Falcon for Twitter – one powerful Twitter widget for your homescreen
by Paul Wilks
Nov 13, 2012 8:09 AM –
Install
Falcon for Twitter is a powerful Twitter client that lives on your homescreen. Boasting rich functionality along with customisation and a highly responsive UI, it’s a good alternative to normal Twitter apps and looks great. Falcon is, quite simply, the most feature-rich Twitter widget available.
Price: Free, $1.99 (Donate)
Tested on: HTC One X
Content Rating: Low Maturity
Pros & Cons:
Pros
- Great UI!
- Incredibly fast and responsive!
- Most of the features you would expect to find in a proper Twitter app!
- Free and ad-free!
Features:
Falcon for Twitter is a Twitter widget, that’s to say it isn’t a full ‘app’ as you would expect in conventional terms. So when you open the app from the app draw, all you get is a detailed and smooth tutorial. To use the app you have to install it on your homescreen. The entire interface takes place in the widget, although some features create pop-out pages for viewing. What significantly sets the app apart however is the fact it pretty much includes all the features you would expect to find in a more familiar ‘app’. These features include:
- Favourites
- Lists
- Search functionality
- Tab between timeline, mentions and new tweet
- Fast access to direct messages
- Themes
- Trends
Now, I think for most users needs this is pretty comprehensive and, as this is all contained within one widget, highly convenient for fast Tweeting on the go. The widget is smooth and beautifully scrollable too so it’s a nice experience to use rather than the way some apps can feel clunky.
Another great feature is the level of customisation you can add to the mix, it is a widget after all and it needs to be able to fit in with its homescreen environment. Thankfully then you can alter the theme a great deal; layout, text size, theme, text color, links color and time & date format.
What you essentially get with Falcon for Twitter is a widget that performs as well as, if not better, than most full Twitter clients. It’s fast, easy to use, customisable and includes most of the features you might need. I think some people might decry the lack of multi-account support but you can’t please everyone.
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Falcon – Flip between mentions and your timeline effortlessly
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Falcon – Light theme
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Falcon – Translucent theme
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Falcon – Smooth scrolling
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Falcon – Post new tweet
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Falcon – Post pictures easily
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Falcon – Load tweets
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Falcon – Log in page
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Falcon – Settings
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Falcon – Sync and notifications settings
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Falcon – In-widget Settings
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Falcon – Display settings
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Falcon – User experience settings
Usefulness:
If perhaps you prefer the lightness of a Twitter client over the occasionally more sluggish apps, Falcon for Twitter is as feature-packed and useful as you can find elsewhere. It lacks the multi-user support that I often hear is so ‘crucial’ to some users, but I would wager for most people this wouldn’t matter a jot. With all the functionality you find in most other Twitter clients, in a smooth and responsive widget, it’s definitely worth a try.
Ease of Use:
Settings menus, etc. are of standard fare and I was quite impressed to see the number of features this little widget actually includes, indeed it even out performs more dedicated apps. It’s incredibly smooth to use and responsive- no jittering or sluggishness. Switching between things like your timeline, mentions and direct messages is practically seamless.
Frequently Used:
As a homescreen widget it’s right there, perhaps a swipe away, whenever you need it so, if you’re a big tweeter, it’s an excellent solution as it’s quick to enter. Of course, however, it also depends how often you use Twitter as a social network generally.
Interface:
Very smooth, customisable and it follows the slick Google Holo ethic of looking good as well as functional. You seem to automatically know how things work and the UI contributes significantly to that immediate familiarity.