When buying a phone not only does the phone’s appearance influence your buying decision but also what the phone can do for you.  The first thing we do when we get a new phone is customise the wallpaper, ringtones and install our favourite applications.  I compiled a list with some of the most popular and useful applications:

Opera Mini is a free mobile web browser that compresses data before it is sent to your phone, enhancing your browsing experience.

Fring is a mobile platform that allows users to chat with friends via instant messengers like Skype, Google Talk and MSN to name a few.

If you are one of those people that gets withdrawal symptoms when not connected to the Internet, Pooosh is the application for you.  Pooosh allows you to chat with your IM friends and access Twitter and Facebook.  This is a great application especially when are stuck in traffic.

Gmail on your mobile is a handy application that allows you to access your email on the go, access and save drafts as well as view attachments like images, PDF files and Microsoft Word documents.

Pocit is a useful South African payment management application that is secure and cost-effective to use.  It allows you to make payments from your accounts, manage payment requests and transfer POCitMoney to any cellphone number.  POCitMoney acts like a prepaid debit or credit card and the money is available immediately.

amAze is a free GPS navigation tool on which you can search any location by address.  Other helpful features include vocal guiding through your phone, weather reports for your searched location or address, detailed maps and satellite images.

Put Things Off for iPhone is a paid-for application for those of us that like our to-do lists.  Users can create notes and lists and if a task is not done for three days the application moves it back to the Today tray.  Very nifty!

Which mobile applications do you prefer to use and do you / would you pay to use your favourite applications?