Twitter is often thought of as a mobile application, but the mobile version of the service that the company itself offers is maddeningly feature-bare. Users can't read replies via m.twitter.com, for example.
If you're looking for a good, full featured way to use Twitter on your phone - you need not look any further than Slandr. Hahlo.com is a close rival if you're on an iPhone, but those iPhone owners get everything fun - don't they? Let's talk about Slandr for the rest of us!
Slandr takes full advantage of the Twitter API, as far as I can tell. You can view replies and direct messages with a link, though not in the timeline as some other clients allow. You can do a Twitter search using the fantastic service Summize, something that Hahlo lets you do on the iPhone as well. You can also edit your location field in Slandr - something I haven't see anyone else do. Then, you can view the locations of the last 20 friends who've tweeted. That has potential. Much of that potential is unrealized, but imagine a combination of Slandr and Twitterlocal (uptime pending) - now we're really talking. A mysterious little birdy just told me that a related solution will be announced by a player in this space within hours. Awesome!
There's lots of mobile Twitter clients that are Java apps but who wants more Java apps on their phone if there's a web based alternative? I know I don't.
There's a pretty funny message on the front page of Slandr, but I'll let you find that for yourself. The service's developer also offers to create custom back channels for events, combining Twitter, Jaiku, IM and SMS. We're awaiting details about how that works.
There's a long list of 3rd party Twitter apps that have been developed for any circumstance you can imagine, though many readers are probably still waiting for the "drunken app" that filters out misspellings, obscenities, messages about ex-lovers and messages about being drunk.
In the mean time, check out Slandr when you're out on the town. You'll probably like it.
If you'd like to join those of us here at RWW in conversation via Twitter, you can find us here.
Comments
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I have to agree with you. I learned about Slandr today on Twitter from laughingsquid and it seems to have the essentials covered better than Twitter's own mobile page.
I am going to be using Slandr for a few days and see how it holds up.
Good review, thanks.
Posted by: David Cooley | May 13, 2008 2:35 PM
Slandr is pretty cool. I am using it for a while now when i'm on the road. Good features and allways up (if Twitter is up).
Posted by: John Kivit | May 13, 2008 2:53 PM
Great service! when will we get slandr t-shirts!!! :-)
Posted by: Abdul-Rahman Advany | May 13, 2008 3:11 PM
for Windows Mobile I love TinyTwitter.com ... a fast, easy to use, native application
Posted by: Offbeatmammal | May 13, 2008 4:41 PM
Like you said: "Slandr takes full advantage of the Twitter API"! Well done! Now hand over the Slandr-tshirts and stickers so we can do some promotion out there ;-)
Posted by: Johan Voets | May 13, 2008 10:00 PM
Slandr is easy and practical to use. it has all the functions you need. I even prefer it on the iphone. Its quick too. Now we just need Biz to enable more then one page of twistory zo i can go back in time.
Posted by: Maarten 'SPRX' Lens-FitzGerald | May 13, 2008 10:01 PM
I'm writing a personal Twitter client for Windows Mobile 6. Does not aim to use the Twitter API to it's fullest, but includes a why to post current location (from internal or attached GPS) to TwitterVision using every tweet. Will check if this is this what Slandr.net and Summize use for locational info or enhance my client to post location to their geo storage too.
Posted by: Jarno Peschier | May 13, 2008 10:27 PM
Don't forget to mention the awesome beta invites (http://twurl.nl/njgklj) we got to test Slandr in early stages! Now @roelandp, go get us some shirts boy!
Posted by: Frank Meeuwsen | May 14, 2008 12:08 AM
I like my TwitterBerry. Can't wait for a web page to load everytime I want to Tweet, plus writing in a browser's text field is a pain.
Maybe it'll be useful for people who Tweet very less and interested mostly in viewing their friend's updates
Posted by: Sachendra | May 14, 2008 2:39 AM
I actually used this over the weekend - it was great. I have Twitterberry, too, but I need to check my directs and it kills me that Twitterberry doesn't have that option.
Posted by: Sarah Perez
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May 14, 2008 6:42 AM
Dear RWW, Marshall K,
Thanks for the great review, really energyboosting! Within 24hours the userbase almost doubled and the server can still cope with the increase, so I'm a happy camper once again.
In Amsterdam we are currently still suffering from a major internet - outage at one of the biggest providers of the country. Recovering from that I'm continuously adding new features and (minor) tweaks to the application, thanks to the user's input! Latest updates can always be found here
Greetings from a sunny Amsterdam.
Posted by: roelandp | May 14, 2008 9:17 AM
Yep, loving slandr I just wish it had number shortcuts, e.g. press 0 for home, 1 for replies and really make use of it being on a phone.
Posted by: Colin Walker | May 14, 2008 10:17 AM
slandr is a great service. It works great on my BlackBerry Pearl. It makes mobile Twittering possible for me. Search also works great for searching on hashtags.
Posted by: gocyclones | May 14, 2008 3:53 PM
This is really great! I use m.slandr.net as a panel in Opera (the desktop version, not mobile). So far I used m.twitter.com in the browser's sidebar, but this - naturally - is much better! Thanks!
Posted by: Alexander Ebel | May 16, 2008 3:25 AM
slandr works well with my windows mobile as well.
Posted by: Mobile Pankaj | May 16, 2008 6:47 AM
"those iPhone owners get everything fun - don't they? Let's talk about Slandr for the rest of us!"
Well, no. A true techie knows that the Nokia N95 and the iphone use the same browser, but the N95 has a better screen and faster data, so we get everything they do, plus all the symbian apps, and you can't convince me that a web app over EDGE (or even 3G) is better than one which runs locally on a nice piece of hardware.
Posted by: Mr. Gunn | May 29, 2008 12:40 PM