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OK so maybe a quantum leap is a bit over the top but this update to the official Twitter App on Windows Phone is a significant update to the previous iteration.  The other reason I am excited by this update is the prospect that maybe, just maybe, Twitter might just blow us all away when they release the official Windows 8 Twitter App.  If this Windows Phone version is any indication they have really paid attention to details.  If they put this type of work into the official Windows 8 App then they will bring us a great Twitter experience.

You can read the official Twitter blog post announcing the update and the app is available for WP7, WP7.5 and WP8 from the Windows Phone Store.

Here is a tour around the new app thanks to a bunch of screenshots – enjoy.

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The initial start up experience before you enter your account info.
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Your mentions column. Just tap on a tweet to expand it and see more info about it. To refresh any timeline just pull down and release to refresh it.
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Your followers listing.
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Your profile which you can also edit in the phone app. Tap on the different labels to access those items.
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Trending Topics.
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Lock screen showing a push notification along the top and the lock screen notification along the bottom.
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Notifications settings. The last three drop boxes have the option you see plus Off and From anyone.
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Draft Tweets? Indeed!
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Find your draft tweets on your Profile towards the lower part of the screen.
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Your drafts will be listed like this.
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Options for retweeting either with the standard Twitter RT or by quoting.
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Additional options for sharing the tweet include just copying the link, mailing it to someone via email and texting the tweet.
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SkyDrive inline image viewing.
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Twitter Pic service inline image viewing.
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TwitPic inline image viewing.
Instagram inline image viewing. You got it – it does not work!

All in all a great version 2.0 and the speed/responsiveness is excellent.

A couple of items that could still be changed to tweak the app a bit:

  • Offer a dark theme to go along with the light one. The current Official Windows TweetDeck Program already does this.
  • As noticed by one of my Twitter followers, Jeremy Harris (@Fullmetal1986), the translation option is no longer available in this update.  Since Twitter is a global network it would be handy to have accessible.

What do you think of the new official Windows Phone Twitter App? Any recommendations that you would make to improve it?