If there’s one thing that the Android community can’t get enough of, it’s Twitter applications. A new Twitter application launches about once per month, each one bringing more features and faster updates than the previous, driving competition to an all time high. Recognized studio OneLouder brings us their new look into Twitter, and how they want discovery, live feeds, and the breakdown into categories to be the new norm.
Welcome to the Pulse News of Twitter
If you’ve tried every Twitter application out there you know that nearly every one of them is the same; they offer you your tweets in a simple manner fed to you with a single feed, without any options to assist you in discovering upcoming, hot, or already established news sources. This is where Slices changes the whole game. Reminiscent of Pulse News, Slices aims to break down Twitter into simple categories which lets users track down the best of each to tailor to your liking. Groups such as Humor, music, gaming, technology, and many more are all brought to you in a fast and beautiful interface.
Further broken down into subcategories, each explore feed provides the users with means of easily navigating and following new sources to further fine-tune the Slices experience. While the application has only been out for a few hours, you can already tell how populated each category is with quality users to follow and manage.
The user interface we wish every app had
While most applications are starting to update to an Ice Cream Sandwich and Jelly Bean optimized interfaces, OneLouder took the extra step to launch their new product with beauty focused at the core. Navigating around the application is simple and natural thanks to the layout and custom design. Picking up where other clients left off, OneLouder adds quick and easy access to every current feature of twitter without having to leave your current feed; instead of navigating around an application to various windows just to check a quick mention or direct message, you can open them right on top of the current window.
Tapping on the top left icon brings you to the main menu of the application, boasting a brilliant UI for quickly searching, exploring new topics, going to a specific feed ( or “Slice” ), managing your various Twitter accounts, and adjusting the application’s settings all in a central location.
Our only issue with the application is the lack of full-tablet support. Smaller tablets like the Nexus 7 are perfect for navigating the portrait-oriented design; however, larger 10″ tablets are left in the dust (since used mostly in landscape) due to the entire UI simply stretching. Hopefully the website will be usable from the larger tablets to provide us with an equally great looking UI.
“Slicing your timeline into groups that YOU define”
Being the main focus of the application, just what does it do? Slices are groups that are defined by you, but recommended by OneLounder – meaning that each Slice is a feed that is pulled from your current timeline, but simply broken down so you can keep track of a specific set of events, type of news, or group of users you follow. While this might seem unnecessary, as the point of Twitter is a central hub for news, the feature makes following events enjoyable.
For example, following your normal technology feed from various news websites and writers, then switching to a custom Slice defined by you to listen to news focused specifically on the Olympics to read without having technology news and advertising filling your feed. I’m still building my Slice library, but without a doubt this will become my standard client for Twitter on my mobile device.
Overall, is it worth it?
While the application is still in its early stages, Slices is boasting the most feature filled Twitter application on the market: while being completely free (with an upgradable ad-free version coming later). The application will have its own website which syncs with your current Slices setup, meaning that you will be able to have an interface designed by you accessible anywhere. The website is still currently in Beta and not available just yet but should be in the near future. If you want more information sign up on the Slices for Twitter website to keep up to date.
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