HelloTXT Seeks to Streamline Social Media Posting

HelloTXT is designed to update your myriad of social networks from within one application. It is a great concept, but a bit buggy in its current form.

HelloTXT is a universal app that works across iOS devices. All the major social media networks are here: Twitter, Facebook, Foursquare, Google Buzz; over 50 in total.

The HelloTXT menu is divided into four sections: Post, My Feed, Settings and Networks. Portrait mode displays these four features with an icon, while landscape has a sidebar menu with access to other options. From within the Networks section a user can easily tap on a social network, input the login credentials and have the ability to send out updates.

Posting to a network is pretty easy and works well. Just tap the post button, type the message, select or de-select any of the networks and send it off into cyberspace.

A feature unique to HelloTXT is the ability to create a doodle and include it in a message. HelloTXT lets you select a photo from the iPad or iPhone photo library or a map to mark up as you please.

The most interesting was the map feature, as it could let a user mark directions or locations on a map. Doodling photos could be a fun conversation starter.

Currently many of the features in HelloTXT are a bit buggy. The app crashed on a couple of occasions during testing, and a few menu bars hung up and were blank. Also, HelloTXT is not a great experience for regularly reading your Twitter feed as it is pretty barebones. There is no section for @ mentions, direct messages, or other Twitter-specific features. Tapping it on a link opens it from within HelloTXT, however there is no option to open it in Safari or use popular read-it-later services like Instapaper.

The doodle feature makes HelloTXT worth checking out, but it is not quite ready to replace some of the more established social media apps.