Today marks the official launch of the Twitter® for BlackBerry® smartphones v1.1 application. This version – which our helpful BlackBerry Beta Zone users have been testing over the past six weeks – includes several new and exciting features, like adding a location to your Tweets and Push @Mentions. (Please note v1.1 will become available for download in BlackBerry App World™ over the next 24 hours. If you don’t see it listed immediately, please keep checking back!)
A big shout out to everyone who participated in the beta and provided their valuable feedback! Since the release of the beta version, the Twitter app team at Research In Motion® (RIM®) has been busy working on some additional improvements in response to feedback raised during the beta.
Let’s take a look at some of the new features in more detail so you can start using them!
Tweet Location
By enabling this feature, you can pinpoint your location in a neighborhood and include it your Tweets. To try out this feature, complete the following steps:
- Open Twitter for BlackBerry smartphones v1.1
- Press the Menu key and select Options
- Enable Add Location To Tweet and save your changes
After enabling this setting, you’ll notice a new compass icon that appears to the right of the photo icon below the Tweet box. To add your location, select this icon and your BlackBerry smartphone will determine where you are and add it to any new Tweets you submit. If you want to remove your location, simply select the icon again to disable this feature until you’re ready to use it again.
Viewing someone else’s location – if they have enabled this feature – is really easy too! All you need to do is select the location icon that appears in the bottom right corner of their tweet and a map view will open, allowing you to see where they were when they submitted that Tweet.
Other new features include Push @Mentions and #Topic Autocomplete, which were previously discussed in the Twitter v1.1 Beta post.
Refreshed Branding
We’ve made several changes to enhance the Twitter for BlackBerry smartphone experience, like updated graphics that reflect the new look of the Twitter brand and a streamlined layout of the Add Photo and Add Location icons on the Home screen.
Retweet Updates
The next time you Retweet something, it will appear in your Home timeline as ‘Retweeted by You’, to quickly alert you that your Retweet was sent successfully.
New language support
Twitter for BlackBerry smartphones now supports the following additional languages:
- Simplified Chinese
- Traditional Chinese
- Polish
- Czech
- Thai
We’ve also made several changes to address feedback that we received from BlackBerry Beta Zone users reported during the Twitter for BlackBerry smartphones v1.1 beta. One of the issues we’ve addressed is the “Unable to Find Location” error message that appeared whenever a user attempted to submit a new tweet. We’ve also made some changes to ensure that you don’t encounter any difficulties when attempting to shorten a URL you’d like to share, or that you don’t experience delays when opening the Twitter app on your BlackBerry smartphone.
We always welcome your feedback, so please post a comment and let us know what you think about the latest version of Twitter for BlackBerry smartphones!
