Written by Peter Murphy on Monday, April 13, 2009

Quick Look: Twikini, A Twitter Client for WinMo!


marksshot001 Twitter is slowly taking over the universe as we know it, in the last couple of months it usage has skyrocketed, and with that escalation, the need for better ways to incorporate it in your mobile life have been developed. Not long ago, after using a couple of Twitter apps, I came across another that eclipsed anything I had seen before, Pocket Twit. 

Of course I came across Twikini via a tweet, but don’t get me started, who comes up with these names anyway. Twitter is so hot at the moment that there have been multiple worm attacks over the last couple of days. I fortunately have avoided infection, but many haven’t, the best way to avoid it is with a good client, be that PC/Mac side or even more effective on your mobile/iPhone!

Twikini has popped up at just the right time to be taken advantage of, but of course you want to know how it performs…

Straight up. on installation, there’s a huge difference that’s obvious, the installation is only 563 Kb, that’s right about half a Mb, this can be attributed to the fact that Twikini is written in C++, not the NetCF base that some of the other twitter apps utilise. As a technical fact that wont mean much to a lot of people, but when you see the UI, and marvel at it’s clarity, and efficiency, and speed you’ll realise that bigger is not always better. I installed it this afternoon and a couple of hours later I’m giving it a big thumbs up, it’s awesome.

marksshot006

The main menu highlights all of the features you want at your fingertips, your friends timeline, your replies and any tweets you have made favourite. The core functions of Twitter. Obviously refresh will bring up the latest tweets in your timeline.

I have to admit the developers have done a good job on this and have kept it simple as well, it’s skinnable, and I’m sure there’ll be more to come, but there are four included.

marksshot008

You can set the refresh rate, which you would want to consider depending on your data plan and set the default font size. Again I applaud the simplicity. So I’ve shown you the dark theme, here’s what Retro looks like.

marksshot009

You probably notice that the tweets look truncated, but that is easy fixed, tap on or select any message and you will view it in a full screen

marksshot005

From that screen, you can ReTweet, favourite, find the users profile info and email the Tweet to other contacts that may not be on Twitter.

marksshot011

Overall I’d say Twikini is a step up for Windows Mobile users as far as Twitter clients go, it’s fast sleek and really easy to use. One thing that annoys me, is that it has an audio notification, that whistles like a bird when it refreshes, it gets kind of grating! All in all, worth a look if your a Twitter User.

Twikini is currently in public Beta, and you can download it from Trinket Software

More in Windows Phone | 11 Comments


« • »

11 Comments

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.


James
Apr 13, 2009

“incorporate it in [my] mobile life”? Why?

Am I the only person that doesn’t feel the need to notify the world when I go to the bathroom?


dgoldring
Apr 13, 2009

James, I am assuming you did not write that from the bathroom. :) And actually, I tend to agree with you. I am still clinging to Facebook as my main interaction with the world.

Doug


Peter Murphy
Apr 13, 2009

Why do people think that tweeting is the only mobile function people perform on the can! C’Mon it’s valuable down time, in more ways than one. !! the down is not a dump!


dgoldring
Apr 13, 2009

LOL, Peter. It isn’t that Tweeting is the only thing people do in the can. It is the only one that allows you to announce to the world that you are doing it in the can. :)


James
Apr 13, 2009

Dgoldring, no I was at my desk. :~) It just seems like some people overdo it with the Tweets. I just started a Facebook page on a “trial” basis. It has helped me reconnect with some lost friends, and I’m leaning toward keeping it. MySpace is out; it looks too much like everyone saying, “Look at me! Look at me! Aren’t I kewl?” Facebook seems a bit more mature. As for Twitter, I suppose I just don’t “get it”. I don’t need nor want to know every little thing my friends are doing, nor do they care what I’m doing. Their “Running late for a meeting?” bit seems a little dumb; a phone call or email is just as easy or easier than Twitter, for both parties.

If people like Twitter, fine. But I think as far as business use it’s a fad that will pass as people realize they need to communicate more information more directly.


dgoldring
Apr 13, 2009

James, I tend to agree with you on Twitter. I check in with it just to see if there is any news, but wouldn’t miss it a bit if it was gone.

Peter, it isn’t that Twitter is the only thing people do on the crapper. It is just that is the only thing people are really vocal about doing on the crapper. :)


Peter Murphy
Apr 14, 2009

And I thought I was old and staid, set in my ways. Yes some people go way too far with what they Tweet about and when and where they Tweet, but like any good communication tool. If you use it efficiently, there are great benefits. Case in point, someone I follow, mentioned he was giving away a free hosting package, I replied to him and now I have a dedicated server space to self host the WordPress site that I use for an archive of the posts I do here. Also I’m in contact with other writers/mobile tech experts, that in the real world I would have had no chance to communicate with! It just makes sense to me! :)


dgduris
Apr 14, 2009

How does Twitter make $$$?

How long will its 15 minutes of fame actually last?


breley
Apr 15, 2009

Interesting comments. I like keeping up with technology and like Peter said it can be a nice way to keep track of other people in your particular field of interest. What would be nice is for Twitter to have a relevance score, so that someone tweeting could mark something as “important” and trigger a threshold on client apps to allow it through if permitted on those client apps. It’s tricky sometimes separating signal from mere noise…but of course what could be important to one could be trivial to another, so back to square one.


G RAMIREZ
Jun 4, 2010

I have a Sprint Mogul (I know old phone, but I love it) from 2007. I installed about 3 or 4 different Twitter apps on my phone and MOST of them were huge memory hogs. THIS IS THE ONLY ONE, TWIKINI, which didn’t bog down my phone! If you have a Mogul, this is the ONE TO GET!


Peter Murphy
Jun 4, 2010

@ G RAMIREZ it is still one of the lightest twitter clients around, working on the Mogul, fantastic!

Leave a Reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.