TwitterBerry v.0.8 - What are you doing (on your Berry)?

By Ryan Blundell on 29 Dec 2008 01:32 am

Lately, I've been getting more and more into the social side of BlackBerry life. Sure, CrackBerry.com has allowed me to find friends who share the same addiction, but I do like to take a peek at other sites as well. I was a slow adoptee of FaceBook and now I continue to grow my social network with sites like Twitter.

For those who aren't familiar with Twitter, it lets you connect and communicate with others using, what they call, one question; "What are you doing?" You are able to use your Berry to keep up with Twitter and its Tweets through SMS.

To make accessing Twitter easier, Orangatame Software offers a free beta application called TwitterBerry. Instead of using SMS, you can use data to maintain your social butterfly ways. So, whether you are sending direct messages, replying to tweets and direct message or updating timelines, TwitterBerry should keep you from being bogged down by your online social life.

Tweet Tweet

TwitterBerry can be downloaded OTA or through your computer. Just remember the requirements:

BlackBerry OS 4.1.0+ (BlackBerry OS 4.2+ for TwitPic support)
BlackBerry Internet Browsing Service (BIS-B or BIBS) OR a BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES) OR a direct TCP data connection

Are you new to the world of Twitter? Check out Twitter.com and get familiar with its ins and outs. That way, some of the terminology will make more sense, and I will (hopefully) sound less weird.

TwitterBerry can be used by ALL of the newest and shiniest Berrys (including the Storm), as well as the more seasoned models including the 71xx, 72xx and 75xx series. Once downloaded, you can access TwitterBerry from the stylized Twitter "t" icon. When you open TwitterBerry, you are greeted by Twitters famous yet simple question; What are you doing? There are 140 characters available to you so you can keep those in the know, updated. The newest version of TwitterBerry is supposed to allow for character overflow when typing a tweet. When I'm ready to send off my tweet, I click Update. TwitterBerry will then notify me of the update completion by displaying a popup saying "success". Success indeed! I logged into my account on my computer and found my words of wisdom displayed for my friends to see. You are also able to send pictures, called TwitPics, with TwitterBerry.

what do you mean "What am I doing"?!

To send pictures from your Berry, you will need to navigate to your native media section. Open up a pic you wish to send (perhaps a pic of you receiving a new BlackBerry for Christmas). Press the menu button and select "Send to TwitterBerry." You are then redirected to TwitterBerry. Have a look at the bottom, your available characters have dropped from 140 to 116. This is because the TwitPic URL is 24 characters long and is pre-pended to your tweet.

Sending TwitPics with ease

Besides inundating your friends with what you are doing, you can also check up on them! Open up the menu and check out what you can do:

Friends Timeline - Check out all of the tweets you and your friends have posted. Very similar to the Twitter site, you can see their avatars, name, message and the time the tweet was created. Highlight a tweet and you can send them a direct message, reply or add as a favourite.

Get Replies - view replies to your tweets

Direct Messages - access your Direct Message Inbox, read and reply

Public Timeline - all of the viewing goodness of the Friends Timeline, with access to the Twitter community. Highlighting a tweet will give you the option to follow the member.

My Timeline - have a look at what you've been babbling about by viewing your own tweets, replies and direct messages.

My Friends - view your friends and their basic details. Within this section you can also send messages and replies. TwitterBerry can also let you view their timeline.

scroll through up to 200 tweets, replies and more

TwitterBerry lets you do almost anything that Twitter can do

Hello friends...

Using TwitterBerry is a snap, as it gives you access to the basic, quick features of Twitter. I rarely access Twitter on my computer, maybe to update my avatar or change my colour scheme. With the newest version of TwitterBerry, you can now cache up to 200 tweets from Friends Timeline, Replies Timeline and direct messages. Another new feature for TwitterBerry, is the message notification. Jump over to your Profiles. When you choose to edit, you will see that you can now assign notifications for Direct Messages, Friends Timelines and Replies.

Final Thoughts

If you're looking for a way feed your addiction to both Twitter and your BlackBerry, TwitterBerry is your best bet. TwitterBerry is direct and to the point when it comes to letting people know what you are doing and what others are doing too. You can manage almost anything Twitter related, right from your Berry. Make sure you clear your Twitter cache, as I've found that I had duplicate messages appearing (in my replies anyway). TwitterBerry keeps me mobile and keeps everyone in my friends list (including me) up to date. The only problem is now dealing with two addictions; BlackBerry and Twitter. You can pick up the book CRACKBERRY: True Tales of BlackBerry Use and Abuse to help with the BlackBerry addiction, perhaps Twitter or Orangatame should offer their own.

For more information on the FREE application TwitterBerry, click here.

Pros

view tweets for friends and the Twitter community
get notifications for replies, direct messages and Friends Timelines
send pics from your Berry

Cons

adding to the addiction

Topics: Free App Social Networking/IM Software Reviews

Ryan Blundell 482 (articles) 248 (forum posts)

43 comments

cozbaldwin Dec 29, 2008 at 1:52 am

Works great. Perfect Twitter app for BB's.

loumacuser Dec 29, 2008 at 1:59 am

I would like to see it improived so that see tiwtpic images wihtin the tweet, add groups and search

sunkast Dec 29, 2008 at 2:05 am

I've never gotten the Send To Twitterberry feature to work. Just stays and uploading to twitpic screen.

deathbyart Dec 29, 2008 at 2:16 am

sunkast - I had the same problem. It was fixed by going into the options in the camera and lower the settings. This was on a Storm, so the pics tend to be pretty large files.

Jinksy Dec 29, 2008 at 8:52 am

I have yet to get 'send to twitterberry' to work on my Bold, and I have all my camera settings turned all the way down. Same deal, I just see "sending your image to twitpic" until I cancel. My Bold has had every (leaked) OS release to date, currently running 217, still no go

Anonymous Dec 28, 2008 at 5:21 pm

I'm not a Twitter fanatic but I just may become one with this new app.

Lord Shaper Dec 28, 2008 at 8:22 pm

I've been using a mobile version of twitter for a while now from my pre Blackberry day's up until now and I have to say I like Twitterberry more than any other application that I've seen on the market.

Nice and easy to use and I can sit at work and check my replies without anyone noticing...

How can you go passed it?

katadare Dec 29, 2008 at 7:46 am

Have you guys seen socialscope.net yet? It's mash of Twitter and Facebook.

fonixmunkee Dec 29, 2008 at 8:27 am

Any idea if Twitterberry will support GPS location soon?

netposer#cb Dec 29, 2008 at 8:38 am

@Crackberry only tweets one way and does nothing "social". You've never replied to anything I've tweeted at you. And I don't recall ever seeing @Crackberry converse with anyone on twitter.

Do you have a personal twitter account? If so please share. I'm sure quite a few of us would like to follow any of the folks at Crackberry if they wish to socialize.

My point is if you are going to be on twitter as a company then personalize it or state that you are creating a twitter bot or a twitter feed (that way we know you are just pushing out info with no intentions of interaction.) If the Zappos (CEO), Bojangles (Marketing) and Dunkin Donuts (Marketing) can twitter I'm sure any of you can. And yes they really do use twitter as they should.

dmbfanmd Dec 28, 2008 at 10:04 pm

Facebook also has an app that will update your Facebook status with your most recent Twitter update. It's SWEET!

JavaDevelop Dec 30, 2008 at 9:45 am

What's the app that updates your Facebook status with your Twitter status?

John D. Dec 29, 2008 at 8:49 am

I have been using this on my Curve and 8830 and it is a great application. Highly recommend!

mythai Dec 29, 2008 at 9:46 am

How do you use it to meet new people? I went on the website but I can't figure it out.

netposer#cb Dec 28, 2008 at 11:41 pm

@MyThai
You can search for users using "blackberry" for starters and other things that interest you. A good start is based on your location (City).

It might take some time to meet people but after a few weeks you'll have a few followers and thus their followers might follow you etc. etc.

You can follow me --> netposer and Crackberry and bbunderground for starters ;-)

bbunderground Dec 29, 2008 at 10:24 am

each with there own good and bad points, tinnytwitter, twitterberry, twibble, and now I am using social scope, which allows you to update and see both, twitter and facebook updates, very very cool app.

Andrew
Http://blackberryunderground.com
A truly Social Site for Blackberry Users and Abusers

Sista GP Dec 29, 2008 at 10:25 am

BB is the 'CrackBerry'
Twitter is 'SMS on Crack'

TwitterBerry is the 'crack pipe'.

I know. I have been addicted to both for months.
Tweetlater has added to my addiction.

dbest1a Dec 28, 2008 at 11:46 pm

gotta love twitter

dbest1a Dec 29, 2008 at 10:29 am

gotta love twitter

samsams Dec 29, 2008 at 10:47 am

Using it on daily base for over 2 months now. Use it to upload pics via TwitPic and to update status on Facebook and another social comunity.
Can recommend it to anyone for it's simplicity and friendly use.

nubiancooki Dec 29, 2008 at 12:24 am

I have to admit, I didn't get with the Twitter craze until just recently. Had an account, but didn't really see the point of tweeting to people I didn't know. More recently I've given it a fair try and its fun! And people are even replying to me.

One frustrating thing though, I can't seem to figure out how to accept/deny follower requests from the Twitterberry app (or from the browser on my cell either). Am I missing something?

MissSnowFlake525 Dec 29, 2008 at 12:35 pm

i dont understand it lol..i have the twitterberry thing and I have an account but I have not a clue what to do with it or what the point is...if someone could pin me with more info I would love it lol... 24a1c38d

gvegas864 Dec 29, 2008 at 1:16 pm

I'm buying a Bold. I started on Twitter (@gvegas864) about a month ago and have grown real frustrated trying to use my mobile browser and predictive typing on a Moto V365…stop laughing.

When trying to explain Twitter to a friend I told him it’s like blogging for people with ADHD (I am the poster child). I don’t have the time to manage a Facebook page, plus I like the partial anonymity of tweeting.

Taurinh24 Dec 29, 2008 at 2:33 am

i wish it would notify you of updates and twitters from your friends, i dont like having t go in and refresh my timeline every time.

Taurinh24 Dec 29, 2008 at 1:21 pm

i wish it would notify you of updates and twitters from your friends, i dont like having t go in and refresh my timeline every time.

Mr Voodoo Dec 29, 2008 at 4:32 pm

You can go into options and modify the start page for twitterberry and modify the update intervals. The intervals are initially set at manual - calling for the user to manually update. I set mine to ten minutes with the start page landing on my friend's timeline..

with the pictures I changed my camera's settings (as mentioned by another commentor) to take smaller pictures. This worked wonderfully - I set it to the smallest option available.

CarrieL Dec 29, 2008 at 2:13 pm

Twitter is the only social site I've really gotten into. I have always avoided MySpace, and while I signed up on Facebook I stopped going after about a week. Twitter is actually fun and simple, and I love how easy it integrates with Berrys.

vegos Dec 29, 2008 at 4:02 am

Great application!

I'm using it too...

http://www.twitter.com/magla

Oberst Dec 29, 2008 at 5:15 am

Twitterberry is my number 1 BB app, especially once you link your twitter account to your facebook account so tweets update your facebook status too. Like someone else said, I had a twitter account awhile which went unused but once I got twitterberry I update all the time

jerseysoprano Dec 29, 2008 at 5:10 pm

I LOVE twitter. I am on it everyday with twitter berry, and love the app.

shirase Dec 29, 2008 at 7:02 am

I love this app. Been using it as soon as I got my Javelin.

Baroness110902 Dec 29, 2008 at 9:49 am

All my Twitter Friends are from Crackberry and it's GOOD TIMES!!!!

Twitterberry could use some minor tweaks but for the most part its a solid bb software client

SinisterJunkie Dec 29, 2008 at 11:43 am

I still don't get TwitterBerry. It's slow to launch, the timeline view only shows a small amount of the tweet (for more you have to open each up), never gotten the TwitPic feature to work, etc. I keep trying each new version, but it never lasts long on my device. Maybe I'm missing something.

Tre Lawrence Dec 30, 2008 at 12:14 am

Great review.

Microblogging is a very potent form of social networking, and I can only see it expanding.

TwitterBerry is a great app... the best client I have used to date.

tcapote#CB Dec 30, 2008 at 1:33 am

I tried Twitterberry but it lacked a lot of features I wanted, check out Twibble as a twitter client on your Blackberry, http://tinyurl.com/6zcadj. JMO

~CMT

Exergy Dec 30, 2008 at 2:41 am

Hey Im new to the whole twitter thing and I dont believe any of my friends actually use it but would like to get into it, so if you want to follow me or add me or whatever its twitter.com/JShultz1289

rmstudio Dec 29, 2008 at 3:41 pm

This is not new twitter berry software... Its been out for at least a month and a half...

Tre Lawrence Dec 30, 2008 at 10:12 am

I could be wrong, but I don't think the author was claiming it was new.

In any case,it was a pretty good primer on Twitter as a whole to the uninitiated.

SommerMatt Dec 31, 2008 at 2:38 am

First off, I love this program... not like there are a whole lot of options for Twitter clients on the BB (check how many the iPhone has available). I tried Twibble and TinyTwitter, and neither was as good as TwitterBerry.

That said, the program isn't perfect-- there's no excuse for making the user click on each individual tweet to read the whole thing. I mean, it's only 140 characters. Why make me go to a secondary screen? Just fit the entire thing on the main page.

bridgman Jan 3, 2009 at 8:31 pm

I have been using Twitterberry 0.6 for a while. Upgraded to 0.8 today and I can still post updates, check the "public timeline" but can't see my Friends' updates. Submitted a bug report.

NancyDrew Jan 27, 2009 at 4:44 pm

ugh no 8900!

SashaAdrienne Apr 22, 2009 at 1:21 pm

hey..is twitterberry really free for all over the world even singapore? Please reply through my e-mail thanx.

QUEEN22718 Jul 17, 2009 at 5:03 am

Does anyone knoe how I can go about makn a name?? If so plz private msg me plz!!!

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