I recently got a smart phone (droid 2) and I don't trust the reviews in the marketplace even a little bit.

To kick things off, I'm looking for a good QR code reader and generator, any suggestions?

Don't Android phones come with something that scans QR codes by default?

Angry Birds, definitely.

You should download Google Goggles, if it isn't built in to your ROM. It handles barcodes, but also lets you search (or translate text) by taking a photo. It doesn't let you generate codes though.

You need Angry Birds, and Angry Birds Seasons too. They're both free.

Angry Birds is free??? it's definitely a buck for us. Or $1.99...

Google Goggles for sure. Get VLC while it's still free. I'm not sure what Droid has as far as remote apps go but they're fun no less (remote media access and what have you).

I don't think you need a QR reader. I've heard of RedLaser for UPC. I didn't have any luck. They could've disabled the app for legal reasons. Probably not cool going around scanning store items for cheaper prices.

Maybe YOU don't need a QR reader.

And Capt, if they do I haven't seen it.

Tricorder and metal detector are cool.

If you want some other gaming goodness NESoid and SNESoid are good too.

Advanced Task Killer is ctrl alt del for Android. Otherwise I haven't really ventured too deep into the market yet, I still use my itouch for the apps.
Also, get lookout, it can find your lost phone and an antivirus wouldn't hurt

Edit: I have mobiscanQR and that seems to work fine

Maybe it's like hobo said, it varies from ROM to ROM.

What's that to-do list app that I see tons of people use? I can't remember the name of it, but I know my ex-girlfriend used it. Has a squid for an icon/mascot thingy. Also, stuff like Facebook is always important to get.

Astrid is the To-Do app. I used to use it myself.

Any good barcode reader will probably read QR fine too, which is very handy as QR codes are appearing in more and more places all the time. Like I said, Goggles is great, but if you want something more shopping-focused, Google Shopper works really well too.

Angry Birds (and Seasons) is ad-supported on Android, so unlike iOS it's free.

Like goat said, NESoid and SNESoid are both great, and the same guy does emulators for GBC, GBA, Game Gear/SMS, Mega Drive, Atari 2600. There's a PS1 emulator on there too.

PS1, seriously? That's awesome. Have a QR code for it?

Here are the ones that STAY on my phone. I'm always installing and uninstalling stuff.

Launcher Pro - GREAT home replacement - the widgets with the paid version are awesome (calendar, bookmarks, Twitter, etc)
Battery Left - pretty accurate widget that tells you how long you have before your battery is dead
Buzzbox - my favorite news reader - nice widget
Chomp SMS - SMS replacement
Dimmer - Takes the brightness lower than stock will allow if you're in a dark place (theater, etc)
Droidlight - flashlight
IMDB
Mobile Banking
Mobile Queue - Netflix queue management since Netflix doesn't have their own app
Flixster - movie app
gstrings - I own 4 guitar tuners and this one blows them all away.
Drop 7 - love this game
Dropbox
K-9 mail - MUST HAVE if you check email on your phone. Kills the stock app. Way better
ShopSavvy - it's what I use for QR codes and reg barcodes
Google Voice - way better than Visual Voicemail
PDAnet - Wired teather for the lappy
WeatherBug - most fully featured weather app. Accuracy varies
Touiteur - my favorite Twitter app

If you decide to root the phone:

AdFree - kills most ads in applications
AutoKiller - lets you adjust the native memory free to keep things snappy
Root Explorer
Titanium Backup
SetCPU for overlocking

HAVE FUN!!

Awesome list Stem, I'll check all those out.

I'll have to check a couple of those out myself I think.

Here's what I keep on my N1:
Google Reader - Just came out last week, and replaces the web version as the most-used thing on my phone.
Tweetdeck - Brings Twitter, Facebook, Foursquare and Buzz together into a single feed, syncs columns with the desktop version too.
Dropbox - Great way to sync useful files between PC and phone.
Evernote - Awesome notebook app.
Battle.net Authenticator - Can replace the keychain version for logging into WoW/SCII.
Kindle or Aldiko - Kindle's a great app if you use Amazon's service, Aldiko is a brilliant alternative for DRM-free eBooks though.
JustPictures - Probably the best way to view your Flickr/Facebook/Picasa/etc galleries on your phone.
TripIt - I find this handy for tracking my travel details like plane times, hotel bookings etc.
SMS Popup - Pops up a window when you recieve SMS messages.
Alarm Clock Plus - My alarm clock app of choice.

One more thing about the emulators - there's an app you can get that lets you sync a Wii Remote to the phone if you'd prefer normal controls. It supports the classic pad too.

How does one go about rooting their phone, hypothetically?

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&sour ... oEBU_QNHc9

Basically, plus phone into computer via USB. Run program you download, it does the rest.

Quick answer: http://www.droid-life.com/category/root ... 2-rooting/ I love this blog. There are now apps that can do it in one click. Just know that you void your warranty by doing this, but if you need to take it in for whatever reason, you can easy unroot or wipe to a fresh install of 2.2. I had to do that when I exchanged my Droid.

Quick note, if you have Android 2.2, which I think you do, then you do NOT need or want an app killer. No ATK.

A World of Photo - A fun game thing where you receive and send a picture to a random person.
Astro - I don't think anybody said this one yet, great file browser.
Catch - I like this note app better than Astrid actually.
ConvertPad - Convert anything into anything else. Very complete.
MiniSquadron - Very fun game. Similar to Altitude for PC.
Pokedroid - It's a Pokedex for Android. COME ON.
RockPlayer - Video player that supports quite a few filetypes.
WordFeud - Not unlike the iPhone's Words with Friends
ShootMe - Another good program that requires root, lets you take a screenshot of your phone.

Just a few that I use a fair amount. I have more if you want 'em.

Dude, where do you read about apps! I'm always hunting, but never finding good stuff through all the crap, and 4/5 of the app stores are crap. It's noisy and not sortable by rating (never will be unfortunately).

My new app quest is to find a good spreadsheet, graph, powerpoint etc app. Quikoffice kinda sucks.

Documents to Go? I haven't used it but it seems popular.

I haven't used Docs to Go either, but from what I've seen it's more fully featured than the ios iworks.

What I'm playing on my Evo:

Star Trader RPG
-the guy updates it every week almost
-it's free, (paid version just has way more content), and plays like old school Sid Meier's Pirates! in space, with a good scifi atmosphere with plenty of text (though a decent amount of misspellings) and Oregon Trail difficulty. I'm on normal, and that's on a Sid Meier difficulty scale (8 difficulties or so, from you cheating to equal to AI cheating). For example, first wilderness planet I landed on, I decided to explore it. My combat skill was decent. I pressed "explore". The text explaining what had happened was something like:
"After days of fruitless searching through the harsh landscape, 21 of your crew members have been killed by a vanished without a trace. You lost an arm. Your wound is excruciating but you will survive. You also lost a leg."
I couldn't reload a save, and your captain's health must be kept up or you can die permanently on the higher difficulties. Fun stuff.

Age of Conquest
-it's like Risk but with more troops, money, and forts. I got the lite version (one map and one starting location, unlimited play)
-I started the tutorial and couldn't stop playing until I won, 2hrs 20 mins later. Great fun. There's a subscription online version, and it's 4 bucks for each continent map (each the size of a full Risk board), so a little spendy. Still, try the lite version if you like Risk.

hey i don't use apps or whatever but i'm really digging the name of this dude right above me and i wanted everyone to know that.