I've had the phone for a week now, and I've figured out a number of things. My battery life problem was entirely caused by poor cellular reception at my desk at work. I tried changing my phone to airplane mode one day, taking it out of airplane mode any time I moved away from my desk. By the time I plugged my phone back into the charger at 10pm, it was still at 40% charge. Much better than having it die at 2pm. Given the poor reception, I can't really get calls at my desk anyway.
I've figured out how to access my home network using the phone. I was unable to get it to connect via the phone's built-in file explorer; I had to use EStrongs File Explorer, which works very well.
I'm using the built-in GMail application, and I downloaded GReader, which works servicably for getting to my Google Reader items, although I'd like better support for sharing and checking starred items. I'd also like access to Google Buzz, which I haven't looked into very much yet.
I'd originally intended to start streaming all my podcasts from the phone and stop using the Juice/Samsung mp3 player combination I've been with for years. But Google Listen isn't what I wanted. It clogs up my Google Reader list with the mp3 feeds and the built-in podcast search couldn't find one of my podcasts. I'd have had to hand-key each of the lengthy URLs of the podcasts' RSS feeds into the phone's virtual keyboard. What a pain. I guess I may try another app on the phone for podcasts at some point in the future, but for now I'm happy saving battery life.
As for other applications, I'm using Ringdroid to make ringtones, Beamreader to read PDF files, and the built-in social networking and post-it applications, which work wonderfully. I also absolutely love the Google Calendar and Google Tasks applications and I'm making heavy use of them. I've installed the EBay application, but don't know if I'll keep it. I've also installed Pandora and Shazam, but haven't yet used either. I'm also considering Flixster, if only to manage my Netflix queue.
One application I'd have already if I could figure it out is Swype. Is it really an application or is it a feature? According to this article, Swype should come with my phone by default. If it's there, I can't find it. I'll continue to look.
Lastly, games. I was initially excited about emulation, as there are tons of old Nintendo and Genesis games I'd love to revisit. But I quickly found that playing action games on a touch screen is a terrible way to go. I tried Double Dragon 2 and Tetris Attack, both of which I loved, and came to the conclusion that they're just no good without actual keys to press. The only emulation game I kept is one of the old Wizardry titles, which I may or may not play.
I've only found two Android games so far that I really love. Firstly, Tower Raiders. It's basically Defense Grid: The Awakening for the Android platform, minus the raspberries. I never really loved the version I got from Steam, but being able to play it on a phone is a big plus. And the version I'm playing is free. I may drop the $3 for the full version at some point. Secondly, Trap!, which is very reminiscent of the old game Qix. Whereas in Qix, you'd be sectioning off portions of the screen while avoiding a giant scribble named the Qix and the small sparx that ran along the screen's borders, your adversaries in "Trap!" are bouncing balls. You need to section off the screen, creating sections that do not contain the bouncing balls until you've blocked off 75% of the screen. If a line is hit by a ball before it's complete, you lose a life. Further levels add more balls, increasing difficulty. Simple to understand, difficult to play. Very fun.
So, yeah. Overall, I'm digging my phone.