Twittelator for iPad mini review

It is still early days for the Apple iPad but there are already some nice Twitter applications available and the one I have been using the most is Twittelator. Although I have been using TweetDeck on both my PC and iPod Touch up until recently I decided that it was time for a change when my iPad arrived. After speaking with one or two people that had already used Twittelator my mind was made up and I spent my $4.99 and downloaded.

Paying for a Twitter application is not something I have done before, but now I have the iPad I have become accustomed to forking out a little more money for decent apps. Of course the iPhone/iPod apps still work on the iPad in X2 mode but for the best quality you really need an iPad specific one.

Is Twittelator worth $4.99 and will I be sticking with this application? Read on to find out.

The main reason I chose Twittelator was that people said its user interface was so nice and now I have it I tend to agree.

The application works in both landscape and portrait mode but as you will see it is a much nicer experience in landscape and I tend to stay with that option.

Twittelator in portrait

As you can see above, the main focus is clearly on the people you follow. At the bottom of the screen you will see a line of tabs. Rotating the iPad into landscape lets you see more information than in portrait. Updating your timeline and messages is achieved by giving the timeline a little drag down. This will then show you a message at the top of the list saying ‘release to refresh’. When you open the app for the first time it obviously updates as well.

Twittelator in landscape

So now we are in landscape your friends appear on the left of the screen and you can choose to view one of the tabbed options on the right. I tend to leave this as my mentions as seen above.

The first tab is your messages. Here you can can see all your contacts that have messaged you on the left and beside that the message conversation.

Pressing the message will take you into it for more options. Here you can easily reply and see information about that particular contact.

This is much the same for mentions although you do get a few more useful options. Once on the selected mention you can use the left arrow symbol to quickly send a reply or use the right one for retweeting, emailing etc. All very smooth.

If you want to be nosey you can also view some more detailed info on your friends. Here you also have the option to unfollow that friend if you desire.

The next tab is channels. I don’t personally use channels so it has been of no use to me, however if you do use them you can!

Search is the next tab and this is pretty useful. You have three options at the top of the screen. Keyword, location and people. All very straight forward. In particular I like the location search option. It’s just a shame my iPad thinks I am in California. I wish I was!

Lists are the next option. Once again I do not use lists although I think I may teach myself soon. To summarise, or what I believe anyway, lists allow you to bunch your contacts into groups. Useful i suppose if you have millions of friends. I don’t though!

Drafts in tab number six is as expected. This is where unfinished or unpublished tweets and messages are stored. 

Finally we have the more tab. Here you can view your own profile, view retweets (yours and other peoples), trends and everyone.

Sending a Tweet is only once screen press away. Once the keyboard is on screen (which it is automatically) you have a few options at the top left of the keyboard. First we have the media tab. Here you can upload a photo or record media. Next is a geotagging tab. You can either insert your location or insert a map link. When using geotagging on the iPad Wi-Fi remember it will not use GPS. That is the 3G iPad only. Next is a hash tag tab. A list will pop up of all the # you have recently used. Finally we have the @ tab. As you can see below you will be given a list of your friends. Here you can either scroll though the list, use the A-Z list on the right side or alternatively, and quickest, you have a search bar at the top.

Conclusion:

Overall I really like Twittelator. I find it simple to use and it is attractive to look at. Nothing is too complicated and adjusting to using a new Twitter app was a piece of cake. Worth the money? I would say so.  And yes, I am sticking with it. It suits my needs perfectly.

Keep your eyes peeled at tracyandmatt.co.uk in the next few days as we will be publishing a short video of me using Twittelator on the iPad.

Posted by: James