For the last couple of days I’ve been playing with my new Adroid phone. By now I’ve setup all email and calendar accounts, am tied into MrsM’s groceries list and can access shared storage. It continues to amaze me how powerful this little machine is and how many little apps make it so much more useful compared to how it came out of the box.

Installing apps is a breeze and many of them are still free. (Well nothing is really free in life, so they either show ads or record your usage pattern and transmit it to the provider). Giving up privacy is the big downside of becoming part of this massively connected world.

Here’s the list of apps that I’ve installed on my phone in addition or in lieu of pre installed apps:

• Scientific Calculator
• Weather Radar
• OurGroceries (links to wife’s mobile and keeps lists in sync)
• WordPress
• Advanced Task Killer
• Dropbox Filesharing
• Movies (allows to manage netflix queue, research movies and to buy movie tickets)
• Pandora (personalized internet radio)
• Kindle (e-book reader)
• Starbucks store locator
• Barcode scanner
• Unit Converter
• EveryTrail GPS tracker
• WeatherChannel app
• Wall Street Journal reader
• austincheapgas – locating low price fuel

The versatility of this device continues to amaze me. The beginning of a love affair…