With Microsoft desperately trying to make Windows Phone into a real competitor for Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android, the platform finds itself suffering the same issues that Android was lamented for during its infancy – a severe lack of quality apps.
We’d wager that it’s not so much the actual number of available apps that is important, but rather the availability of a few core apps. Apps that we all want or need, and that are either missing completely with Windows Phone, or are just severely lacking in the quality department.
One just situation is Twitter. With the official Windows Phone version of Twitter being somewhat lackluster just like the rest of the official releases, Windows Phone 7 owners have found themselves bereft of quality alternatives. Owners of iPhones find themselves inundated with choices, with Twitter apps literally falling over each other on the App Store. Android is beginning to catch up too, but if you’re a Windows Phone 7 user then you’re somewhat out of luck.
Until now.
The new kid on the block goes by the name of Carbon, and if initial reports and first impressions are anything to go by, then this might just be the quality Twitter app that Windows Phone has been crying out for.
Costing $1.99, it’s true that there are free alternatives out there, but the world of apps is very much the same as the real world – if you want quality, sometimes you just have to stump up the cash for it.
Carbon offers some of the features that users of top-notch iOS apps have been experiencing for some time. In-line images are there, along with the option to use multiple accounts and Instapaper/Read it Later support. Threaded Direct Messages are in there, too. The current feature list really is quite extensive.
- Full inline Pictures on the Timeline(needs to be enabled from settings)
- Double Tap on tweets for quickly replying to tweets without the need to leave timelines
- Quickline: A swiss army timeline for accessing all kinds of timelines from Lists, Retweets, Saved Searches.
- Live Ties for every account, pinnable to the Home Screen with Mentions & Direct Messages background checks
- Compose Tile, pinning a compose tile on the Home Screen for a speedy tweet composition
- Search Tiles, pin a #hashtag or keywords to your home screen for quick access to a search timeline
- Threaded Direct Messages View
- And of course, Bit.ly Pro URL shortening, Read Later support(Instapaper & Read It Later) and a lot more…
There is more to come, too. Push notifications are planned, though they may be a little ways off just yet. Numerous fixes are also penciled in alongside extra features, too.
In its current state, Carbon looks to be a great start and considering the developer’s aims going forward, the app certainly looks like it is going to be one to watch during 2012.
Carbon for Windows Phone can be downloaded from the Marketplace.
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