Filed under: Blogging, Android
I had actually intended to try out TweetDeck for Android today, but it turns out it only works on smartphones sporting Android 2.0 or newer. Thus, with my weak, little Android 1.6 phone I've been left out in the cold, tweetless and lonely. But hey, it ain't all bad: I've been playing with the official WordPress app instead, and damn it's good!First things first, though: you'd have to be an utter buffoon to compose a proper, longer-than-140-character blog post using your mobile phone. That's not to say that the WordPress app doesn't feature a great New Post editor, but I can only recommend you use it if you're a masochist with tungsten carbide fingertips and precision-engineered reinforced tendons.
Fortunately the WordPress app offers a lot more than just the New Post editor. You can moderate and reply to comments, check your stats and even upload photos and videos straight from your camera!
In short, if you use use self-hosted WordPress.org installation, or a free blog available from WordPress.com, and you have an Android phone, you want this app.
If you still need convincing, read on!
Each blog has a Preferences page, as you can see above. Actually, rather counter-intuitively, each blog has two separate pages; I have no idea why. The one you see above configures comment notifications, and the other lets your configure the size of your image uploads. Sadly I am Little Timmy No-Friends and no one left a comment on my blog today, so I couldn't test Notifications, but I'm sure they work!
Once you're added a blog, you can look at Comments, your Posts and Pages, and even the blog's Stats! Comments can be moderated, edited and replied to -- you can even 'mass moderate' using checkboxes (check the screenshot). To make a new post you click the '+' in the bottom left corner of the Posts tab. I don't know why it doesn't say 'New Post'... were the app developers trying to be cool? You can also edit and create static Pages, though you're probably not going to do that while on the move.
All in all, the Android WordPress app is excellent! The only issue I had was uploading photos directly from my phone's camera. It simply caused the app to crash -- and of course I lost my torturously-typed blog post in the process! Perhaps the photos were too big, or maybe it's a known bug. I'm sure it'll be fixed in due course.
WordPress for Android Tech Specs
- Installed Size -- 1.3MB, but that could grow if you add more blogs
- Speed/Responsiveness -- The app itself is very responsive. Posts, comments and pages take a while to download the first time you view them -- but they're a lot faster after that (Android 1.6 @ 600 MHz, LG GT 540 Swift)
- User Interface -- The interface is probably the best I've ever had the pleasure of using, at least on smartphone. Bravo!
- Configurability & Extensibility -- The app doesn't actually do a whole lot, so there isn't much to configure. I can't see any way in which the app can be extended, either
- License -- Free and open-source, just like the blogging platform itself -- coders, get involved with the next version of the app!
WordPress for Android is the smoothest and most functional smartphone app I've ever used originally appeared on Download Squad on Fri, 13 Aug 2010 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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