The Facebook 3.0 application for the iPhone was released today. As TechCrunch points out, the review process for the application took almost two weeks, but that’s really not important. What is important is that this application seems to run in the background of the iPhone to some extent when it’s closed. For example, if you’re viewing Alex Wilhelm’s Facebook page and exit the app, the next time you open in, the first thing you’ll see is Alex’s page. So far as I can tell, that’s something that has only been available for Apple-made applications such as SMS and Safari. This seems like something you can only do with some semblance of background processing, a feature which the iPhone continues to not have.
That aside, there are other major improvements within the application. First and foremost for me is that if you go into friends list and your friend has a mobile number listed, you’re able to tap it. Doing so will present the option to either call or send an SMS message, which is pretty groovy. Two other notables are that 3.0 brings with it the much-needed ability to interact with Facebook events, which is great if you’re looking for something you were invited to and can’t remember where it is – now all you have to do is check your phone.
