One of the first things I did when I got my Palm Pre unwrapped and charged up was to find a Twitter client for it. Mostly because I wanted to test the QWERTY keypad on the device but also because I do a lot of Tweeting and wanted to start running, this led to Tweed by Pivotal Labs. The version currently running on the Palm Pre is version 0.9.16. The Tweed blog tells us version 1.1.1 is available in the App Catalog however the only version available when I access the App Catalog is 0.9.16 talked about here – this could be because Tweed became a paid app from v1.0.0 however in the UK there does not currently appear to be access to the paid App Catalog.

The Palm Pre uses the concept of cards for running applications, imagine laying out playing cards, in a row, on a desk surface and each card has a different function, and you will get the idea. This way multiple applications can run simultaneously and if you have multiple Twitter accounts each user account will run in its own card space.

Once Tweed is loaded you can create your user accounts by tapping the Tweed Application Menu area and selecting Preferences & Accounts. At the bottom of this area you can add additional accounts which require you entering your Twitter username and password then signing in to Twitter. In this section you can also select a Twitter account to use as default.

Once signed in the Tweed screen has several information area. In the heading bar is your user account name and your Twitter user ID which, when tapped, leads you to a number of options I will mention shortly.

The next section allows you to search for Tweets – although I still keep forgetting and think this allows me to enter new Tweets. Entering new Tweets is actually performed by tapping the speech bubble on the bottom left of the display, and a refresh area is located on the bottom right. Dragging around the screen allows scrolling to see earlier Tweets. Tweets are delivered in bunches to keep traffic down so the further back you want to go the more API requests the application will have to make.

When adding a new Tweet you can start entering your 140 character text into the ample text field, plus you can also insert your current location, add an image (either take a new photo or select a photo from the image roll), and there is a URL button but it’s not completely clear what this button does. Once your Tweet is ready tap the Tweet! button and off you go.

Back to the navigation bar from the header section. Tapping your User ID brings up a menu allowing the choice of Home, Trending Topics, Favorites, Direct Messages, @yourusername, My Tweets, Bookmarks, Nearby and Public which are all pretty self explanatory.

One of the key features of Tweed occurs when you tap an existing Tweet which brings up a menu showing options including Favorite-Verb, Reply, Retweet, Conversation, Mark, and a list of any mentioned usernames or URL’s in the Tweet which adds a good amount of intuitiveness to the user experience.

On the whole, Tweed does the job, and it does it well. It will be very interesting to see what new features and functionality the paid version brings to the Twitter experience.

For more information visit the Tweed home page.