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Twitter is awesome. Google+ is great for photographs and deep discussions from geeks of all kinds – and it has a fantastic Android app – but Twitter is still the king when it comes to quick bites of info, breadth vs. depth, and commentary on what’s happening right now.
Here’s a collection of Android enthusiasts that I enjoy following on Twitter. I hope you find a few new tweeps to follow, and I hope you’ll share your favourites with me, too!
Everyone loves sharing and looking at photos. That’s why social networking sites are so hard to stay away from — that’s why Facebook bought Instagram and Google+’s latest app design places such high emphasis on photos.
If you find yourself catching up with friends and families’ photos on a daily basis – or stalking your favorite celebrities through theirs – Pixable will let you get the job done in half the time.
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I don’t know if you’ve heard, but a bunch of these new sites called ‘social networks’ have been cropping up all over the place and they seem pretty popular. Social networks, of course, allow us to share some or all facets of our lives with our friends, our family, and the general public. While the vast majority of social networks are web-based, a lot of them come with accompanying Android apps. Let’s take a look at some of the more popular ones (as well as a few niche networks).
My obsession with Twitter had me testing every other Twitter client for Android. Upon searching, I came across TweetCaster. At that time, I thought it was the most feature-rich app I’ve seen. However, it lacked one feature I was looking for: scheduling tweets to send later.
A few months after this, TweetCaster was updated to do exactly what I wished it was able to do. The developers added a Post Later option that completely won me over and made me dump my previous Twitter app (Hootsuite). If you’re doubtful about this app, then read on to find out why I love it.
Whenever Facebook adds a new feature, I am the first to roll my eyes at the tirade of angry posts shouting that Facebook has become the new MySpace, or has become too complicated, or is now designed for stalkers. People were saying all these things when the News Feed first appeared, and it’s hard to imagine Facebook – or any social network, really – without that now.
I feel the same way about the inevitable complaints I’ve seen regarding Twitter’s reorganisation and new features, in the form of Discover, Connect, and so on. They haven’t wowed me, I don’t see the need for them yet, and I’m a little disorientated, but I’ll give them a chance; I’m not going to proclaim the death of the service just yet.
The new apps are a different matter. I use Tweetdeck for Chrome on the desktop and the official Twitter app on Android, and the new versions have less functionality than the ones I was using a week ago.
Tweetdeck no longer lets me choose a default account to tweet from, has replaced “RT:” with “quote Tweet”, and won’t let me delete my own tweets from within the app. Twitter for Android makes wastes a lot of screen estate, doesn’t allow me to see the conversation I’m replying to, and (bizarrely) insists on displaying my old avatar from over a thousand tweets ago.
I freely admit that these are small hassles that I’ll probably get used to eventually – and hey, if I don’t, there are plenty of alternative Twitter apps. But for now, I’m stumped as to why they would remove good features.
For two different opinions on the new Twitter app, check out Ashish Bogawat’s post, New Twitter for Android: Just What I Needed and Rita El Khoury’s post, New Twitter: What I Hate About It.
What do you think? Vote in the poll and comment below to let us know.
A few days ago, Twitter unwrapped a highly revamped version of its clients, including the website, the iOS app, and the Android app. A lot of users have been positively impressed by this change, including our very own Ashish Bogawat, but I, unfortunately, have been highly disappointed.
While I appreciate the Discover features, support for Twitter images for upload and preview, and the ego-boosting option of seeing who followed, retweeted or favorited me, there are many backward steps that are stopping me from fully enjoying the new experience.
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In February this year, Twitter updated their official client to version 2.0 with a sleek looking UI and a bunch of much requested features. It was the first time Twitter had managed to put out a worthy alternative to the dozens of Twitter clients out there. It didn’t do everything, though, and the Twitter app war on Android only raged on.
Like most others, I’ve been through my fair share of twitter apps on my phone, searching for the one that fits all my requirements. One that does everything I want it to do, without overwhelming me or my fairly underpowered Optimus One. After much trial and error, I decided to stick with Plume, but was still not 100% sure it was the best tool for my morning feed reading ritual.
We’ve all heard about Last.fm‘s music scrobbling service. Whenever you listen to a track – whether on the site, on your computer’s MP3 player, or even on your phone – the details immediately get uploaded to your profile on Last.fm. We now see more and more audio/video companies that try and implement this; even Facebook is getting into it with its new “real-time serendipity”.
Is this a new trend, or will people complain about how social sites are getting more and more involved in our personal lives?
When I wrote my roundup of Android Twitter clients, there was a clear trend in the comments that I had neglected twicca, by Japanese developer Tetsuya Aoyama. I wasn’t really aware of twicca beforehand – I had seen it pop up on the Market from time to time but I had never really taken the time to download it and have a look at it for myself.
Since then, I’ve downloaded twicca and given it a good try – and I have to say, the results were pretty impressive, especially for an independent Twitter client. Let’s have a good look at twicca in a bit more detail. (more…)
There is such a mind-boggling range of Android Twitter apps out there that it is extremely difficult to decide between them, even if you download every single one and try them out. Each Twitter client offers a range of different features and interfaces, and choosing just one is hard.
Picking the best Twitter client for you is going to depend on what you want to use it for. If you are a passive Twitter user and simply want to read other people’s tweets, then you’ll want a nice, simple to use client with no fancy features – however if you, like me, are an active Twitter user, then you’ll certainly want a client with a few nice features stashed away under the bonnet.
To save you trawling through the Market for hours on end, here’s a roundup of seven of the best Twitter clients for Android devices, with a bit of information about each one. Let’s explore! (more…)
