I have been a fan of Seesmic for Android since it launched, it was the most full featured and cleanest looking twitter client for Android hands down. Seesmic’s position on many Android user’s homescreens may soon be coming to an end… TweetDeck has just released an Android client that gives Seesmic a run for its money.
Functionally the two are very similar when it comes to Twitter and Google Buzz integration, you start to see big differences when you realize that TweetDeck allows users to access FourSquare as well as Facebook. TweetDeck could conceivably take the place of your Android Facebook, Twitter and FourSquare apps. TweetDeck also includes a “speed dial” page where you can place profiles that you want to access quickly. This feature feels under-developed… but the application is in beta so it is likely to improve before a 1.0 release.
On the interface front I think that TweetDeck just looks better, the colors are more pleasing, the text is bigger, the buttons are bigger… all things that lend themselves very well to a mobile application. A handy feature built into TweetDeck is the timestamp indicator that scrolls at the top of the screen as you move through the timeline. This means as you scroll “back in time” the time/date start scrolling back as well. To switch between @ replies and your main stream you simply flick left or right (much like HootSuite.)
The only real way to tell if you are going to like TweetDeck over Seesmic is to install it. TweetDeck is currently in beta and not available in the Android market, if you would like to download it, visit their website and provide your email address… they will send you a link. There have only been two bugs that I have encountered, one is not letting me upload photos, and another not letting me log out of Facebook or FourSquare.
I’ve attached some screen shots below! Enjoy!
So this is why I got hundreds of friend requests on August 17th…