[elephant007]

I would recommend getting a Gmail account if you don't already have one, before getting any Android phone

After getting the phone I'd recommended to you to mess around with your phone and get familiar with it, then if you decide you want to change it up, root the phone. I tried holding off on rooting my phone, then finally did and there's a world of difference as far as battery life is concerned. Currently I'm using JoeyKrim's kernel.

As far as the top 10 things to do once you get your phone I have no idea, I just do things with it never though of creating a list... I think the most important thing is to play around with it first then decide what you want to modify... when I say modify, I'm talking more of finding alternative apps to use besides the stock apps.