Tweetdeck on the iPhone

Yesterday, Tweetdeck released an update to its desktop AIR Twitter application and also released a free iPhone version of Tweetdeck. After playing around with the iPhone Tweetdeck, it's giving Tweetie a serious run for my most used iPhone Twitter app. The new desktop release of Tweetdeck comes with a sync feature (as well as multiple accounts, column trends, recommendation column, reply all button, as well as a few other features) which will upload your configuration to a cloud, keeping your iPhone and desktop in unison.

That means all your columns from your home computer will also appear on your iPhone. The syncing is done in the background to reduce the processing strain.

Growl Notifications

Upon opening up Tweetdeck, you're greeted with a few notifications in the top left of the screen, showing you the tally of latest tweets.

You can access this tally via the updates menu at anytime in the bottom left corner.

Columns

You can switch columns via the left and right arrows in the top left and bottom right corners (respectively).

Column view lets you flip through columns similar to flipping through windows in Safari.

You can add a new column in the iPhone app and sync it to the cloud server to have the same column on your desktop. Create a user group, search, all friends, mentions, or direct messages column.

Settings

Both versions of Tweetdeck now come with full support for multiple accounts. It's a very welcome feature and is implemented via adding more columns. Tweetdeck now supports unlimited columns, allowing you to add tons of accounts and scroll or flick through them.

There's a few cool general settings in the iPhone app. Settings include auto-correct, growl, choice of twitpic or yfrog, show real names, and option to shake to refresh the screen.

Quick Follow

At the bottom of the Tweetdeck screen, there's a row of icons. They include updates, refresh, add column, settings, and more. The more button pops up a screen with two options, sync columns and quick follow. Clicking sync will check the cloud for updates and allow you to then sync your columns.

Quick follow pops up a screen allowing you to type in someone's Twitter handle and follow them with a quick click.

Tweeting and Bios

Creating a new tweet takes you to a relatively standard window allowing you to type up your tweet. There's options to shorten a link, upload a photo, and update your profile location. You can also send out a map link to your current location. Cool tool for sending out directions.

You can also look at individual tweets, which gives you options to reply, retweet, send a DM, favorite it or email the tweet.

From the individual tweet screen, you can also check out the user's bio. Mostly standard stuff, but if you scroll to the bottom there's an option to block/unblock the user and add them to a group.

So far, I'm really digging the new Tweetdeck application for the iPhone. Up until today, I've been a staunch user of Tweetie and didn't even bother looking for anything else. Tweetdeck has crashed a few times on my iPhone, but that's to be expected for a first release (which is also free).

It might be due to my original (non 3G) iPhone or a few bugs they need to work out. But it's happened rarely enough to not be a huge detriment so far. Aside from the couple of crashes, I love everything about this app. It's a really intuitive interface for the iPhone and the columns translate really well to the smaller touch screen.

Read more about the new Tweetdeck desktop and iPhone applications on their blog. If you're all set and ready to try out the update and new app, install Tweetdeck for the iPhone or Tweetdeck for the desktop.

Have given the new Tweetdecks a try? What do you think?

Tagged as: iphone, tweetdeck, twitter

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Post written on 2009-06-17.