Facebook's released a standalone Messenger app for both iOS and Android devices that allows not only messaging among your Facebook friends, but also texting to any of your phone contacts. The app is a product of Facebook's acquisition of Beluga back in February -- a startup that made a name for itself through its popular group messaging app. The Messenger app may look like Google+'s Huddle from the outside, but inside, as far as I can tell, it's somewhat more attractive. And it has 750 million active users. Geeks with geeky friends are probably having great time on Google+, but for geeks with a non-savvy circle (pun intended), the experience is summed like this. In contrast, it's pretty safe to assume that most, if not all, of the people who matter to you are on Facebook. Even if they are not, you can still buzz them via old-school text through the Messenger app. The group chatting feature is similar to that of Huddle, but lacks the circle goodness. It's not possible to chat with a particular Friends List or Facebook Group you've set up earlier. Instead, you're required to add friends manually to get things started. And just like every good messaging app, Facebook Messenger supports photo and location sharing (neither of which can be found on Huddle). The app is available (free) in Apple's App Store and Android Market, though some international users are having difficulty with the downloads. Source: 9to5Mac