It's taken more than two years after iOS and Android users got it, but Windows Phone users are now being rewarded for their patience. Facebook Messenger is now available for the platform. It's very Windows Phone-ish - lots of white and blue.

Curiously, Techcrunch is reporting that if you do a search for the app (instead of using that direct link above), you will be presented instead with rival IM apps, and the main Facebook app - but no Messenger. So it looks as if the search function in the Windows Phone store may not be useful for the moment.

As with rival apps such as WhatsApp, Messenger enables you to send SMS text messages to your Facebook contacts. But you don't pay for each message - instead it works with your current data plan on your smartphone. So as long as you have an Internet connection on your phone, and the person you want to message is a Facebook friend, then you can use it. No more paying for SMS text messages ever again.

You can also transfer photos (as you can see from the screenshot above), and have group conversations, which is great if you are trying to make plans. You can share your location so you can see if you are near any of your Facebook friends, but privacy-conscious people (and I count myself as one of them) will want to switch this off. Then if anyone wants to know where you are, they can ask you and you can decide if they need to know.

I have been using Facebook Messenger ever since it came out on iOS, and it works like a charm. No downtime (that I can remember anyway) and it is fast as a bullet. Let us know if you have that experience on your Windows Phone (or not).

Source: Techcrunch | Image Credits: K?rlis Dambr?ns via Flickr