Facebook has updated its Android app, ditching HTML 5 and embracing native code to make it much, much faster.

"Today we're announcing a faster Facebook app for people who use Android devices. Facebook for Android 2.0 is twice as fast when looking at photos and opening your Timeline and noticeably quicker to launch," claims the social network on its website.

"Over the last year, we've been retooling our mobile apps to make them faster, more reliable, and easier to use. Several months ago, we embarked on a major step change for iOS and shipped a native rewrite of Facebook for iOS. With Android, we've moved to a fixed-date release cycle and have been steadily making improvements over time so that Facebook performs consistently across multiple platforms."

The move is a marked change from Facebook which had previously stuck to its guns that it didn't need native code for its apps.

Aside from the speed enhancements in the new Android Facebook apps, there is little new here. Something that Facebook acknowledges, but says won't always be the case.

"This new release creates a solid foundation for the Facebook for Android app moving forward. The infrastructure in place will let us continue to make the app even faster, smoother, and feature-rich," the site promises.