New Twitter, version 2.0, available in the Beta Zone

If you’re a Twitter for BlackBerry user, you might have noticed that the app updated recently. That was just a standard update that you’ll get from time to time as RIM fixes bugs and hones features. Not long after that last update, RIM is demoing a newer Twitter platform, version 2.0. It’s a beta run, but it does look a bit different than the Twitter for BlackBerry you’ve come to know over the past year or so. It includes a few significant UI changes, which, in my opinion, make the app quite a bit better than the previous versions. You’ll notice right from the screenshot that the tweet stream looks a bit different. That’s because they’ve changed the color scheme to match Twitter, rather than the strangeness that was the blue/green combination in previous Twitter for BlackBerry versions. I dig, since it’s a minimalistic design. Two other aspects of the design also changed. First is the nav bar, which is a bit streamlined. You have easily recognizable buttons for home, mentions, messages, lists, search, and compose. The compose button appears on every screen, so you don’t have to return home, or scroll through the menu, in order to tweet. The other addition is a notifications bar atop the screen. Previously there was just the Twitter header, but now you can see when you have new email, BBM, etc. right from the app. Feature-wise, the only real new addition is single-screen search, which replaced the dual search and people search options from the previous version. Again, this helps cut down on clutter and creates an easy place to search for anything. If you’re a Twitter for BlackBerry user, I see no reason to avoid this upgrade. Just head to blackberry.com/beta to sign in or sign up for your free account. This beta is available to everyone.

About the Author

Joe Pawlikowski is the Senior Editor at MobileMoo.com and has been covering the mobile industry full time since 2007. When he's not writing about the tech scene, he can be found discussing his personal love - baseball (and more specifically the New York Yankees) as well as writing on his personal blog.