Tweetie 2.0 [$2.99 - iTunes link] is the second generation release of one of the iPhone’s most popular Twitter clients. According to developer Atebits, it’s also a ground-up re-write — it even has a snazzy new gray icon to prove it. The only thing 2.0 having in common with 1.0 being the name. I’d argue that point — they’re also both darn good Twitter clients, and they both share a price of $2.99.

That’s right. Since Apple doesn’t not (yet?) provide a mechanism for upgrades (which to many users means discounts), and since in-app purchase can only add content, not replace an entire app, Atebits is packaging Tweetie 2.0 as a whole new app, and charging the same price. This means whether you bought the first Tweetie or not, you’ll have to buy Tweetie 2.0. No upgrade incentive. Then again, we’re only talking $2.99.

Is it worth it? Let’s take a look…

Add Account

There’s pervasive landscape mode, so rotate between portrait and landscape as the mood strikes you. Once you’ve decided, you need to add an account, and Tweetie 2.0 supports multiple accounts, of course. There’s also a cog icon for Advanced options, where you can enter an API Root and Search API for Twitter proxy servers (if Twitter.com is not directly available to you).

Not something many users will likely have the need for, but great, specialized option.

Accounts

From the Accounts screen, you can select which account you want to access (if you have multi accounts set up), with Edit, Add, Settings, and Refresh buttons in the corners.

Settings lets you toggle Display Name between username and full name, Date Format between Relative and Absolute, and Font Size from anything between 13pt and 20pt.

You can choose your preferred Image Service from yFrog, TwitPic, TweetPhoto, Mobypicture, Twitgoo, Posterous, or img.ly, or set a custom option (by setting the image service API endpoint). Video Service options (for iPhone 3GS users) include yFrog and TwitVid. URL Shortening options include j.mp (bit.ly), TinyURL, is.gd, i.pr, u.nu, or Linkyy, or again, a Custom option. Read Later offers Instapaper and Read it later.

Advanced Setting offer a host of additional options. Quote Syntax can be set to “…” -@user or … (via @user). Auto Rotate (the ability to rotate between portrait or landscape modes) includes Always, Compose Screen Only, or Never (would that Apple offered this system-wide on the iPhone!).

Enable TextExpander can be toggled between on and off, as can sound effects.

User Services can likewise be toggle for Tweet Blocker, Follow Cost, Favstar.fm, Favrd, and Tweeteorites.

API Keys are available for jmp login and key, and for Tagal.us.

There’s also an Install Safari Bookmarklet, which creates a browser link that you can use to send URLs to Tweetie 2.0. (A webpage with full, step by step instructions show you how to set it up).

All in all, an amazing array of choices and enough configurability to make a settings junkie very, very happy.

Timeline

Once you’ve chosen your account, Tweetie 2.0 takes you to your timeline, which is a list view of all the people who’s tweets you follow. It’s the first tab along the bottom of the app, represented by a word bubble which gets brighter, and gets a little triangular pointer on top, when active. Also, if you have any unread tweets, a small glowing dot will appear beneath the icon, much like how the Dock in Mac OS X Leopard and Snow Leopard denote active apps.

Just like Apple’s apps post-iPhone 3.0, you can scroll up to reveal a search box. In timeline view, typing in the search box filters the contents of the tweets (i.e. typing in iPhone results in only tweets containing the word “iPhone” to show up).

Instead of a Tweetie 1-style refresh button at the top of the list view, Tweetie 2 uses something more fun, if less iPhone-like. Pull down even further, past the Search box, and you get a downward arrow that tells you to keep pulling if you want to refresh. Keep pulling and then, spring-like, the arrow flips around and the text changes, instructing you to release to refresh.

Like Tweetie 1, swipe a tweet and you slide it away to reveal several options, though in this case more than before: reply, deal with links in tweets (which gives you additional options like Open, Mail Link, Repost Link, and Read Later), go to user’s profile, star tweet, and perform an action (like Retweet, Quote Tweet, Post Link to Tweet, Mail Tweet, and Translate).

Tapping on a tweet takes you to a view of only that tweet which includes information like full name and username, what client they used to post with, and what time they posted, and offers the same button options as the swipe detailed above. There are also up and down triangle arrows so you can go to the next or previous tweet, saving you having to hit the Timeline (back) button, and letting you browse in single tweet view if you like.

Tapping on the avatar/name bar brings you to the user’s profile which adds in the Twitter user number (order in which you joined Twitter, @biz and @ev are early joiners, most of the rest of us are not).

A button to the right gives you a button to add the user to your iPhone contacts, (with the URL of their Twitter page, and their Bio as a note) or share that info like you would any iPhone contact.

The page also shows the users Twitter bio, their location, and web site URL.

Tapping on Location will open an embedded Google Map. Tapping on web will, of course, open an embedded browser and pull up the web site.

The next section shows the number of people the user is following, the number of followers they have, the number of tweets they’ve posted, and the number of tweets they’ve favorite’d. Tapping on any of those will bring up lists of the respective users or posts.

There’s a big Follow/Unfollow button for convenience, and a services button which lets you access Tweet Blocker, Follow Cost, and Favstar.fm.

A More button lets you set Block Option and Notification Options (via Twitter’s built in SMS support — no Push Notification is available).

Mentions

Mentions functions pretty much like the Timeline view, though of course is restricted to the tweets that contain your @username. Like with Tweetie 1, you can tap on @usernames to go to that user, on URL’s to open the URL, etc.

One element that’s been improved is reply chains. Now, when you tap on a reply, there’s an “in reply to” button beneath the tweet and tapping on that brings up a list view of all the linear tweets in that conversation.

Direct Messages

Direct Messages also share much of the functionality of the Timeline view, though the “pull and release to refresh” doesn’t seem to be included here. Direct Messages are those tweets sent privately so only you and the sender can see them, and unlike the simple list view used for @mention reply-chains, these get the more chat-like bubble treatment. It’s an interesting visual differentiator, and the bubbles themselves make Apple’s look a little Aqua-dated.

Composing Tweets

There’s a nice, Email-style Write button top right that’s consistent across all the major tabs — big points on that. Tap it and you get a writing pad view similar to Tweetie 1, but with a widget-ized character counter. The counter not only tells you how much more you can type before hitting the 140 character limit, but if you tap on it, it unveils a host of additional options: Camera, Photo Library, Geotag, Username, Hashtags, Shrink URLs.

Camera lets you take photos (or video on the iPhone 3GS) to add to your tweet, and Photo Library lets you choose either from your existing library. Geotag adds your GPS location. Username and Hashtags bring up a search box that lets you quickly find other users or trends to add to your tweet. For example, if you reply to @friend1, and want to add @friend2 and @friend3, or #topic4, just search, tap, and it’s inserted at the cursor point. Shrink URLs will use your shortener of choice to compact a link and save you precious characters.

Other Twitter clients have had these functions already, but it’s great to see them implemented with Tweetie’s characteristic clean, simple interface.

Also, if you decide to Close a tweet without posting, Tweetie will now offer to let you save it to Tweetie’s new drafts manager, save it to the excellent Birdhouse app for further crafting, or to just trash it.

Search

Search gives you the option to Search for content, to search Nearby (location based), and yes, you can save searches.

It also gives you a handy list of currently trending topics on Twitter (no four letter words this time, luckily!)

More

More gives you access to your own Profile — and yes, you can now edit it right in Tweetie 2.0!

You can also get a list of Favorite’d tweets, Go to User, and access the Drafts manager (which has a handy “send all” option).

Conclusion

All the above, and we’ve only just scratched the surface of Tweetie 2.0. It’s an amazing upgrade, easily worth $2.99 for Tweetie 1.0 users, if not more for new users. Sadly, the App Store economy is still racing to the bottom, but if you’re looking for a Twitter client — with one big caveat — and you liked Tweetie 1.x, you’ll likely find a while lot more love for its bigger, better brother.

That caveat? Yeah, no Push Notification. Atebits is currently happy with Twitter’s built in SMS feature, so it’s not on the current agenda. If you want Push Notifications, you’ll need a middleapp like Boxcar, or you’ll need to look elsewhere.

(And yes, I even like the pinstripes. They work. Apple uses them, and as such they do their job without drawing attention to themselves — which is a big part of their job. So I’m in the pro-pinstripe camp. There, I said it).

As always, if you give Tweetie 2.0 a try, let us know what you think, and if you find any features we missed, let us know in the comments!

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

App Walkthrough: Tweetie 2.0 Twitter Client for iPhone

The App Store is cluttered with a ton of photo editing tools with one obvious omission, a Adobe Photoshop application. Well that void has been filled as Adobe has released their Photoshop.com Mobile application. [Free - iTunes Link]

• Crop, rotate, change color with just a touch.
• Give an extra glow with Soft Focus.
• Get artsy with Sketch.
• Apply one-touch effects like Warm Vintage and Vignette.

The app uses a free Photoshop.com account and is a cinch to use. Simply take a few moments to open your photoshop.com account to edit, upload, store, and share all of your iPhone photos.

[Via The Loop]

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Adobe Releases Photoshop.com iPhone App

Are you looking for some good iPhone conversation? From the Forums is a great way to see what all of the current hot topics are on the TiPb forums. In order to create any new threads of your own or reply to any of the existing threads, you must be a registered member. Becoming a member is a simple process that will only take a few minutes out of your day, so if you have not already already done so, head on over and register now.

First topic up for today, App Store Genius and how is it working for you? Rene doesn’t seem to be having the best of luck with his Genius, for me it started out pretty so-so but it seems the more I delete the more accurate it seems to get. Perhaps my mind is playing tricks on me, how is it working for you?

iPhone OS 3.1.2 was released yesterday and we are assuming most of you jumped right in and updated your phones. Cdudek was wondering, how is your battery life on the 3.1.2 software? Anyone notice a significant change for the better or for the worse? Check the thread out to see results from other forum members and while you are there, post your own.

This next thread for today comes to us from naviwilliams and he offers up a question that we hear quite often – do you leave Wi-Fi on or off? It is a fact that using Wi-Fi over 3G will save you a decent amount of battery life so I have a tendency to leave it on since Wi-Fi is available to me at work and at home. How about you?

Last up for today is one of my personal favorite forums to check out – the iPhone Jailbreak and Unlock forum. This is the place to check out if you are interested in jailbreaking or unlocking your device. Most of the time you can find the answers to your questions within minutes.

See you on the forums!

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

From the Forums: App Store Genius, 3.1.2 Battery Life, iPhone Wi-Fi, Jailbreak/Unlock

Apple’s MobileMe News page has posted two updates today, one on recent MobileMe service improvements, including direct access to Find my iPhone, and the other on iDisk public folder updates.

First up, the service improvements:

As part of an update to the MobileMe web applications, you can now access Find My iPhone directly from the MobileMe toolbar. This support article contains information about this and other service improvements.

Second, iDisk:

Your iDisk Public folder, a place where you can share files with friends, now matches the look of me.com and supports drag and drop for moving files between folders. You can manage your Public folder preferences at me.com including allowing visitors to upload, move, and delete files, and setting a password to protect your Public folder. To edit preferences simply click the Action button (gear icon) in the iDisk web application and select Preferences. You can then upload or move files to your Public folder at me.com, and your friends can access them by visiting http://public.me.com/[YourMemberName].

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Apple “Improves” MobileMe, Find my iPhone, Updates iDisk Public Folder

Apple’s iPhone has stepped into first place in both personal and business categories of J.D. Power and Associates’ second wireless phone satisfaction study of 2009.

The study was based on physical design, features, operating system, ease of use, and battery function on a 1000 point scale. iPhone scored top honers with 811 in personal use and 803 in business use. Respectively, LG took second place in personal use with 776 and RIM landed in second under the business category with 724 points.

None of these results surprise any of us here at TiPb, especially given how the iPhone keeps on racking up the number 1 spots in general.

Steve Jobs has a huge smile on his face right about now…

[Via Arstechnica]

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

iPhone Earns #1 Spots in J.D. Power and Associates’ Personal and Business Satisfaction Ratings

Daring Fireball has been linking to some interesting discussions on Adobe’s recent announcement that Flash CS5 will compile “ahead of time” native iPhone binaries that can be submitted, as is, to Apple’s iTunes App Store.

First up, KickingBear reminds everyone to give it a chance before burying it just on concept or principle:

Let's be frank here – **** the tools. If you're as deep a fan of the Cocoa tool-chain as I am then you likely came to them as I did – after years of dealing with the drastically inferior. Do I believe Cocoa is still the best tool? Yes, I do. But let's not pretend that it's the only tool. Some crazy people may prefer other tools, and we may well think they're insane for doing so. The proof, however, is in the pudding. And it's the pudding that our customers buy. I'm in love with my oven and at this point I doubt I'll ever change it but I have no illusions that fashion won't pass me by. If Adobe, or anyone else, can produce tools that provide a more compelling application on the iPhone then good for them.

On the flip side, /dev/why takes a look at what’s generated by the current process:

Now, the notion that what this thing emits is indistinguishable from something Xcode emits is laughable. They are very different, and not in a good way. While the apps may get acceptable frame rates on an iPhone 3GS, they don't on earlier hardware, and they almost certainly uses substantially more power battery than native games.

If you’re interested in the topic, give both articles a read and then let us know what you think.

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

More on Adobe CS5 Flash Compilation for iPhone Binaries

Rock Band from EA is coming to the iPhone and iPod touch and Mashable has the details:

Just as is the case with the original, Rock Band for iPhone offers four different instruments that you can play: vocals, drums, bass, guitar. Each option offers a game experience that is unique to each instrument, so you're playing the actual drum part when you select "drums," and so on.

Should you sync up with friends and play over Bluetooth, be prepared to be blown away. The real-time gaming experience is incredible, as yours truly can attest to, and even goes so far as to highlight other players' activities on your device as they happen.

Head on over to the link above for me info and screenshots. They think it’s “awesome”. What do you think?

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Rock Band Coming to iPhone and iPod touch

In light of AT&T CEO Ralph de la Vega saying iPhone users user more data than any other smartphone user, indeed that iPhone users “crowd out” other users, and that they may have to “manage” iPhone data, TiPb reader Louie asked if we’d run a poll to find out just what the numbers looked like.

We’ve asked this before, though not in poll form, and while reader polls are by no means scientific, they are fun, so here it is! How much iPhone data are you using each month?

(If you’re not sure how much data you’re using, check your bill for an exact amount, or go to Settings > Usage on your iPhone for a rough idea)

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Poll: How Much iPhone Data Are You Using?

To go along with iPhone OS 3.1.2 (and the iPod touch equivalent) released earlier today, Apple has sent an email to registered developers informing them that:

Phone SDK 3.1.2 is now available on the iPhone Dev Center. If you have updated your development devices to iPhone OS 3.1.2, you will need to download and install the new iPhone SDK to continue your development.

A version of iPhone SDK 3.1.2 is also available to developers who are running Mac OS X Snow Leopard. Please ensure you select the appropriate SDK based on your development environment.

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

iPhone SDK 3.1.2 Available for Developers

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Join Chad and Rene for AT&T’s VoIP over 3G announcement, Flash on iPhone and Jailbreak updates, and all the week’s news and views! Listen in!

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Credits

Thanks to the the iPhone Blog Store for sponsoring the podcast, and to everyone who showed up for the live chat!

Our music comes from the following sources:

• I Called You — iPhone Remix by Pete Leidy
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This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

TiPb Presents: iPhone Live! #70 — Got VoIP?