Finally ditched the dinosaur phone and decided to join the rest of the modern world, and I can firmly say I'm happy about it. Picked up a Thunderbolt from Verizon, and I was curious to hear suggestions from veteran users on apps, things to get for it and anything that would be useful to know as a new smartphone user. Your help is appreciated!

They're only good for Angry Birds. Heh.

It's been my experience NOT to pay for apps or games, get the free stuff. If your phone gets wiped (and it will at some point) you'll lose everything and will have to pay for the apps again.

lol got an evo 4g and i love it, cant imagine going back to a crappier phone

I've had my iphone for about a year and a half, some solid apps depending what you like...

(im not sure if all these apps will be available on your phone)

- Shazam : great app for identifying most songs. Hit a button, it listens to the song, then tells you what song it is, concert info, CD info, and music videos

- Pocket God : ever wanted to play god, with a small village? change the weather, throw them miles away, feed them to the wildlife, drop them in the volcano. i think you get the point. good time waster.

- Angry Birds : Good times, because who doesnt like shooting birds from a sling-shot and attacking egg stealing pigs...

- Live Profile : instant msg app across most smartphones.

- Pocket Legends : if i had to compare it to something.... probably a dumbed down version of world of warcraft for your phone. if you play WoW, you might like it.

If you just want to shoot shit, try iDracula, TrenchesVs, Scarface, GunBros.
EA Games are usually pretty sweet, i got NHL 2011, FIFA 2011, and Risk.

Hopefully you find a few that you like.

You won't have it for long...

Pulse for news, it's really nice App

Amazon App Store app, get it off Amazon, one free paid for app a day, I got some good apps through that (Trillian when you had to pay for it, also Akintaor)

Tv Guide channel app if you're a TV buff, you can add reminders to your calender.

Not if its linked to your account like what apple does for iphone.

Nope, I had them linked to my account and still had to DL and pay for the apps 3 times through my Ipod account.

Magicjack is only 30 dollars a year, and I can get better apps for my computer.

That's odd because I never had that happen to me. I was able to transfer my apps from ipod touch to iphone for free, it will just says that do you want to purchase this app then you already have this app, you can redownload for free.

with my droid it's linked to my gmail account, which keeps track off all the apps i've purchased. i've gotten a new phone and had my phone wiped and never lost an app that i've paid for.

ALSO, some apps you can get:

amazon kindle for downloading and reading books
audible for downloading and listening to audio books
barcode scanner to get information, comepetitive pricing and reviews on items you find in stores
dropbox mobile, to easily upload/download/access music, pictures, files, etc. between your computer and phone
evil operator, calls 2 people and connects them and records the conversation for laughs :)
fwix is an app that searches for things happening nearby (restaurants, bars, events, etc.) based on your location
google books, like kindle, but i think the google books are more likely to be free
google goggles let's you take pictures of things and searches the internet for it to bring up results for shopping, reviews, etc.
google translate, self explanatory
guitar tuner, self explanatory
movies app to search for local theaters and movie reviews
catch notes app is where i keep my shopping lists or lists of songs, restaurants, whatever i want to remember later
pandora internet radio (this is badass if you use your computer to completely customize your channel(s))
plants VS zombies (at least on droid)
ringdroid let's you take clips from any song or sound to make your own ringtones
sharemyapps let's you easily email links of your apps to your friends
shazam listens to a song and searches for it to tell you what it is, you can also instantly purchase/download if you have an amazon mp3 account
sirius xm radio, works best over wifi
score mobile to check out scores for virtually any professional/college sports games
Tapatalk lets you easily get on the n00bfest forums without using the browser (it's badass and worth the $1)
U.S. army survival guide, self explanatory
voice recorder, self explanatory
words with friends (like scrabble, if you DL it start a game with me, my username is magilla80)
yelp restaurant/business search and review app, great for finding new places to eat
zedge for downloading ringtones and wallpapers

I actually looked for Plants Vs. Zombies on the Android market and couldn't find it. I'll probably pick up Tapatalk, though.

Also, I was curious how many people here root/jailbreak their phone and what the benefits and consequences are (I know you can remove bloatware and install homebrew apps, and it allows you to tether, but I was wondering if there was more to it than that).

Acid is a Jailbreaking freak, should PM him about that stuff.

i got plants VS zombies from the amazon app store for free, but they may charge for it now

I remember seeing it for their "One paid app for free" daily deal so most likely it is back to it's regular price.

I play Project I.N.F. when I have time to kill and no computer.

Free multiplayer online

i dont buy into the whole app killer shit but norton mobile utilities is a nice app.It lets you kill off apps and also keeps up with usage for data,sms,and minutes.Most app killers use more resources than the apps they kill but this one doesn't.Other than that i have the usual Angry birds,alchemy,ebay,snesoid,rom gripper and Cool reader is good for books you steal.Speed test for checking data speed and Quandrant,linpack and An3dbench for benchmarking. I havent overclocked my inspire 4g yet but i probably will at some point.

I have an android samsung galaxy mesmerize through U.S. Celluar... It's really nice because I have a shitfuckton of emulators on it... NES SNES GBC GBA and PSX. wattt

word on the street is the iphone 5 is coming out in September

From what I've seen, I think they will make a ''4S'' for September, not an iPhone 5.