Must-have apps after a factory reset or ROM install

[TobyK]

This thread is about the minimal set of apps that you can install to have a nice and usable phone. Kinda like the apps Android should come with by default. It excludes apps that are specific to individual user interests, such as games/entertainment/hobby apps, etc (although this is not a well defined criteria, so if in doubt, throw it in). In theory, every time you factory reset or install a new ROM, these apps should be the no-brainer apps that you just robotically go and install

So, here's my list that's been whittled down and refined over months of re-installing my phone from scratch and trying various apps:

• Dolphin Browser: Allows you to set "iPhone" user-agent for hassle free browsing :-) Plus some other nifty features that make it a must-have.
• FoxyRing: Adjusts ringtone volume based on ambient noise. Also silences phone during sleep time. I tried ToggleSettings (which is great, powerful, overly complicated), then Locale, but realised that this one simple app does what I need (don't disturb me at night and keep the ring volume down at work), and does it well!
• MySettings: Easy way to adjust and toggle things like wifi/bluetooth/etc without filling a homescreen with toggle widgets. Looks great too and is fast compared to others. If you have Sense UI, you could forgo this and use their widgets.
• Facebook for Android: goes without saying
• Twidroid/Seesmic: Twitter client, unless you have Sense UI and are happy with Peep (which I was)
• EStrongs file manager: 'cos you need one.
• TuneWiki: very nice music player! Won't need your iPod after using this.

That's it! I install those onto Android 1.5 and there's hardly anything in Android 2.1 or Sense UI that I miss (apart from the beauty of Sense UI). I must just mention that I deliberately left out a Task killer/manager, because as I've mentioned in another post, they are a waste of battery and brain cells. You'll be far less stressed knowing that Android manages it's memory quite well, and you shouldn't worry about how many processes or free RAM you have.

[eitai2001]

I sort of disagree about the task manager ... I use advanced task manager, and sometimes if I don't use it to kill the apps, I notice my phone can get very slow ... and then after killing the apps, it's fast again.

[RaZeaL]

On the 1.5 I was constantly running taskiller as Itai mentions, the phone got very slow. But with the new install, it manages the apps extremely well. Very impressed with it so far

[TobyK]

On 1.5 I install the Spare Parts application and set the process management to aggressive