Facebook on iPhone - raising the bar for iPhone apps

I’ve played with the new version of Facebook for the iPhone today - it’s at http://iphone.facebook.com/, you can play with it from a regular browser - built by Joe Hewitt of Parakey/Facebook/iUI fame. More info at Mashable - the word Stunning is right-on.

This is the best example yet that there’s value to an iPhone-specific user experience (rather than just your mobile browser - which Facebook already did well - or the standard Safari experience). The best other innovations I’ve seen in this space - the start that Leaflets had, for example, though I haven’t seen anything come out of there for a while - aren’t really in the same league.

These screenshots don’t really do justice to the fluidity of the experience - instead of a new page load for every tap, there’s a screen wipe. Only the first page load takes what seems like any time at all, everything else is fast. The pages are beautiful:

Updating status is one-click:

Searching looks like the address book UI - looks like Joe didn’t share all of the iPhone interface mimicry just yet:

Profiles are crisp:

Through and through, the details are just right. It’s awe-inspiring work.