Echofon: A Simple, Feature-Packed Twitter App for iPhone
By: Hillel Fuld
What kind of app review bog would we be without the occasional Twitter app review? I don’t think I need to tell you about the popularity of Twitter or iPhone, and it is that exact popularity that makes the iPhone Twitter app arena a crowded one. However, although there are probably close to 20 apps to tweet on the iPhone, I think it is safe to say that most Twitter users prefer to use one of three apps: Echofon, Tweetie, and Tweetdeck.
Starting from the end, I have Tweetdeck installed on my iPod as well, due to one major advantage, Tweetdeck, like the desktop client supports Twitter groups. Not only that, but it syncs your groups with your desktop making it a very useful alternative for people who have a large following list. Just to explain what this feature is, I for example follow close to 4,000 people, now clearly, I cannot read all their tweets. So what Tweetdeck allows you to do is create groups of people, in my case, one group called Primary, in which I add people who I really follow closely. I mainly read that column, which makes the whole Twitter experience a lot more manageable. I personally have not gotten used to the Tweetdeck interface on the iPhone yet, but that might just be because I was so used to Echofon that nothing else seemed right.
Tweetie is the most popular iPhone Twitter app and for good reason. It is clean, easy to use and has pretty much all the features one would need from a Twitter app. Like I said, I was using Echofon from the very beginning, so it was what I was used to, but Tweetie is installed on my iPod as well. The thing is, although Echofon is still my app of choice, Tweetie just released Tweetie 2, which is generating an unprecedented amount of noise, so clearly, I am going to have to try it in the coming days, but for now, I am still using Echofon.
Now on to the app we have all been waiting for, Echofon. So to avoid confusion, Echofon used to be called Twitterfon till it merged with Twitterfox, a Firefox add on. So as for the app itself, you open the app and are presented with a clean and simple interface displaying all your friends’ tweets. Along the bottom, you have a few options, which include Friends, Mentions, Messages, Favorites, and Search. I would say that 90% of the time, you will not need to leave that screen, everything you need is right there.
On top right, you have a tweet icon that when pressed opens up a window to tweet with a keyboard. In that window, there are three options besides the writing, you can update your location with Google Maps, upload a picture and insert it into your tweet, and choose a contact from your list of friends. There is also a picture of a trash can, just in case you choose to delete the tweet before sending it. All in all, the interface is very iPhone-like with big icons and no room for mistakes.
Moving on to more advanced features, when pressing Search, you can of course enter a search term or you can click the lightning icon to view Twitter’s top trends, then click on them and read the tweets. Echofon also integrates location in the app with the ability to view people tweeting within 5 miles of your location. When on the main screen, you can click on any tweet, and are presented with a screen that allows you to easily reply, DM, or retweet that tweet. You can also view the person’s full timeline or click their name to view their full profile. Another awesome feature is the ability to view Twitter threads by simply clicking “Show Conversation”. DMs show up in an IM-like thread as well, solving one of Twitter’s main problems of not knowing the context of DMs.
Some of the newest additions to the app include push notifications that check your replies and DMs every 15 minutes and send you a notification. Useful, but not perfect. Echofon comes in a free version and a Pro one. The differences are many. The Pro version has push notifications, a landscape keyboard, an ad free interface, support for multiple accounts, Flickr, Ping, and Instapaper integration, as well as syncing capabilities with your Firefox add on.
All in all, a very impressive app, but like I said, given all the positive reviews the new Tweeties has gotten, Echofon has some serious competition.
Our Rating: 4/5
Developer: Echofon
