The much anticipated Twitter client developed by RIM itself has now been moved from private beta to public beta. Over the past two months there has been quite a bit of hype about this new Twitter client being brought to the game, and now the wait is over. Though the application is not a full release, it is fully functional and is now a contender in the race for the best Twitter client.

Back when the initial version was released into private beta the application was fairly buggy, very slow, and obviously fresh out of the alpha phase. The public beta is the same version that was leaked last week, and In this version a long list of improvements were made due to feedback from the beta users. The list is as follows:

• Notifications of New Tweets and @Replies/Mentions
  • When an @reply/mention is received, the user will be notified with a splat on the BlackBerry home screen ribbon as well as the application icon
  • Users will also be notified of new tweets in the BlackBerry Messages list
• Twitter Lists Functionality
  • Comprehensive option to build a list of Twitter users on any subject
  • Ability to add members to the list and view subscribers of the lists
  • Users can also view other users’ lists
• Profile Editing
  • Users can edit their own Twitter profile from the application
  • Users can also change their profile image from the application
• Personalization Settings
  • Users can customize the look of the application with the ability to:
  • Show/hide the navigation bar and tweetbox
  • Change the font/style to their own preferred choice
  • Users can click on a Twitter profile image and it will be enlarged for better viewing abilities
• Improved in-Application Caching/Polling
  • Increased on-device caching for Timeline; Mentions to improve application performance
  • Enlarged Avatar (Profile Picture) Viewing
  • Push Notifications for Direct Messages
  • Timeline Support
  • Following & Followers
  • Posting, Sending, Deleting, Replying and Re-Tweeting Tweets
  • User/Saved/Keyword/Proximity Search

I’ve been using the Twitter for BlackBerry client fairly regularly and I must say, it is a very nice application. I’m glad to see RIM finally release it to the public, even if it is a beta version. To get your own copy of the Twitter for BlackBerry beta, head over to the Test Center for App World or you can download it OTA (from your BlackBerry Browser) by clicking here.

Tell us what you think about the client in the comments! (Remember, this is still in a beta phase which means RIM is looking for feedback.)