Symabook is a Facebook client for the N97 and S60v5 platform provided by Symarctic Solutions Ltd. We have previewed a pre-alpha release, kindly provided by Symarctic!

Features

Symabook aims to provide a more complete Facebook experience than the default application pre-installed on the N97. Being a Facebook client, Symabook integrates with your Facebook account so that you can see your newsfeed, update your status and so on.

The basic functionality is already implemented (news feed, friend list and so on), but since this is an alpha release most features are not yet fully implemented and the emphasis is on the user interface instead. Since the user interface constists of kinetic scrolling and smooth menu transitions not really seen on the N97 before, this is probably the right priority at this stage!

A public alpha will be made available September 2, so you will soon be able to try it out for yourself.

Will it make the default Facebook on the N97 obsolete?

Maybe, probably even, but at this point it doesn’t really matter. Neither does the fact that the application is far from finished. Most features are merely half finished (or not even that…), and crashes and/or memory problems are very common.

So it’s really bad then? No! As I’ve already hinted, this alpha release is all about the user interface. And once you try it out, you will – like me – start wondering what every other major developer for this platform has been doing. This is how the touch interface on the N97 should look, feel and behave! It’s without doubt the best user interface seen on the platform so far.

The scrolling is effortless and much faster than in other N97 applications. Compared to e.g. the built-in web browser, it just works so much better. The menus are docked to the sides of the screen – you bring them out by sliding them from the side into the middle – so when you don’t need them the entire screen is at your service. There are also smooth context menus that you can activate by tapping the screen a little while longer than normally. Nice!

As mentioned, the application is still very rough and unfinished, and therefore not really useful just yet. This is to be expected though as this is only an alpha release and not really something negative. On the contrary, I think it’s great that Symarctic gives potential users an early opportunity to test drive the brilliant user interface and provide feedback.

Summary

Pros

• Best user interface seen on the N97 ever!
• Especially the scrolling…
• Oh by the way, it supports Facebook too!
  

Cons

• Still early in development = lots of bugs and missing features
  

Overall, don’t install as your main Facebook application just yet, but don’t miss out on the great user interface experience!

To find out more and to download, visit Symarctic:
http://www.symarctic.com/beta/