of my "people hub" timeline :)
8. I kinda liked the metro interface - though I had issues with the news feed getting updated even though you were in a news item down the news feed page - annoying. I still think the metro interface can be appliedwith more horizontal scrolling. instead of just one left and one right swipe; perhaps two each so that more layers can be added?
 
All in all I'd say awesome effort by Microsoft. Thumbs up. Few more general chinks in the windows phone armor sorted out - this is going to be a killer.
 
9. Can't do a group chat - can't add additional participants.

Remember its called facebook beta.

Under settings, there is a send feedback option. Please send to Microsoft/Facebook. We want to encourage them for releasing a beta like this early.

+1
Also, I noticed that I can't turn my phone horizontally to type when adding comments. That's 1 more for feedback.

You can search for people other than friends. Click the drop down menu at the left and the search icon is there!

Thanks!.

More horizontal scrolling sounds unappealing. I dint want it, especially just for the sake of making it more "metro." Now of it was for a specific purpose, I could get behind that I suppose.

No wp7 beta wtf

Nope HTC HD7 waiting for Nokia and T-Mobile to give us something good.

I do like the beta. It seems much more fluid than the old. But visually I liked the old app. The top bar that showed your albums on the main page was just a beautiful design.

Finally! The app is a bit buggy but it's everything I wanted them to fix about our version of the app.

Great, WP7.5+ users already being exclude... well, Skype was the first one actually... :P

+7.8 I feel more bad for the Lumia 900 users, I'm not one but they really got screwed.

I was one, but I sucked it up and got the 920. They still buy blood, ya know. ;)

Never really comment, but I had to log in to say that this is pretty legit.  I started with Android, went iOS and recently switched to WP8.  Better than Android and lacks a little compared to iOS, but it's a really solid app so far.  Love the feel; very smooth.
 
I haven't been able to check; does this one finally show Instagram posts on Facebook?  Both the People app and MS's first FB app lacked that function...

Thanks wpcenteal as always. I haven't used this app for months and I am finally seeing it was worth the wait for great premium apps to finally hitting WP store as Microsoft promised since wp7 announcement.

Metro is pretty much gone... I don't like that at all...

Metro is a design style... it's still there, in fact it's more there than it was before... flat colours, content first/less chrome, etc.  it's beautiful.

Agreed- add the modern style fonts ("favorites," "apps," etc) and this indeed a Windows Phone app and a damn nice one.
I love how the wide tile is my banner image. LOVE that.

Yes! I'm happy they kept that!

EXACTLY! Metro is all about Chrome-lessness and elegant design. Microsoft's original style is not the only way to do Metro.

Finally something comparable to the iOS and Android Facebook app. Facebook Messenger next?

We have a built in Facebook messenger! Why do we need another app for that?

Doesnt support group messaging and isnt reliable 

We cant attach pics in the built in messenger and messages are often delayed or never going thru

The comments are in reverse chronological order in the app

Not all the time :) 

Swipe to the right (Left page) and click the gear next to News Feed.  Can sort by Most Recent there.  (Default is Top Stories)

Personally think it is miles better. Much more natural to navigate now that is more like the Facebook mobile site.

Is need! Might need a diferenciator in comparision to iOS or Android, in the other hand, I might be the only one thinking this.
 
All in all, this came out of nowhere and I love it!
Progress my friends

The new app is pretty good. Few bugs as expected. Reported already :)

Finally and it is a nice app.  Reshare is very buggy, but when this all gets ironed out then facebook will be up to par in wp8. 

Report it! We (WP users) do not need to hold back the feedback for this one. X)

Way better design than the original app, very smooth too. If only they can integrate high resolution picture uploads right into the OS it'd be perfect.

Hopefully they add the ability to save photos.

This! So irritating not to be able to save fb pics to my phone and send to friends via WhatsApp.

As far as I'm aware, you have always been able to save Facebook pictures to your phone -- Simply go to the people hub, and save pictures that way.

This is just amazing! finally !
 
There are some bugs but they'll fix it i hope!
 
I'm really happy with that haha!

Really sexy app.. Just waiting to see weather it shows notifications or not

it doesn't show msg notification
.unless there is a setting for that and am not aware of

no notifications as of now....btu none the less amazing app!!!!

Can't download it. Get an error when following Download App link and can't find it when searching store.

I can't download it either.  Can scan the QR code or manually find it in the store.

Nevermind.  I hit the back button and was able to get to the download page.

Much better looking! You can share also!

So why doesn't Microsoft just update the existing app? Why do they have to make a completely new beta app? Or better yet, just have Facebook make their own app.

Well it is to test the new features and then update the current app and remove this beta one i guess.

This is definitely a huge improvement over our current app. So happy that this was released cause I was starting to get very frustrated with the Official App and it's lack of some functions. Everything in this is smooth and fluid and it looks great. I didn't mind the look of the official app but it started to get slow and was a bit annoying to navigate. The only issue I'm having with this one so far is an error popping up when I attempt to share a post.

This is a great improvement!

I like it.. Faster! 920

I can't use it cause I can't enter anything into the Password field...

I like the change to make it more like the web version (and IOS) while it still retains some metro love. Good move. Nice and slick.

This app is BOSS!

I like the look and feel of the old app. And it was original to Windows Phone. While it wasn't perfect, it looked better than the standard iOs and Android app that this is based off of. Boo to you Microsoft. I wish you would just fix the old app. It has the best interface of all Facebook apps on all oses. And for those that think this has a metro feel are dumb. It works the same on iOs and Android. They can swipe left and right as well. This isn't metro or unique to Windows Phone.

But it works! Hey, I'm not saying Metro is bad, but it's not a point to be different when this new app clearly works great. 

you might be in the minority right there bro.

I know I am not in the minority on this. Others have stated it. But people on here are hypocrites. They rave about Windows phone and want this and that for the device. But they want it to look like iOS and Android. What's the point then?

They don't want it to "look like iOS and Android"; they want it to WORK.

im not saying your wrong im just saying that at this point a facebook app that works is better than a metro facebook app that doesnt. (metro according to what your calling it) know what i mean i personally feel that even though they changed the overall look they did keep metro principles which are flat design and content first there.

Have to say that this is a real step forwards for this app. It seems like MS have listened to the feedback about having an app that is more in tune with Facebook's house style. Granted the app has lost a few Metro elements in the process but on balance my personal view is that it's a reasonable trade-off.
Noticed a few bugs but that's what the feedback button is for.

HUGE update. It was about time! Definitely a step to the right direction.
 
I notice that more and more apps are dropping the "Metro" design and to be honest I am glad. I really like Metro it is a very beautiful design language and very eye candy, but its taking a serious amount of space that causing functionality and usability problems and especially in small screen it becomes a real problem. Major Apps was suffering from this, including Facebook, Twitter and Foursquare.
 
Twitter dropped the design couple of months ago, Facebook today and the upcoming redesigned Foursquare is also dropping it. (just few examples).
 
Also I noticed this directly from the Windows Phone Blog:
 

"If, on the other hand, you want to see where we and the Facebook team are headed..."

 
Hopefully this means that Facebook is now directly involved with the Windows Phone App Development. I will ask my sources to find out.

I don't agree that Twitter abandoned Metro; it feels like an update to it. This new Facebook app on the other hand, threw it out and set it on fire.

Where is the "Metro" design on the new Twitter App for Windows Phone?

The Twitter app isn't Metro at all. It is exactly the same as Android and iOS.

The problem with the original Facebook app is that Microsoft tried to make an app that is a hybrid of Metro design and Facebook design and the just doesn't work. It's like making a sport car that is also a truck. Had Microsoft made a Facebook app that is entirely Metro, it would look like the People Hub. It would work fine, but it would look nothing like Facebook. Microsoft finally gave that up and basically went entirely with Facebook design.

Facebook is definitely involved with this app now. Notice that when pinning messages to your start screen you get the facebook messenger icon. I doubt Facebook would have allowed that had they not been working with them.

I certainly hope they intend to make a 7.8 app.

Works like a charm! Great job :) 

That app is sexy! I love it needs to be official fast

The app is better than the old one, but it looks like an IOS app, not a metro one. Some people here are deluding themselves saying otherwise.

To that I say: who cares? It works, it's what was needed, and it still looks good. Does it really matter to you if it looms like the app on a competing platform? If it were flat-out ugly or lacking functionality specifically because of the new design, then you might have a point. But it's all good, so now all you folks unhappy because it looks like an ios app sound a bit whiny....

Somehow I couldn't load the wpcentral Facebook page, didn't really try for other pages though

Also the threaded messages/ comments are now in the reverse order to the original app ie in chronological order with the most recent at the top. Seems less intuitive this way despite email inboxes operating that way for years...

They made you a touch.facebook.com
Thanks for all that moaning about how Android version is better. #RIPMetro

Metro has to evolve too

Why are you commenting when you obviously don't care about design? Go play with Android if that's what you like.

You mean devolve?

i personally feel that even though they changed the overall look they did keep metro principles which are flat design and content first.

Its really good Big like!!
And know instargam and YouTube app!!

At last! Much more information can be seen. The original app was useless. This one is really good. Thanks MSFT! 

Yay Microsoft! W00T!

I like it so far.

What's the point of Windows Phone and Metro design, if even Microsoft publishes apps that makes it look like something else?

What's the point of making apps adhere to a certain design principle at the cost of functionality, information density, and usability? Microsoft made the right move in this one, and it still mixes in some metro elements. But it doesn't force those principles at a major cost to the end product which j would argue happens to apps windows phone alls all the time, including the old Facebook app.

Guys does the app has page management feature?
I am an admin of page with 20k followers I really need this feature badly.

Much better

Alot of diehard fb fans here. All in all, I hardly use the app. Built in FB is good enough for me.

Same here!

Me too, but built in apps cannot like individual photos, share posts, or handle events. Do all that and I don't need the Facebook app.

everthing okay..just it takes long time too loading and cannot tagging..hope microsoft can update n we can tagging people..btw,it nice..thanx microsoft :)
 

Eh? Click the picture and press the icon that looks like a price tag.

I just wanted to ask, why there's a logo change? Like the white line is gone on the bottem of the design, this is the same on iOS and Android

Because facebook changed the look of their logo.

Even facebook is going all metro.

This is the NEW official facebook thing ... so it should be the same over each platform.

Is this the "something nice" that Joe Belfiore mentioned last week?

I thought that was the pic stitch app

Very Nice I love the "Metro" style

It looks awesome, finally Microsoft we've been waiting for this, now all we need is instagram hehe ;)

I get an error everytime I try to download it :(

Few observations:
1. It is FAST!. but not without flaws. the pull to refresh in the News Feed is nicely done but fails a few times.  If i am not mistaken in iOS version, whenever a new item is available in the newsfeed, there's a notification bar that tells you "You have 10 new items" and tapping on it will let you go to latest newsfeed. Not complaining though but i wish that too could be implemented on the new facebook app.
2. Swiping to the left or right which reveals the app drawer/menu or the chat drawer is simply intuitive and smooth! I couldn't ask for more.
3. When tapping on the notification icons, say the messages icon, the red indicator doesn't disappear UNLESS you press the back button or you go to the other pages (app drawer or chat). One surprise for me is, for example you're in the messages  icon and you swipe to the left, you get to the new notifications or when you swipe right you get to the new friends request list. cool!
4. I am yet to find any obvious glitch or disappointment
5. I am loving the new app.
6. JUST DON'T EVER IMPLEMENT THE CHATHEAD ABOMINATION! :)
 

Nice observations.....u should send them a feedback....using that feature under app settings

1. The notification bar does say how many new items there are. I noticed it on mine and thought it was useful.

I also noticed that. Great implement!

Created a new photo album, it created 3. Cannot tag photo on upload, would like to upload multiple pictures to an album.

Ok, I downloaded the new FB beta app and its ugly as shit. Looks just like a mobile web site. How can anyone like this. Just fix what you already have.

Why try to reinvent the wheel when it works? I think Microsoft have done the right thing by tweaking the original design, with large Metro style text.

Please come to WP7.5 too...please not 8 only. Super excited about thus app...damn finally!

Microsoft does care!

A lot of crashes. Cannot sign in to FB. Going to try sign in again later.

A good day for WP today. The commercial of Apple & Samsung fighting getting lots of attention, and now this facebookapp that we have been waiting for!

It's nice and fluid. I like it. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed using the "previous" version too, but with the official release of the new desktop News feed, the Windows Phone experience will look similar. So both on desktop and mobile will look the same. I prefer this.

Pinned this to my start, i am loving this!!

Love the new app..tho I still cant use the keyboard in landscape mode. Also, when you go to comment on a picture, you lose the picture you're commenting on. Not a deal breaker but that's the feedback I sent of stuff I noticed was just...lacking. Other than that, I already love this new FB app leaps and bounds over the older one.

Yes! Thanks for sending that out. I also sent the same feedback.

Now I agree with my brother. Always buy apple. Nop Wp7.x Support is even funny. 

there is still a 100 photo view limit on albums. when are they going to fix this!! It is my biggest gripe about windows phone and facebook!.

Be sure to report it to Facebook. Go to settings and report the problem so that the app can get better.

I am really in love with this app!! I made sure I reported some problems so the app can get better. I cannot wait for the real deal. I even told them, "Please hurry with an Instagram app".

I read these comments with people saying it looks like the iOS/Android apps which made me think it would be just like the browser version and a bit pointless, but it actually really has its own styling. And fits very well within Metro.
I like the top banner with the photos in the old one but overall this design is better in my opinion.

This app is awesome! But missing the metro style! MS should have found a way to make it awesome in metro style!

When people comment on your status.. I noticed it puts the most recent comment at the top.. Not sure if that's on purpose or not?

Slide to the right, news feed gear, most recent.

Actually looks very gooood... ;-)

The new beta is blazing fast... Just like the WPC Beta... I like this trend of things getting faster.

no 7.8 love.. -_-

So far so good on 822

Nice and smooth, but "just like Android..." or "same as IOS". So much for switching to a WP, huh? Could have just refined the old one, imo.

It's about time!!!!

Damn error! I wanna try it. Dang it!

Looks good to me! Uninstalled the original

MUCH faster on my Samsung Ativ S. I uninstalled the Original FB and was using Facebook for WP8 but the chat functionality was garbage. This is MUCH better!

Terrific update, Fluid, usable UI, lots of features now visible. Next would be to add Facebook video calling within the app an alternative to Skype for a quick call.

And just like that, everyone had deleted the 3rd party FB apps that have littered the store.  This new one works pretty good.

Much slower on HTC 8X. It feels to me like a html5 webapp and Facebook tried html5 for android and iphone and they said it was the biggest mistake they ever made and went to native for blazing fast apps. Now Microsoft might have gone to html5? Please don't Microsoft, learn from facebooks mistakes!

Also why is fastappresume so much slower on windows phone? On iphone it's literally instant! Here we get a black screen for a second or two or we get resuming...

I was wondering the same thing... I know it is instant on IOS and Android but WP8 is slow compared too those OS. Agreed 100%!

It's also completely instant on Windows RT so why not instant on WP8?

Agreed!

<p>Not sure why everyone is so happy about this &quot;app&quot;. It looks and behaves just like a wrapper for touch.facebook.com. A nice wrapper, yes, but still... If it was a real app you could swipe right or left through pictures in your timeline when your friends post multiple pictures at once. Also I dislike the absence of Metro. And the collection of picture albums is gone. Have all of you ever invested more than 3 minutes into the now &quot;old&quot; FB app of Microsoft. Then you should have noticed all the great things in it which are sorely missing now. I say if you want that app to behave like the iOS or Android app then why don&#39;t you use such a phone???</p>

And I say this is a beta so all the stuff you say is missing from the old one is probably yet to be implemented here. And we should switch phone platforms because we like how a certain app on a competitor works/looks? Get a grip, guy.

Microsoft Betas are most often unfortunately feature complete. The assumption that missing stuff will be added later is just not valid.

When are mobile apps ever feature complete? Even MS' last crappy Facebook app got updated with new features to help it keep up. What makes you think this one would be different?

The now "old" Microsoft Facebook app received bug fixes only. And as a reader of wpcentral you are probably very aware of this. So please don't try to insult my intelligence by playing dumb. OK?

Whoa guy, I wasn't playing dumb, if you're correct then I wasn't aware of this. I'm a faithful site reader but I guess I must have missed it. Maybe you can calm the hell down and we can have a discussion like normal people, ok?

Daniel change Avantar, look handsome!!!

Now will or is this app on Windows 8??? My surface RT needs an app! :)

At work so no time to go into it more than just a little. First impression is it's a step in the right direction. Like it.

What about the folks on 7.8? :(

really fast on my l920

Works great on my 8x

Very very fast on my Lumia 620. Works very great!!!

This app is so much simpler and easier to use then the old one. Thank you for creating it

I love it!! Woot

It is really TIME TO SWITCH. To Apple.

Why?

Let me try to explain.
My phone with 7.8 will not get this update. Apple offer support to even 3GS phohe. A 2009 phone. Before you argue to say that 3GS and Iphone 4 receive IOS 6 with some cuts, the API's is there, so even though you don't get all new stuff, devs can release apps to the 3GS, the only requirement to see is hardware, not APIs like Windows Phone.
That is sad. That even a budget phone with 2.3 android have a decent support. In other side I stuck with this laggy facebook. =/ I know that I would never exchange to android. But for IOS yes. It is smooth (not like windows), but wil get a nice support. The API's are there. I don't feel left like in MS.
Get it?

How do you know this new facebook app will not come to 7.8? Just because the bedta isn't available for it doesn't really mean anything. But who cares. Enjoy your iPhone 3gs then, I guess. Heh

Look what Michael Stroh answered me: @marcusasdrubal: Please stop spamming the blog. I've been in meetings. I don't know the answer since I'm not on the app's development team.
 
COULD YOU BELIEVE IN THAT?

Enjoy your iPhone then. I'm sorry to hear that your experience with WP was not perfect. Your standards might have been too high for a platform that jumped into the game a few years late. You cannot deny the growth and progress of WP since the first gen devices. A lot of us have had a less than perfect time with windows phone especially if we've been on the ship from the start. But the difference is that some of us expected glitches and missteps along the way, but we never gave in because we have a passion and vision for the platform and slowly, more people are siding with the 3rd option in smartphone technology.

So much better

L920: Smooth, clean, fast, filters are the same as on the desktop. Great job so far!

The original FB app looked better and fitted better with the windows phone . Now this one is just like the other one. 
 
One thing that I like about most WP8 apps, they look and suited WP. They look intuitive to WP. But if all apps start to look like iOS and Android, what's the point of changing. WP is about being different, right?

Nope, it's not about just being different. Different is good if it improves. In the case of the old fb app, it definitely didn't improve on the other platforms' apps. Being different for the sake of being different and not for the sake of improving the experience is just being stupid.

Well I have a L900 and my co worker has a L920. This is wrapper for the touch website. Fix the older app

the metro design of the original completely set it apart from any other facebook app on any other platform which i enjoyed a lot.  now it's just "a facebook app".  would have been better to just improve the original!

Love it

That's what Microsoft failed to do in the new facebook app https://dev.windowsphone.com/en-us/design 

You gotta practice what you preach, they say.

New is always better...right?...I mean...um...right?...

Nice improvement!  Even though this is beta, I have removed their other FB app from my 920.  I can work between the people hub and this now.  Keep up the good work.  

I'm glad to see there are more people embracing the new beta design and less negativity towards it, unlike prior I would read hate comments on anyone that thought the original app was not as good.

I'm using it on a Lumia 920 and while it could be faster it's not that bad. I like that the layout is now similar to the mobile site and other platforms (makes for better use of space), and we FINALLY can share posts. Good one!

Love the new Facebook application the resuming black screen is so windows 7.5 though what gives, beta

Seems pretty nice to me. I rather like the direction myself.

I miss the picture collage at the top...

No accented character permitted.. Example á, é, í ... I just reported , with this bug, it's hard to use it in Spain ..

I can finally share stuff again!

We are losing WP style :(

I think the design sucks. Big time. The problems with the original app were with the missing functions, not the design/interface. It looks like an android port or a web app which is freaking disappointing. Big time. I use WP largely because of the UI. Everything had a consistent look and feel that I like. This goes for most of the apps as well. Then, I open up the beta and I get an android port thrown in my face. Pretty damn terrible

+1

I dislike the black bar across the top though, breaks the slick look up a bit

I want to try it out

Love it!! Works great...finally!

I actually like the look of the beta, keeping the design consistant with the iOS and Android apps means that if the Windows Phone version is faster than the awful Android version people may be more likely to switch platforms.

This was a long time coming, much needed and they delivered. Only very small complaints but it is beta and honestly every feature is supported. Sharing posts, chat, timeline, etc. were all much needed. But lets all keep in mind it is in beta and Microsoft needs our constructive feedback to continue improving it.

Maybe they will overhaul YouTube next :)

Or not considering there is no YouTube app for Windows Phone because Google are being asshats about making the APIs available!!!

I'd like to have someone from here create a mockup of an updated FB app in the metro design language as clearly, some here are bemoaning the fact that the Facebook Beta lost the metro design interface. It would me something nice if FB team and MS consider the idea of merging the design language of the m.facebook.com with the design language of Metro.

I liked the "metro" version also, but I HATED that it didnt filter the news feed items that I hid on FB, like farmville, etc etc.  I also didnt like the small picture thumbnails.
So, keep metro, bigger thumbnails, and carry timeline/feed settings from FB.

Seems pretty good but it also feels and looks too much like IOS and Android's. Needs more Metro! Hopefully they fix the integration with the message app

Also they should implement some kind of Chat head look a like. Lol.

I'm having trouble clearing my notifications. Anybody else?

Soooo it's official, 7.X users are not being supported. That's unfortunate for us Lumia 900 users.

Norwegian character support somehow got lost in this build. He he, but rest is great

So far so good. Can't "reply" to comments, edit comments or see past edits. But its a good start. The top bar seems large for just icons, they should make it smaller

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJ693GbsmCs

Is the beta one going to replace the official one?

Eventually yes, but at the moment its a separate app.

805a0194 error here. Can't download on my 820 near Houston.

No livetile?

Same for me. Have been trying to see if anyone else has this problem?

I like it, kind of looks like the IOS version to me.

U think its great, especially with the fb in the app

I definitely prefer this new beta to the old app and I've only used it for 5 minutes.

Awsome :D

I already like the beta, bugs and all, better than the current finished product.

The Banner height of the beta app should be still reduced. 

Better! Although my noticications keep saying i've 10! Bit annoying bit I understand it is a beta version 

This looks great.  A big improvement over the prior version.  It is similar to the version on my iphone, but so what?  The iphone's version was superior to the old WP app as is this new WP app. 

Seems like an iOS version, how could Microsoft design like this.

The app is great now

Is anyone's batter runnign down at an alarming rate since this was installed? 

Would anyone possibly be considering purchasing a locked Nokia Lumia 810? I spent $450 and I'll sell for $380-$400 if so, comment and I'll give you my email and from there we can text. :)

Well this is much better than the original.
1. The original has no news feed option for top news
2. The banner in the original sucks. Takes too much space

So why doesn't Facebook make its own app, instead of handing it to Microsoft?

Why even make an app if Facebook is integrated into the Windows Phone 8 OS?

Seems like a step back..almost looks more like a mobile site as oppose to a wp8 designed app.

Can't download on my lumia 810 error code 805a0195.

Try to install it via windowsphone.com.

Try to install it via windowsphone.com.

Try to install it via windowsphone . com.

Downloaded the app and i'v been using it for some time now, its WAY bettert than the old facebook app from microsoft, and the best facebook app i'v ever used on WP8. 
Yet it still in bata so we can do so much more. but i really miss the METRO UI wich makes a WP a WP .. but this one is so much more functional and quick to load and the swipe feature makes it so much easy and fun. but i still got the same problem with the notifications ( They are late ).
1. i'd love to have the option to save images to my library.
2. notifications should work better than it does now.
3. im having some lag/ unresponsevness to tuch when i try to check notifications or messeges in the top of the app.
but in overal ... its a step on the right way.
PS: i do <3 LOVE the Flat icon of the new facebook, looks great on my home screen now.

Munch better and fast than the current Facebook app. I have L920. I noticed that it drains battery quickly and the phone gets hot. Can't save pictures to phone. Other than that it works great!

Nice update. You can click on links, timeline, share posts,  pin friends or pages to start menu is a few I already found new.
I liked the old UI but like the additional features and more real estate (no more banner) make this one better in my opinion.
 
Just swype to the left or right to get your your favorites or chat just like the full web version.

Anyone else notice that the app is a real battery drainer? I have been using it for about half a day now and I am normally at approximately 50% battery level on my Samsung ATIV S around 430pm EST and I am already down to 29%.
 
Thoughts?
 
UPDATE: I disabled the feature that updates your phones background by accessing your Facebook photos and the battery drain has stopped.

How do u disable that? Plz

Just go to the app "settings" and set "lock screen" off.

I'm excited to have better status updates and an attempt at an update to the app. This is far better than the current app though some features from the old wouldn't be so bad on the new. Like the layout. I'm not a fan of chat being built in since its in messenger and can scroll to different locations. Now have to chose it from a menu

its a major improvement but notifications are still dont work!

I can't unfriend people help please how can I unfriend someone that's the only reason I didn't use the old Microsoft Facebook

Stop adding people you don't want on your page lol

I likey! So far the app is smooth and asthetically pleasing. The transition time is sometimes a little delayed but I would assume that is something that will be addressed.

This app is the bomb, and it blows Facebook mobile site out of the water. The other Facebook app (Microsoft) is getting deleted right now, as I never hardly used it anyway. Furthermore, the large text is keeping true to the Metro design language.

I like the new app who evers saying its slow shh yer moosh takes 1-2 seconds max to load even as a beta im liking it so far XD!

EPIC update

Know what? Screw the WP OS/UI, I think its about time they adopted the android OS....

I like it

I have been using Facebook JDP, it looks just like this except your theme color also changes inside the app. Pretty sweet! 
http://www.windowsphone.com/en-us/store/app/facebook-%E1%B4%B6%E1%B4%B0%E1%B4%AE/068ede9a-5648-40fa-8e28-044d047e8571
 

I think its faster on my 920, also miles better with alot more usability. About time i say!!!

This app is so much better than the last mess, bugs and all. I dont care if its not "metro"- its functional and intuitive. Only thing missing (for me) is the ability to save pictures.

Live tile stops working after you upload a photo Lumia 920. I uninstalled the app then reinstalled it uploaded a picture and like clock work live tile stopped working smh at mwp

Finally!! This is Awesome...I hated that banner!

Having an issue where the notification count of 22 is stuck. Anybody else having an issue with notifications?

About time. I've be using FB mobile site since the beginning of my WP experience. I was thinking about waiting for the final version to download the app, but I'm gonna give it a try and maybe help with feedback for further improvements.

Tisk, so Microsoft is making ports now. :-/

This is whats going to make people switch. Its the familiarity with the other OS's.

I really like the new app.. I still need to see how the notifications are on this one. I hated the notifications on the facebook app. But this looks much cleaner/smoother and best of all is I can pin the groups to my start screen so I can keep a tab of the individual group activity right from the start screen..
 

I like it! Its a lot more functional, I always thought the old app was a bit of a bodge job... Always felt like a guy in his attic wrote it!

And now that you have a wrapper for touch.facebook.com you don't think so? I think that way more brain went into the now old FB app of Microsoft.

Like the new look. Banner gone and that's a great improvement.
Can't use Swedish letters å, ä or ö, probably because of the beta status.
On the minus side I'm still missing ability to download pictures.
Otherwise I think this is the Facebook-app I've been waiting for! Great work, Microsoft!

How about WP 7.x

How to go offline in chatting without signing out ?

Windows phone 7.8?

I just want the people hub to support Facebook groups.  Then I wouldn't even need a separate app... :(

This new design is leagues ahead of the old one - I can't be the only one tired of seeing that same metro style app layout. Having exactly the same layout for all apps is not the way forward, because it just makes them all look cheap. The new fb design looks gorgeous while maintaining the flat design principles that microsoft are loving these days, and man it's sooo smooth to use, much better than on ios and android

Its official, WP7 has truly been left behind. Support for the latest features possible for the largest network is critical

I am by no means a heavy Facebook user, but I downloaded the beta and I gotta say, this thing is miles ahead of the regular app. Great work, MS. Ps I love that they got rid of the banner image and keep the status bar at the top. More apps need that.

The new Facebook might have lost the bar but it doesn't seemed to have gained any new screen real estate . I prefer the look of the old Facebook app. This new one looks like a cheap mobile site rip off

Its better than the older version, but with no lanscape mode, I won't be using it.  Its only a Beta version, so perhaps that will be there on the full release.   

Miss the picture banner..but I don't feel it's slow on my L920. Notifications so far are pretty good. Much improved as to hit or miss in the past.

I love the APP because it's so responsive and the new features are extremely welcomed. However the only thing that bothers me about this APP is that it doesn't follow the traditional wp UI... Why?
Does this mean that developers are able to customize their own APPS as they see fit?

I mean, if this new Facebook is only for WP8 and WP7 remains on v2, then WP7 will quickly devalue into crapness quickly

I've been using the touch site because the old app kept having connection issues and would always tell me there was an error and everything failed but would sometimes go through.
Anyway this beta is already far more stable. Just waiting to see how notifications are.

I really like it so far, but only just installed it so don't know how well notifications work yet
One thing I'd like to get working is being able to change the privacy of a post. The icon is there, but it doesn't seem clickable. Sometimes if someone puts up something on my wall I don't want everyone to see I don't want to have to wait until I get home to be able to hide it.

No 7.8.. Microsoft fails once more..

Hope we can finally send images and videos trough it on final version

How do you get rid of the notifications?.. I swipe to the right ,I swipe to the left .. Still shows up ...any suggestions??

Anyone notice the "favorites" section in the chat? I can't seem to figure how to add or remove people from it.

Anyone notice the "favorites" section in the chat. I haven't a clue on how to add or remove people. Would anyone like to enlighten me?

Everything is window phone 8. What a out wp7/7.8?

Oh I don't like this app at all. I don't feel like I am using a native windows phone application. I feel like I am using an iOS port.

Here are my thoughts. Notice that while you're in the Notification screen, you can swipe left and right, and it rotates between Notification, Messages, and Friend Requests. That I'd say is pretty Metro-esque in design. Missing the banner image - I don't think it's hard for them to put this back in, will request it. Do not like the top bar (status bar) being black - Twitter app coloured it. Also, I find the buttons on top for left and right swipe draw redundant. I mean, if you can swipe to access that, there's no need to have buttons for them. Rather have top left as shortcut to either your profile page or the news feed page. Maybe make it customisable? Notifications don't seem to work. Live tiles don't seem to work. But it's a work in progress, and a big progress at that!.  - Update: Seems to work okay now ... at least intermittently Still cannot create or edit events.  

It IS beta software.
 
Maybe MS are trying to get the functionality working properly. Hopefully, once the kinks are ironed out, they will redesign it with the Modern UI feel.
 
Let's hope so....

I really like the fb app that we have due to the reason its different. The new beta looks like the android and iPhone app

No more error messages opening group chats! I just hope notifications for messages start working and I'll be set. Love it.

Can anyone find a list of FB pages they've liked?? I see them in my news feed but if I swipe left there's no Pages link and if you go to Friends you only see you're friends, not pages.
 
UDPATE: Found it! Swipe left and click on your name. Then scroll the about/friends/photos/likes menu and hit Likes. I think that's a bit hidden an can maybe go elseswhere.

Guy, you must understand that the whole Metro concept is flatness and simplicity. The Twitter app is exactly that.

It has some bugs but once its not beta it will be awesome.. Hopefully we'll be able to see the status were commenting on..

On iPhone 3gs this app is already version 6, but it works like a neverending beta testing. 99% crash and slow as hell! Reading comments on slowdowns and battery drains makes me think Zukerberg should stop making apps. Or to confirm, that his facebook is appincopatible.

Anyone notice that the new Facebook beta gobbles up a huge amount of battery? My phone heats up when I use it

Yes, that happened to me too. My Lumia 920 got very hot after only about 5 or so minutes of use, and the battery drained quite a bit. I tried it a few times, and had the same issue each time. Sent feedback to MS through the app, then uninstalled it. I like the new app, but I prefer to wait until they work out the bugs and it comes out of Beta.

I cant find it in the store, still shows the old version. I'm in the uk.

It's not published in the store; you got to download it with the direct link. Go here: http://www.windowsphone.com/s?appid=93da5d29-daf0-4783-9ed5-a87b33247ec6

I was mostly just using the People hub and mobile Facebook site in WP7.8, and I don't see any reason to change now I have a WP8 handset - especially since the touch-centric FB mobile site actually works properly on WP8's browser! The FB app for WP has always been pretty terrible and feature-poor compared to the actual site accessible through the browser. Personally I'd MUCH rather FB work with MS to integrate FB Chat better with the Messaging app.

Loaded the new app to my Lumia 920...and within a few hours, the phone bricked. I don't want to blame the app...but my phone was working like a champ before I loaded the BETA. Now my phone is worthless. Headed to AT&T tomorrow for a replacement. Maybe it's the unique combination of apps I had loaded on my phone, but it's bricked. Just thought I'd share.

Simply awesome !!! But I dint find option to attach file, edit the comments, "seen" option. Further if anyone knows how to make yourself online and offline from this Facebook app??

I still have my lumia 900 and I use fb mobile site cuz the app still sucks...

toast notification not working

I got a bug that I can't type the word in Thai. It said I try to type the emoticon in this app. OK, I sent this report to Microsoft already. But totally is cool!

Does not work on 7.8Os HTC HD7 :-/ Anyway they need to launch a revamped People's Hub!

 
My two cents:
I liked the design of the old app and am sad to see it go, so much so I think I'm going back to it. This app doesn't support displaying your status on your lock screen and the large live tile doesn't flip to reveal your status. They are steps backward, yes I know it's Beta but they were cool features why lose them? I also agree that making this look like IOS or Android seems pretty counter intuitive to me. If I wanted a shitty Android or IOS experience I’d have bought one.
Notifications seem to be unreliable, even more so than the old app, so my experience was never that bad with the old one (apart from the occasional flood of three day old notifications) and that's why I'm going back to it. 

Doesn't install in 7.8Os HTC HD7 :-/ Anyway the have to launch a revamped Peoples Hub!

Ooooh when I read my fb notifications on the phone (built in) it cleared it from the Facebook live tile. Im sure it didn't do that before and the notifications just built up.

Finally... I like! :)

7.8 :(

Better than the old one

Hmm, loads fast and is really smooth on my L920. Much faster than the old one. Just hope Notifications is better in this app. Also, It seems that the new app dont allow "Æ Ø Å " from the norwegian alphabet . 

Running amazin fast on L720 and i like its UI.

I liked it (interface) a lot but it's a little slow and makes the phone get hot.

The wall is similar to the android client which sucks....

I agree
 

The new program is very slow.. and does not support arabik letters.
I think it still needs a lot of work.

I don't understand you people. This is a BETA not a final app. Gosh! That is why MS has said you use it at your own risk of losing the features you may have come to love. That is why theres a feedback option. That is why it's a BETA so we can TEST it and TELL microsoft what's not working, what needs to be improved, what part of the app is crashing, etc etc etc. So instead of whining about missing this and freezing that, GO AND LET YOURSELF BE HEARD AND TYPE AWAY IN THE FEEDBACK OPTION. Or better yet, DON'T INSTALL THE BETA. It causes anxiety, sleepless night, wounded feelings, nausea vomiting and extreme case of delusion and depression.

+1

 
Facebook is a key application for Windows Phone.
All users, who have trusted and now have smartphones equipped with Windows Phone 7.8, deserve full support from Microsoft.
You can sign my petition, guys ;)
www.change.org/.../windows-phone-program-management-microsoft-upgrade-facebook-app-for-windows-phone-7-8

 
Facebook is a key application for Windows Phone.
All users, who have trusted and now have smartphones equipped with Windows Phone 7.8, deserve full support from Microsoft.
You can sign my petition, guys ;)
www.change.org/.../windows-phone-program-management-microsoft-upgrade-facebook-app-for-windows-phone-7-8

Does anyone else have a problem with it displaying the News Feed? On startup mine is just a completely blank page (with the blue notifications bar at the top and status bar at the bottom.
If I refresh nothing changes.
However if I swipe left and cick on the News Feed settings I can change it from Most Recent to Top Stories and back again and all of a sudden the feed is visible. Exit the app and reload again and nothing.
I've tried logging out and in again, restarting the phone and un/reinstalling the app again and nothing changes.
Pretty annoying, as what I see of it I like.

I have the same thing on my 8x

Mine's on a 920. Great to hear that I'm not alone, but it seems we are definitely in a significant minority.

The problem looks solved on my phone, I did a reconnect with FB while using Wifi and now it looks fine.
only very bad battery consumption

Go to Settings > About and send them your feedback.

Already done ofcourse ;)

Prefer the original.

i like the new Facebook app, more functionality, but i feel like i am using WebOS, not windows phone anymore, it is similar to gmail on iOS too.

It still works and looks better than m.facebook.com.

I can't find the app anywhere! Did they pull it from store already?

It's not searchable in the store, but the link to the beta is in the article http://www.windowsphone.com/s?appid=93da5d29-daf0-4783-9ed5-a87b33247ec6

Will it be available for windows phone 7.8 users?

There we go. MS is not sleeping, and this is the result of FB getting to be the app platform WP. Awsome job MS!

Great as a beta, but it is really a pity that no Chinese input is available...Working harder, Microsoft!

Support for 7.8 please... My lumia 900 should not be a legacy device already :(

Simply awesome but few things lacking like attaching files, not showing"seen" option, no edit option for comments. Also if anyone knows how to turn on/off chat??

.

Finally, an app that only shows the stuff I want and not all the game rubbish or stuff from people I don't contact much, just like how I've set it on the website! A bit slower than the non-beta but I'm sure that will improve, a definite improvement overall, just a shame its not as windows phone-y.

Will this be coming to 7.x devices I have an omnia m with 7.8 ?

So I commented previously that actually liked the picture banner in old FB app. I have to say tho that the new app is FAST.

I have to say I'm not too please with the change. They're going against their own design principles. I like the ability to swipe from the left or right. The app isn't conducive to the real estate of the screen. Now; its looks small.

I have to say I'm not too please with the change. They're going against their own design principles. I like the ability to swipe from the left or right. The app isn't conducive to the real estate of the screen. Now; its looks small.

Would be nice if the FB design is similar to the WPCentral app actually. The main page would be your news feed, slide right for apps (akin to the left drawer) and slide again for chat. Then you can pin whatever app you want to the start screen. The notifications/messaging bar is good already though. Also, maybe add a switch button on the button of the news feed so you can switch between types of news feed, reduced action by one step.

Know it's beta,but kills the battery and over heats the phone.

unable to type in chinese... :(

When I go to a "Like" page on Facebook beta and click on a photo album.. it opens up my own photo album.. Just fyi :)

This is going backwards! Where are all the gorgeous metro elements?!

Ya but when will it be released for Win8? Along with any other major app? My RT is starving.

Oh man, this is looooooooooooooooong overdue! Previous app was an embarrassing joke. This one is way better, and much more complete. Very good. Still slow in some parts, but yeah, i'm sure they'll work on it. Just fingers crossed that the live tile notifications are improved.

It is a VERY significant improvement from the original, and it is nice to look at, but I still prefer the integrated social features. Looking forward to Skype true integration. 

Stopped workin for me

push notifications (still) don't work! incredible.
does microsoft know or even care?

Seems to have a battery related bug. 50% battery drop in 2 hours from full charge and that too when it was in standby (no active usage at all). Battery behaivior back to normal after uninstalling app.
Anyone else facing the same issue. 

I won't... hell I CAN'T bother reading all the comments here about the app being too similar to the ios and android versions. And I agree 100%! The other app LOOKED fine, but didn't work as well as this version does.
But the real issue is that so many of you have no only cried, bitched anod moaned about the FB app, but a lot of you have compared tghe WP version to the version on other OS's and said theirs were "better". There's good and bad with thaty.
Good: At least you know MS is listening to you.
Bad: Now that you got what you want you will undoubtedly bitch that it no longer has it's own WP identity.
I know you can't please everyone, but the WP "community" is a trip.

Seems this app is no longer on the app store.  I had it downloaded before it was taken off, but when opening it, I just get an error now.

What about 7.8 for Facebook beta

It stopped working for me.nreinstalled and everything. Keeps crashing on startup

Anyone having problems starting today? The app crashes on load. Was working perfectly before? So confused...

Not sure if this was mentioned but I am unable to share photos. I get a message stating "can't share most likely due to the privacy settings of the photo" however when I go to the browser I can share the photo