Google (Finally) Launches Orkut iPhone Web App

(Hat Tip: Prashanth on Google Blogoscoped)

After previously releasing a web app for Symboan smart phones, the boys and girls at Orkut have finally released a web app for iPhone lovers!

This is something that I have been patiently waiting for, as I was getting really tired of having to log into the basic mobile interface.

After surfing around the iPhone version of Orkut (which you can access by pointing your iPhone over at m.orkut.com) here were a few things I noticed.

Orkut Status






Orkut status, a feature Google launched previously can now be easily updated via mobile (instead of having to log into my computer).

While useful, I did find the fact that I had to manually clear out the previous update to be a bit annoying, although hopefully Google will insert "an x" (allowing you to clear out the previous entry with one click).

Instant Scrapping






Scrapping your friends was fairly easy, although after you post a scrap the web app does not confirm that your scrap posted successfully on your friends scrapbook (it reports a eternal "scrap is posting..." although your scrap should have gone through).

Viewing Albums






You can easily view the Orkut albums of your friends, which was a feature I enjoyed.

Unfortunately you can not comment on the images (something Orkut iPhone lovers would enjoy tremendously).

Call or Scrap






With just one click you can easily call your friends, or scrap them instead.

This is perhaps my favorite feature on the iPhone web app! (although I have to figure out how I can make Fring or TruPhone handle international calls as AT&T is expensive).

Other thoughts

While I am glad to see Orkut finally jumping in the iPhone arena (especially since both Brazil and India now have access to the iPhone) it would be great to see them launch a native iPhone app.

However if Google is too busy to create one, then this would be a great opportunity for a third party developer to create a premium version for Orkut users (as a few geeks did with both Google Reader and Blogger, not to mention Twitter as well).

-- Post From My iPhone

Update: Inserted missing links and categories (a feature I can not yet do from my iPhone--although the iGeeks are working on it ;-))

Update: The Orkut iPhone web app is mentioned over at the Official Orkut Blog.