Twitter For Blackberry (Luca’s Review)

Well hello there people; i have been craving slight withdrawal symptoms for a while as the last Twitter based post i wrote got such great feedback yet since then i have been rather busy with work and projects.

But, never fear im back now; with an informal app-off (face-off for apps) between Blackberrys two leading (or only) Twitter clients.

Originally when i first downloaded Ubertwitter i thought; “what a crap name to be sitting on my home screen. Why can’t Twitter for Blackberry (BB Twitter) make an official application?” Well their ears must have been burning because a good nine months later they released Twitter for Blackberry. WIN!

After using Ubertwitter consistently since i purchased a Blackberry, i decided to welcome the new app with open arms; because who doesn’t like an ‘official’ application in their palm. It’s like a rosy rainbow with all the nice colours and fonts right?

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Design and Function

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As for the application itself; it has a nice interface. It has a groovy navigation bar along the top which is useful is you are a new user to Twitter. These include Home, @ Mentions, My Profile, DM, Find People, Search and Popular Topics.

The application works and feels like the similar Facebook for BlackBerry app; not necessarily a good thing, as working with it takes too much effort. Most BlackBerry Twitter applications require patience, but Twitter for BlackBerry is the worst. Much of the time, the screen remains blank while the data loads.

Where there are a few positives; there are too many negatives. Ubertwitter introduced the predictive user function which allows you to find a follower by typing a few characters from their name, yet BB Twitter did not incorporate this.

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Speed

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I thought it may just be my device; so i decided to take the discussion to Twitter. See the screen shot of my time line below and excuse the cursing. My tweeps are terrible.

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Summary

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The application compared to Ubertwitter is very slow and it will most likely cause your handset to do very little of anything when running.

BB Twitter also has a ridiculously slow refresh time; without even a message saying ‘go make some dinner or take your dog for a walk cos we are gonna be a while refreshing.’ How inconsiderate.

I mean lets face it, we use Twitter for simplicity. Yet this application is everything but simple. It should be quick, snappy and vibrant; giving the user the ‘on the go’ experience rather than the ‘i can’t go anywhere with this brick now’ feeling.

Personally i’ve reverted back to Ubertwitter and found already my handset is running a lot faster.

As for the future of the official Twitter application on my handset; who knows, maybe i’ll give it another download when the bugs are fixed. If they don’t step up to the plate on the second coming the application will be dead and buried like Steven Seagal’s acting career.

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References:

http://webworkerdaily.com/2010/02/24/twitter-for-blackberry-review/
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/technology/trending-tech/the-official-twitter-for-blackberry-app-vs-ubertwitter/article1529962/