What does happen with the Facebook update for Android? I had heard that it changes your FB mail to IMs. I haven't updated the Facebook app in probably at least a year. I've been intentionally avoiding it.
But my FB crashes more and more now. I'm sure I could improve the stability with an update, but I don't want to lose the functionality I have now. Only, I'm not really sure what functionality I would lose.
Can I still access my FB mail as usual with the updated app? It's fairly similar to browsing Facebook in Chrome on my desktop. Does the updated app change that?
It'll force you to download the Messenger app to receive Facebook messages. In particular, you'll get Messenger chat heads - these are small circles that show up in the corner of the screen whenever you get a new FB message, even over other apps like Chrome. From there you can either dismiss them or tap them to open them (which will bring you to the chat interface directly)
Tapping the message button in the main FB app will open up Messenger. It'll basically look and act the same as Facebook on desktop, the main difference is the chat heads. Personally I didn't like them at first, but it's grown on me.
+ Faster send/receive message times than the main FB app (this is the argument for why FB forced people to Messenger, people reply quicker when they use it but that doesn't help very much unless both people in the conversation use it.)
+ Easier to go to the chat window when you receive a new message
+ Easier to go back to what you were doing before after replying to a message
+/- Will immediately get a visual notification when you have a new message (whether you like this will vary)
- You'll lose some MB of space on your phone (this usually doesn't matter)
+/- Your load times on the main FB app may change (this is hard to estimate without knowing how old your phone/app is.)