INTRODUCTION
OK, so I've been wanting to write a review for a while now, and since I've gone absolutely insane with finding neat and new iPhone apps while finally admitting to myself that, yes indeed, I am addicted to Twitter(just ask Shannon), in my next several posts, I'm going to be taking a look at a handful of the Twitter clients available for the iPhone, discussing features, look and feel, ease of use and so forth, and weighing in with my highly respected, non-expert opinion. Just to put myself on record, in the coming weeks I'll be reviewing the following: Twittelator, Twitterrific, Tweetie, and TwitterFon. These are the ones I have fretted over and tossed away from me like an unclean shirt, only to rush to pick them up again in longing; these are the ones that cause me a tiny pain, just behind my right eye, when I think about getting the best, most fulfilling iPhone Twitter experience possible, and worry that I might not be. I would like to say that I didn't really do these things, but I can't. And I know that's sad.
[ DISCLAIMER: The opinions expressed herein are those held by the staff of residuetiger.com(that would just be me, residuetiger—but it sounds really cool to talk about my staff...That didn't actually come out quite,nevermind) and do not reflect those opinions held by those of any other person or persons you could possibly imagine at any time in history, world without end, amen.... ]
[ DISCLAIMER TO ABOVE DISCLAIMER: I just don't want to get my ass sued off; I don't have much to spare... ]
PAY TO PLAY? PORQUOI?
Some are free, some are not. And, as with many things on the App Store you don't always get what you pay for, and the best things are not always free. Already I hear some of you asking, 'Wait a minute a-hole, why would I want to pay for a Twitter client?', and that's a perfectly valid question. In answer, increased functionality for one thing, and some nifty features usually not included in your typical free twitter app. Basically some shiny little bells and whistles to make your constant need to 'just peek' at the twitterstream even more pleasant and easier than it already is. A few of the free twitter apps I've tried have ads, but fork over a few dollars and they go the way of the fishes.
Let's get started, shall we?
WHERE THE BULLET HITS THE BONE
First at bat is Twittelator by Stone Design. Twittelator comes in two flavors: a free version(hereafter reffered to as,
simply, Twittelator), and Twittelator Pro which is $4.99 from the App
Store.
Both flavors of Twittelator share
quite a robust search feature, allowing you to find that special
someone to follow, or any particular topic that might be percolating
in the twitterverse. Pro takes it a step further by including a
dedicated stock search for keeping up with your declining fortunes on
Wall Street, and the ability to setup and save specific search terms
or topics so you can come back later without having to type in your
search terms all over again, which is a handy feature, if you ask me.
Access to the public timeline, featured tweeters and your replies—sorry, I meant mentions—and direct messages are available in both versions, as is the ability to post pics and links. These features are pretty common in all Twitter clients, so nothing surprising here really. Tapping on a user's photo will bring up that user's profile and friend/follower listing, with options to favorite or bookmark the user, follow/unfollow buttons, and a button to send a private message to said user.
Take a look at the screenshot to the right. Before we go any further I will tell you that what you see
here is a pretty standard, and effective, layout for an iPhone
Twitter client. It's not exactly an if-you've-seen-one-you've-seen-them-all scenario, but most have a very similar look to them, so moving between one or more clients
won't be a shock.
As you can see, Twittelator sports a very clean and easy to read interface(The theme pictured here is one of the three built into the Pro version). Twittelator comes with only one built in theme which cannot be changed, but lay down the coin for Pro and you get three themes to choose from—none of which, I must say, are bright or cheery, but it's not like they'll induce depression or anything(actually, I'm rather fond of the muted colors, but I'm not very bright and cheery either, so....). In my opinion Twittelator Pro's setup is a bit more intuitive and user friendly than the 'lite' version where most of your twittering activities of interest are displayed in a list menu of sorts, which serves as the free version's main page, shown in the screenshot on the left below. Mentions and direct messages are simply displayed in the main timeline along with your other followers' tweets, which I find to be a bit confusing(though they are color coded). Other apps, including Twittelator Pro(see screenshot on right below) provide a toolbar of sorts along the bottom of the screen where you can directly access your mentions, direct messages, settings and other things.
When I first started using
Twitter, one of the things I found confusing and
troublesome—especially if you were using Twitter's own web
interface, and to a lesser extent, even with the iPhone clients—was
following an ongoing conversation. If someone you're following posted
an @ reply to someone else you really had no idea what they were
talking about. It was kind of like sitting next to someone talking on
the phone, you only got half the conversation. You had to—and this
may still be the case as I don't use the main Twitter interface that
much—drill down through the replies, each one popping up in a new
tab/window to get to the bottom of things. It was actually through
Twittering on the iPhone that made following the gist of a
conversation a painfully easy task for me.
With Twittelator Pro, when you stumble upon a particularly juicy tweet and you simply must know the rest of the story, you should notice a little 'chat bubbly' looking thing surrounding the time said tweet was posted. This indicates that there's more of the convo to be seen. Just tap on the 'chat bubble' and voila, the entire exchange is revealed to you in all it's glory in it's own dedicated little screen! As far as I can tell, Twittelator(free) does not offer this nifty little feature. To be frank, this feature alone is worth 4-5 dollars in my book, but what the flip do I know; I'm just a worm trying to make my way in through the dirt of life. [ Disclaimer: I have know idea where that last bit came from. Really.]
Now a Twitter client would be about as useless as G.W. in the White House if you couldn't post pics and links to your interesting finds on the interwebs, and Twittelator has you covered. With both versions you can post pics, usually via TwitPic, although Pro offers you a choice of a few other photo hosting sites if, for some reason, you find a particular one distasteful, and the ability to post high-rez photos to boot. And for your links, go ahead and toss them up; Twittelator will auto-shorten your link before posting and you can go on about your business. Pro goes above and beyond the call of duty here by offering you a plethora—actually just five—of link shortening services to choose from. But here is where a major deal breaker, for some, pops up between the two versions; in Twittelator it's not immediately obvious that you can check out someone's tweeted linkage, but it's only a matter of double-tapping on the body of the Tweet itself and the link will open automatically in the built in browser. The problem here, as I see it, is that Twittelator does not support multiple links in one Tweet. Pro integrates a handy-dandy link....uh, link in the form of a wee paper clip icon; just tap the paper clip and it's instant link love, or in the multiple link scenario, you'll be prompted to choose which link to follow from a popup. Brilliant!
I've touched on several features and differences between the two Twittelator versions here, things which really caught my attention and made me want slap my mother, but I feel like I'm getting a little long in the tooth as they say, so I think it's time for a wrap up.
Twittelator, in either incarnation, is visually appealing and user friendly, and since the last couple of updates, quite stable(I personally had some crashing issues when I first picked up Pro, but those seem to have been remedied). Stone just released V2.2, so now's a great time to check it out. If you're a Twitterholic, Pro's $4.99 price point at the App Store is well worth it in my opinion. Those little bells and whistles—and I haven't even covered them all, not by a mile—make Twittering just a little bit more pleasurable when you're on the go.
Tune in next time for Part 2, when I talk about another of my favorite iPhone clients: Twitterrific.
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