Review: Facebook email is a big let-down

It was announced few months back. All devoted fb users were so eagerly following the news, the news about the gmail killer facebook email. Last night I got the much awaited Facebook email invitation. I was so happy to see that message. I gladly accepted it. As soon as I applied the new messaging, everything looked different, better. I could not control my emotions and put up my facebook status right at that moment. I got replies from friend for invitation. Meanwhile I was exploring this new hyped application. I found these things from my experience:

Whats New: There definitely few things you will notice at first. For instance, You can see the smileys  instead of  : ) in your messages. The message space is more clean and shorter fonts are used. It shows all the previous message conversation with the person (It categories the messages by User). You just have to scroll up for seeing that. You can receive email from other service provider like gmail at an address username@facebook.com. These emails will be saved in the “other”category of messages.

It does allow the user to attache files and also allows to send pic/video taken at the instant from webcam. The upper limit on attachment is not known yet.

It also has the text messaging feature. It means if a friend sends you a message and checks the “send to phone” option, you will receive the same message on your mobile phone and you can reply straight from your phone. This conversation will also be shown in the facebook messaging box.

Now you can forward the messages you receive to other users (which was missing in the older version of facebook messaging).

Why it disappoints? When you expect something like “gmail killer”, you want a grand application. Unfortunately, facebook email is not a gmail killer. I guess, it cannot replace the regular email service. Instead of having a complete new email feature, it is just an up-gradation of facebook messaging.

Right now its available only by invitation. When I invited my friends, they did not see any invitations despite of me sending it.

By default, it archives the message instead of deleting it. If you want to delete a message, you have to open it and then from drop down select the delete option. Tiresome.

Verdict: It definitely is a better messaging service but it is a poor email service.

Waiting for replies on this post.

P.S. If you want to get a the facebook email, first you need to apply here:http://www.facebook.com/about/messages/

Sources: http://www.facebook.com/help/?topic=new_messages