Twittie Review

I just installed a new i-appli for my Sharp SH906iTV phone that allows me to see and send tweets to Twitter.  I will document how I installed it and what I think of the software.

To install the software, it took some searching to find it because the phone and most (if not all) of the software for this phone are in Japanese.  I came across the software at App Get, which is a site that provides free and not free software for japanese based phones.  There was only one entry for Twitter on there, called Twittie.  Twittie is actually part of a package of software by Colors, which includes a Flickr and News Viewers.  You can initiate the Twittie download here.

Step 1

Give them your mobile address so that they can send you a link to view from your mobile phone.

Step 2

Get the email from App Get which includes a link to view via your mobile phone.  After clicking on the link, you will click on about 3 links to get to the final viewing page.  On the final viewing page, click on send email which will send them an email and they will auto-reply back to you

Step 3

Get the auto-reply email which has a link to get the i-appli software.

Short Cut

If you just want to get the software, send a blank email to this address dl@colors.naked-tech.com. You will get an instant reply with the download link in it.  Click on the link in your phone to get the application.

So now after the installation process, which only takes a few minutes if that, I was able to start using the application.  My initial review was that it looked really well and was easy to use, with the rotating menu at the bottom.  Once I logged in, I was able to see the most recent tweets and could scroll down to see past tweets.  Via the menu, I could see archives, my followers, my replies and messages.  You can view some screenshots at their websites located here and here

As you can see, it looks really well and is easy to navigate.

My issues with the application are as follows:

1. Logging into the application was easy, and as along as you close the application without logging out, it saves your username and password, well rather it preserves your connection.  When you come back the next time, you will auto connect.  I think the application should svae my username and password, if I chose to, so that if I do log out, then I can log back in fairly easily.  This is not a huge issue, and is probably best security wise that it is the way it is now.  Just a small issue mind you.

2. There is no way to submit photos to twitpic or even flickr for that matter.  They provide a flickr viewer, where I was able to view my photostream but I could not add any from the phone.  And when my phone has a camera and video camera, adding multimedia content would be very nice.

3. There was no way that I could tell, on how to setup short URLs within the application.  Being that tweets are limited to 140 characters, short URLs would be a nice addon in the future.

4.  Finally, with Tweets being limited to 140 characters, there was no indication in my editors how many characters I had entered or had left.  I literally had to count or guestimate what I was at.  This is kind of a hinderance I feel.

Based on the previous issues, I think that Twittie is a great app if I want to stay in touch with Twitter on the move.  But for anything else, it is basically useless (when it comes to multimedia content).  The issues are enough for me to keep searching for a better app that is actually up to date with the technology out there.  If anyone has any suggestions for such an application please let me know.  Keep in mind that I am in Japan using a Docomo SH906iTV, so apps for Nokias or iPhones won’t help me at all.