I like the HTC applications apparently

2 weeks into my HTC Hero, these are the android HTC apps I use for all my guff…

• E-mail: the Gmail client that is readily available to all android phones, I use it over the HTC Sense UI offering only because it allows archiving and I don’t really want to clutter my phone with POP3 accounts
• Music: HTC’s “Music” is my current choice after a flip flop between it and  Meridian. I went with the former due to locked screen controls, the ability to add ringtones directly and better integration with Sense UI
• Calendar: Haven’t strayed from the HTC calendar yet, the widgets provide enough information for me, though it would be nice if it showed tertiary calendars in the widget’s
• SMS: mostly chompSMS at this point, though temped to go back to the Sense UI application for the widget integration. chompSMS’ only advantage (for me) at this point seems to be the capability to change the notification icon color (woooooo!)
• Task Manager: TasKiller but only because I haven’t tried anything else, I like that it shows more “tasks” (e.g. the google maps friend service) than other applications I have seen, but I don’t like how easy it is to accidentally close the wrong thing (tap TouchFlo accidentally and you may as well restart your phone). This is fixable by making icons big, but then you read can’t entire application name! Wait, there is an update for this… Tried it, nothing ground breaking so will pursue alternatives
• File Manager: Linda, but only because I haven’t tried anything else
• Podcast Manager: Google’s Listen which is unreliable at best. The” download when wi-fi is available option” drops out a lot and the application seems to just hog memory during playback. Had a quick look at Car Cast but it was a bit simple. Might have to bite the bullet try BeyondPod which is meant to be the goods….
• Contact management: “People”, another HTC dealy which lets you link contacts to flickr and Facebook, syncs with google contacts… Awesome!

Other apps include Scrobble Droid to post my played music my last.fm account, Ringdroid to change alarm tones easily, Stream Furious to stream internet radios (good for Internode!) and 2G-3G to switch off the battery hungry data connection.

Seems this post turned into an advertisement for the HTC Sense UI, lucky them.