Today I’d like to try a new type of post – one where we all ‘review’ a twitter tool at the one time. My hope is that our collective knowledge, experience and opinions will help us all get a fair and balanced opinion of the tools. I also hope that developers of these tools will benefit from our constructive feedback also.
The tool I’ve chosen for our first group review is a Twitter client called Toro .
Toro (it’s in beta) is described as ‘Toro is a Twitter client that is made to be simple. Toro is currently using an experimental Twitter client library that removes the Twitter API limit.’
It is an AIR application (so you’ll need to install that before you set up Toro).
I’ve only just downloaded it but it is being described in tweets I’ve seen about it as a ‘lighter’ and simpler alternative to TweetDeck. My initial tweets have all worked and I’m seeing regular updates coming in. There is an Unlimited API call on this application which will make it attractive to heavy Twitter users.
Feature wise it all looks fairly standard – there are tabs for ‘Recent’ (those you follow), ‘Public’ (everyone), ‘Friends’ (for your friends profiles – seems to be limited to 180), ‘Replies’ (to see recent replies to you) and ‘Search’ (to search tweets). You can Tweet from the bottom of any of these tabs.
Also interesting is that Toro has an inbuilt ‘feedback’ area where users get two votes for every new version released. They can use those votes to vote on what the next new feature of Toro should be.
I’m looking forward to testing Toro over the next few hours but am also looking forward to your reviews of it in comments below (or feel free to tweet or blog your reviews – just leave a link to them in comments below so we can all read them).
OK, I’m giving it a try. No-hassle download so far.
Easy to install. Already like the way new tweets are delivered. Like the ability to see the public stream without going directly to Twitter. Kind of liked the ability to categorize tweeps that TweetDeck offered but have found the app cumbersome overall, so maybe Toro will ease some of those issues for me. Time and tweeting will tell!
Trying it and running it at the same time as tweetdeck on my laptop to check response time.
First, thanks for including my tweet in your screenshot. Second although Toro aesthetically looks nice, based on the feedback area, it is deficient in too many must haves: follow/unfollow, dm, favorites, retweets. Once they add this “hygiene”, I will consider it. Until then, I am sticking with Twhirl.
Here is a direct link to the .air file for those who can’t install through the browser:
http://www.gen-6.com/toro/release/Toro.air
My Toro review will be coming soon
Ok, fast learner that I am: Like the speed of Toro over TweetDeck but agree w/Warren, not having follow/unfollow, dm and retweets is a big downside. Also miss the ability to create a tiny URL.
Like the simplicity…disabled the notification sounds after 3 minutes. Other than that, not bad.
This is a very timely post for me, Darren, as I’ve been wondering whether I should be using one of these programs (or any others that might be out there). Have experienced only tweetdeck so far.
I’m actually running three at once. Twhirl, Toro and Twitterfox. Toro does seem lighter and faster. Of the three, Twitterfox is the slowest. Going to have to run with it for a while. Seems like it might be good.
Thanks Darren!
Tom
Really love the feedback ‘votes’ system, and wish other companies (cough, Apple, cough) would incorporate that into their development cycle. As for Toro, love the unlimited calls, love the plain/simple look, and love the compact tab navigation service. Don’t know if it will replace TweetDeck, but it might be a formidable Twhirl competitor…
http://twitter.com/coryobrien
Nice find I am testing Toro so far I like Tweetdeck better so far… http://srnk.net/cHzvp
not too bad so far… i dont like notifications being in the top left of screen.
Takes 60 seconds to install – looks very sexy.
Very basic and easy to use – perfect for those getting their feet wet. Looks like they have a good start but are missing several “must have” features for professionals:
Follow/unfollow with one click
Sending direct messages
Drilling down on user profiles without having to open up Twitter.com
Organizing groups of friends (love this about TweetDeck).
1-Click Retweets
Can’t compete with iTweet and TweekDeck, but I will be using this for a few days… be back with more thoughts.
John
Darren, when you first just mentioned Toro on Twitter, I went ahead and downloaded it. First impressions are that it’s not bad, although I would prefer the layout to be sorted a little. Mind you, I may be used to TweetDeck and the way it works! …Hmm!
One of the things I’m not impressed/happy with is the fact we can’t disable the public tab up (For example!), one of the reasons being that not everyone wants to read what the whole Twitterverse is saying! – Something like that should be optional, and I hope that it does become optional!
In the meantime though, I think I’ll stick to Twittering over on TweetDeck.
Thanks
Mark
After trying Toro for a while, I think I’ll be sticking with Twhirl for now.
Toro’s settings are very limited, and isn’t nearly as customizable as Twhirl is. I saw a lot of the options I wanted in the “feedback” section, but there’s no telling how long those will take to be released.
Twhirl lets you @reply, DM and RT right from that person’s tweet, where as Toro only lets you @reply. Toro is a decent client, but I’m sticking with Twhirl until a later Toro release
I know that it is still in beta, but at this point it doesn’t give me everything that TweetDeck does. I do like the tabs however, that is better than the multiple panes in TweetDeck.
Thanks to all the commenters and of course Darren for all the reviews. I was using ( up untill im submitting this comment) Twhirl and i hate it….
After reading some of the comments, I don’t forsee me downloading this app. I was interested in the unlimited API… but I do like/need the @/DM features.
I don’t like it. The interface is simpler but I prefer Twhirl, not only is it cuter but the placement of the alerts don’t distract me as much as Toro’s when I’m working.
Definitely looks like a PC app compared to Twitterific.
I like the Friends tab as a way to see what/when each one has as their last update. I also like the built in shortening function for URL’s – is this common in other twitter clients and I’ve just missed it?
automatic installation in less than 1 minute under ubuntu – i am used to some more initial work to be done. fine lightweight. miss some features w/warren. not yet to replace tweetdeck, but i will keep an eye on toro’s performance and development.
I like the compact size and the tabs. If they add in the Follow/Nofollow and Retweet it would be better.
I don’t like the notifications either, tweetdecks are better placed.
This one has good potential though.
Thank you to everyone for the comments. Toro is a pretty early beta app and I am working on adding the features you all have been commenting on. What you see is definitely not the finished product. Thank you for the review, Darren!
Hrm, are Adobe Air apps not picked up by Growl?
It a good program but juts how you say might be its juts inm development so we will have to wait to see whit what else it coming whit in futures development.
Darren
I saw your Tweet about Toro so installed it on my Eee PC 1000H – works a treat. I like its simple, small-screen interface, and it is very responsive and up to date with the Twitter streams always coming in quickly.
I prefer TweetDecks GUI and look and feel but Toro seems better suited to small screen environments like my Eee – having said that I find I always end up mainly back on the http://twitter.com web site Tweeting from there most of time.
I’ll keep Toro installed and use it from time to time. Just out of interest I’ve subscribed to the comments on a great post on Twitter by Brian Solis over at http://www.briansolis.com/2008/10/twitter-tools-for-community-and.html?ext-ref=comm-sub-email I noticed one just came in about another tool called http://www.feedalizr.com/ so I’m checking that out too.
Pros: I like that it removes the API Limit. I also like that it has a popup with the full tweet, so I can read each one as it pops up.
Cons: It lacks many of the features of other apps. Like a retweet option, groups, DM.
Honestly for me Tweet Deck has been my favorite. If it could add just the 2 good features from Toro it would be the ultimate app for Twitter.