Just like the iPhone, Android phones support third-party applications, either directly from the developer’s website or from the Android Market. In my case, I only use apps straight from the Market -- at least I am sure that, somehow, it has gone through a review, no matter how shallow. So here’s a couple of Android apps that I have installed and use regularly.

1. Advanced Task Killer (free). With Android’s support to third-party applications running on the background, it is inevitable that your phone will run out of memory (remember the PC? hehe). One way to solve this is to do nothing and wait for the OS to reclaim unused memory or you can manually kill applications that you no longer need. By design, apps do not have a Quit/Exit option -- it just relies on the OS to kill it when necessary. IN a way this is good but I’d say that adding an option to quit is still ok -- at least the app exits gracefully, right?

2. Twidroid (free). Being a Twitter-junkie (http://twitter.com/rom), a dedicated Twitter client is a requirement. Twidroid, so far, is the best Android Twitter client available. It is definitely nowhere near the Tweetie’s overall UX, it is very functional.

3. Qik (free). This application should be made available on the iPhone 3GS but unfortunately it is not. Anyway, Qik allows me to stream video from practically anywhere - via WiFi or 3G. Heck, this application alone is enough to tempt you to jailbreak your iPhone! Haha. :) Whilst I do not stream video regularly, this one is still in my must-have apps list.

4. Barcode Scanner (free). I use this primarily for the 2D Barcodes/QR Codes. Some of the Android applications’ websites come with the QR Code, which you scan and directs you to the URL where you can get the app. I also use this to scan QR Codes from other sites, such as from a business card and get it processed and saved into the addressbook. How cool is that?

5.Connectbot (free). How else can you call yourself a hacker if your phone does not have an SSH client? This one allows me to connect to a remote computer and have full shell access. Useful if you are maintaining servers.

6. AndroidVNC (free). Another system administrator tool. I use this when I am on the bed (far from the computer) and need to control a server with its GUI interface. Only use this on WiFi but it should work on 3G, but will be slow.

So these are some of the applications that I have on the HTC Hero. :)

What are your favorite Android apps?