Android

Google's Samsung-made 'pure' Android tablet simply doesn't match up in quality or experience to Samsung's own Note 10.1

It's easy to get intimidated by Android, as a lot of its apps and services are designed more for hard-core geeks than the everyday user. And, initially, I was intimidated by Android Injector, a desktop application that allows you to install APK files (Android apps) on your Android device-- until I used it, and realized just how easy it really is.

LG's new Optimus G Android smartphone, which will be available from both Sprint and AT&T, offers a fast processor, a brilliant display and some powerful productivity features.

Wondershare's MobileGo for Android offers almost all of the features found in iTunes--and a few you won't find anywhere in Apple's software. So Android users, you can banish your envy of the symbiotic relationship between Apple's mobile iOS device and its iTunes desktop software. MobileGo is available in a free version that's available for Windows PCs and a $40 Pro version that's available for Macs, too.

If you’re looking to upgrade and want a super fast phone with a large screen, then Samsung’s new Galaxy S III might be for you. Beware though, Samsung’s answer to Apple’s Siri can be hit or miss.

Android smartphones have always been easy to manage "over the air": You can install apps using Google Play with any desktop browser, and manage your contacts using Gmail's contact manager. If you use Gmail, this means there is no need to back up your email, either, and apps like Titanium Backup can back up everything else and even sync it online. With such strong cloud sync abilities, is there a real need for a dedicated desktop client for managing your phone? If you ask Moborobo, the answer is "yes"; I say the answer is "not for most Android users."

A smartphone is only as good as the apps you have on it. We've filtered Android’s Google Play store and the Apple App Store to select the most useful and fun apps for your phone. Check out our picks for the top mobile utilities, entertainment software, news apps, productivity tools, and games available today.

Love your phone but hate the mail app? Wish the camera had more features? Here are a few apps that make the ones that came with your phone obsolete.

For more information about all of the items in our 2012 "Super Apps!" list, read our package of articles.

Why read the paper when you can get news crafted especially for you? Thanks to your smartphone, you can keep up with current events no matter where you are. Here are the apps that let you consume news your way--giving you more of what you care about, and less of what you don’t.

The Google Nexus 7 tablet resets expectations of what an inexpensive tablet can and should be. Starting at $199, the Nexus 7 clearly guns for Amazon's same-priced but lesser quality Kindle Fire, which runs Amazon's limited flavor of Android. Make no mistake: Of today's 7-inch Android tablets, the Nexus 7 is the one to beat, and it is handily one of the best-executed Android tablets of any size you can buy. In some ways, that's not saying much; for as much as it does well--it has a tremendous 10-plus hour battery life, and it produces reasonably clear text and accurate colors--the Nexus 7 stumbles by leaving out an expansion slot. You need to step up to the 16GB $249 version for the Nexus 7 to make a sensible purchase, and even then you'll be settling short of the ideal tablet you really want.