Filed under: Internet Tools, Reviews, iPhone, App Store, iPod touch
First Look: Tweetsville brings pro features to Twitter on iPhone
There are a number of Twitter apps available for the iPhone and iPod Touch -- and why not? Much like peanut butter and jelly, Twitter and the iPhone are a classic combination. Tweetsville [iTunes Link] from Tapulous is the newest Twitter client available from the App Store, and it offers up an interface and feature set that really gives the competition a run for its money.
But wait, doesn't Tapulous already make a Twitter application? They do, and Twinkle [iTunes Link] is a neat app. Although the two applications share some interface similarities, the scope and focus are actually very different. Twinkle's real user hook is in its geo-location features, whereas Tweetsville is a full-fledged Twitter application.
I'm a pretty addicted to Twitter, and have been searching for an app for my iPod touch that could help me monitor and manage my stream with ease. Tweetsville appears to be that app. I follow a lot of users and my biggest problem with some of the other Twitter applications (and with the m.twitter.com interface) is that I can't view a large number of tweets at one time. With Tweetsville, not only does it grab the last 200 tweets for me, if I leave the application and come back an hour later, it will pull up what I've missed. That means I can access 532 tweets at once, rather than just the last ten minutes or so. That's extremely handy.
Gallery: Tweetsville First Look
Read on for more...
The Tweetsville interface is absolutely gorgeous. It's simple to use, but you also have options. For instance, if you aren't a fan of the speech bubble display, you can use a more simple list view. When viewing direct messages, you can see the entire dialog exchange, rather than having to click through each individual message.
Sending tweets and replying to users is easy and intuitive. Tapping on a tweet brings up the message, the option to send a reply or a direct message, the flag to favorite a tweet and the ability to view the users profile. You can also include a picture from your device library (or I assume, take a photo if you are using an iPhone) and Tweetsville will automatically upload the image to TwitPic and input the URL into a tweet.
There's a great "trends" button that shows the most popular phrases or hashtags on Twitter; Tweetsville's search ability is also without a doubt the most advanced that I have seen. Hyperlinks open up in a Tweetsville browser (though you can click a button to open the link in Mobile Safari), so you don't have to necessarily leave the app to check out a link.
Although the ability to toggle more than one account would be nice, I really can't find any major shortcomings in Tweetsville. It's a great client with lots of features and a very, very usable interface.
Take a look at the gallery above to see Tweetsville in action. The application is $3.99 US at the App Store and is available now.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Michael Rose said 4:19PM on 11-13-2008
The name of the app makes me think of bad film noir. "You've crossed me for the last time! It's Tweetsville for you, see?"
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Annie said 4:46PM on 11-13-2008
Ha! But you have to sound like Edward G. Robsinson when you say that;)
ThomasShaped said 4:43PM on 11-13-2008
Are you SURE this is a Tapulous app? All their other apps are.. well.. beautiful. And this one is.. mediocre. But I guess it IS listed under them in the app store. There's nothing on their website about it though..
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Christina Warren said 4:52PM on 11-13-2008
Tweetsville.com will redirect to it soon, according to Ed. I don't think it's as shiny as their other apps but I quite like the interface. But then, I'm a fan of simplicity when it comes to information clients.
ars_workerbee said 4:54PM on 11-13-2008
If the intrepid staff was a little better about telling the whole story of this app, it would be nice. Then again, it would be nice if they did a lot of things better.
Instead, it looks like that falls to me.
Tweetsville was not developed in-house by anyone at Tapulous. It was written by Ed Voas, who sold it to them when he was hired by Apple. He announced it last month (http://www.fieryrobot.com/blog/2008/10/11/tweetsville/), and announced its sale to Tapulous on 11/4 here: http://www.fieryrobot.com/blog/2008/11/04/tweetsville-update/
FWIW, the website, http://www.tweetsville.com/, still says "Copyright 2008 Ed Voas".
ars_workerbee said 4:55PM on 11-13-2008
ps: @christina: I just realized that I think the last couple comments of mine have been rather snarky on your posts, and I just want to say its nothing personal, and you're not the only one I wring my hands over. ;)
Christina Warren said 4:57PM on 11-13-2008
Ars_workerbee,
I actually wasn't aware of any of that background, so thanks for the info. We do try to get as much information out there, but I only started hearing buzz about the app today and didn't actually realize there was any backstory to the development.
Levi Figueira said 6:10PM on 11-13-2008
Are we looking at a "Twinkle Pro" soon then?? :o I think that fits their monetizing scheme: build great free apps and then build even better apps and charge for them (think TTR:NiN, for example).
I guess you sold me on Tweetsville, Christina! Will be looking into buying it...
Now if only Beejive dropped the $10 price "limit"... my (mobile) life would be complete! :)
Tristan said 4:44PM on 11-13-2008
Christina,
What do you think of this app compared to Twittelator Pro? My favorite thing about Twittelator is that it displays a preview picture in the timeline, so you don't have to open up a twitpic link if you already see that the pic is uninteresting.
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Christina Warren said 4:54PM on 11-13-2008
I bought Twitterlator Pro and I like it, I just find aspects of its interface cumbersome. The preview pic thing is great, as is multiple account support. Right now the ability to see 200 tweets (at least) at a time has me sold on Tweetsville. We're going to do a Twitter Face-off tomorrow comparing the pros and cons of each app.
PFar said 5:12PM on 11-13-2008
Does this app give you the ability to add people to follow right from the app?
Going out to mobile safari just to add someone to follow is such a pain!
Christina Warren said 4:58PM on 11-13-2008
PFar,
Yes, you can add people directly from the app. When you view someone's profile you can follow or unfollow them.
Aron T said 4:58PM on 11-13-2008
Great write-up, definitely want to check this out!
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Davey said 5:10PM on 11-13-2008
This looks nice, but I still highly recommend TwitterFon for the iPhone. It has a clean interface, and is very fast. Plus, it includes most (if not all) of the features of Tweetsville... and it's free!
http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=286756410&mt=8
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Mitch Aunger said 5:10PM on 11-13-2008
i see that it has search, but doesn't seem to save searches. I use Tweetdeck on my mac and absolutely love it to death but it saves searches. Would like to see that saved on tweetsville
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Dave Zatz said 6:09PM on 11-13-2008
I assume the real reason for a separate app is so they can charge. No problem at all with that, but it's not mentioned above that Twinkle is a freebie. I've enjoyed the look of Twinkle, but it's been somewhat unreliable since the jailbreak days. I use the pay version of Twitterific. Not perfect, but good enough and the money's been spent. Not reinvesting. iTunes needs to offer demo versions...
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Greg said 6:34PM on 11-13-2008
I just bought Tweetsville and was looking forward to trying it out, but every time I log in it crashes. It's really frustrating to have this happen with an app that I purchased. I can understand free apps having issues like this, but if you are charging for something make sure it works.
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Christina Warren said 6:48PM on 11-13-2008
OK, try setting your location to the US. Apparently there is some sort of bug right now causing crashes if that isn't set. www.twitter.com/tweetsville has details.
globetrotterdk said 4:49AM on 11-14-2008
I absolutely agree. I am experiencing the same thing. Have you contacted Tapulous?
Michael Klusek said 1:12AM on 11-14-2008
I just got it. You can't look up people you tweet to. Just happens person I want to tweet to not tweeting today and don't remember handle. Twittelator has scroll wheel you can select from. I can't believe Tweetsville missed that.
Too many steps to get to see all tweets by a person. I want to click on their name in timeline and follow just their thread then bounce back to next person in timeline.
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