Are you a Twitter user looking for a sleek new Twitter client that’s not powered by Adobe AIR like most apps out there? Tired of Twitter apps having too many features you don’t need? Take a look at the Blu Twitter Client, otherwise known as the “Vista Twitter Client”, focused on simplicity.
Blu has loads of attractive eye candy including a startup animation with the logo, interface opacity, button hover and click effects, window flipping for settings, and more, even exiting the application.
Blu Home Interface
Unlike most other Twitter clients, Blu only allows you to sign onto one Twitter account.
To reply or retweet a message, simply hover over a tweet and click the buttons that appear on the lower right of the tweet box.
Reply, Direct Message, and Retweet buttons appear when the mouse hovers over a tweet
Blu uses sounds to notify the user of new tweets as well as bubbles that look like iPhone push notification badges.
Notifications look similar to iPhone Push Notification badges
Clicking on a username after the “@” symbol or a user’s picture will bring up the user profile.
Viewing @TechAirlines profile
There isn’t a limit to how many tweets can be viewed, as users scroll down, more tweets will be loaded.
Sometimes its difficult to keep track of a conversation. Clicking on the Arrow next to a username will bring up what tweet its replying to. The arrow only appears if the tweet has a mention to it. This comes with a flipping effect for eye candy.
Blu features TinyURL integration and any URL entered into the Update box will automatically be shortened. Click the blue (+) to undo the auto shortening. TinyURLs also automatically turn blue. It would be nice if Blu integrates with bit.ly and the bit.ly API Accounts since bit.ly is far more popular these days.
The characters left (of 140) counter is shown behind the text.
Twitter Update Box
There doesn’t seem to be favorite tweets but there is favorite users. You will be able to see only the tweets from your favorite users in the “Favorite” section. This is similar to custom groups in clients like TweetDeck, except you can only create one.
There are a number of settings available such as number of automatic refreshes and whether of not to use a startup animation. Opening settings flips the window around.
blu Settings comes with a interface flipping effect
Unfortunately, the window can’t seem to be resized. In addition, there doesn’t seem to be a way to close Blu and minimize it to the notification area/tray. Closing Blu exits the program.
The RAM usage of Blu usually stabilizes between 60 MB and 100 MB.
Overall, Blu is a very simple Twitter client with a minimal set of features packed in a compact interface loaded with attractive eye candy though it might take a while to get used to if you have been using other clients in the past.
Blu (Twitter Client)
Performance: 4.5
Features: 3
Ease of Use: 4
Value for Money: 5
Appearance: 5
Final Rating: 4.125
Thirteen23 Blu Experience
Requires Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 SP1
Supports Windows XP, Vista, and 7
