gdgt

I'm sorry that I'm replying without an answer, but I wanted to make the comment that this is one of those little things that I assumed Android could do, and I would totally expect it if I moved over from my iPhone. It bugs me that the only sound you can change on the iPhone is the damn ringer... not even for texts! So I'm going to follow this thread and see what kind of replies you get.

You set the notifications settings for the gmail app by changing the settings within that app. Start gmail, press menu, go into the settings, and you can either turn off notifications, or change the notification ringtone to "none".

The reason that you are getting two SMS message notifications is because both the stock messaging app and Handcent are set to notify you. To fix that, go into the stock Messaging app, press Menu, go into settings, and turn off notifications.

Each app tends to have notification settings within its own menu, and from there, you can choose the notification ringtone that you want for each app. This is what I have done - I have a different notification sound for all of the apps that notify me with sound, to make it easier to know whether or not I really need to check when I hear one.

To add to what you said, within Handcent if you go into a persons sms, the list view of text, you can click the settings button in the upper part of the app and set a specific notification for that person. In contacts you can assign a specific ringtone to each person.

Oh man, I feel really stupid now. Thank you everyone for the help.

I actually realised, that I forget to press the menu button quiet often when I look for settings. Must be because I come from Windows phone and look for the same on screen menues as before :) To my defense, it is important, that you press menu at the right level of the program (most of the time in the overview of all emails/SMS/etc.). Maybe that helps someone else as well...