My Wishlist for Blaq
For whatever reason, the BlackBerry PlayBook does not yet have a native Twitter application. Just Facebook and YouTube when it comes to social media - and YouTube is a stretch to put it in that category.Yes, the new Mail app in 2.0 handles Twitter. But that is only direct messaging. That is the least used feature for me.
The best option one can get from BlackBerry App World is to pay the $1.99 (USD) and download Blaq.
This is actually the first app I ever paid for, and I haven't regretted it because I have kept using it for nearly eight months now. The thing is, I keep using it because I just can't anything better overall. Blaq has its shortcoming.
Replying
Last night I saw some people replying to someone else I follow. The individual was asking everyone who their favorite cell provider was. I couldn't find the original tweet. Just the responses. If I pressed on the response from another person I followed, a panel slides in from the right, and reveals the conversation. However, there doesn't seem to be any way that I can click on the originaler tweeter to then reply to.
When I clicked on the original poster's name from that panel, nothing would happen either. When I went to her profile from within Blaq, I found the tweet, but again, no option to respond to that.
Yes, I am aware I can just type in "@username" and give my response. But for those on proper apps, or using Twitter online, that would break the conversation. I ended scrolling down in in my main feed until I found the original tweet, hit reply, and responded.
Links
Something very, very inconsistent are the links. I've lost count as to how many times I've clicked on a link from within someone's tweet and nothing happened at all.
Other links, open within Blaq's browser, which is just a tiny window within the panel that slides in the right. Some links, open up in the PlayBook's default browser. Finally, the remaining of clicked links open within Blaq, but if it's just an image, it will pop up as an overlay, front and centre.
Are you confused? I know I am. It's frustrating.
Portrait View
I fear I am within a minority, which is why I feel I'm being overlooked. I absolutely love using the PlayBook in portrait mode. It's the size of a book, and the spacing on the keyboard when holding the tablet on it's side is just awesome to me. The spacing and size of the virtual keys couldn't get any better.
It took Blaq f--o-r-e-v-e-r to bring out the ability to use their app in portrait mode. When it did, I near dancing around the living room with glee.
Then I used it. Oh man, what a train-wreck. If you went to portrait, and then to horizontal, and back to portrait, the UI would break. Everything would go Piacsso. Then Blaq took it away!
For months I went without. Now with OS 2.0, they did some pretty major updates. Along with them, was portrait mode. And it works pretty good! ...But only in the Home and Mentioned feeds.
The moment you go into a search to find something, or see what's trending, you're screwed again. It kicks you out in horizontal mode, and going back to portrait won't always work.
Ugh. So close.
Search
I have no idea yet how to see what is trending just locally. Be it in Canada, Manitoba, or Winnipeg. If I'm missing something, by all means tell me. I'd love to know. Pavelec from our Winnipeg Jets was once trending after an amazing 7-0 game. I missed out because the trend never showed in Blaq.
Huge deal? No. But it would have been nice to have the option to switch.
Other Twitter Apps and why Blaq is still the best option
I have tried other options available. The other apps from BlackBerry App World just don't seem to compare well. They all have their shortcomings, and Blaq holds the least.
I side-loaded the official Twitter App for Android. I would say that app blows Blaq out of the water and is near perfect. However, it seems to be resource heavy, slower, and has often frozen my Android player, causing me to have to restart the PlayBook.
TweetCaster for Android (side-loaded) is also really, really nice. But I had run into the same issues with performance.
Conclusion
I'm hoping Blaq catches this blog post in the wind. I haven't seen many reviews for the app, so I figured I'd make use of my blog and share my two cents.
Despite my long post about the faults, this app is very good and has wonderful features. I'm just hoping the main aspects that bother me are patched up sooner than later.
If that official Twitter app for Android were to be ported over properly... Blaq is in trouble.
Not sure if it helps, but a long press on the reply icon gives the "Reply all" and a long press on retweet gives a "retweet with mods" option.. Just an FYI..
ReplyDeleteAlso, I have bar files for Android versions of Plume and Twitpal if you want to give them a spin..
Yup, I was aware of these! But doing the Reply All just includes both parties. If I wanted to reply only the original person who started the topic, and I wanted that conversation to carry though, it still won't work. Not unless, as said, I find the original tweet in my home screen and go from there.
DeleteI've contacted you regarding those apps. Thanks!
"... doesn't seem to be any way that I can click on the originaler tweeter to then reply to."
ReplyDeleteWe're working on this and should have something in soon. Bug fixes are the priority right now.
"Other links, open within Blaq's browser, which is just a tiny window within the panel that slides in the right. Some links, open up in the PlayBook's default browser. Finally, the remaining of clicked links open within Blaq, but if it's just an image, it will pop up as an overlay, front and centre."
If a link EVER opens in the PlayBook's browser, you tapped on it directly. If a link opens in the embedded viewer, it's an embeddable link and shows in the media viewer. Otherwise, it shows in the mini-browser.
If you don't care to open links in the mini-browser, always tap on the link directly.
"The moment you go into a search to find something, or see what's trending, you're screwed again. It kicks you out in horizontal mode, and going back to portrait won't always work."
Working on portrait views for Lists and Search. As for your screenshot, I was totally unaware of that. Thanks for pointing it out.
"I have no idea yet how to see what is trending just locally."
Also coming.
The reason the answer for many of these is "its coming" is we have to figure out where best to put things without cluttering the UI.
Hope this answers all your questions/concerns.
I very much appreciate your response!
DeleteThe link issue is still a little confusing to me. I understand some links are "embeddable"... But, for example: I clicked on a review by CNet. I tapped on the link, and it kept opening within the media view within Blaq. I clicked on a review by Engadget, and it opened in my browser.
It just feels to random. In my opinion, the only type of links that should open within the app are images. All others should open in the default browser. If that, at the very least, could be an option within the settings, I think it would clear up the issue.