I’ve been a fan of Twitter for a long time, and I’ve used the main web site, various apps on Mac OSX and several apps on my iPhone.  I keep trying new apps but I always end up back with one of the first apps I ever bought for my iPhone.  I primarily access Twitter from my iPhone.   I guess it’s because the “small format” of twitter is perfectly suited to viewing on a smartphone.  So, since it’s my main (and pretty much only) way I access the service, I need a killer app.

That app?  Stone Design’s Twittelator Pro.

I started with this app and it’s been continually improved.  It’s got a ton of features and at times is overwhelming.  But, when I go to a slicker interface with less immediate functionality, I always miss having everything right there in front of me.

What kinds of things?  I love having the visual “paperclip” that allows me to just tap to open up a link that’s in a tweet.  Clicking on the profile pic will open up either the poster or provide a list of the poster and any @ links in the tweet.  Clicking on the name of the poster gives me a list of actions from emailing the tweet, replying, marking it a favorite, retweeting it, etc.  Also, it’s fast as all heck.

I’ve also used Twitter’s official app (née Tweetie, which I bought), Echofon and my latest purchase, Tapbots Tweetbot.  Tweetie was cool, but it required way too many taps, slides, or motions to navigate and get results.

I had a lot of hopes with Tweetbot.  It’s slick, clean and I actually left all the sound effects on as they are subtle and perfectly linked to actions.  My problem with Tweetbot is that it’s still so young.  There’s not Instapaper mobilizer or other way to make a post easier to read on an iPhone.  There’s a lot of swiping that I need to do to navigate.  But, I keep my fingers crossed.

If I had to rank them, I’d say Twittelator Pro, Tweetbot and then Tweetie.

And now, I think I’ll go fire up Twittelator Pro.