WebProNews

When I recently rambled on about integration being the key to Google as a social network, I talked about a lot of the social things Google has been doing. I failed to bring up the company's social network Orkut, however.

Last year, Google released a mobile site for Orkut, and now they have released an Orkut Mobile App, which is available for most Java-enabled devices. Features of this app include:

- Take a photo on your phone and upload it right to your orkut album.

- Share photos with orkut friends or SMS the photos to phone contacts not yet on orkut.

- Call or SMS any of your orkut friends or phone contacts without leaving the app.

- View scraps, updates from friends, and photo albums in offline mode.

Minimum requirements for the app are:

1. A mobile device that supports Java ME (J2ME), MIDP 2.0.

2. A data plan

If your phone doesn't meet these requirements, you can still use the mobile Orkut site. The app is in beta right now, an can be installed if you go to m.google/orkut on your phone. It's free, but your regular provider's charges will still apply of course.