This is a list of some of the applications that I just can’t live without on my Incredible, in no particular order. Some of these require root for some or all functionality. I’ve noted this next to each.
AppBrain is basically a more user friendly app market for android. It allows you to install apps from the web, or through the app on your phone. You sync the app with the web site, and it keeps all your apps in a DB. Use with Fast Web Installer for one-click installs from the web. If you ever want to wipe your phone and not restore from backup, but still want all your apps, just install the AppBrain application again, and sync it, and it will download and install all your apps again.
Fast Web Installer is an addon for AppBrain that allows one-click app installs from the web. You enable it on your phone, then go click install on any app in AppBrain from any browser, and it instantly pushes the app to your phone!
Dolphin is just a more complex web browser than the stock app. It adds tons of options, and overall I just find it to provide a much more enjoyable browsing experience on my device.
LastPass is an awesome password manager. It has plugins for every popular browser and smartphone. This gives you a quick app access your passwords from your phone. If you use Dolphin, there’s a plugin for it as well which allows you to open sites directly in Dolphin. Otherwise it just uses the default android browser.
Do you use chrome as your desktop browser? You should. Chrome to Phone gives you a simple way to share links and such from your desktop browser to your phone. While it doesn’t sound like much, this is insanely helpful for downloading things on your phone without browsing for them from your phone’s browser. This is a two part app. There is the app that runs on your phone, and an extension for your chrome browser. Once installed and activated, you simply right click on a link or selected text and send to phone. Your phone will instantly go to it!
SystemPanel is an great app for keeping an eye on your phone’s performance. It integrates a task manager, system monitor, and detailed device information like CPU, Memory, Battery. I’m not a fan of task killers, and only use SystemPanel to kill off apps on an individual basis if needed. There is a paid version which adds an app manager and monitoring history.
Battery Left is a widget that will estimate the time left on your battery based on your actual usage. Install this, tell it to calibrate, and let your battery run all the way down. Over a few days, it should get a pretty accurate idea of your usage habits.
SetCPU is a great app for overclocking/underclocking your phone’s CPU. The best feature of this app is the ability to create profiles. This can do wonders for your battery life. By creating profiles that throttle down the CPU when you don’t need it, you can see huge improvements in life. Additionally, you can set the governor to scale differently based on the profile.
If you root, and change ROMS with any sort of frequency, Rom Manager will be your friend. You can download and manage ROMS from within the OS. Several of the more popular dev’s have their ROMS listed in ROM Manager. You can initiate these downloads from within the app, and it will automatically download the ROM, reboot into recovery and start the install. ROM Manager can also initiate nandroid backups from within the application.
If you reboot into recovery or HBOOT often, Quick Boot will save you a lot of time. It’s just a simple app with one-click reboots into recovery, HBOOT, or a normal reboot. Without this (or something similar), you have to power down, then boot up using whatever the method is for your phone to get into recovery.
Titanium Backup is one of the many reasons why you might want root on your phone. It can backup/restore just about everything on your phone, all at once, or individual apps or data by themselves. This is an absolute must have when switching ROMS. Being able to weed out system apps/data when moving between android releases (from 2.1 to 2.2 for example) is a necessity. If you try to restore google apps from 2.1 to 2.2, you have basically just downgraded your OS.
Astro is a complete flie manager. Not only do you have full access to syetm, and SD storage, it also has text & image viewers, and many other features.
Speedtest.net has long been my favorite speed test web site. Now you can have it in a sweet little app. You can choose your preferred location, and change it anytime. It will keep a history of your results, which is very helpful when testing wifi connectivity.
I love Dropbox! 2GB free space, accessible from anywhere. What’s not to love? This app lets you access your files as you’d expect, and also allows you to upload not only files, but also upload a picture as you take it. If you don’t already have a Dropbox account, get a free account now!
While the stock messaging app gets the job done, it’s just not very exciting. Handcent fixes that by adding a lot of cool options, themes, popup messages, and much, much more. If you do a lot of SMS/MMS, this is a must have app.
Swype is an alternate keyboard, which allows you to “swype” your words rather than typing them. While it doesn’t seem natural, once you start using it, you realize that it is incredibly fast to “type” with. Unfortunately, unless it came stock on your device, you’ll have to wait for the beta to open again.