Facebook app for iPhone improves with version 3

The iPhone app Store is about to get the Facebook application version 3 - although the version 2.5 was a great application, the latest version is even better.

The previous version was already a pretty good mobile tool for Facebookalthough it lacked in certain features. This is no longer the case with the new version, now you can do all of that and more, and the app is still free.

The app's new home is a 3-by-3 grid of squares that give you access to your news feed, profile, list of friends, inbox, chat, requests, events, photos, and notes. After you tap each one, you usually get several more options or tabs. If you want to go back to the main home screen, just press the Facebook logo at the top-middle of the screen. You can also populate additional custom home screens with your favorite friends and pages.

One excellent new addition is the modified "Friends" list, which now displays a phone icon if they have listed their phone number.

The news feed feels similar to the previous version, but this one is slightly better. For example, if you tap the camera icon, you can upload a new video straight from your phone. I liked the fact that it's easier than before to pick which news feed you want to read from, and those people that you've chosen to hide stay hidden when you're mobile. However, you still can't manually hide or unhide people on the fly.

As for new photo functionality, this version allows you to zoom in and 'like' other people's photos. You can also create new photo albums and delete photos. You can now delete tags on your own photos, but you can't delete tags from your friends' photos.

This is a huge leap forward for the Facebook iPhone app. The new interface and attached pages work as they should, and the mobile experience can almost completely replace the browser experience.

Buy your iPhone 3G now!