twitter

We got word today of a yet another Twitter app in the Marketplace (see Beezz, Seesmic, Twitt, etc.), this one called Birdsong, which has a nice ring to it.

The app fetches for a pricey $1.99 and there is a free trial, but is it worth it? Our initial impression is for a v1.0 app it's pretty rockin' and yeah, we actually bought it. The main thing we like about is its looks: it feels almost like a native Twitter app. It also caches nicely, has threaded conversation views, retweet (old and quote), landscape support, inline pic viewing, Twitpic uploading and more. The UI is real slick and there's "infinite scrolling" so no more "load more" screens.

We look forward to seeing what comes next from the developer, who is already working on v1.1. You can check the developer's site here for more info and grab the trial here in the Marketplace.

Panoramic, who just released the stellar BlackJack for WP7, is aiming to have their flagship app moTweets ready by February.

While Seesmic received a nice update, the official Twitter client still at 1.0 and Beezz doing alright, we're pretty excited about having ol' moTweets around again. Considered one of the top Windows Mobile Twitter apps (save Twikini, RIP), moTweets should be a pretty stellar app from this experienced company.

Fingers crossed.

Source: Twitter; Thanks, A--, for the tip!

Seesmic was one of the top Twitter apps in the Marketplace for Windows Phone 7, until a little app called Beezz showed up. Still, many prefer Seesmic's UI and general behavior but the company has been pretty quiet on any updates as of late.

The current version is 1.2 and we imagine what their blog is referring to is a yet-unpublished v1.3. If that's the case, here are the folloiwng improvements we can expect:

• Timelines are now cached for increased loading speed
• Speed and scrolling improvements, everywhere in the app
• Display of private and verified Twitter accounts
• Added animations and transitions
• Bug fixes

Speed is good. Still, while Seesmic does support multiple Twitter accounts, something currently Beezz is lacking, the missing ability of push notifications is still quite significant. C'mon Seesmic, it's been a few months already--we'll all pay the $0.99 for the push-privilege, it's no biggy.

Source: Seesmic Blog

We've been waiting on it for two weeks but late tonight (morning for most of you), the Beezz update finally happened. [See our earlier hands-on video]

A cursory look of the app shows no major changes to the UI, but the big new feature is the ability to receive Direct Messages and Mentions as pushed "toast" notifications (those at the top of the screen) and Home (live tile) notifications, which gives you a counter of how many new Tweets have happened since your last check in. (Also, search now works as well).

Overall it seems to be working very well--it's quick to push the messages/alerts and we're quite pleased. Along with GoVoice (Google) and everything is coming along nicely on WP7 just one month out. Of course the app is still free and you can download it here (opens your Zune desktop).

We mentioned an update was in the works when we first took a look at the Twitter app Beezz. We are now learning that the update is on schedule for release tomorrow.

Along with adding a Live Tile to Beezz, the update will also include new features such as:

• Toast for direct message and mentions
• An innovative way to access writing a tweet
• Choose your language in the preferences panel
• Enhanced Search
• Bugs fixed
• New organization of the lists in the pivot.

If you haven't checked out Beezz, you can find it at the Marketplace here and if you've already installed the app, look to your Marketplace tile for indications that the update is available.

Thanks Sebastien for the tip!

Update: We think the Windows Phone team may be getting their releases mixed up as in a follow up tweet they now say "Verizon is a valued partner and we look forward to seeing Windows Phone 7 devices in their stores in 2011." Going further, they evidently deleted the earlier tweet you see snapped above ;-/

It appears that Verizon customers will be enjoying Windows Phone 7 this holiday season after all. A tweet from @windowsphone is giving a strong indication of such and not mincing words about it either; "devices will be rolling into Verizon stores this holiday season and more will arrive in early 2011."

It's a shame these tweets didn't offer more detail such as when exactly the Windows Phone will hit Verizon and which phone(s) will be first. We've seen signs that the HTC Trophy 7 is confirmed for Verizon but not expected until early 2011. Could the production time table have shortened for the Trophy?

Or will we see another Windows Phone 7 device appear on the radar for the holidays and the Trophy will be a part of the "more" devices in early 2011?

Source: Twitter, Thanks, Eric, for the tip!

Curious thing about the "official" Twitter client we saw a few weeks ago. According to CNet, that version does not support access to the Photo Hub ergo uploading photos was not possible. That was a huge dent in the social network app, especially since many of us like to take pics and well...Tweet them.

Arne Hess, of the::Unwired fame, has been jonesing for a decent Twitter app for his Windows Phone 7 Samsung device (and we don't blame him).

Tonight was his night as Seesmic (see demo) was finally released to the Windows Phone Marketplace (it's of course, free). He immediately Tweeted from said client and sure enough, Seesmic supports photo uploads from his WP7 device (as evidenced above). Very exciting.

What does this mean? Well, it may mean the developers of the Seesmic app had native-code access and worked closely with Microsoft.  Well, that's just our hunch.

Update: Arne just mentioned this as well: "Features not (yet?) supported in @Seesmic for Windows Phone 7: Notifications (new tweets, @, DMs), landscape, predictive text, in reply to"

Source: Twitter (@arnehess)

As an alternate to the official Twitter app and Seesmic, Twozaic seems to offer quite a radical departure in terms of UI for the popular social network.

In a new and reportedly "final" video for the software, we get to see exactly how it will play out on our future Windows Phone 7 devices.

The program differs mostly in the UI, specifically featuring a "cloud" view of your contacts in addition to the traditional "long scroll" view. It seems a bit busy to us, but we're all for different takes on software and we know some of you will prefer this--alternatives are always good.

The listed features of Twozaic are:

• Twozaic supports different views of all your twitter timelines: cloud view, histogram & ordinary list view.
• You can also post pictures with geo location using Plixi (Tweetphoto), Yfrog or Twitpic.
• Twozaic supports multiple accounts with easy switching.
• You can search users and tweets.
• You can create your own lists, add members, and follow lists of other people.
• Twozaic offers full support for managing your friends and followers as well as sending and managing direct messages.

Read more on it here: http://www.virtual-remote.com/twozaic; watch the full demo video after the jump!