@prolific twitters: Finally A Twitter Client That’s Here To Stay

Posted by AppBite Team

Tweetie 2 iPhone App Review.

Tweetie 2 got itself a shiny badge by being the Apple Design Award of the year. And by no means were Apple wrong on this one. Tweetie 2 is by far a very polished app, not to mention it would definitely make the top when it comes to twitter apps. S(l)ick design, yet really fast, filled with features, yet not over-bloated with buttons and options, sounds like an update, yet brand new, totally different app from the original. The already popular Tweetie has been recoded from the ground up. Tweetie 2 now incorporates rich features such as offline mode, drafts, threaded conversations, full landscape support, to name a few.

The first thing you note once in Twitter 2 is the shiny new look. B-bye chat bubbles, hello tweet streams and shiny glowing notification orbs. Now, whenever you get a new message, new tweets or even mentions, those orbs are your best friend. No need to scroll on every screen to see if there's something new tweeted. Cool and oh-so-user-friendly!

But perhaps more impressive than its looks is how Tweetie 2 incorporates the load of new features, yet still being light-weight and not overwhelming to you. The more you play around with Tweetie 2, the more functionality you'll bump into that will make you smile within. Perhaps the greatest new feature with Tweetie 2 is its offline browsing capabilities. The app now captures tweets and stores them in cache so you can easily read them when out of network range. And, what's more, all you do when offline will be synced up once you go back online. So even when off the grid, you can still enjoy most of Tweetie 2 and its functionality. The draft manager will let you store and edit tweets to sync up later on, as well.

Since every Twitter client should be accessible to tweeting, Twitter 2 is no disappointment there either. When composing a new tweet, you get most of the experience. A character counter is in place (a big plus from the original app) that, if pressed, will take you to a new options screen: add images, take a picture, geotagging, auto-shrink URLs. Like I said, comprehensive, yet not over-bloated. The Compose screen remains simple and clear. And there's more. You can now compose a tweet in landscape view (actually the entire app can now be viewed in landscape mode).

What I really appreciated with Tweetie 2 is the option to set up push notifications so you can see whenever someone you follow is tweeting. This apparently works outside of the app itself, but it does give you a neat way to stay constantly up to date with your favorites. But wait, there's more. Auto-complete will help you out when @replying or direct messaging people. You can now link people you follow to address cards. Searching for the tweet that interests you is a piece of cake, and once you've found it, Tweetie 2 lets you reply, link details, mark as favorite plus a whole bunch of extras like retweet, quote, mail it and even Google-translate it.

One extra option brought by Tweetie 2 is the "Nearby Tweets" feature. This is also a step up in both graphics and implementation. The odd looking radar animation changed into a Google Map with speech bubbles showing all types of tweets within your vicinity.

Skimming through tweets, tapping out messages, searching and following seems natural and intuitive with Tweetie 2. Out with the chat bubbles, in with the simple timeline that's easy to read. Out goes the refresh button, in comes a sleek and natural scroll up and down that auto-refreshes as you scroll. Your feed will put you right where before your last update (or refresh if you will).

Tweetie 2 is great! It's awesome! It's not an update! Wait, what? Yes, if you already own Tweetie and want the new features with Tweetie 2, you have to cough up another $2.99 to get them. You won't get any clemency or VIP access from the developers. But let's face it! Apple Design Award of the Year? Not worth 3 bucks? I think yes!

So what are you waiting for? Let the tweets 2 rolling!

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