I can't remember when I first realised that Twitter is far better experienced using applications than directly using the website. But since then, I have used Tweetdeck on my PC, and have very few criticisms.
The major one, and I think it applies to all apps, is that limits to the Twitter API means that unless you follow very few people who rarely update, not all tweets download, so inevitably you miss a few. I feel that this is not the end of the world. If it's important enough generally, it will be repeated, or further alluded to, or Retweeted. If it's aimed at me, I pick it up anyway in @ messages.
When I got a Blackberry I installed what was then Ubertwitter and became Ubersocial for Blackberry. I immediately found it wonderful. Like Tweetdeck, it missed a few, and it originally didn't have the means to filter out keywords or phrases. That was then introduced as a feature and I considered the ability to filter out certain subjects by otherwise interesting people an important part of my Twitter enjoyment. I won't embarrass anyone by revealing what I filter out. However, for example, when I tweet about the re-runs of 1976 Top of the Pops I try to append #totp so that all those people who have no interest in the minutiae of the worst era of post-War 20th Century pop music can happily ignore me.
I switched to an Android phone and searched for an appropriate app. Several people recommended Seismic, but it seemed to be no better than Tweetdeck for Android, a poor relation of the desktop version. I tried Ubersocial's Android app - Twidroid which was the best of the lot, except for one key factor. And that factor to me was so annoying as to outweigh all the other attractive features.
I don't have the means to sit and watch my Timeline all day long. It would make me a pretty sad person if I did, although I suppose if I was home-working or housebound, it would be no big deal to check every half an hour or hour during waking hours. But when I'm at work, or out-and-about, I shouldn't, or can't be bothered to, check. So I have a long backlog of tweets. I like to sit in front of mediocre TV in the evening to unwind and conserve my energy for the next working day. Scrolling through backlogged Tweets is an agreeable thing to combine with half-watching TV.
But with Twidroyd, every time I clicked a Tweet, to follow the link or view the embedded photo, and then clicked back, it would take me to the top of the screen, to the most recently posted, requiring a scrollback to where I previously was. Such a time waste, and hard on the carpal tunnel, I had to abandon it with regret. Also, the keyword feature didn't seem to work. Maybe that was me, I didn't hang around long enough to find out.
I drafted up this blogpost over a month ago, and, before publishing I decided to hunt one more time. In doing so I found Tweetcaster. I asked for opinions, and was greeted with some positive comments, and a warning that it's quite clunky.
And a month later, I can confirm that all those are true. It is clunky, often freezing, albeit momentarily, and about once a day I have to turn my phone off. There are a couple of other irritating factors, such as the fact that it changes all shortened links to Twitter's own link shortener, adding to an already convoluted process to open a web page or photo...which then turns out to be a cat photo! It also makes it impossible to filter out tweets from eg 4sq.com, which could be very annoying.
There are peculiarities with retweets. For example, if Ann retweets Mary, and I want to further RT, it doesn't let me acknowledge Ann. But if I want to reply, I can only reply to Ann, whereas it might be of more relevance to reply to Mary. And I can't summon up Mary's profile despite me just finding out she's interesting, and I might want to follow her.
I think I would prefer Tweetcaster if it ironed out the glitches I have mentioned, but even with those, I have found it to be the best for Android, and better in some respects than Ubersocial for Blackberry.
