Facebook. It certainly hasn’t gone the MySpace route with me. I still use it constantly, and let’s face it: it’s gone way past being just a social network where you “Like: photos and… “Poke” your friends.

(I really never understood the nature of “Poking”)

And the iPad? Same story. I began using thinking I had bought the most expensive “toy” in my personal adult history and today… I do everything from editing photos to even creating actual work deliverables on it. 

Naturally, It was expected that I would use the iPad to use Facebook…

Now, I remember when this first app came out. It didn’t come without a few design inconsistencies. Some things have improved, but overall there are still a few things that could easily get the redesign treatment… and here they are:

The “Share” Button

Apple originally introduced the box-coming-out-of-the-box icon as the “Share and Print” button. Here’s an example of that very same icon being used in Keynote… for the iPad:

What’s happend with the Facebook iPad app is that they’ve basically repurposed this icon to be… just about anything, such as saving photos: 

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(I wonder if Gary Hustwit approves of this app)

HelTweetica is a free Twitter app for the iPad that caught my attention a while back —mainly due to it’s simplicity.

Initially, I didn’t think much of it. Then, one day whilst watching a World Cup match, I decided to use my iPad to see my Twitter stream as I worked from home with the laptop -and the match- both in front of me. If you are one of the many who experienced the biggest sporting event in the world with Twitter by your side, you know how important it was to keep up with the Twitterverse during matches.

I started by opening my iPad client of choice: Twitterific. It crashed after a while. Then I moved to Twittelator for iPad: not the best client as far as readability goes. Then I moved to TweetDeck: somehow it crashed as well. 

Then I remembered: “…oh yeah, there’s that other app…”

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Google Reader is without a doubt my central location for reading RSS feeds. I use it to subscribe, organize and read feeds. I usually alternate between using Gruml (Google Reader client for Mac) or simply using the web-based version.

When it comes to the iPhone, no one does it better than Reeder. This application gathers all of your feeds, folders, starred post…etc —all exactly how you have it setup on Google Reader and presents them beautifully (in a paperback-like sepia colour). Besides looking great, this application has a particular way of allowing you to navigate through post, by either using a set of arrows, or swiping and holding (up or down) to see the next one, and so on.

It is the only application that has ever made it desirable to read RSS feeds on such a small screen. 

Then, the iPad came. With it, came a number of iPad-specific RSS Reader applications (some of them available even before the iPad went out on sale).

Out of the few applications available on launch-day, I decided to try Feedler (free) without being really impressed. Then I purchased Headline ($5).

Worst waste of 5 US dollars. Ever.

I won’t go into much detail  with Headline. I’ll just say that it’s the best example on how to utilize the iPad’s screen real state in the most inefficient of manners.

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