Facebook for BlackBerry 1.5 zips together contacts

Facebook and BlackBerry contacts become one in the latest update to the Facebook for BlackBerry application.

Jessica Dolcourt Senior Director, Commerce & Content Operations

Jessica Dolcourt is a passionate content strategist and veteran leader of CNET coverage. As Senior Director of Commerce & Content Operations, she leads a number of teams, including Commerce, How-To and Performance Optimization. Her CNET career began in 2006, testing desktop and mobile software for Download.com and CNET, including the first iPhone and Android apps and operating systems. She continued to review, report on and write a wide range of commentary and analysis on all things phones, with an emphasis on iPhone and Samsung. Jessica was one of the first people in the world to test, review and report on foldable phones and 5G wireless speeds. Jessica began leading CNET's How-To section for tips and FAQs in 2019, guiding coverage of topics ranging from personal finance to phones and home. She holds an MA with Distinction from the University of Warwick (UK).

Expertise Content strategy, team leadership, audience engagement, iPhone, Samsung, Android, iOS, tips and FAQs.

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Jessica Dolcourt

April 21, 2009 4:22 p.m. PT

2 min read

With products like the Outlook add-on Xobni relying on Facebook to give Outlook contacts a Facebook face to go with the name, it was only a matter of time before a mobile app started doing the same.

On Tuesday, RIM released the latest edition of Facebook for BlackBerry, version 1.5. In it, the BlackBerry-maker loads on new features to integrate your BlackBerry contact information with that contact's Facebook photo. If you choose, the app will update the existing photos in your BlackBerry contact list with your Facebook friends' profile photos, an association you can also create manually in Facebook, by clicking a friend's name. From that screen, you can request a friend's phone number, and view their BlackBerry contact information.

Your friend's photo shows up in the address book along with their Facebook name. You'll still be able to click their number to call, or to utilize a shortcut to poke a buddy or open Facebook for you to draft a personal message or wall note. In addition, the new Facebook for BlackBerry will also plot birthdays and events onto your BlackBerry calendar.

RIM has also integrated messages and status updates into the BlackBerry. Conversations will now show up as an IM thread in the application, and as a message in your phone's message list. We tried it out with a direct message, and minutes later the message showed up in our Message in-box, along with a cursor blinking in a blank field to facilitate a quick reply.

RIM tells us in a press release that the latest update adds support for French, Italian German Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Polish, Russian, Czech, Traditional/Simplified Chinese, Japanese and Korean.

Facebook for BlackBerry is available now from mobile.blackberry.com via the mobile browser or from www.blackberry.com/go/facebook from the desktop. If you can wait a day, downloading the app through the BlackBerry App World program on your phone (running version 4.2 of the operating system or higher) is the best way to get the app--if you change phones or accidentally delete the program, you'll be able to re-download it hassle-free.

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