TeddyK
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ElizabethS
The Nexus S is considered the “flagship” Android phone, but that may be because it’s the only handset with software totally controlled by Google. The myriad of other Android devices out there are typically managed by the manufacturers who made them. The Nexus S has been out in the U.S. since December, and a Canadian launch was confirmed at CES in Las Vegas, but no actual date. Some insiders I’ve talked to hinted at a launch in March with more than one carrier.
For those who end up buying the Nexus S, Facebook contacts won’t be integrated into the regular contact list like it works with other Android devices. The main reason why, according to Google, is because Facebook contacts can’t be exported from the device, which “create a false sense of data portability”.
Translation: we would like some control over that data, but we can’t get it because Facebook won’t give it to us.
Google is saying that it wants a Facebook contacts API like the one it has for Gmail. Facebook doesn’t have one, though it does have private agreements with Microsoft and Yahoo! that allow them to import Facebook contacts into Hotmail and Yahoo! Mail, respectively.
Despite all this, the Facebook app will work just like normal on Android phones, including the Nexus S. There just won’t be any integration with Google’s Contacts app anymore.
The move also follows a similar one back in November where Google turned off data APIs for Gmail that effectively eliminated the option to import contacts to Facebook. In fact, the move was called into question in this very public letter posted at that time.
The thing is, Android is a fragmented OS and Google can really only apply this to phones that are under their control, which are basically limited to the Nexus line. Whether or not Android 3.0 (Honeycomb) will leave Facebook contacts integration out is still not known.
What seems certain, at this point, is that Google and Facebook will be at odds on who and where people should be storing their contact data.
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