Adobe Air-based Released TweetDeck Android App (Beta)

TweetDeck, the Adobe Air-based multi-platform, multi-network Twitter client, has released an early beta for the Android platform today. Available by request (via a web form), the beta brings TweetDeck’s new single-feed-style interface to your Android phone with an all-new interface.

TweetDeck Android’s main timeline collapses your updates from friends on Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, and Google Buzz into a single feed, with secondary timelines for directed (Twitter “@” answers) and direct messages (private message from Twitter). The main feed works fantastic, updates frequently with silent alerts using the status bar and LED. Flipping between secondary feeds is as simple as a swipe to the left or right. Unfortunately there doesn’t seem to be a way to add more timelines at the moment, but I’d like to at least see a future update include a feed for direct messages from Facebook.

Updating your Foursquare status can be a small clumsy since it requires navigating to a dedicated “location” screen within TweetDeck, but thankfully your “favorite” locations are included, so you’ll have relatively quick access to the places you visit (and update from) the most.

The interface is clean, bright, and simple to navigate. There’s a conspicuous lack of options, which I might otherwise chalk up to the app being in beta, but the TweetDeck development team seems to have a similar “less is more” philosophy when it comes to the flexibility of the desktop client as well. If you consider yourself a Twitter “power user”, you may want to hold off jumping to TweetDeck Android, at least until there are more options for the service.

For the moment, TweetDeck has replaced the official Facebook, Twitter, and Foursquare apps on my handset’s primary home screen. Time will tell if it keeps that coveted spot, but I’m hoping with a few small updates TweetDeck can be the multi-network social client the Android platform has been waiting for!