I've had an Android for about six months now, coming from a dumb phone.

If you have an HTC, Silent Boot is a must, because otherwise it will make sound anytime you start it, even if the phone is in silent. Which is actually kind of a pathetic problem. That just shouldn't happen, but it does, and Silent Boot fixes it.

From the standard apps, Evernote is wonderful, though there are some newer apps that are closing the ranks pretty fast. Flipboard can be a lot of fun, but tends to mostly be junk.

I just switched over from the standard Messages app to TextSecure. It is pretty much the only SMS encryption app that lets you text people who don't have the app. The messages are still encrypted, from what I got from the info available, just not as well. I like the interface, and ability to lock it, so friends can know my phone password, but still not have access to my texting.

Banjo is a newer news app. It gives the news super fast, because it largely relies on social media to aggregate news stories as they happen. For example, I know police are dealing with a suicidal man at the Downtown Hilton in Minneapolis; a new wildfire in Colorado started; a truck is burning in Val Verde California; a train derailed in DC; and it seems like most of downtown Birmingham, England is either on fire, or in danger of catching on fire. A lot of these stories won't make sites like BBC, but I like being able to see them pretty much as they happen. I'm just beginning to learn to use everything Banjo has to offer.

When it isn't summer and my life is busier, Any.do is a good todo app, though it really needs a way to check things off. Right now, I have to set an alarm/reminder, then mark the task as done. Other abilities, like rolling-over tasks to the next day; periodic reminders; and integration with other apps makes me keep it though.

Finally, I just added Strava yesterday, used it for the first time today. I like it a lot. As a mountain biker, I'm not going to put a bike computer on my bike, but I still want to know stats like average speed, distance, and distance climbed. Strava does that with just my phone. It also works socially, though I haven't explored that much yet.