Quick App: phnx beta [video] 31
Sat, 15 Jan 2011 7:50 pm EST
We’ll be honest, we kind of dig the way Windows Phone 7 looks. The typography-oriented interface just tickles the right part of our fancy. Apparently it does the same for webOS developer Pretty App Machine, who recently released a new beta Twitter client called phnx (as in phoenix). It’s a simple, lightweight client that comes with a very Windows Phone 7 vibe, though it’s still a work in progress.
The launch view for phnx is your main Twitter feed, with a side-scrolling text navigation bar at the top giving you the options of home, mentions, and messages. You can tap between the three, or just swipe left and right over the tweets to switch views. Tapping on a tweet brings a pop-over panel with options to reply, retweet (with options for quick and edit-and-retweet), and mark as a favorite.
We like that phnx has implemented two methods for starting a new tweet. You can merely tap on the “+” button in the lower right corner, or just start typing. It’s a paradigm for webOS, and we’re glad to see more apps picking it up. phnx does support multiple accounts, accessed through the drop-down app menu. It also supports rudimentary color-based theming. This is an early beta for phnx, so it’s pretty feature-light right now (we just love the interface), lacking notifications, profile and conversation views, picture viewing and uploads, search, and many other advanced Twitter features. But for a basic Twitter client, phnx is pretty compelling, if rough around a few edges. But it’s a first beta release, so we don’t expect perfection just yet. Video after the break.
31 Comments
Typical...As soon as I jump ship over to Android (I swear its only temporary) and give my Pre to my fiance...they release the next great twitter app.
I'll be back...I promise
I use the beta, and I think this is the prettiest front-end for any Twitter client. If it picks up all the features above like it should, then this will be the best Twitter client for HP webOS.
I must say this is by far the best twitter application to date even before the rest of the features are implemented. Please let me know if you need donations I will def be donating. Also to the developer maybe you could start a handfull of usefull applications utilizing this type of WP7 interface, and add a donation post in the forums, I believe people will donate too.
In which App Catalog can I find this App?
Preware.
If you back swipe it will also bring up your accounts. That way you don't always have to pull down the menu. Great for those who have multiple accounts.
Beat me to it :)
Ofcoarse it looks good it's the newest child of the digloo(rip) developer.
I'm lovin it. Between this and carbon badkitty has some speedy twitter app competition!
I tell you, something has been strange with the commenting system here on Precentral lately. I had a similar problem yesterday on the WebOS Notebook article. Now I am on a completely different computer at work and see the same problem.
There is the usual link under the article title that says "8 comments", but when you click the link you jump down under the article body and it says "There are no comments here yet."
edit: I see a pattern now. No comments appear until I post something. Then all of the comments come back.
Looks really nice.
But how would you delete an entry (with swipe being used to switch the views)?
I don't do twitter but suppose that there is no possibility to delete tweets. Meaning it is not a problem here. But it would be for other apps using such a WindowsPhone7 like interface?!
Kinks. Ironing.
Tap on your tweet, then tap the garbage can icon. Tweet deleted. Or are you asking if your typing then dont want it how do you get rid of it? Just back swipe.
What does "typography-oriented interface" mean?
You can also swipe backwards to bring up the account switch "sidebar." A VERY nice gesture, indeed.
It's definitely easier to back gesture than to bring up the app menu and select "Accounts"; however I'm not sure if everyone will think to do that. Most of the time the back gesture on the home screen of an app will cause the app to minimize. I know I didn't find it until the dev told me about it.
My suggestion to the dev was to allow the user to swipe left to right on the screen (while viewing the Home panel) to display the Accounts bar on the left side of the screen. That's the first thing I tried when I used the "Accounts" app menu item.
wow, I didn't know about using the back gesture to switch accounts. NICE!!! I think it would be the app would benefit from some sort of in app help, but I know this is still a beta.
I have been using this app for 60 entire seconds and I am IN LOVE
am I the only one who HATES the way Windows Phone 7 OS looks?
I don't particularly like the look of WP7. The user interface is very monotone and appears flat. Things just don't pop out, especially on the phone's home screen. I just can't get into panels with single colors. It's very boring.
But for some reason, I think the combination of the WP7-like scrolling panels and the other UI elements (Accounts panel, semi-transparent buttons at the bottom, new message panel, etc.) seems to work in this app.
One thing I appreciate is when someone tries something different with their UI. The webOS style UI is nice and all, but seeing it in most every other app can get a bit redundant. So it's nice when devs step outside of the boundary a little. For those familiar with my apps you know I try do that myself.
he should also consider bringing up the other accounts with a right swipe while on the Home feed.
Anybody know of a widget-like app for WebOS? I have the Evo and the widgets are a key keeper for me. If they get this feature, i may come back, but it'd depend on how well QuickOffice interfaces with GoogleDocs to really get me back.
... oh, and 4g of course. I doubt the new phones wont have these things, but i really want something like LauncherPro for Android with widget functionality to be lured again.
Come on HP!
I'm getting an iPhone when it gets widgets and 4g.
wow. looks awesome!
This is currently my favorite twitter app. I like the fact that it so light weight and fast. Hopefully additional features don't make it boggy like other twitter apps for webOS.
I love me some Bad Kitty... but this looks damn sexy.
Apps like this, Bad Kitty, Music Player Remix, NAN Player and some others, prove that you can have some truly unique and creative apps with a little skill and creativity. The fact that phnx can bring such a smooth interpretation of the "metro" ui is amazing.
Then you have other apps like Facebook, Foursquare, and even the new Koto player which demonstrate a quality app within the mojo framework. Either way, good stuff. :)
theres something wrong with this website. it shows 26 comments but i only see two also i wanted to complain about how wm7 has 6000 apps already and we are still stuck on 5100. that really pisses me off.....
This, upon completion, will give Bad Kitty, (current champ) a run for it's money. Can't wait to see the end product. Really like the UI.
Wow. This is awesome. Just downloaded and already I'm considering replacing Bad Kitty with this as my go-to Twitter app. A bit more feature completion and I will make the switch permanently.
I think it can implement multiple accounts simultaneously, as testhope.com put it
This one looks good. But I get the feeling the developers said "Hey, let's make a WP7 UI clone because we think it looks good".
Don't get me wrong, it's nothing against this app. But somehow it feals just wrong in WebOS because it's a complete different set of UI Elements. I think it would be more at home on a WP7 device; or they should use webOS UI elements; but not a WP7-looking app for webOS.