Facebook for BlackBerry v1.9 Released With Facebook Places!

While RIM has yet to add Facebook chat to their BlackBerry app they just added Facebook Places in v1.9. It is a natural fit to add Facebook Places to the app since it makes it easier to share where you are and what you are doing from your BlackBerry. The new version features the following updates:

Facebook Places

• Check in, add a Place and tag friends
• Check in to Facebook Places within a 1.25 mile radius of your  location
• Select a Place from the available Nearby Places or add a Place if location does not already exist in the Places database
• Tag a friend upon check in, and include a comment
• View Places where friends have checked in
• View Places, “Here Now”, “Nearby” and “Elsewhere”, that friends have checked in to
• “Like” or add a comment to friends’ check ins
• Check ins will appear in the News Feed
• GPS and BB Maps Integration
• View a map of the location you’re checking in to and get directions to and from friends’ locations. The Places feature uses the BlackBerry smartphone GPS to determine the user’s location. The GPS must be enabled to acquire the location.The map displayed within the Places feature uses the BlackBerry Maps application. Clicking on the map image will launch the BB Maps application

Search

• Perform a search for People and Pages within the application
• Find mutual friends and view their profile thumbnails by searching for individuals and pages; send them a friend request, a message or a poke.
• View pages in the Friends list and News Feed, and elect to become fans of pages
• Pull Facebook results using the Unified Search application on BlackBerry 6 smartphones

Friends List Update

• View friends’ profile pictures as well as their Pages from the Friends list.

UI Elements

• Use the redesigned navigation bar to easily view your own profile, and click on the Search and Message icons
• Facebook for BlackBerry smartphones v1.9 requires BlackBerry Device Software 4.5 or above.

You should be able to find the new version 1.9 of Facebook for BlackBerry in App World but RIM always has trouble pushing it out to everybody at the same time. Keep on refreshing and it should show up. If you want a rundown of the features check out the BlackBerry Insider Blog which has a great writeup.