Review: Twitter for BlackBerry

With Twitter for BlackBerry, you can easily stay connected to the information and people you care about. Especially if you are a Twitter addict – and have wanted to stay connected on the go. Is this the app for you ? Lets find out if this app is worth an Install or Not.

Twitter is the largest Microblogging platform out there with millions of users expressing themselves and interacting with one another every day. It has become an essential part of many of our lives, and with that comes the need to be able to access it on the go, and when I mean on the go – it actually means anywhere any everywhere – Twitter for BlackBerry does exactly that, it powers up your BlackBerry phone with Twitter – to keep you connected with your followers and the people you are following 24/7.

This app has been developed by RIM themselves, hence is not a third party or an individual developer app – so to say it’s the “official” app for Twitter on the BlackBerry platoform.

Features

With Twitter for BlackBerry smartphones, it only takes a moment to do the things you love on Twitter.

• Tweet, Reply, Retweet and send Messages
• Search for Tweets and people
• Add locations to your Tweets
• Receive immediate notifications of Messages and @Mentions
• Select previously used hashtagged words with #Topic Autocomplete
• Browse local and worldwide trends

System Requirements

To use Twitter for BlackBerry smartphones, you will need the following:

1.5MB of available BlackBerry smartphone memory

BlackBerry® Device Software Version 4.6 or later

A Twitter account (you can create one online or within the app)

Design

Design of this app is trademark BlackBerry style, with earthy simplicity and lots of foldable menus – any long time BlackBerry user will like it, all of you who are used to fancy high end graphics in your apps – don’t be disappointed with the simplicity – to the point design of this app. The colors go well with the native colors of Twitter. Overall I can say – that RIM has done a good job with the design, simple yet subtle and user friendly.

Ease of Use

First things first, installation of this app from the app world was fairly simple and quick too, you will need to log in with your usual username/email and password – and also grant appropriate permission to the app before you can use it.

Once that is done, it shall all be a matter of few hours with the app, and you will be at ease with it – the main sections of Twitter are divided on the app using small buttons on the top – which are very easy to get around with and include : Timeline, Mentions, Messages, Lists, Trends, Search and Profile.

Each tab is self explainatory and the profile tab  is where you control your profile from, for general settings you have to hit the options key which pulls up a menu where you can go to settings and optimize the app to your comfort. The interface is very user friendly and even a novice can use it with ease.

Performance

I used this app regularly for a pretty long period of time, start ups are usually fast, and navigating within the app is also easy and simple – however where this app can possibly trouble the user is when it comes to multitasking – one a low end Blackberry when Twitter runs along with other apps, it tends to stall at times, which requires the painful process of a hard reboot. Otherwise also, when multitasking – it can get stuck with an hourglass when you navigate and try to refresh. But, after testing the app on high end OS 7 phones, we do feel that the app performs mush better as those phones do justice to this heavy on memory resources app. Also, sometimes refreshing the application can be a pain – as it will refuse to show the latest feed of tweets – and you will have to try at least 2-3 times before you get the latest feeds on your timeline.

Also note, this requires a BIS/BES account when you are on the go or wi-fi connectivity. Otherwise, the app is very usable – and shall be very handy to keep you connected on the go.

Pros

• Simple and light interface
• Compatible with all BlackBerrys (OS 4.6
• Stable

Cons

• Heavy memory usage
• Stalls when multi-tasking
• Refreshing can be a pain

If you are a Twitter addict and like to stay connected on the go, this is a must for your BlackBerry – it really does not have anything which shall stop you from installing it ! We give it a big thumbs up !

Here are some screenshots which will help you get a feel of the app :