The Symbian operating system is the most widely used smart-phone platform on the planet. Despite not being the prettiest thing to look at compared to recent offerings from rivals such as Apple, HTC and Blackberry, the recently liberated Symbian operating system continues to ship on not only Nokia mobiles but Sony Ericsson and Samsung have started to use it too.

But you won't care, as you've probably already got one. Good start, as you really can't live without these five on your Symbian device.

Jbak Taskman

This freeware task manager is definitely the most boring, yet most useful app on this list. Replacing the clunky, limited and sometimes slow to respond in-built Symbian task manager is one of the best gifts you can give your phone.

Jbak's offering provides a slick and minimal interface from which you can list processes, threads and memory information with ease.

Killing programs is a doddle - even if they're unresponsive and busy. There's a handy autorun feature allowing you to automatically launch programs when your phone starts up, and you can even view and manage the phone's hidden processes.

This should be the first application you install on your Symbian mobile phone.

Snaptu

The developers promise "a world full of free apps on any phone" and they're not wrong. This app functions as a one-stop portal to your social networking, news and information desires. There's full Facebook and Twitter support at lightning speed - you will not find a faster means of accessing your social networks.

The in-built news reader allows you to add as many RSS feeds as you like, and the weather and sports apps keep you in the loop, on the go.

At last count there were 33 applications within this one single app that can be added to the home screen. Snaptu provides a simple and fast interface from which to access some very often used websites and services, and best of all it's completely free (with the odd banner advert here and there, but who's complaining?) and available from Snaptu.com.

Opera Mobile

For a truly mobile web experience you'll want the highly acclaimed Opera Mobile. This bite-size browser packs enough punch to be able to bring full webpages to the confines of your mobile phone, allowing you to browse the "real" internet on the go.

The recently updated interface makes touch screen browsing easier than ever, and the in-built Opera on-screen keyboard looks and feels great.  Use of the same SpeedDial quick-start interface as its bigger brother means your favourite websites are a greasy thumbprint away once the application launches.

The Opera Mobile browser also comes with Opera Turbo support, a service designed to cut down on the amount of bandwidth a website would typically use - although I'd recommend switching to Wi-Fi if you're planning on doing any serious browsing. Grab it for free from the Opera website.

Skype [No Longer Available]

The popular VoIP platform seems like an even better idea on your mobile phone, don't you think? Free phone calls, instant text chat and reduced rates to phone numbers are all good reasons to have this useful little program with you on the move.

You'll soon bin that USB Skype phone once you realise your Wi-Fi-enabled mobile can do the job, and stay in your pocket the whole time. As well as the standard voice and text features, Skype mobile allows you to update your profile and picture, add new contacts on the go and send or receive files from your contacts.

The client's free, but if you absolutely love it you'll probably want to invest in some Skype credit to allow you to call and SMS all your friends to tell them the good news. Download it from the Skype mobile homepage.

Skyfire [No Longer Available]

Introducing the only mobile browser with decent Flash support, Skyfire is by no means perfect but provides a great way to stream video to your phone. YouTube support within the browser is excellent, although you'll probably get some "Your browser's not up to it" messages from YouTube's end. Soldier on however, and you'll be able to use the full YouTube website on your mobile phone.

It's no replacement for Opera, but it gets the job done. There's no in-built keyboard, and a simple SpeedDial feature would be nice, but if Flash is your thing then Skyfire will excel where other mobile browsers call it a day.

Download it from Skyfire.com.

Have you got any favourite apps not featured here? Trouble with an app on a particular device? Tell us about it in the comments.