Part one of this two month look at the HTC Hero and Android is here. Today I am going to look at the best Android apps.

Below are the apps I use, that I think are worthy to be mentioned and are valuable assets to my Hero:-

Copilot 8 – One word. Brilliant must have if you want a proper satnav solution. Regular updates too and free speed camera updates.

3D Compass – This app is an augmented reality compass.  3D compass with augmented reality view, shows heading and degrees in big font, shows current location and address.

Aldiko Book Reader – a great ereader with various options. Personally I would like my ereaderpro ported to Android, with the book geographical restrictions removed !

Advanced Task Manager – This app is a must in my book. End applications, speed up phone, and save battery. Auto-End Service is excellent. Terminate and switch to apps and processes, Shows Memory info, Bulk select and exclusion,  Widget form for one-click end all, Quick Uninstall. Also provides an optional icon in notifications top bar to quick open app.

App2sd – This is a magical application that allows you to run and store apps from your memory card. I have not included the url, as it is best to use this when part of a custom rom. More info on request. Again a totally must have app.

Album Art Grabber – syncing music across to the Hero and I was missing album art. Using this program it fetched all the album art. For one compilation I downloaded the art cover to my memory card and asked the program to use this. Brilliant app.

Androzip – I use this app to unzip zip and rar files.

Apps Organizer – A must have app. On my main homescreen I have 2 icons, one labelled main and the other games. Tap Main, I get 20 of my favourite apps in a pop up box and tap Games and I get a pop up box with all my games. Simple and brilliant. Apps organizer allow you to organize installed applications using labels. With apps organizer you can associate one or more labels to each android application or create a label shortcut.

Astro File Manager – The best file manager IMO.

Bar Control – one of my favourite tools. Bar Control allows you to put links to apps in the notification bar (status bar). This allows you to switch to your most used apps quicker without going to the home screen.

Beebplayer – Unofficial player of BBC iPlayer TV programmes, live TV channels and live radio.

Bizcardreader – Uses camera to take picture of business card and save info. Download on post 428.

Car Mode – Sometimes the simplest apps are the best. Activated, incoming calls are directed to the Hero’s loudspeakers. Saves using Bluetooth.

Concise English Dictionary – Contains over 240,000 words, useful if you need one. Dictionary can be downloaded to memory card too.

Feedr – My favourite RSS reader – There is a demo app, so you can test first, but does everything I want with many options reliably and quickly. Another good RSS reader is Newsrob but the sync times are slower and therefore drains battery. However, Newrob has a lovely touch interface for moving between stories.

Google Services – Google Maps, Google Sky Map ( view the sky using camera and GPS) , Google Talk, Listen (Podcasts), Places Directory, Voice Search. All brilliant and available on the Android Market.

gTraffic - gTraffic displays live traffic information by region for the whole of the UK. Incidents are displayed in both list and map form. The list view uses a unique time-bar visualisation to show duration or time remaining. The data is supplied from the BBC.

Handycalc - A great free scientific calculator with unit conversions and currency convertor.

Reality Browser – Provides real time information through camera. Just try it. It is so cool.

London City – Free London Underground planner and map. There is a paid version with more functionality too.

Lottery Shaker – uses accelerometer for producing random lottery numbers

Magic 8 Ball – no surprises here, but works well, but don’t believe everything it says!

Marketenabler -  Sadly, dependant on where you live, certain apps will only appear in your region’s Market app. This app allows you to fake a different region and buy a wider range of apps.

Metal Dectector -Yep, its true, your Hero can be made to hunt for metal. Sorry iPhone users dream on!! Blackbery users like Shaun, wishful thinking lol.

Picsay Pro – A must have quality app IMO. Color correct, sharpen, distort, insert other pictures, crop & straighten, paint, vignette, make color splash out of black-and-white pictures, add effects like cross process, add text, word balloons, props, and much more.

Pkt Auctions eBay – Android current ebay app, not an official one, but still fairly robust. The iPhone ebay app is better.

Root Explorer – The ultimate file explorer but only for rooted phones. Use with care!

Shazam - Great app for indentifying music. Allows use to view music info and then buy track.

Shopsavvy - Uses camera (or text entry) to scan barcode and check for best web price or local store price. I have found this works best for electrical items and multimedia. Very useful. Never pay too much.

Television - Watch TV from about 25 channels. Need wifi really to get the best quality. Not Live TV.

Traffic4england - Real time traffic info. Limited free use, then purchase required. Handy app though.

TVGuide – I use this app daily, and its has just been updated again to include even more channels. Also has 2 additional screens showing movies and sports. See below.

Review by Gavin Fabiani-Laymond