Have you checked out the tips tricks and apps sticky thread. Loads in there.

 

I'm a new user to the Hero and Android and I just got Shazam. I highly recommend it. Have you ever found yourself listening to a good song and not know the name of it? This app listens to the song and tells you the artist and song name. Pretty cool!

 

google skymap is awesome. just point your camera towards the stars and see the constellations on your screen. planets too, and everything is named.

 

Apps I use:

AndFTP - This has geven me full FTP access to my iMac enabling me to upload and download pictures and music anywhere in my house.

Android System Info - Full of geeky info on your handset if you're into that kind of thing.

Info Droid - quick access to space used on your hero, sdcard and battery life.

Kids Paint - My daughter loves this app.

MixZing Lite - this seems to be a faster music player compared to the Hero default one. I like the fullscreen widget too.

Photoshop Mobile - Quickly edit pictures stored on your phone

Wifi Analyzer - This scans for local wireless acces points and suggests an optimal channel for your wireless access point.

Wardrive - This maps wifi access points onto Google maps and lets you upload any open ecces points to Wardrive Database

Those are a few I use!

 

Try HandCent for messaging - brilliant app & way better than the standard messaging app (does have a couple of issues though but should be resolved by further updates).

Also, you have got to try Layar.......hopefully, it will become mainstream and really big!

 

3G Watchdog : keeps track of your internet usage to ensure you dont exceed your contract limit

AK Notepad : Great notepad app

App Manager : lets you backup & restore apps to/from SD card

Apps Organizer : Allows you to create folders of app shortcuts on your homescreen

Astro File Manager : This is essential IMO

aTrack Dog : checks for new versions of apps

barcode scanner : reads normal and QR barcodes, use this when viewing Androlib.com on your PC for a really easy way to find and install apps.

cab4me : gets cab company phone numbers local to wherever you are

Google sky map : fun and educational app, really shows off the motion tracking capabilities of the phone

GPS Status : shows you how many GPS satellites are visible to your phone and where they are

G-Mon : hardcore wardriving app

Hungry! : Simple but effective shopping list app

iFlight UK : live departure and arrival boards for most uk airports (might be a paid app)

Keepscreen : stops apps (you select which apps) from timing out the screen

Layar : Virtual reality overlays on top of your camera view

Picsay Pro : (paid app, but there is a free lite version) fun photo editor

Movies : movie reviews and shows what's on at local cinemas (inlcluding showtimes)

Mybackup Pro : app for backup up all of your data, essential when youre upgrading firmware or doing a factory reset (paid app, but there's a 30 day free version)

Ringdroid : lets you edit mp3s and set them as a ringtone

Places Directory : Lists of stuff near you

Taskpanel : great free task manager / task killer

Twidroid : Twitter client - miles better than Peep

Wallpaper Plus : (might be paid) More flexibility & features when setting wallpapers

Wifi Analyzer : essential app for optimising and debugging your wireless network

 

Maverick : Spent too much time playing with this today! It's a free mapping app that caches the data so you can view the map without mobile-net/wifi. You can choose from several map overlays (google/open-streetmap/bing), share way points, track paths etc.

It's gone straight to the top of my favourite app list.

Last.fm : I never used to be a fan of last.fm (due to using spotify instead), however the app is great and lets me listen to new music on the go.

Meebo IM : A good app for connecting to MSN (and other chat protocols).

SkypeLite : It's not bad - don't think it supports voice, just chat.

 

Don't think there's a way to make the default message app launch handcent, but you can delete the default shortcut from your screen and add a shortcut to handcent instead.

 

Look into Gmote. It's one of those apps that actually changed the way I interact with my computer. Very cool and innovative, you just have to install the gmote server on your computer and voila! You have a remote control for your computer!