The Android Market to the rescue! I found a couple of solutions. Some of them were still in private Beta.
- Nitrodesk TouchDown (http://nitrodesk.com)
- Moonrug (http://moonrug.com/android/index.html)
- Aardvark (http://aardvarkforandroid.com/index.htm)
- Roadsync (http://www.dataviz.com)
I tried out TouchDown from Nitrodesk for free and opted to purchase a full license for $19.99. So far my experience with Touchdown has been good.
- Email works great. I am pulling down my email every 15 minutes. There is no support for push email. But that ain't a big issue since I do not want to be pinged with email every minute.
- The current version doesn't allow you to edit or confirm calendar appointments. A killer feature would be to bridge between the Exchange calendar and my google calendar.
- Touchdown does time out when I switch between 3G and WIFI. The error message indicates this is a DNS problem. However I have no issue access the internet via a browser. The error is temporarily as 15 minutes later I am able to pull down my email.
- Nitrodesk support has been excellent and fast.
Other applications which I has installed on my phone are (in order of how often I use them) :
- Twitroid - to twitter from my phone
- fBook - Facebook application; not bad, but I find myself regularly going to the mobile or main facebook website to comment or access info.
- PhoneFlix - manage your Netflix queue from your phone. This is a great application since I typically hear about a great movie from friends, when I am not near my computer.
- Skype Lite - to receive and make skype phone calls. When making a skype call to a computer, you do make a local call and will be billed wireless minutes. But that is a cheap price to pay when trying to call my parents in Belgium, or my parents in law in Argentina.
- T-mobile HotSpot locator - alerts me of nearby WIFI hotspot locators operated by T-mobile.
- Mileage - to keep track of my trips to the pump. Unfortunately this only supports one car.
- gIRC, an irc client for Android
- ConnectBot - secure shell for Android.
- Shopsavvy - take a picture of the barcode and find where to best buy it. Seriously! This application has potential. I haven't used it much. The only thing I recently bought was a fridge and it lacked a barcode ;)
- ToggleBlu - one click bluetooth on/off
So what's missing?
- Remember The Milk : my work and personal todo list, groceries and shopping list. The mobile version of the webstie doesn't render well on Android. A native app really would do wonders. (107 replies already on my RTM forum post)
- Pandora : I am big fan of Pandora and listed to it at least a few hours a day. I do get feeling Tom Conrad from Pandora ain't the biggest fan of Android. Pandora is already on the new PalmOS. I am anxiously awaiting a version for my phone.
Update: Add one more application to the list: Radio.BE. I just received an email from Nicolas Braem who launched a streaming audio application for Belgian radio stations, such as one of my favorite: Studio Brussel.
Update 01/27/2009: Version 1.4.051 of Touchdown added a lot of requested features: meeting invites and global addressbook