Twitter choice or which client to use

    Comparison of different clients for twiiter for the Android mobile platform


    Today I would like to present you an article about various clients for the twitter social network, which can be used on phones running under the mobile platform from Google Inc.

    I present to you today's participants:


    For those who are interested, welcome to cat.
    Caution traffic !!!


    First of all, you need to decide on a test bench. In this case, HTC Desire will act as such.

    Briefly, the characteristics of the apparatus:

    Platform
    • Software: Android Froyo 2.2 (Android 2.2)
    • HTC Sense interface
    • support for Adobe Flash 10.1

    CPU / Chipset
    • Qualcomm QSD8250, 1 GHz

    Memory
    • Flash: 512 MB
    • RAM: 576 MB
    • Expandable SDCH memory card up to 32G

    Display
    • 3.7 inches, resolution 480 x 800 (WVGA)
    • AMOLED
    • Capacitive touch screen

    Communication
    • HSPA / UMTS and GSM / GPRS / EDGE networks
    • GSM / GPRS / EDGE in the bands 850/900/1800/1900 MHz (version for Europe and Asia)
    • 3G - up to 7.2 Mbps download; up to 2 Mbps transmission;
    • GPRS - up to 114 kbps download
    • EDGE - up to 560 kbps download
    • WiFi IEEE 802.11 b / g


    Customers in Review:

    • Official twitter client ( Link )
    • TweetDeck ( Link )
    • Touiteur ( Link )
    • Seesmic ( Link )
    • TwiDroyd ( Link )


    Well let's get started, although here you should probably make a small and optional digression. Namely, explain what twitter is. Given the subject of the resource and the topic of the blog, the likelihood that this topic will be read by people who have not heard about this service is extremely small, but still:

    Twitter (from the English tweet - “twitter”, “chat”) - website, which is a microblogging system that allows users to send short text notes (up to 140 characters) using the web interface, SMS, instant messaging services or third-party client programs. As of September 3, 2010, the service has more than 145 million users. As of June 2010, the monthly attendance of the resource is about 190 million unique users.© thank you to wikipedia for a brief and concise description.

    And now we’ll begin our acquaintance with our competitors, I’ll say right away that I’m considering them randomly:

    Official Twitter client for the Android mobile platform


    You can install the client using the Android Market application.
    After downloading and installing the application, we happily open it and see an invitation to enter a username and password. Having done everything that is required of us, we will see a window in which the client will offer us to synchronize all existing contacts with those users whose microblogging we are subscribed to.



    Choosing an item that will satisfy your requirements, we get to the main menu of the program. There is the ability to navigate all sections of the microblogging service. Navigation is convenient, the interface is simple and does not strain your eyes.

    Now you can look in more detail at each section individually. Pictures will tell everything in much more detail than I could do this.







    Convenient modular navigation. Eye-pleasing context menu. Nice responsive interface. All that a microblog user needs is a general tweet feed, lists, mentions, retweets, messages, profile, trends, search, both by tweets and by users.

    In addition to the wonderful design of the application, developers also provide a number of widgets: which are created in accordance with the style of the entire application.



    And finally, the most important, or the second most important after the general tweet feed. Namely sending a message. Printing a message, inserting a picture from both the gallery and the camera directly, adding a user’s mention from an existing list, and turning on / off the geolocation service. Everything is native, clear and pleasant.



    Having finished considering this client, you can safely proceed to the next. We meet:

    Tweetdeck



    You won’t be able to download this application in the official Android Market, simply because the program is still in beta testing, and the developers do not consider it necessary to offer an unfinished program to all users. But the problem is solved, namely, you need to go to the program’s website , where, after selecting the Android section, send a request to download the .apk file. Next, you need to copy it to the SD card, and from there, using one of the many programs to install applications from the SD card, install it on the phone.

    Having installed the application, we immediately understand that this is more than just a Twitter client, it is a program that allows you to work with several social services at once. But today we will focus on only the part of the program that allows the user to work with twitter.com. And so, again, the usual procedure for adding an account.



    By adding our account, we get to the so-called home page, namely the page with our tweet feed. It should be noted a very successful solution in the form of a small flat button with the inscription Home, when clicked, the list scrolls up to the stop, wherever you are now.







    The main feature of this client is the ability to add your own columns to the main zone. Navigation between the columns is carried out by dragging the corresponding area of ​​the screen to the right or left. Thus, you can customize the application completely to your needs. However, there are some disadvantages, although again, in my subjective opinion: the lack of a context menu in order to do something with a tweet in the summer you need to open a new window; the search for people and tweets is spread out in different tabs, which just terribly annoys those who are constantly trying to find one or the other.

    Included with the program itself are three convenient widgets that can allow you to work with this application even faster and more efficiently:



    The final point of consideration for this client is again the window for sending a tweet:


    Once again, convenience is on top. All controls on the case are located nicely, cover all the necessary functions, and allow you to do what you intended with your tweet.

    Unfortunately, I did not find a way to exit my account. You can exit the application, but I still couldn’t get out of twitter.
    After completing the consideration of the second client for the popular microblogging service, you can safely proceed to the third, meet:

    Touiteur



    The client is available in the Android Market in two versions: lite and full. Due to the lack of a paid Android Market, only the lite version of the client will be tested in Russia. And so, downloading and installing the client, we will see a nice start screen. We can continue the work only after adding our profile:



    Having done this, we get to the main page of the application, which contains all our twitter feed. The design of the application is at a high level. All components are located conveniently and “on business”. The most important parts of our application, which are most often used in his daily work, are shown below in the screenshots:







    Navigation through the application is only a pleasure: you can immediately see quite a bit of time devoted to the aspect of user convenience while working. The application is fast and responsive, and the entire animation is very smooth, actually as it should.

    In addition to the wonderful working part of the application, which is hidden behind the facade of all the windows described above, the developers offer our attention also to a choice of 3 widgets that can be placed on the desktop in order to make access to the application even faster and more convenient. But here the jet is the first disappointment, as it turns out that widgets are available only in the paid version. Well, sorry, very sorry, but nothing, this little nuisance does not spoil the general impression of using the application.



    And finally, one of the most important parts of any twitter client is the tweet window:



    Access to this window is possible from any part of your application: all you need to write a new tweet is simply to click on the strip with the inscription Touiteur at the top of the screen. The tweet sending window itself is made as thought out as the rest of the application: the buttons are in place, the design is pleasing to the eye, all the necessary actions are at hand. In general, pleasure and more.

    The penultimate on our list, but only on the account is the client, called:

    Seedmic



    This client is available in the Android Market for free. In addition to the function of working with Twitter, the client also provides the opportunity to keep in touch with the social part of Google Inc. products in the form of Google Buzz. The client is smart, not very stressed and very functional. Well, let's start, as a rule, downloading it from the Market and installing it on the phone, we will see the following windows that invite us to add Twitter or Google Buzz account:



    After all the steps that need to be performed in order to start working with the client, we get to the main application window, from where we carry out all the actions. By tradition, a set of screenshots that demonstrate the main features of the application:







    In general, the application leaves a good impression. Here, developers did not spend most of the time working with the design of their creations, devoting themselves to the functionality and effectiveness of the client. Everything works very smartly, the interface is standard. A convenient element is the red bar at the top of each window, which allows you to move up any list + the update button successfully installed in the list allows you to work with applications even faster.

    In addition to the functionality itself, the application provides a widget for the desktop of your phone:



    In fairness, it is worth noting that the widget is very functional, invented and leaves only the most pleasant memories from its use.

    And again, the completion of the review of the next client is a message set window:



    Again meets minimalism, if not primitivism. But despite the apparent primitiveness, there is all the necessary functionality that you may need at the time of the creation of the tweet.

    So this review comes to an end, it remains to consider the last remaining client in the list:

    Twiroyroy


    This application is available in the Android Market in two versions: lite and pro. Again referring to the inaccessibility of paid applications in the Russian part of the Android Market, only the lite version was examined. And so, having downloaded and installed the client, we again see an invitation to start work. The possibility of integrating the client with not only Twitter, but also with other social networks is striking. Although, as mentioned earlier, only a part of the applications responsible for working with the microblogging social service is considered today:



    The usual operation of logging in with your nickname for working with the social service moves us to the central page of the application, where the main tweet feed is placed. Again, a bunch of screenshots, allowing you to consider all the features of the main parts of the application:







    Everything works at the proper level, I haven’t found any “special” functions for this client, except that the outgoing messages folder is available only in the Pro version (what dictated this step is still a mystery to me). One way or another, the client is functional, responsive, and is a good addition to the piggy bank of applications on your phone.

    And again, the widgets come complete with 3 pieces, only the free version works only one, well, nothing, as they say: “fish without fish and cancer”:



    And the final chord of today's review will be a screenshot of the tweet submission form in this client:



    Somehow direct and I do not know what to say. Either just because of the abundance of other clients, the impression was blurred, or my feelings were subjective, but the form of sending a tweet in this client seemed to me the least attractive of all that I considered. Despite these negative emotions, it’s fair to say that all the functionality is at hand, and the main function of this window is impeccable: tweets are sent and reach their destination.

    Conclusion


    Well, here we have this review. All clients are good in some ways, each has its own zest, but there are sometimes flaws. As the saying goes, a person gets used to everything, so the question is: “What to use?” rather contrived. One way or another, I hope that this consideration of several clients will allow people to either change the client, if they find the missing functionality in one of the above, or stay with their choice, praising themselves for the right decision that was made when installing the client.

    I want to say to myself that I use Twitter rather as a kind of RSS aggregator, which allows me to follow the news of large companies whose products are interesting to me, as well as read funny tweets of friends who sometimes cheer up =)

    Update:
    1) I completely forgot to write. If anyone is interested, then personally I prefer the official client, although after this review I began to seriously look towards Touiteur.
    2) Fixed widgets for the official Twitter client

    Thank you all, I hope that I did not bore you much. And good luck =)

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