One of the great things about the Android platform in general is its ability to be hacked, and if you do so happen to enjoy this popular pastime, you’ll likely be quite enthused of Facebook’s decision to run an all-new beta program for its official Android app.

This is probably the first version of Facebook for Android that can be regarded as completely on par with the iPhone version. This is the update which most of us have been waiting for! After bringing Facebook Groups and Places feature to Android only just last month, the new Facebook version 1.5 for Android brings the much awaited Facebook Chat feature, along with Push Notifications to Android devices.

At today’s Facebook Mobile Event, CEO Mark Zuckerberg has announced updates to their acclaimed iPhone and not-so acclaimed Android app.

Finally! After a long wait, Facebook app for Android has been updated to come on-par, if not better than its iPhone counterpart. Full list of change log is as follows. Screenshots of the new app after the break !

If his recent Facebook activity has to be believed, than Facebook’s founder and CEO might have just ditched his iPhone for Android. It was only last month when Mark made the headlines for switching to iPhone (it was 3GS, not iPhone 4) from BlackBerry. But the experience wasn’t all that great as he posted about his frustrations with the device, citing poor battery life, and phone calling quality. He also said that he will get the new iPhone 4 and see if that solves all his problems before switching to Android.