Twitter has proved to be an efficient method for users to communicate with one another in 140 characters, so it's logical that third-party developers have created a sea of apps to keep conversations flowing when users are away from the PC. Twitter has crafted first-party apps for a variety of mobile phones, including the Apple iPhone, but it left a space for third parties to thrive by opting not to develop its own iPad app.
That changed, however, with the Thursday introduction of Twitter for iPad.
The free Twitter for iPad app expands the functionality of previous iPhone Twitter clients by introducing "Panes," or fly-out panels that offer a spacious reading experience without blocking your feed. When you tap a tweet, a separate panel slides in from the right side of the screen, which displays a user's most recent update, bio, Web site link, number of followers, the number of people that person follows, and other typical Twitter information. The app also lists a handful of similar Twitter users who might be worth following. Although Panes take up a sizable portion of on-screen real estate, it's still quite easy to follow the main Twitter feed.
Opened links (Web pages, photos, video) appear in-line within a Pane, and you can jump between them by tapping arrow buttons on the bottom. Keeping the media central to the app greatly improves the user experience.
Twitter for iPad, naturally, incorporates gestures. Placing two fingers on a tweet and pulling it downward lets you view other messages in a conversation, eliminating the need to hunt for each thread entry. Placing two fingers together and spreading them apart opens a window that displays an abbreviated user profile.
Twitter for iPad has the potential to be a premier Twitter app. For more details, see PCMag's full review of Twitter for iPad.