London Tube Status [Travel]
An essential app if you ever travel by tube in London. Shows you the live status of all lines (excluding DLR) and also features live departure boards for virtually every station. It also features a handy 'favourites' function for fast access to the stations you use most often.
The only thing it
doesn't do is provide you with a tube map and show you how to get from A to B, but that's where the app below comes in.
London Underground (London City) [Travel]
As far as I know this is the only free tube app that has a licensed map from TfL, so it's worth picking up just for that. But it's also a handy guide for getting around London and when paired with London Tube Status you'll be navigating your way across London via the tube with consummate ease.
Bubble [Tools]
At first I thought this was a bit of a gimmick and only loaded on my Hero so I could mess around with it, but once calibrated it's actually quite useful and pretty accurate. I can see this coming in handy...
Dolphin Browser [Communication]
I find this to be a fair bit faster to load pages than the default browser, but annoyingly it doesn't support Flash. It does support gestures, multitouch and all manner of other nifty features, so it's certainly worth loading on your Android device and running in tandem with the in-built browser.
ASTRO File Manager [Productivity]
A fantastic app for managing all the files on your Android phone and for backing up and moving data around. Also a brilliant way of backing up all your apps to your SD card - just install ASTRO after a wipe and restore all your apps from the card!
Abduction! [Games]
The only game I've got loaded on my Hero and there's a reason why - it's so damn addictive. Unfortunately it's also quite punishing, but with regular practice you'll soon be bouncing your way to the top of the levels with ease. And believe me; you'll not get tired of practising!
Also worth checking out
Abduction! World Attack if you have £1.35 to spare and liked what you saw in the free version.
NetSentry [Tools]
I wasn't sure whether to use this or NetCounter as they both seemed to get positive reviews, so I installed them both and ran them side-by-side to see which worked for me - and there was a clear winner. NetSentry's UI and its wealth of features makes it by far the better app. I'd class this as essential.
SMS Popup [Tools]
A very simple program that pops up a notification on your screen when you receive a text message. Sunds simple, is simple, works brilliantly. Should be a pre-installed app.
In fact the only downside is that the Messenges software on my Hero doesn't like it. But that's not a problem as I use chompSMS to manage my texts.
chompSMS [Communication]
There were a number of annoying issues with my Hero's Messages application that I couldn't work my way around. Things like not being able to select a recipient from a list and instead having to type their name out. But having discovered chompSMS I've not looked back. A truly fantastic app.
SMS Backup [Tools]
Automatically backs up your text messages to your Gmail/Google Mail account. Almost worth signing up for an account just so you can use this.
WiFinder [Communication]
So far this is the only WiFi scanner app I've found that works. Seems a lot more reliable than the built-in WiFi app on my Hero and also shows signal strength of all your local access points.
Compass [Tools]
A very basic compass app that works. Simple as that really.
Astrid Task/Todo Lists [Productivity]
A beautifully designed and realised task manager application that's good enough for it to have been installed on the phone by default.
ShopSavvy [Shopping]
Scan a barcode with your camera and this app will find the best prices for you on the internet as well as local stores. Very useful.
Locale [Productivity]
As the blurb says it 'dynamically manages your phone settings based on conditions, such as Location and Time'. I use it to switch my Hero to silent when I get to my office and turn all the sounds back on when I leave again as well as turning off all those battery draining functions when I'm running low on juice. A truly brilliant app.
Barcode Scanner [Shopping]
Another barcode scanner like ShopSavvy but this one has some other features. Namely being able to scan in QR barcodes like you'll find on the AndroLib and having your phone find and install them.
Shazam [Multimedia]
Ever been listening to a piece of music and couldn't quite work out who it was by? Not any more!
GPS Status [Travel]
Displays your GPS status along with detailed information about how many satellites you are connecting to, your speed, acceleration and bearing. It's even got a compass. What more could you want?
Advanced Task Killer [Productivity]
Some people insist they don't need an application like this, but I've found it to be essential when my phone is cluttered up with apps running in the background and hogging memory. Easy to set up, easy to use and works brilliantly.
