Twitter app helps Zune HD inch closer to having a real platform

The Zune HD has awesome hardware. The NVIDIA Tegra chipset lets you play 720p HD video for up to 8 hours on this low power device that weighs just 2.6 ounces. It's also thinner and smaller than an iPhone or iPod Touch. There's just one problem: There are thousands of applications that run on those devices, while there are just about a dozen or so apps for the Zune HD. And that means that for the most part, the Zune HD is simply a media player, while the iPhone/iPod Touch is a mobile computing platform.

But that's slowly changing. Last month Microsoft added a few new apps to the Zune Marketplace including some slick-looking 3D games. And starting today, Zune HD users can download the first social media app from the Zune Marketplace: a Twitter client.

Engadget downloaded the Twitter program and took it for a spin, and decided that it's one of the slickest Twitter clients around. Unfortunately it's also one of the buggiest. It stalls, ignores button presses, and seems to be causing problems with the WiFi connection. UPDATE: Engadget also reports it apparently censors tweets.

Still, hopefully this is a sign of things to come. While Microsoft still hasn't opened up the Zune Marketplace to third party app development, we're starting to see some apps that are actually worth using show up in Microsoft's version of an App Store.

Have you tried the new Zune HD Twitter client yet? How was your experience?

Tags: engadget, twitter, zune hd, ZuneHd