Gingerbread 2.3.3 rolling out to Nexus S and Nexus One, Facebook sync gets neutered?

[Bateluer]

http://www.engadget.com/2011/02/22/nexus-s-and-nexus-one-get-android-gingerbread-2-3-3-fixes-rando/

Your Nexus One is a second-class citizen no more: Today, Google's rolling out Android 2.3.3 to both its premier smartphones. The latest build, still referred to as Gingerbread, brings even more NFC goodies than fortold, as the Nexus S will soon be able to write (not just read) rewritable NFC tags as well as act as a glorified NFC tag itself. (You can see both possibilities in the three screenshots above.) What's more, Google tells us Android 2.3.3 will fix the random reboots that have plagued the Nexus S as of late, and offers other random bugfixes as well. You'll find the whole kit and kaboodle streaming to your phones over the air during the next few weeks to come.

On FB:

Google's decided to take this opportunity to push its data portability agenda with regards to Android. Simply put, the feature of the Facebook for Android app to provide the social network's stored contact information to your Nexus S has been revoked from here on out, and as soon as you get the update all that contact information will disappear from your phone.

 

[Malak]

Interesting. Wonder why...

 

[thescreensavers]

Well Facebook needs to talk to google and fix this up, I like having peoples pictures lol

 

[Glitchny]

We've spent a while chatting with a Google rep, and they explained that the company is actually just reinstating the official rules -- typically, apps have to use Android's contacts API, but Facebook was granted an exception which allowed its contacts to remain in the cloud. In effect, what Google's claims it's doing here is the same thing that would happen if you uninstalled the app, or deleted your Facebook account -- your contacts created and stored in the network would no longer be visible on your handset.
In other words, Google's attempting to push Facebook into making that data available to itself, which would be handy (think of the other apps that could use your Facebook data on the go) but potentially worrisome in terms of privacy as well. Either way, the argument is not likely to directly affect many individuals in the short term -- Google tells us that Facebook's sync privileges will only be revoked in the Nexus S (not the Nexus One) and other "lead devices" yet to come. Read the company's full statement after the break, and decide for yourself if this is worth arguing about.

hmmm interesting.