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.

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The iPhone will no doubt see it's fair share of Twitter clients (just as the Mac has). Twitterrific is the big name in the Mac/iPhone Twitter app space, but in a client from Tapulous called "Twinkle" has also been generating some interest. Originally released as a jailbreak application for the iPhone and iPod touch, Twinkle has just debuted on the App Store with the ability to location-base your tweets.

While Twitterrific seems to have more precise locating abilities, Twinkle uses the location-based tweeting in interesting ways. For instance, you can see tweets originating within a certain mileage range from your location. Twinkle allows you to easily view your direct messages.

Overall, Twinkle looks like it will give Twitterrific a run for its money. Best part of all? Twinkle (iTunes Link) for iPhone and iPod touch is absolutely free.

Check out our gallery for some screenshots.

According to Installer, Twinkle from Gogo Apps is "Twitter plus Location." It's a Twitter client that adds photos and geolocation as well as clickable URLs and Follow / Stop Following control within the app. With it, you can find people twittering near you -- in fact it seems to be using my findme utility to power its location-awareness. And no, I have no financial interest in this thing -- I gave permission for them to use the utility so long as the app remains non-commercial.

I logged in, entered my Twitter account info (yes, the account information is stored in clear text in ~mobile/Library/Preferences) and within seconds, it found tweets within 50 miles of my location.

You can tweet directly from Twinkle. Tap the pencil button at the top-right corner (it's the one that for quite a while I mistook for a mis-shaped lower-case "i"). From there, you can enter your tweet, specify whether to tag with a location and optionally snap a photo.

Twinkle offers a professionally designed interface and good ease of use. The only negative occurred after I mistyped my password. I ended up in an infinite loop of authentication errors and had to force-quit the application.