Twitter for BlackBerry review

Simon Bisson

We review the beta version of RIM’s official BlackBerry Twitter client

Published on Mar 9, 2010

When RIM produces an official application for the BlackBerry it really goes to town on it.

After all, it’s using it’s applications to showcase just how developers can take advantage of all the features built into the BlackBerry OS.

That’s the intention with RIM’s own official Twitter application, but unlike its IM clients and its FaceBook application, there’s plenty of competition in the shape of all the BlackBerry Twitter clients out there.

Coming late to the game, RIM really needs a hit, but it’s also got to think of its developer ecosystem.

After all, you don’t want to be a developer making a reasonable living out of an application only to find your main competition is RIM itself. So how does RIM’s Twitter application shape up?

Like the Facebook application it’s certainly slick and well designed, with a look and feel reminiscent of Twitter’s own web site.

This is really a tool for the casual twitter. The are are only a few tweets available at any time – to see more you’ll have to wait for them to download.

That’s not such a bad idea for a device with limited memory, but it can be a little awkward if you want to catch up with your friends when you’re down in the Underground.

Even so you’ll find many of the features that have become standard in Twitter clients, from persistent searches to details of the currently most popular topics and hash tags.

There’s also support for uploading images using Twitpic, though at the moment there’s no GPS integration, so you can’t geotag your tweets.

New messages are shown in the BlackBerry home screen, using the same style notifiers as used for email and calendar events.

That’s a useful feature, though we’re not so sure about direct messages and mentions appearing in the messaging application.

The informal nature of Twitter doesn’t really lend itself to fitting in with email – though the application does show just how other BlackBerry applications can link to the device’s built-in software.

This is only a beta application at the moment, and the full public release is still some way off.

With tools like Seesmic carrying on adding more and more features, there’s plenty of competition, leaving RIM is playing catchup with its own customers.

It’s certainly going to be successful, and this is a credible Twitter application that compares well with the rest of the pack.

However were just not sure if an official Blackberry Twitter client is really necessary.