The top 5 Twitter apps for Android

The smartphone app battle has heated up with legitimate rivals to the iPhone hitting their stride. Apple’s App Store continues to overshadow the competition with downloads in the multiple billions, but Google’s Android Market has emerged with a strong collection of its own mobile apps, along with the advantage of having multiple mobile phone brands running the OS. With around 300 million downloads under its belt, Android Market is building up steam. 

Seeing that Android has a prominent place in the future of mobile devices, we picked up an HTC Desire to discover firsthand what it’s capable of. First order of business: finding the best Android app to run our Twitter accounts. What we found was there is no app that truly stands out as the best overall, but there are apps that excel at meeting specific needs. Below you’ll find 5 of the best apps out there and which type of Twitter user they best serve.

 

The Official Twitter App – For the user looking for basic functionality 
The official Twitter app is surprisingly bare bones, seeming to not even try to compete with the feature-rich apps from third party developers. But for basic functionality, it serves its purpose extremely well. Its interface is one the best looking of the apps we tried and everything works smoothly. Still, its lack of features is a big turn off for all but casual users. Twitter’s official app was only recently released, so keep your eye on it as they are sure to launch updates with expanded features. Since the HTC Android phones come preloaded with Peep, which has the same basic functionality, there is no reason to add this app.

Seesmic – For the user looking to balance features and speed 
 More often than not with mobile apps, having loads of features means sacrificing at least some speed. Seesmic manages to offer a host of functionality without getting bogged down. Some of these features include geotagging, lists, search and multiple retweet styles. Seesmic also gives you a widget for your desktop. There are a lot of features in there for free that usually only come with the premium version of apps. If we had to pick an over all best Twitter app for Android, it would be Seesmic. 

Twidroid – For the user looking for the maximum amount of features 
Twidroid boasts a wide array of functions, including the fan-favorite slidescreen integration. It also allows linking up with other services like TwitPic, Posterous and bit.ly, among others. But for the full experience, including multiple accounts and customizable themes, you need to upgrade to Twidroid Pro. Even the free version is far ahead of most other apps in the range of features, so if you’re looking for the app with the most flexibility, this is it.

Hootsuite – For the professional user with multiple accounts and tweeters 
Hootsuite is the best bet for professionals using Twitter for marketing. You can schedule tweets from your Android phone and manage multiple accounts, which includes the ability to give multiple people access to those accounts, adding and withdrawing access as you see fit. The Android version works best in tandem with the desktop version, so if you’ve been using Hootsuite to manage your accounts, this is the best way to go mobile with your Twitter use. And thanks to Hootsuite’s acquisition of Swift - the speediest Twitter for Android app around - the app doesn’t lag despite being feature heavy.

Touiteur – For the user looking for the prettiest interface 
Touiteur (which we eventually realized is supposed to sound like Twitter, but more French) has by far the slickest and most polished interface of any app we looked at. With animated menus and transitions in a compact, streamlined design, Touiteur is a dream to use. But the glitz comes with a couple catches. The features are quite limited in the free version – you’ll have to pay get link shortening, widgets and multiple account support. And if it’s speed you’re after, this isn’t the app for you, it’s noticeably slower than most of the others. But we’re almost inclined to say it’s worth it.

Developers are starting to put serious effort into creating apps for Android, as these great options showcase. Do you have a favorite Twitter app that we missed? Let us know.

Jason Ross is a copywriter for The Duffy Agency. He loves working on both traditional and social media projects and speculating on the future of the ad industry.

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