Jun

Twitter on Android OS

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Android, Twitter

Twitter on Android OS

Click here to view this article on the Veecom Systems website

Google’s Android OS is well known for being an open-source platform which allows any developers to make applications for it, so it’s natural that a handful of applications are available for social networking and micro-blogging tool Twitter.

Technology blog Engadget recently compared the following apps in order to decide which is the best:

Twitter for Android (that’s the official Twitter app, by the way!)
HootSuite
Seesmic
Swift
Touiteur
TweetCaster
Twicca
Twidroid

Twitter for Android With this being the most recent, and most official application to reach the market, expectations were high. There are some plus points, and some slight annoyances too.

+ Picture thumbnails in timelines. Currently only TwitPic and yfrog pictures are supported, but its suspected that in time more formats will be available.
+ Android OS integration. Contacts are associated with their Twitter accounts, and their latest tweets can be seen in your address book.

– Every time the application is started, the user is greeted with a launch menu. This can become irritating as most Twitter apps start up with a feed. However, this can be done when launching the app from the widget on a home screen.
– Can be awkward when switching from the general feed, mentions and favourites. Tabs would have suited this, but instead the user has to tap on an icon and then tap on the feed, rather than simplifying the operation to a single tap, or go to that aforementioned pesky launch menu.
– RT feature doesn’t appear in the ‘by others’ feeds, mentions, nearby or search timelines.

Hootsuite
Favoured by business users, the web version of Hootsuite is a popular platform which allows for multiple accounts, feeds, link tracking, tweet scheduling and much more. The full paid Android version lets you do all of these things, although doesn’t let you geotag tweets, which seems odd as many apps do, and being on a smartphone this feature would be welcomed with open arms. Another grievance is that the app doesn’t offer a widget for the popular Sense UI. Strange things coming from the ‘professional Twitter client’!

Seesmic
This Android app has proven itself to be a popular and functional application, with useful features such as support for multiple accounts, permanent timeline tabs, different font sizes, and options for media uploading services.

Swift
Swift is known for being ‘lightweight’. While this does make it a quick and efficient application, the lack of features is an issue too. Like Twitter for Android, timeline tabs are missing, creating what should be a single tap into a double-tap operation, and also the ability to remember the timeline position and reply to all mentions can be frustrating.

Touiteur
We’re sure this is prounounced ‘Tweeter’, in case anyone is wondering!

Launched in early 2010, this app has the useful permanent tabs at the bottom which is lacking in some other apps, but you can also tweet easily by pulling down the composer from the top. You can also organise tweets by colour-tagging and you can view other people’s subscribed timelines. If you upgrade to the paid version (it’s not expensive!) the app can support multiple accounts and you get a URL-shortening service thrown in for good measure.

TweetCaster
Another recently released app, it boasts most of the desired features, and looks good too; with free themes to suit your own personal taste, and a ’shake to refresh’ option as well.

Twicca
Currently in beta stage, Twicca features a modern, dark andeasy-to-use interface, while also including handy tools such as inserting custom geotags instead of having to reply on automatic GPS data and colour-tagging tweeters to make following easier.

Twitdroid
This app has been around since the end of 2008, and this longevity along with its clean user interface has meant that it has a lot of loyal users gained along the way.

LET’S COMPARE!

Viewing Tweets
Here, we’ll score apps based on the following criteria:

Does the app load the timeline upon launch?
Does the app remember the timeline position?
Can you view geotagged tweets on a map
Can you view nearby tweets?
List viewing
Can you enlarge profile pictures?
Can you view conversation threads?
Can you change font sizes?
Viewable pictures in timelines

And here’s how the apps scored:

Twitter for Android: 4/10
HootSuite: 4/10
Seesmic: 6/10
Swift: 2/10
Touiteur: 6/10
TweetCaster: 7/10
Twicca: 6/10
Twidroid: 8/10

Composing
In this stage, apps were compared on whether a user can:

Insert locations in tweets
Retweet old/new tweets
Reply to all mentions
Look up names of users while composing a tweet
Upload photographs or video
Use different, if any, photograph upload services
Use different, if any, video upload services
Shortnen URLs

And apps scored the following:

Twitter for Android: 6/8
HootSuite: 5/8
Seesmic: 7/8
Swift: 5/8
Touiteur: 5.5/8
TweetCaster: 7/8
Twicca: 8/8
Twidroid: 8/8

Extras
In this final round, apps were compared by their extra options and features:

Multiple account support
Tweet scheduling
Link click stats
List creation/editing
Profile editing
Block/report users
Colour tagging
Appearance themes
Widgets
Android OS integration
Background notifications

And the results were:

Twitter for Android: 6/11
HootSuite: 5.5/11
Seesmic: 5/11
Swift: 3/11
Touiteur: 8/11
TweetCaster: 8/11
Twicca: 7/11
Twidroid: 8/11

THE FINAL VERDICT!

The final scores, in descending order, are:

Twidroid: 24
TweetCaster: 22
Twicca: 21
Touiteur: 19.5
Seesmic: 18
Twitter for Android: 16
HootSuite: 14.5
Swift: 10

While there were high expectations of the official Twitter app, the clear winner is Twitdroid. It has had over a year in the market and therefore plenty time to evolve into the most popular and feature-filled application for tweeting, so it’s not a huge surprise. While it scored highly, it’s important to remember that your Twitter app should reflect your preferences, so it’s not exactly a good idea to disregard all the others. They’re all very capable apps!

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