What apps should i download? Are there any essential ones for bikers?

You're thoughts and experiences please…

'my tracks' for gps tracking stuff
the latest version of 'google maps' for free sat nav
'note everything' for making notes/lists
'bubble' spirit level for the gimmick
I'm trying 'layar' at the moment which is s'posed to tell you info about your local area based on the gps & camera but not thought to actually try it out yet.

What's it like then?

I think I need something like this for work and would rather not buy any apple products.

Cardiotrainer is a very good sports tracker.
Google sky map is just cool.

Photoshop
Astrid (to do list)
Twidroid (if you use Twitter)
TasKiller
fring (if you use Skype)

and games.

I've got:

3G Watchdog – Keeps track of 3G usage (handy if you have a limit) will warn when 3G limit near, and switch 3G off.

Advanced Task Killer – Does as it says

Antivirus – Does as it says, however with all Android apps you actually have no idea if one is better than another ?!?

Barcode Scanner – Bit of a gimmic, but handy if your out and want to check the price of some thing, just scan the barcode and it will search web prices.

Baterey time lite – big picture of a battery really but also tells you time left before battery runs out.

BBC News – Handy app that summarises BBC news. Much better than beebs website

Beebplayer – App you can't get anymore but basically iplayer!

Bubble – Pointless gimmic spirit level… must delete it

Cardiotrainer – Much better than MyTracks ie tells you running pace etc. (still uses google maps though so pointless off road)

Compass – Does what it says

ES File Explorer – File manager app.

Freedi YouTube DOwnload – Allows you to download youtube files.

K-9 Mail – 50 x better than the standard (really bad) mail app, but still not great!

Google Maps/Navigation – Free SatNav, however requires maps to be downloaded in use so not good if on limited data usage.

Opera Mini 5 – Web browser which apparently means you use less data.

PdaNet – Use your mobile as the internet connection for laptop/desktop

Phonalyzr – Lots of useful & pointless telephone calls

Pkt Auctions ebay – Great Ebay app which allows you to see all the stuff you really want from Ebay in an easy app

Quickoffice – Free version, open and view Microsfot Office documents

RAC Tracffic – Shows you where traffic congestion is and road works (uses google maps)

Save MMS – Lets you save pictures etc sent to you by text (god knows why you can't do this as standard!)

SMS Popup – WHen text messages come in on my Desire they are just appear at the bottom of the screen for a short time. This app shows the message even when the phone is locked

Thickbuttons – The stock keyboard on the Desire is cra@p this slightly improves it.

Traintimes uk – Shows UK train times and all stations etc, arrivals & departures

Your Orange – Usefull account viewer if your on orange

Wow Dunc – off to download a few more apps – thanks!

Lightsabre app. Pointless, childish, and amazing while pissed.

Rmaps – As per google maps, but stores the areas viewed so youcan see them offline and has mulitple map layers (Ordannce survey, Cylcemaps etc…

Handcnet – SMS/MMS Messaging that is very customizable.

Spare Parts – If your realy geeky and want to look into the battery usage in a bit more detail than the default app

Be wary of task killers, there's an article on the web about how android uses memory differently to most people experiences i.e. killing idle programs in a windows enviroment is a good thing, but android is linux based and task killers are only required if the app misbehaves.

Astro is a great file manager, now let's you browse networks
Last.fm & spotify work great for music
Photoshop mobile is neat for a few basic photo edits
And the Sad Trombone Widget is always useful to have to hand 🙂

If you want maps for cycling then forget Google, it's not really suitable for off-road trails. You want Viewranger, and if you have a DVD of the maps from an old Nokia then you can download the maps to the phone once you have the app installed. Cloud mapping can't match OS maps actually installed on the phone, and Viewranger are as good as it gets, as people on here should know.

Estrong's file manager is better than Astro IMO, as it allows you to access Windows network shares. Great for getting files on and off the phone.

(I'll post more suggestions when I've got a bit more time, btw.)

Apps that i have been using:
Google maps- for road navigation, seems okay for a free app, but the voice turn by turn instructions are very annoying!
Mytracks- see previous posters
gStrings- musical instrument tuner, very useful if you play guitar, etc… unfortunately nothing to do with gstrings!
TrekBuddy- probably my pick of the apps i have so far. you can download full OS maps to your SD card so don't need to worry about data connection in remote areas. Waypoints can be recorded and played back through voice instructions. After adding something called a CMS i also get all sorts of GPS readouts, average speed, max speed, total ascent, average ascent speed, distance to next waypoint. It took me a few hours to figure out how to do various things on it as it is not straightforward (installing is easy but the resy is a bit strange).
AlpineQuest Lite- Similar to trekbuddy but quite new. not as many features and slightly different interface
Juicedefender- helps imprve battery by turning off Wi-fi when phone is locked
AppRemover- in case i don't like apps
3G Watchdog- mentioned by another poster
Timerrific- timer that can switch phone to silent when i am at work

There are a few others but will probably be deleted as i don't use them

Ok.

3Banana – notepad app, has the killer feature (for me) of online sync and an iPhone client, meaning that I can share a notepad with my OH and have it synchronise on the fly for stuff we both need to remember.

C:Geo – the best geocaching app, bar none. Not much use if you're not interested in geocaching (though I always thought it'd be a great accompaniment to XC biking).

Compass – what it sounds like. I wouldn't want to navigate off a hill in fog with it, but it's a passable backup.

Google Sky Map – maps constellations as you point the phone at them. Very high 'wow' factor for showing off your phone to lesser mortals.

Meridian – better media player than stock.

Movies – geolocated cinema listings, view show times, watch trailers. Great if you like your films.

My Tracks – free GPS tracking utility, uploads to Google Maps and Docs, I use it a lot when riding and running.

Navigation – bolt-on for Google Maps, turn-based satnav. Not the best, not the worst, but hey, it's free.

Record It – client for Sky's Remote Record feature, no more going away for the weekend and then thinking "oh bugger, I forgot to record Dr Who."

Shazam – listens to a music clip and tells you what it is. Great for identifying songs on the radio, and cheating at pub quizzes perhaps.

Skyfire – alternate web browser, supports Flash. I used to use it in my WinMo days and it was great, not used it in anger on Android yet.

SyncMyPix – populates your contacts with pictures culled from Facebook; probably useless if you've got Sense UI or some other custom Android front-end on the phone.

Touiteur – having been through them all, my favourite Twitter client. This week.

Wapedia – lightweight Wikipedia front-end.

WaveSecure – tracks stolen phones, remote wipe, all sorts of clever stuff, check the website. It's a subscription service, but I got it when they were giving away lifetime subs. Keep an eye out for offers.

WiFi Analyzer – shows wifi signal strengths and channels, useful for setting up your router avoiding all the neighbours' wifi channels.

That's about all of interest that I've got currently; I did have a lot more but wiped it during a firmware update at the weekend.

For biking Mytracks – I've always got really accurate results with both my Android phones, can even see which side of the road you were on

and for battery life Juice defender, currently running at 2.26x my normal battery life

Also contrary to what you may read elsewhere a task manager such as "Advanced Task Killer" is essential – some of the background tasks can seriously affect your battery life!!