Ocell

The number of applications to manage our Twitter account on mobiles with Windows Phone 7 is enormous, and continues to grow over time despite the radical API changes that their owners apply from time to time.

However, today I have the satisfaction of bringing an application that came to me through a private invitation to its Beta, and that has become, without a doubt, the preferred Twitter client on my phone.

Application settings

The first thing that stands out is that it is quite fast and very Metro Modern UI, maintaining absolute consistency with the rest of the operating system. The size of the font and the images of the avatars is correct, and it allows you to configure it.

The latter is the second thing that stands out, the configuration capabilities that are quite extensive Not only can I choose the size of the source, but also the pattern of the background. The columns that I want to be able to see on the front page of the application, including my account lists, be able to continue reading from the last read position, geo tag my posts or show RTs in the mentions column. Of course it uses the capabilities of the live tiles and allows me to anchor in the main menu of the phone not only the access to the application but also a direct access to write a new twit.

Account management doesn't have much more to say than most similar clients don't include, allowing Push notifications for app Live Tile updates, and Windows alert messages Phone at the top of the screen.

Within the configuration I loved the option, very WhatsApp, of being able to silence an account for a specific period of time Like this I don't have to unfollow or block him, to take a breather at a particularly loquacious moment on a topic that doesn't interest me.

Finally, we can use the Pocket and InstantPaper deferred reading services, identifying ourselves with our accounts, if the information accumulates and we want to review it when we have more time.

Using Ocell as primary client

At first glance it is a Twitter application like any other, but the sum of small details make up a set of characteristics that I have not found gathered in any othersoftware.

For example, being able to follow conversations in a comfortable way, being able to share a Twitter account through any of the email services that I have registered on my phone (Hotmail, Gmail, etc.), being able to search for a specific user to be able to access his file or contact him.

And two things I've never come across, which doesn't mean they don't exist. The first is that I can filter a column and store those filters. For example, from a User or Text that contains a specific word and in a range of dates. The second feature ">

Of course all normal actions like write, reply, retweet with and without comment, block, mute or delete are implemented. But there are improvements included in the user experience that make it even more attractive, such as when we open a tweet we see a carousel of avatars of all the users who have retweeted the entry - being able to access their profiles - and that below we can see the attached image.

Direct access to the developer, an added value

One of the negative effects of having so many applications doing the same, in an early adopter like the one who writes these lines, is that I have gone from one to another continuously without finding one that covered all my needs. In addition to being totally oblivious to the process of development and evolution of the products that, as in the case of TweetDeck, has led them to a dead end (or almost).

In this case I can proudly say, as an editor of XatakaWindows, that the author of Ocell is a partner of this medium, Guillermo JuliánGiving a clear measure of the level of the people who write in this blog and the confidence that our readers can have in the knowledge of those of us who write the articles.

On the other hand, having direct access to the developer and promoter of this application, like all of us who are using it, allows us to make specific requests or comment on errors and incidents that are quickly resolved.

Finally, it should be noted that the application is not only totally free, but also Open Source following an ASL license . And, by contacting the author, you can access the GitHub account where the complete code is.

In short, a very good Twitter client that has become my personal favorite application on Windows Phone 7.

More information | Ocell in the MarketPlace