The standalone app operates similar to the iPhone camera but has the ability to post the images to Facebook much faster and easier without going through two different applications. The Facebook iOS app could now be used strictly for accessing user’s profiles and posting messages. However, all other forms of interaction can be used much more easily through smoother, and better developed applications.

By releasing Facebook Camera, the company is likely making moves to set up integration with Instagram. Facebook purchased Instagram for $1 billion in April and will probably slowly erase Instagram’s name and use its user base and popular features in the new Camera app. There are currently several features such as commenting and liking the photos in the stream as well a number of filters adopted from Instagram and more may appear in the near future. Facebook developed the app to simplify the task of posting images to a user’s profile, which is a very long process with the normal iOS app.

With the Facebook iOS app, the images do not post properly at all times and sometimes comments and likes do not appear correctly. An app dedicated entirely to photos, comments, and likes will ease some of the issues that users have. Facebook Camera makes perfect sense, and will likely get better once integrated with Instagram in the future. A report published on The Verge elaborated the collaboration of Instagram and Facebook with the following:

The Facebook Camera team has been working on the app for months, and Mark Zuckerberg reportedly kept his desire to purchase Instagram close to the vest, as if he almost impulse-bought it. Had the Instagram deal never occurred, Facebook Camera wouldn’t really be much of an Instagram competitor anyway, lacking any mobile-only social circles and hashtagged sharing around specific topics. “Enhancing the Facebook photos experience on mobile is long overdue,” Facebook’s Derick Mains told me. “We really had to step up our game, and we’re committed to building Instagram independently.

The Facebook Camera is now available for free in the iOS App Store.

{via MacRumors}

The company released Pages Manager, an app that allows users to manage all of their pages on Facebook within one app. The app can be used to edit and post on the pages as well as edit settings for the pages.

Facebook has posted an update for Pages Manager in the regular application in the form of a banner atop the News Feed. Facebook has also changed some small features, enlarging images, setting trending topics higher in the feed, and allowing users to scroll through trending articles. Facebook is slowly expanding each of its apps and features to make it more easily accessible on mobile devices.

The company started this new drive into mobile after the introduction of the new timeline feature in both the web version and the Facebook app. The Messenger app and Pages Manager app are only the two of the first set of applications that Facebook is likely to release to continue its push into mobile.

{via iMore}

Paper by FiftyThree Review

Ever since I purchased my very first iPad 1 on launch day I’ve been searching for an app that will let me use the iPad as if I was hold a piece of paper in my hand, (And yes, I appreciate the irony of spending $500+ for a piece of paper!), and I’m yet to do it. Penultimate comes close, and I do love the app but it still didn’t feel natural.

Paper by FiftyThree aims to change all that with an app which is more than just for taking notes and is more about getting your creativity down on, well…..paper!

The app is built for the retina display of the new iPad, however, I’ve used the app on both the new iPad and the iPad 2 and other than it being a little more pixelated on the iPad 2 the experience is still one that will probably keep you coming back for more.

As a free download the app seems like an absolutely bargain to begin with but for free you only have access to a skill pen style and 9 colors. For many this will suffice, the experience is an organic one as you brush your finger across the screen and the pen draws pin-perfect pressure sensitive lines to create thin and thick lines as required.

Writing in Paper for iPad is an absolute joy, not only does it feel great but it looks amazing too and even though I’m not very artistic I felt that Paper brought out creativity in me that I never knew that I had purely because it’s such a great experience and possibly because there is an endless supply of paper!

The paper is stored in notebooks that you can create and name as you require and you can navigate through the notebooks and the pages with a swipe, while opening and closing them can be done with a pinch or by opening two fingers.

The minimalistic style also extends to the undo option which is performed by rotating two fingers anti-clockwise on the screen and while this works great some people may prefer the option of a virtual button to complete some of these actions.

In fact the only virtual in use are those to select the pen of choice and the color and it’s both these two items that left me wanting.

As mentioned previously the fact that the app is free initially seems like an absolute steal, however, if you wish to add additional writing options such as markers, pencils or a watercolor brush then you must purchase them for $1.99 each. This may seem a little expensive but if you find yourself using this app daily it’s certainly worth it.

Then there is the choice of color, a paltry 9 to choose from, why a complete color palette couldn’t have been included to allow you to choose any color you wish I don’t know. Perhaps a future update will see this included.

Those two points made, Paper is still a must download for all iPad owners, the free option will be more than adequate for many users but the chances are that after a few minutes, hours or days the temptation to purchase one, if not all, of the additional writing options will prove too much for many.

For a truly unique writing and artistic experience Paper by FiftyThree is a must.

What we like

• A perfect writing experience
• Intuitive gesture based navigation
• Great results

What to know

• Limited color range
• Additional pens via in-app purchase

It appears that Instapaper has finally got some serious competition on it’s hands as Readability makes its standalone debut on the iPhone and iPad.

You may already be familiar with Readability if you’ve used some of the apps that it’s been integrated with and for me that’s Tweetbot so I’m already aware of how beautifully it rips out all the unwanted content from web pages to provide a greater reading experience.

Readability automatically turns web pages into a clean, elegant, single-column reading view. With beautiful typography provided by Hoefler & Frere-Jones, the reading experience in Readability is second-to-none.

What the standalone app adds though is the ability to sync those booked marked pages via a multitude of devices beyond that of your iPhone and iPad. This becomes especially useful when you are on your computer browsing the web as with the Readability addon you can add any page to all your devices at the click of a button for reading it later.

The app allows you to customize you reading experience too with a choice of fonts, sizes and a choice of day/night modes.

Readability is a free universal app and is available now and makes the reading experience on your mobile device a pleasure with a sleek interface.

Gallery

FileXChange Review: A great way to move files between your iPad and your computer, whatever flavor they might be.

Setting up FileXChange is super simple and the instructions are clear. You open the app on your iPad, and then open a browser on your computer, type in a numeric URL, and that’s it. You can now effortlessly move files to and from your iPad. You can even use your files right within the app without opening other apps, including documents and multimedia files.

FileXChange works with a variety of common file types including: PDF, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Pages, Numbers, Keynote, and most image, audio, and video formats. It also works between the iPad and Mac, Windows, Linux, and other iOS devices.

It doesn’t sync your files, but it could be used as a pass through to move files from one computer to another, say from a work and a home machine. The app could also be used as another possible location for backing up critical files. And it would be helpful getting files moved between one operating system to another. You can even share files with other people, as access to an account is not required.

This is a super simple, super powerful way to move and access files between your iPad and other devices.

Pros:

• Simple
• Let’s you access the files within the app
• Cross-platform

Cons:

• Have to be on the same local wifi network
• Syncing not included

Creating documents, spreadsheets and even keynote presentations on the go while using your iPhone is certainly something we were hoping for since last year. This announcement comes in just a week before WWDC 2011. Apple certainly likes to keep the buzz going so the update is perfectly timed as this sets the momentum and excitement for the upcoming event.

Each app is available for $9.99 and you can download Keynote, Numbers and Pages from the App Store or hit the update option on your iPad. The latest version also adds new document management options where you can basically group your documents in folders. This is certainly a great feature for those who use these apps extensively and find it hard to manage an ever growing list of spreadsheets and presentations.

Apple wants to make sure that they utilize most of their time during the WWDC keynote presentation in announcing major updates and therefore released the update for iWork apps a week before.

On June 06 the Cupertino based company is widely expected to announce the next major version of Mac OS X called Lion and preview iOS 5.

Gallery (click image to enlarge)

The iPad guided tour focuses on how one can take advantage of its unique features and large display. We found a few details in the guided tour which we thought were interesting to note.

Safari

Safari on iPad will allow you to access your favourite sites by tapping the address bar to reveal new bookmarks bar.

Another interesting feature to note was that the browser will allow you to play videos without leaving the page.

Mail

The iPad mail app will display an image of the sender on the right side.

Photos

Apple’s native photos app for the iPad will enable you to to skim the pictures with the bar at the bottom in addition to viewing them by flicking your finger on the screen.

If you own an iMac and use iPhoto to sync your your albums then you will be able to view your photos in Events, Faces and Places.

When you tap the options menu in the Photos app you will be able to share photos by sending it to your MobileMe gallery.

Apple has enhanced the Photos apps to a great extent and expects you to use your iPad as a digital photo frame. You will be able to play your own Music from the iTunes library and select transitions from the available options (Cube, Dissolve, Ripple, Wipe, Origami)

YouTube

When you tap on a video to watch it you can see the details below the video. While the video is playing you will be able to add it your favourites, Share, Rate or Flag it.

When you are done watching the video, you can access the sidebar on the right to see related videos, more videos by the same user or add a comment.

iTunes

Apple has integrated Genius in the new iPad iTunes app, this will allow you to discover new music based on your existing music library and purchases.

iBooks

The iPad features a built-in dictionary which will enable you to look up a particular word while reading an ebook using the iBooks app.

The screen orientation lock will allow you to read eBooks in your preferred angle without changing the device orientation.

Keynote

Keynote for iPad is a powerful app to create stunning presentations and it features some advanced features which can be implemented with simple multitouch gestures. You can style the pictures in the presentations with picture frames, shadows, reflections, control the border, angle of the shadow and even adjust the opacity. You can add advance transitions  to your presentation by selecting Magic Move and let keynote build sophisticated transitions for you.

You can share your presentations via email, upload to iWork.com or export it as a keynote or pdf file.

Pages

If you’re working on a large document with many pages then you can use the page navigator by sliding your finger on the side to preview the pages and jump to the exact page you were working on.