Your favorite Twitter client is going to depend on what you use the app for, and what kind of features you prefer. For me, there are a few basic criteria.
Speed: You should be reading, not watching a spinning circle. Ain't nobody got time for that.
Buffer integration. Unless you're replying immediately to someone who has just posted, you want your tweets to go out at the optimal time, when they have the best chance of being seen by the most followers. Services like Socialbro can scan your users' posting habits, to see what times of day are optimal. When you enter that into your Buffer, it will "automagically" fill those time-slots whenever you post, without any further effort. Once uploaded to Buffer, you don't have to worry about your phone being in a service area to post your scheduled tweets. If you're planning a day or more in advance, you can use a separate client like Bufferapp, or Buffer on the web, from your desktop. If you want to schedule tweets while you're browsing for inspiration, or away from home, it's much easier to use a Twitter client that integrates Buffer. Only two I know of, fully do.
Picture timelines: One of the quickest ways to get media rich information, or an overview that helps you know people quickly, is to browse pictures. Unfortunately, while most Twitter apps let you view pictures, only a few aggregate them into photo timeline viewing.
Intuitive User Interface (UI): Few things are more frustrating than not being able to quickly figure out how to execute the most common functions. You need an interface that makes sense to you, and that allows you to quickly access the places you want.
Customization: I stopped using Seesmic, because all they offer is the flaming red header bar with raccoon eyes. Many people requested that it be changed, but they have steadfastly ignored and refused. You should at least be able to select the basic colors you like. Apps that allow you to change the tab and menu settings are even better.
Developer Response: It's easier to put up with an app, if you have the hope it will soon improve. If you find a good developer, he's willing to listen and sometimes even implement your suggestions. If it hasn't been updated in months, and it doesn't already have the features you want, you're probably better off finding another Twitter client.
With these criteria in mind, let's take a look at my top three Twitter apps:
Tweetings
Pros:
- It's one of only three apps I'm aware of, that allows you to browse pictures in timelines (though it doesn't yet allow you to retweet, favorite, reply to, or click links on the tweet text for the photos).
- It's one of only two that has full Buffer integration.
- It has one of the most customizable navigation systems, and a nice Holo theme.
- The developer frequently updates and occasionally even implements your desired features.
- Provides helpful additional information, like the date when a person established his Twitter account, what Twitter client he posted from, etc.
- Translates tweets
Cons:
- Stability issues. The program frequently has glitches that cause it to crash. Especially after new updates.
- Searches are slow. In other apps, when you type #channel, it almost instantly populates with the newest data. In Tweetings, you almost always have to wait for five to 30 seconds before you see results.
- After months of use, I still haven't figured out an easy way to get to your profile view. Unless there's something I'm missing, you have to first go to home, then hit the options button, then select accounts, then tap and hold on the account until the menu appears, then select "profile". It's painstaking and tedious. It's also frustrating, since Tweetings offers one of the most customizable UI's, but for some reason "Profile view" isn't one of the tab options.
- Notifications. While the push notifications worked great (near instant), getting to the content they tell you about is another story. If someone follows you and you click the notification, it doesn't take you to the profile of the follower. It takes you to the last place you were. That just won't do if you're trying to see who your followers are, to follow them back, especially since there's no easy way I know of to get to your profile view in Tweetings.
- I did run into some Buffering issues, the same as with Tweetcaster. When you Buffer a tweet, it tends to post it to the default Buffer account, not always the one you selected to tweet from.
Tweetcaster
Pros
Tweetcaster is definitely one of the top three Twitter apps in my opinion. It has
- Reasonable stability
- Reasonable speed
- Full Buffer Integration
- Photo timeline viewing (though not quite on par with the official Twitter app)
- It's own built-in scheduling system that uses your phone.
- Provides helpful additional information, like the date when a person established his Twitter account, what Twitter client they posted from, etc.
- Full search options
Cons:
- Tedious, monolithic menus. Instead of intuitively executing the task you would expect when you touch (as it does in the native Twitter app), Tweetcaster opens a huge list of options. While it's nice to have all those choices, you should be able to set default preferences for what the app does when you touch things. For example, on the native Twitter app, the retweet, favorite, and reply icons are all built right into every tweet, so you can just one touch them. Also, displaying the tweet text while you're looking at a picture appears and disappears with a single touch on the Twitter app. With Tweetcaster, if you touch anything, a long list of options pops up on a menu, and you have to select it every time. You should be able to set default preferences.
- Customization: While Tweetcaster lets you choose from 12 different themes, they are mainly just color changes (except for the "bubbles"). You can't do much to change the navigation system, so you're pretty much stuck doing it their way. I also don't like their clunky, goofy bird graphics, and huge, fixed navigation buttons.
- I ran into some Buffer issues. Tweetcaster allows you to select one of your multiple accounts to post from in your compose screen. However, when I Buffer a tweet, it always schedules it to my default Buffer account, not the one I selected from the compose screen.
Official Twitter Client
Pros:
- Super neat, clean, and attractive UI
- Seamless, native Vine viewing and integration
- Picture timeline: You can even scroll through full-sized pictures, not just thumbnails
- It's one of the fastest clients (although I suspect Twitter may have the system rigged this way)
- Full search options
- No Buffer integration, or tweet schedulers of any kind.
- No translations
- No additional information, like when the account was established, and what client was used to post from, etc.
Yes, I've tried apps like Tweetveo Pro, Tweedle, Fortwit, Twheel, Radium, Hootie, Plume, Tweetline Pro, Carbon, Falcon Pro, Twicca, Scope, Seesmic Pro, Slices Pro, UberSocial Pro, TweetDeck, & Hootsuite. While all of them have desireable features (Hootsuite has an advanced scheduling system, but it doesn't let you determine how many posts you send out in one day, or modify the automatic schedule so that your posts always go out at set times. They also don't have an aggregate photo timeline viewing feature), they all fell short in one of the core features I need for Twitter. If you know of a client I haven't mentioned here that includes full Buffer integration and photo timelines, or if you know how to adjust some Twitter client to do these things, please let me know.
If you just want to read and reply to text tweets without advanced scheduling options, many of these would be an excellent choice, if not better than Tweetings and Tweetcaster. But if you want to browse photo timelines AND use Buffer, only two are left: Tweetings and Tweetcaster pro.
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