Spaced Out ::

Having spent a month using Android 2.1 Eclair in anger and now having flashed the new Froyo 2.2 ROM on to my San Francisco I can safely say that I have a core set of apps that are designed to set the phone up as I want it. These are:

Launcher Pro: the Froyo launcher as it should have been. Configurable and sleek. Nothing flash: it just works
Dialer One: I prefer a T9 dialer and this is as good as the rest
Quick Settings: you can use a widget to get one click access to common settings (wifi, GPS, BT etc), however I find this less cluttered. Hit the button then get a screen with plenty of configurable button
Wifi Widget: wifi access is commonly used and I place the 2×2 widget on my home screen to tell me the MAC address, access speed and IP address. Also gives me one click access to the wifi panel.
Button Savior: worried about your hardware buttons wearing out?? I know the ones on the San Francisco are a bit flimsy so this gives you an alpha layer set of buttons to access “Power”, “Home”, “Back” and “Menu”.
AdFree Android: many of the apps here are free ad-supported versions. Get rid of the ads with this app which updates the hosts file to create blacklist to ad-serving sites.
Advanced Task Killer: want to keep the apps running to a minimum? ATK installs in to the notification bar (swipe down menu) to give quick access to task killing
3G Watchdog: monitor your data usage. Notification bar app
Andclip: get a clipboard tool that gives you access to commonly used copy/paste items
SMS Popup: lots of people rave about Handcent SMS and it is a decent messaging tool, but I like the simplicity of the default messaging app. However the one thing it lacks for me is a popup when a message comes in. This adds that functionality
Spare Parts: access loads of useful system info
Swype: need I say more!!
Android Mate: good replacement for your app listings. Can also install and uninstall apps
Ringo Pro: yes, the only paid-for app. Get this to support custom ringtones for all of your contacts

Core apps in the next post.