SheGeeks

Feedalizr, the first Friendfeed AIR app to be released, has released an update to their client. However, it’s a bit of a disappointment compared to Alert Thingy (app review), Twhirl (app review), and bTT (app review).

Changes

• Twitter integration
• Filtering options
• Comment/Like items

The Experience Sucks

Sorry to put it so frankly, but it does. You can now filter by name, date, and service. Unfortunately, the filtering options are very basic. For example, sorting items by service doesn’t give you the option of picking which services you’d like to see by themselves. I’m not exactly sure how to describe it, so you’ll have to check it out for yourself. Sorting by name filters the latest updates alphabetically by username.

Items that have new likes or comments are not filtered back to the top of the stream. Also, with the new update, Feedalizr is a serious memory hog. It’s currently using 72% of my resources as I type this post.

The Bright Side

Sharing an item to Friendfeed and Twittering using Feedalizr is simple and quick. You can easily reply to a Twitter message by clicking on the Twitter icon for an item. The username of the person who posted the Twitter item will pop up in a box at the top of the client. When posting a comment or like, the app will automatically refresh to display the new update. Still, as aforementioned, nothing new goes back to the top of the stream.

A Day Late, A Dollar Short

All in all, the upgrade is a let down and I’ll be uninstalling it sometime today. It lags behind its competition tremendously. What are your thoughts on Feedalizr?

Popularity: 11% [?]

bTT is a remake of bTittleTattle, one of the first Friendfeed desktop apps to be released. Developed by Sobees, they’ve taken some huge hints and integrated Twitter into bTT and also made some changes.
     

Improvements

• Improved UI redesign
• Font adjustment options
• Sort by service options
• Show/Hide comments
• Twitt It/Friendfeed It
• No duplicates (yay!)
• Slideshow view for pictures
• Wide view/ Slim view

     

First, let me state that there is an update to bTittleTattle. However, even though bTT is a remodel of bTittleTattle, you have to download bTT separately.
     

User Interface

The user interface is much better this time around! Steven Hodson is going to love the option to resize the font. Everything shows up pretty much like it would on Friendfeed. New comments and liked items are properly sorted back to the top of the window with the most recent comment shown first. You have the option of hiding comments and you can also adjust how many comments are shown. Posting a comment from the client is simple enough. However, to see a comment you just made you have to refresh the window.
    

Sorting Services and Twitter

The sort by service feature organizes the services in alphabetical order. I’m noting this because in other apps that sort by service, the services are arranged in the most chaotic way.

For the Twitter service, bTT shows the difference between where the updates are coming from by highlighting Twitter updates in sky blue, while Twitter updates through Friendfeed follow the standard color scheme, black. Unfortunately, replying back to someone is a bit of a problem as bTT doesn’t show the users Twitter handle. Also, there’s no way to reply back to a Twitter message that shows up via Friendfeed. Standard comments and likes do apply. This is a bit odd to me. What’s the point in integrating Twitter if users can’t reply back or even DM someone properly and easily?
     

Flickr Slideshow

One of the coolest features that bTT has over the other Friendfeed/Twitter clients is the slideshow presentation of flickr photos that’s shown when more than one has been posted. Take a look at the screenshot below.

There are buttons to the left and right of pictures if more than one has been found. Clicking on an image opens a preview of the image right next to bTT. Is that not the coolest little trick? =D
      

Alerts and Search

I love their update alerts. The alerts let you know how many new items, comments, and likes have been added. I think that was a pretty cool layout instead of the standard "4 new updates" alerts. It keeps me informed of when I should check back on bTT and when I can put it off a little longer. Their search, or filter, feature is just grand! I was surprised to see even my direct messages on Twitter pulled into bTT and highlighted in a pretty ugly green color. Still, bTT has one of the most solid search/filter features for Friendfeed that I’ve seen to date.
     

A Solid Client

As a Friendfeed desktop client, I’d honestly choose bTT over the rest. Twhirl and Alert Thingy are too buggy for me. bTT is running flawlessly and isn’t sucking up any resources. The only things I would request at this point are the ability to easily reply back to twitter messages and a way to tab through older items. If they integrate these features, they can get an awesomesauce approval with flying colors. A huge kudos to Allen Stern of CenterNetworks for the update on bTT!

Popularity: 17% [?]

Both Alert Thingy and, very recently, Twhirl, have pushed out grand updates for both Twitter/Friendfeed desktop clients. However, I’m utterly disappointed in them both.
      

Alert Thingy Updates

• Twitter and Friendfeed updates in the same window
• Twitter integration
• Flickr integration
• More themes
• TinyURL integration

Ok great. These are all really neat integrations. Regardless of all of these new features, there are still many of the same bugs in Alert Thingy. Screw the integration of all these other apps! How about fixing the client UI cut off that occurs if an item in Friendfeed is too wide?! How about fixing the fact that when you’re typing something in Alert Thingy and an update comes along, what you were typing is completely thrown out the window?

Twhirl Updates

• New UI Design
• Separation of your items, friend items, and everyone’s items
• Search
• User Lookup

UI and performance issues with Twhirl haven’t been fixed yet either and the majority of the problems I’m having relate to my Friendfeed account. The new version freezes up now more than ever. The scrollbar and showing of updates is still wacky and occasionally out of sync. However, the Twhirl team did fix the issue of items not completely clearing when you click the trash icon to remove everything out of the window and updated items are moved back to the top of the window.I happen to actually like the redesign and addition of tabs instead of a drop down menu for everything.

Why am I so disappointed?

I feel that the additional features can come later. Fix the bugs first. None of these features are worth a dime of my time if I can’t even use the basics of the client first and foremost. What’s so hard to understand about that? Why doesn’t that come first? I don’t mean to be harsh because both apps are decent, but I’m the user that’s more concerned with ironing out the kinks rather than adding more to the bandwagon. Don’t pile new things on top just to hide or distract from other problems. In doing so, the whole bandwagon will eventually break.

Popularity: 8% [?]