For whatever reason none of the big names in Twitter clients have released their updated versions that support push notification for Twitter.
However, several solutions have emerged over the past few weeks to solve this issue.
I recently took at look at Boxcar which is an add on to your existing Twitter client to enable push and then I looked at TwitBit which was the first full fledged Twitter client for the iPhone to support push.
Now comes Simply Tweet, from Motion Obj, which has thrown its hat into the ring of new full Twitter clients with push notification for the iPhone.
Like any Twitter application the first thing you have to do is set up your Twitter account information.
Once you’ve configured your information you’ll have access to your timeline, @ replies and DMs.
As you can see above and below, timeline messages show in one color while @ replies show in another.
This makes both for a colorful, eye pleasing experience as well as make it easy to find your @ replies in the timeline.
You can use the application to search for recent tweets in your immediate area.
The more tab feature additional search features as well as your account information.
One of the cool features the app has is the ability to search photos.
When viewing a single tweet you have the option to reply or re-tweet.
You can also e-mail the tweet or post a link to the tweet.
In the settings area of your phone you’ll find a new entry for Simply Tweet which contains a variety of configurable settings.
Simply Tweet comes with 5 themes. Bubbles, Pink, Sunny, Silver (which I’m using in the above screen shots) and Twilight (seen below.)
As expected Simply Tweet notifies you via a push notification for incoming @ replies and direct messages. My biggest problem with the application is the time frame in which it does so. The app. only checks for new @ replies and DMs once every 5-10 minutes. In the Twitterverse this is an eternity. More and more I see people have full on conversations on Twitter, using it almost like text messaging. Waiting 10 minutes to be notified of a reply is just too long. Now I understand the reasons behind this. Twitter applications are limited to only 100 queries with the Twitter servers per hour. If you get a ton of @ replies in that hour and have them all pushed to your phone as soon as they come in you might use up that 100 number fairly quick. But I think I’d like to decide whether that happens or not.
Simply Tweet does have some nice features such as the ability to save drafts of tweets, search photos, the ability to browse conversations and multiple account support.
But for me it’s just not reliable enough to be my every day Twitter client.
You can learn more about Simply Tweet by visiting the developer’s website or the iTunes App Store.
M.S.R.P. – $4.99
What I like – push notification for Twitter in one app, themes, good search functionality.
What I don’t like – push notification are somewhat unreliable.