New PhoneFollow

Flea made me get a new phone. I went from my trusty c.2005 flip phone to a Samsung Galaxy S2. Which is friggin' enormous when I'm trying to make a phone call on it but is handy for all other applications. Such is the way with phone technology I guess. Anyway, anyone have any sterling Android application suggestions? Thus far, I just have Pandora, Kindle (not that I plan to read a lot of books on this thing), Netflix, Twitter and the obligatory Angry Birds.

Free is better but I'm not opposed to spending money on something swell. Also, this thing eats battery power like a battery power eatin' ****. Not that that influences my choices, I'm jus' sayin' is all.

Al Jazeera and the BBC have free apps, unless you use another free news app.

FML is good for when you're pooping at work.

XKCD viewer.

I've got a New Scientist one which I like but most people probably won't.

Here's a list I found on the interweb also: Clicky.

I got the Samsung Galaxy SII also. Love this phone. Looking at my home screens, I've got:

Google apps, I obviously have the core apps (Gmail, Calendar, Voice, Talk). For Tasks I use Gtasks. I also use Google Reader for blog and RSS reading. I use Google Maps as my default map/directions app. Starbucks, Yelp and Fandango are used. Dropbox, Pocket, Mint.com as well are all the apps I have for my living stuff.

Social media: My personal accounts are on the apps for Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, GetGlue, Google+, LinkedIn and MailDroid. I also have IMO for IM and Skype of course. I use HootSuite for my separate professional social media stuff.

I don't have a bunch of games on my Android, but Alchemy and 7 Words are fun. I don't do Word for Friends or Angry Birds. Wind-up Knight, Good Robot, Air Penguin and Dragon, Fly and quick casual games that I play if I get bored.

File manager I use Astro instead of the installed app since that works well with Dropbox. I also have Google Authenticator to make it more difficult for someone to hack into my Google account. My malware/security suite is Lookout.

ETA: I'm terrified to use PDANet. I'm on AT&T and I'm very afraid that if I use that app (and I totally wish that I could), I'd be tethering to my laptop all the time. We have unlimited data with AT&T and I don't want to lose that at all. But I'm planning to look into MiFi through AT&T anyways for a bit more of an added cost, but I feel obligated to play by their rules.

Edited, Jan 17th 2012 8:41am by Thumbelyna

Here's some that I get a lot of use out of. Your mileage may vary:

QuickOffice Pro - I use this on the Kindle Fire more (I actually do a lot of writing on that one), but it's worth mentioning. Word, Excel, Powerpoint, PDF functionality. The Pro version lets you create docs.
Amazon Store - It's actually got a pretty nice mobile interface. Fun to browse, and deals crop up from time to time.
Audible - Audiobooks, if you're interested in that sort of thing.
Gmail Authenticator - If you use gmail, I'd definitely recommend using it.
CalenGoo - Solid calendar app that seems to do a much better job of synching with Outlook/Google Calendar than the default junk. Good widgets.
ES File Explorer - I always find that a decent file explorer is a must-have. There are a bunch, though I've only used ES. It does the job well.
Evernote - Notes with synch across all devices.
IMDb - I use this more often than I'd like to admit.
Mint.com - Personal finance. I gather that they're part of Quiken (sp?) now. Used this until it stopped communicating properly with Bank of America, but it was great while it lasted.
ReadItLater - You can save website pages to it to read offline. Synchs across all devices.
Sketchbook Mobile - AutoDesk's sketching program. I use this much more on my Kindle Fire, but it might be worth a look regardless. Wish they'd add a blend tool.
Skype - It's Skype.
Shush! - With this, you can set your ringer to silent/vibrate, and it'll return back to a set volume after a set amount of time. Useful for setting the phone to vibrate during work hours, or during a movie.
Astrid - Decent task manager. There's a million out there, though.
Banking App - If yours has one, get it. I use BoA's a veritable ton.
Google Translate - It's so-so. I use it once in a blue moon.
SlideIT keyboard - It's probably overpriced now. I grabbed it when it was on sale for $.10. Lets you slide from key to key, instead of typing each one individually. Recognition/prediction is decent, which is probably about as good as you can expect. Easy setup.
Pulse - News. Really nice interface, really customizable. You pick what sources you want on there. It came default on the Fire, so I dunno if it's a paid app, or how well it works on phones. But if you can, I'd take a look at it.

As far as battery usage goes: The biggest advice I can give is make sure that your GPS is off if you're not using it. That thing will eat your battery fast.

Edited, Jan 17th 2012 11:47am by Eske

If your phone is an LCD screen, dimming the brightness will save your battery but a darker background won't since the backlight is still shining behind the pixels.

TasKiller - A must for Android phones. Get in the habit of killing everything every time you're done checking the phone, and your battery life will be greatly extended.

Of course, even with frequent use of the TasKiller, my phone still only lasts ~36 hours per charge (all idle).

Can't you just use the default Active Applications to exit all apps and then clear the RAM?

I second others on Pulse for a news sorting app.

I use Shazam.

Will it properly schedule my many, many abortions?

I was using Vlingo, but didn't like it so much. I'll have to try this one. Thanks Cat!

Here's what I use regularly on my Evo Shift:

Winamp
Google Maps and Navigate (beta)
Facebook
Netflix
IMDb
Flashlight
Angry Birds

I also use a 3rd party launcher, GO Ex so I can use the homescreens in landscape mode (HTC Sense won't autorotate unless you're in an app) and a few other GO-specific apps, like the bookmarks manager/widget, calendar and messenger.

Oh, and everything I use is free. Check the Amazon app store; they have random free apps on a daily basis.

Edited, Jan 17th 2012 7:04pm by Debalic

Mine came with Swype.