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Chomp and GoSMS Pro are the best alternatives in my opinion. While I like GoSMS Pro a lot, I keep going back to Chomp because it has an audible sound when you send a text. It helps when I am at work (poor signal quality) and I can hear when a text is sent successfully instead of having to stare at the phone until it sends.

Just FYI you can have GoSMS Pro make an audible sound when it sends a text. If you go to settings -> Notification Settings -> Put a check in 'Enable sent notifications' -> Sent notifications settings.
From there you can have it vibrate and/or make noise etc whenever it sends the text![]()
I know, but doesn't that also place a sent icon in your notification bar? That's what I didn't want. I just wanted a sound and not have to clear the notification bar every time that I send a text (which is often).
Do you know if that's true or am I doing something wrong?
Ah gotcha. Not sure on that one. You could be right about the icon. I don't use the sent notifications personally, I just knew they were there. That's a bummer.

Chomp SMS and GoSMS are other popular ones. Not sure what you don't like about handcent, but it's the best replacement messaging app, IMO. I've tried them all and always go back to handcent
Is there a theme (or some other way) to make hancent look just like the default android messenger?