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Show HN: If Google owned Twitter, what would the Android Twitter app look like?

13 points by chris_lacy ↗ HN
Frustrated be the lack of anything approaching the quality of TweetBot on Android, I decided to write my own Android Twitter client with the above goal.

The result is Tweet Lanes, which I just released for phones running 4.0 and above.

The big ticket items are: borderline theft of the Google Talk & MMS app styling; New take on composing tweets; Reply to multiple tweets at one time, or block multiple spammers in one action; VolScroll - navigate the feed with volume up/down buttons; and plenty more.

App & screenshots can be found here: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.tweetlanes.android

12 comments

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voxx
this is sexy, but why only ICS? Older phones need some <3 too!

Fantastic job. You should be a Google dude.

chris_lacy
Thanks a lot for the feedback. Once I add a few more core features and implement tablet support, I will backport it to Android 2.x.
Ineffable
Tablet support would be much appreciated!
chris_lacy
Tablet support is definitely coming. I've been inundated with request for a few things I didn't see coming, so as soon as I clear those items out I will get straight on to tablet support.

Hopefully my Nexus7 will have arrived by then..

hiddenstage
I'm sure you know this, but in case you don't - ActionBarSherlock is incredibly easy to use for backporting the actionbar, tabs, and fragments to 2.x.
chris_lacy
Yup I'll definitely use ABS when I backport it.
monsto
not much of a Tweeterer, but lookin at the screens I'll say that you've probably hit on something. Gtalk is designed that way because it works.

VolScroll, tho . . . not sure about it. on my Gal S2, the vol buttons are really out of the way. I'll bet that the only time i'd use them with this app would be when i only could use one hand. even then, it's just as easy to hold with hand and thumb scroll...

And when's the only time you'd need 1-handed scrolling? Behind the wheel of the car. Neat idea, to be sure... just not sure if it's practical.

chris_lacy
VolScroll is an additional means of scrolling. Touch scrolling naturally works as you would expect.

I use it primarily when I'm tweetin' & eatin'. One hand is using a fork, the other is holding the phone and easily navigating the feed.

nailer
If you could make it animate, rather than jump, I think it would work well.
nickbarnwell
I've just switched to Android in the last few weeks and been using the official Twitter application. Needless to say, I've been disappointed. This is far and away superior, and I will definitely share it around to my friends and coworkers as much as possible :)
hiddenstage
The UI is amazing. I really liked the tutorial screen for some reason. Great job!
chris_lacy
Thanks a lot. I went through a few iterations on that, and I'm pleased with the final result.