What's next for Facebook and Twitter for BlackBerry?

Over the past week, both Facebook and Twitter for BlackBerry smartphone were leaked to the web. Though some struggled installing the software without a particular beta code, some were more lucky than others.

Considering these are the two most popular services for the Generation Y, on one of the most popular smartphones on the market, the new applications and upcoming features have been long awaited.

 

Speculating Facebook for BlackBerry 2.0

Though this isn't available to the public yet, some have been speculating at absent features in 1.9, the current version, expecting inevitable changes in the next. Let's not forget that version 2.0 was supposed to arrive last year which left many BlackBerry users disappointed.

Version 1.9 leaked with little change, but many are still holding out for late but great stuff in the next major release. Rumoured and anticipated features include:

• User interface changes are rumoured but not clear what these could comprise of. It would make sense though, as this is a major revision.
• Deleting messages directly from your phone, instead of having to use the mobile web version
• Video upload to complement the already existing photo upload feature
• New in-built settings which are already available to mobile web users, but are missing from the software.

Some features were already implemented in Facebook for BlackBerry 1.9, the current software version, such as push notifications and People search, which were expected for 2.0

It is expected, because there is little else we can expect at this stage, that Facebook chat will finally be added.

Update: leaked images of Facebook for BlackBerry emerged this morning. Turns out chat will be a part of the 2.0 upgrade.

On the other hand, since Facebook opened up the chat protocol last year, it allowed many entrepreneurs to capitalise upon mobile Facebook chat applications - like Tweetdeck or UberSocial to Twitter. If Facebook brings chat to its official application, it could kill these off overnight

Detailing Twitter for BlackBerry 1.1

The BlackBerry Beta Zone has all the details. You can head over there, register for an account and start using it as the program is open to the public.

• Geotagging of tweets has finally been implemented
• Pushed mentions to your device as soon as messages are
• Threaded direct messages in 'conversation view', similar to that of BlackBerry Messenger
• Refreshed user interface and branding, with the Twitter logo being replaced by the Twitter bird
• Tweet count notification which totals up how many tweets you have, instead of just displaying the icon.
• Captioned retweets so no longer do 'random' tweets appear
• Auto-complete previously used hashtags
• Touch-screen features added to certain devices (Torch, Storm) to refresh streams

There are also rumours that it Twitter for BlackBerry could also integrate with your address book, though the official feature list does not reflect this. Perhaps for later versions though.