Now that I know a few people that use Android phones, I decided to share some of the apps, plus the current ROM I’m using at this time. In this article I’m only going to post about apps that I have been using for a long time. I have a few new apps that I think are great, but I’ll save them for a future article. Some of these apps will only work on rooted phones.

AdFree – Block (almost) all advertisements from your phone. WARNING: This app only supports rooted phones.

ADW.Launcher – A replacement home screen. Allows for changing number of homescreens, number of apps in launcher drawer, live wallpapers, and few different launcher/animation styles. WARNING: This app only supports rooted phones with Android 2.1 or newer.

APNdroid – Completely turn off/on cellular data to better control your battery usage. WARNING: This app only supports rooted phones.

ASTRO – A very fast and simple file manager. Also has a task killer and an SD card usage analyzer built in.

aTrackDog – Track the latest updates of your apps, so you don’t have to rely on the android market to tell you. It’s also very useful if you use a lot of apps that aren’t in the android market.

CardioTrainer – Track your exercise (running, biking, etc.) with GPS. Includes a built in music player and voice notification of exercise statistics (pace, distance, etc.).

Facebook – It’s facebook on your phone. It’s most feature-complete, reliable and fast facebook app I’ve tried. Some people like Bloo better because its interface is a little simpler, but Bloo has been unreliable and slow for me.

Google Listen – There’s a lot of podcast players/downloaders out there, but I like listen because it syncs with Google Reader and has a simple interface. It crashes occasionally and hogs memory, but I haven’t found any other podcast app that doesn’t have those problems while being nearly as good as Listen.

Google Voice – It’s Google Voice. It has completely replaced my voicemail, very much so for the better. nuff said.

Last.fm – Last.fm on your phone. Again, nuff said.

MapDroyd – Maps without a data connection! Plus they’re rotatable and performance is much better.

MortPlayer – A great music player that doesn’t depend on building media libraries. I organize my music into folders myself and MortPlayer respects that choice. It is faster because it doesn’t need to scan my entire SD card to build a music library and uses my folder structure to navigate my music.

NewsRob – A simple and quick RSS reader.

Opera Mini – Similar to the built-in browser but faster, especially when having multiple pages open at once.

ScummVM – Play a lot of classic adventure games on your phone!

SetCPU – Change the processor speed of your phone for better speed or better battery life. WARNING: This app only supports rooted phones. It is $1.99 on the android market, but free from the developer’s website or XDA.

Shazam – Detects what song is playing around you. Hold it up to the radio to find out what you’re listening to.

Simon Tatham’s Puzzles – A large collection of fun puzzle games.

Tasker – Performs actions automatically based on contexts. I mainly use it to control ringer/media volume, vibration, screen brightness and wifi on/off based on place and time. Warning: This is a paid app. It has a 14 day free trial, but costs 3.49GBP (~$5) direct from the developer or (soon) 3.99GBP (~$6) on the android market. This is CHEAP for the awesome functionality you get.

Text Edit – This is a simple, but very functional text editor. I use it for quick notes and grocery lists. There’s not much to it, but that’s why I like it. It lets me get in, type some text and quickly save it.

Twidroid – The best twitter client on android.

Current ROM:  CyanogenMod 5.0.8 D/S