Guru Inspection: Touiteur Twitter App for Android

mikef1182

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Every few months a developer comes out with another Twitter client for Android to try and take top spot. Android users used to be left in the dark when it came to good Twitter apps. Now we have apps like Tweetcaster, Seesmic, Swift, and now Touiteur (pronounced Twitter, but spelled in french) from LevelUp Studio. These are the same guys behind Beautiful Widgets for Android, so I have high hopes for this app. So I am going to put this app through the Guru Inspection and see where it lands. Hit the read more link to get the full inspection.

touiteur_timeline2.png
touiteur_widgets1.png


Touiteur is a great looking Twitter app. The bottom selection tab is sporting a gradient look and has a very nice gloss look to it. The free version comes with a standard dark theme which shows your time line in a nice dark tone. Your replies show up with the same dark tone, but with strips to indicate they are a reply, and your own Tweets show up in blue. This is really nice when quickly scanning through your main time line as it makes picking out Tweets fairly easy. The Premium version, which costs about $3.00, comes with a light theme and the use of widgets. You get a choice of three widget sizes, 4x1, 4x2, and 4x3. The widgets are very nice looking and allow you to Tweet quickly and at a glance see the latest Tweets from the people you follow.

touiteur_multipleaccounts.png


The interface is very eye appealing and has some nice animations which set it apart from other Twitter clients for Android. When you click the Tweet button at the top, the menu drops down and "bounces" which I found really neat. Little things like that are a breath of fresh air for Android apps. Most Twitters apps for Android are a little bland with the exception of a few. Touituer is definitely a good looking app and has polish to compete or exceed what is on the Android Market currently.

Looks aren't the only thing when it comes to Twitter apps. The app also has to have the right features to accommodate many different users preferences, likes and dislikes. Touiteur features all your standard Twitter functions, but also has multiple accounts, widget support, two themes, photo Tweeting and URL shortening. One thing that it lacks right now is threaded message view. This is a huge deal breaker for me as I use threaded messaging all the time to keep up with who replied to what. The other missing feature is video uploads, not a huge deal for me, but for some this could be a deterrent. Hopefully the developer will add these features later.
Notification options are just as important as features to a moderate to heavy Twitter user. We all have different ways we like to manage our Tweets and having the most options for notifications is always a good idea. Luckily Touiteur is no slouch when it comes to notification options. You can set the interval time as low as 3 minutes to as high as 4 hours. You can choose to be notified when you get any combination of Tweets, replies, or direct messages. You can choose to use the built in "bird chirp" sound, your own ring tone, vibrate and LED flashing to be notified when you have new messages. All in all the notification options available in Touiteur are top notch.
So does Touiteur get the Guru App seal of approval? YES it sure does! It looks good, it's fast, you have almost all of the features you could ask for and the notifications are great! So hit the Android market ASAP and give it a try.


 

doogald

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I've tried it, and it's a new app and things could improve, but I found the app performed way too slowly. Initial load time was high, and updates take a long time as well. I've left it loaded so I can check out future updates, though.
 

mikef1182

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I like the work the developer is doing on this app, just hope he doesnt just get tired and slow down or stop the updates.

He is the same guy that does beautiful widgets and he didnt even let HTC stop him from continuing his work, so I wouldnt worry about it.
 

TootNBerry

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Twicca was the ticket for me until i stumbled across touiteur and since i've put the others to rest and thinking of purchasing it..
 

Jared DiPane

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He is the same guy that does beautiful widgets and he didnt even let HTC stop him from continuing his work, so I wouldnt worry about it.

Understandable, but thats now. I mean in the future. I have seen many GREAT apps go down the drain once they build a large customer basis. Wont say it will happen here, just saying hope it does not happen.
 

doogald

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He updated recently and it loads pretty much instant now.

Perhaps it is different for you, but I just started it for the first time in two days. First, it took several seconds to load the existing twitter stream after touching the icon. Then it took 11 seconds before it refreshed the stream. Seesmic simply is not this slow, nor was Twidroid when I used that.
 

GadgetMomma

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Great review!
I love this app! I think this and Tweetcaster are the best twitter apps on Android right now. I'm a person wants looks in addition to function (function first, obviously), and Seesmic and others just weren't cutting it for me.

This app is amazing because it does (alllllllllmost) everything I want and still looks amazing. You talked about the light and dark themes and how it made your tweets and the replies easy to see. I use the option to color all of the tweets, and so my entire app is bright and beautiful. I don't know, maybe it would be a problem if someone was following hundreds or even thousands of people, but I'm only following about 125, and not all of them update on a regular basis. So the beauty of coloring all the tweets is that is assigns a specific color for each of my friends, and it's gotten to where I can scroll through my feed and tell who it is just by the color of their tweet. And the best part - you can customize each friend's color, so if you don't like using black, for example, you can go to their page and change the color. It's something so simple, but it's beautiful and I Love it!

Some other things I wish the app did:
1. The threaded replies - I really hope they add that soon.

2. I wish I could edit my profile bio/pic from the app - I use pictures I take on my phone all the time.

3. One thing that was on a twitter app I used on my iphone: A tweet count. If you opened up the app, it had the number of new tweets on the tweet button (since you used the app last), and the number of mentions, DM's, etc, on each specific button. I guess it's not really necessary to know how many new tweets you're about to read, but for some reason, I really liked it. The thing that I thought was coolest about it - it counted down as you scrolled up through your tweets, so you knew when you were getting close to the end. And if the timeline refreshed while you were reading, it took those into account and adjusted the number accordingly. Again, nothing to make or break my love for this app, but something that is just cool!

4. If I click on someone I'm following and it takes me to their page, it shows me their timeline right on that page, which I think is cool. But I wish I could click on the "followers" or "following" numbers, and it took me to a list of their friends, and who they were following. That's how I find a lot of people to follow.


Other than that, this is heads and shoulders above other Twitter apps I have used. The notification system alone is worth it. I had what was considered the best twitter app on my iphone, and that didn't even come with push notifications, so I had to buy a third party app if I wanted push - and of course, I think the Android handles notifications so much better anyway, so to me that enhances the app even more!

Sorry I rambled on so much - I'm obviously excited about both my new phone and my new favorite app!
 

VDub2174

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Great review!!

I must say that I absolutely love this app! I've used Seesmic, Tweetcaster, Twidroid, and Swift in the past and think Touiteur is the best in my opinion. When it first came out it was slow at times but since the updates came through is has been quick. I like that the developer really listens to what we want in an app and tries to include our input best he can.
 

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