The default Android Twitter app does the job just fine, keeping you abreast of all the news items quips that come from the the social network’s firehose.
But sometimes you want something a little easier on the eye, Falcon o 3 is a good choice. Third-party Twitter clients have to fight an uphill battle: the social network caps the number of users who can connect with any given third-party Twitter app, impairing one’s ability to grow a large user base.
It’s been a thorn in the side to Falcon o developer aquin Verges in the past, as after hitting the limit too many times he gave up on updating the rather excellent Falcon o.
The third time’s almost the charm
But he’s back with another shot, again it’s quite good. Falcon o 3 is a complete ground-up remake, with a design that would make ’s Material Design advocates proud. Each of the key sections of Twitter are divided into columns, much as is done with TweetDeck.
ad images pop right out in your timeline.
b links photos in your timeline also get a nice big eye-opening preview. en you touch one of these tweets it’s just one other quick tap to visit the site. Or if it’s an image, you get the whole picture filling up the bottom part of the screen. It adds some visual flair to the timeline that breaks up the usual monotony from an unending stream of text.
The dark, material theme is pleasant to look at when reading your timeline.
My favorite touch is how easy it is to add a picture to a tweet. Once you tap the new tweet button, you get a horizontal row of images from your most recent pictures. st touch the one you want then fire off the tweet.
It’s easy to add an image to a tweet.
It’s pretty easy to pick up how to use Falcon o – it’s Twitter, just better looking with the rich colors easy-to-read font styling you would expect from a Material Design app.
st as with most of ’s apps, if you swipe to the right there’s a profile section with your Twitter profile picture background image. This is also where you’ll see any recent interactions, such as when others retweet you or respond to your tweets. Touch the checkmark button to clear it off.
Get a visual preview of web links in Falcon o 3.
If you want in, though, it’ll cost you. Developers have found the best way to stay under the Twitter token limit is to charge. Though the app is free to download if you want to check out the tutorial, it will cost you $4 for the first Twitter account $2 for each additional one.
ere it needs to go next
The biggest omission right now is the inability to send or respond to direct messages. Verges says that’s coming, along with continued feature build-outs to get the app up to speed. For now, however, that means you’ll need to keep the main Twitter app around if DMs are a part of your life.
The search function, unfortunately, isn’t as powerful as the main Twitter app. en you search with Twitter you get autosuggestions, which is useful when you’re trying to track down a particular user but aren’t quite sure of the name.
One geeky feature I would like to see is the ability to find out from which Twitter client others are tweeting. Maybe this only appeals to tech writers, but it’s interesting to know which is the device software of choice for public figures, or the occasional celebrity who is sponsored by Samsung but then tweets from an ione.
If you’re a casual Twitter user then it’s probably not worth the purchase for you. If you used one of the earlier versions it may be tempting, if for no other reason than it’s great to look at. Otherwise, keep an eye on it. Falcon o 3 is only a few updates away from giving you all the tools a hardcore Twitter user needs.
