The long-awaited TweetDeck beta (or pre-beta) that we knew was coming this week got leaked online today, after someone very diligent found a direct link to it on TweetDeck's own site. The link is no longer working, but not without a bunch of people grabbing a copy first and uploading it to a multitude of mirror sites.
I had the pleasure of demoing an early version of the software at Google I/O and was highly impressed. I do believe TweetDeck has a very good chance to become the best Social client on Android.
Remember: this is a beta, a pre-beta even, so it will be buggy. However, it'll give you a good idea of what to expect, and hey, maybe it'll actually work out just fine. Why not give it a go?
We'll take our chances though, won't we? However, we'll cut you extra slack in case of force closes, duly noting the age of the build.
Screenshots And Hands-On
I just took a few screens and updated @AndroidPolice's status via the app. It all worked pretty well. Note the columns that you access by swiping right and left, just like in the desktop version. This is a huge win.
I can't figure out how to get back to the Accounts screen. Hrm...
You should not delete columns in this version - it seems like the only way to get them back is to reinstall (Iain wasn't kidding when he said early version).
Also, there is no way to set the update frequency - I hope that makes it into the public beta. I wonder if this uses the new twitter streaming API that I now love so much on my desktop client (I doubt it).
Without a doubt, the public beta will have most, if not all, of these fixed - I don't see TweetDeck release a product this incomplete to the public. Cheers Iain.
Download
Get it from this mirror we just uploaded or if it stops working, pick from these that we found at gizmofusion.com (they "borrowed" my image I took of Iain's phone at Google I/O, so we're "borrowing" their links):
After you download from one of the mirrors, copy the file to your SD card and install using Astro or a similar file manager.
Note: Don't forget that you need the Settings > Applications > Unknown sources to be checked for this install to go through.
Let us know how it works out for you in the comments (but you already knew to do this, didn't you?)
Source: gizmofusion.com via Cruz Medina's tip
![snap20100910_013742[4]](http://www.androidpolice.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/snap20100910_0137424_thumb.png "snap20100910_013742[4]")
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12 Comments
This is an early build, very different from the beta build we are finishing now. I'd avoid this.
Thanks Iain, duly noted. However, no way in hell we're going to avoid seeing what you have cooking :-] It couldn't be worse than what you'd shown me at I/O, could it? And that version was a thing of beauty.
Even for an early build it's not bad. I'm actually looking forward to this. there isn't a good all-in-one app for Android. I thought Seesmic would be the first one, but no dice
It's definitely an early build, incomplete. I couldnt tweet!! But its a great start!!
Pros-
* FAST! Really smooth
* Great UI so far
Cons-
* Couldn't update/tweet!
* Input area and keyboard were glitchy, if you back out and go back in, you would lose the ability to see both.
* Couldn't customize (colors, text size, other)
Hmm, I tweeted just fine: http://twitter.com/AndroidPolice/status/20902021423
The public beta will be a lot smoother I bet.
Anyone figured how to add your twitter stream in a column? I deleted it >.<
For this version, only way is to reinstall it I'm afraid.
I just want to thank Iain Dodsworth for not having the "OMG TAKE IT DOWN TAKE IT DOWN NOW" so many companies get with leaked betas.
If this is an early build, and should be avoid... I can't wait to see the real thing.
You should not delete columns (yet). You have to uninstall and re-install to get them back
You know that "pre-beta" is alpha, right?
The leaked version looks nice, I'll be looking forward to seeing the full version soon!
Is this working for android 2.1/2.2 only? Cant get it to install on my 1.5
Where do I get the released build from on the Marketplace? It doesnt come up when you search for Tweetdeck?