And while the standard soft keyboard for Android is good enough, there are several keyboard apps that I like better… there’s just one problem, sometimes you need to hide the keyboard so you can see the entire screen – often times you’ll need to hide it so you can submit a form, send an email, or you just need more space on the screen and don’t want the keyboard in the way.

So here are instructions for hiding the keyboard for several of the most popular after market keyboards and the built in one too.

Standard Keyboard

Back in the day, there was actually a hide keyboard key. It’s gone now, but no worries, hiding the standard keyboard is easy. Just start at the top of the keyboard and swipe your finger straight down.

Swype

Virtual keyboards are great but sometimes you just need them to get the heck out of the way so you can see everything on your screen.

For those of you with Swype installed on your phone, you probably have learned to love it. Personally, I think it’s is an altogether better way to type on a tiny touchscreen. However, hiding the keyboard requires you to know this trick since the procedure above won’t work since you use that gesture to type.

To hide the Swype keyboard, just press the back button at the bottom of the phone. It’s the icon that kind of looks like a u-turn sign turned on its side.

FlexT9

The FlexT9 app can be hidden in exactly the same way as the Swype keyboard – just press the back button.

SlideIT

The SlideIT keyboard has a built in hide keyboard key. If that doesn’t work or you can’t find it (or they remove it in a future version of the keyboard), just press the back key.

Swiftkey X

Since Swiftkey X isn’t a slide to type app, starting with your finger at the top of the keyboard and sliding it straight down will hide it… or just press the back key (you’ve probably figured out at this point that press the back key works on every Android keyboard I’ve tested)

Go Keyboard

Go Keyboard also has a built in button to hide the keyboard in the top right corner of the keyboard itself. And I’ll say it one last time, you can hide it by pressing the back button.

Hope this article helped you if you found yourself in the position of needing to hide the keyboard on your Android phone but had to look it up – don’t worry, I had to do the same thing a week ago because I wasn’t sure either – that’s why I wrote this quick guide for you.

By the way, you can easily switch keyboards by pressing the menu button, then pressing settings, and going to “language & keyboard settings.” Under input method select the keyboard you want to use.

Unfortunately, you’re also in a position where you can be taken advantage of. For example, Verizon likes to load “bloatware” onto their phones that charge monthly fees for services you can get for free just by downloading and app on the Android Market. They don’t have an exclusive on this kind of greedy behavior, they’re just among the worst offenders.   One app in particular that really frosts my cookies – VZ Navigator is an expensive piece of crap while Google Maps Navigation Beta is completely free for Android users and is 10 times better yet you can’t uninstall VZ Navigator (without a little help).

I put together this quickstart guide to help you determine which apps you should be using and that I would consider essential.

You’ll notice there aren’t any games on the list as those are far from necessary and are really a matter of personal preference.

One other thing you’ll notice about this list of Android Apps you need is that all of them are FREE! If you’ve come from the world of the iPhone, you’ll probably see there are a lot more quality free apps than you’re used to.

Of course there are plenty of  apps worth paying for in Android, but I’ll save those apps for another time.

Here’s the list of what I consider to be the 10 essential Android apps. Several of these apps are already installed on your phone.

Google Voice – The first app you’ll want to download for your phone is Google Voice. Some phones have this pre-installed but many do not. Google Voice will provide you with completely free visual voicemail and completely free text messaging when you send and receive texts through your Google Voice phone number. Not only that, but you can make heavily discounted international phone calls when you make calls through your Google Voice number. You’ll have to make sure your phone carrier knows to use Google Voice as your voicemail provider instead of the default installed on the phone, but it only takes a few minutes to get everything set up.

Google Maps Navigation Beta – You’ll find this app is already installed on your phone. It’s built into the Google Maps app. If you look in your app drawer, you’ll see a shortcut called “navigation.” I recommend putting that shortcut on your home screen so that you always have fast and easy access to the excellent (and again, totally free) turn by turn navigation feature built into your phone. With this app, there’s no need to pay for crappy services like VZ Navigator. Google Maps Navigation is a better app and it comes free with your Android phone.

Carr Matey – If you’ve ever parked your car and forgotten where in the heck you parked it, this app is for you. When you park your car, you can just open this app and it will remember your location and when you’re ready to go back to your car, just open up the app and it’ll bring up a map for you to follow straight back to your car. It also has a built in timer in case you’re at a parking meter so you know how long you have until you need to get back to plug the meter.

Barcode Scanner – Did you know that your phone’s camera has the ability to scan and read barcodes? You just need an app like this to take advantage of the capability. While you might scan a barcode at the store once in a while to read reviews of the product, you’ll likely use this app more often as a QR Code reader. So if you ever seen one of those funny looking square boxes that say “scan here”, just open up this app and point your camera at the box and you’ll be able to scan that QR Code like a champ.

Messaging – Your phone already has a built in text messaging app and it can get the job done. However, better apps like Go SMS Pro and Handcent are available that provide more features and a better user experience in my opinion. I recommend downloading both of them and trying each one out to see which you prefer.

Google Talk - If your phone has a front facing camera, then this app is probably already installed on your phone. Google Talk is the Android version of Apple’s Facetime. In other words, this is the app you’ll use for video chat.

Flashlight – You’d be surprised how often a simple flashlight app comes in handy. Since most of us don’t actually carry a flashlight on us at all times, having a flashlight app on your phone will shine some light on your situation. It uses the LED flash on your phone’s camera to provide the light and most of the time, it’s surprisingly bright.

Weatherbug – Don’t be surprised if you use this app every single day. I remember when I was a kid my dad always had to watch the weather when he got home on the news. I hated watching the news but in order for my dad to see the weather forecast, we had to watch it until the weather came on. We recently took a road trip together and I was able to use my phone to provide real time weather updates as we drove across the country. I could check the current radar and temperature and could check the weather of where we were headed at any time. You can even get an hour by hour forecast with this app so you can know what to expect.

Google Calendar – With the busy lives we all lead these days, it’s hard to beat the ease and simplicity of having the calendar on your phone sync up with the calendar on your computer. Personally, I like having one of those old school planners – you know the ones that use use a pen and paper and physically write in. However, I make sure to put all my appointments and activities into my Google Calendar on my computer. With the calendar app (should be installed on your phone already), it syncs up without you needing to do a thing.

Where’s My Droid – Last but certainly not least is the Where’s My Droid app. This is the app you’ll need if you phone ever gets lost or stolen. I tend to be a forgetful person and forget where I put my phone all of the time. While most of us can just call our phones (you can do this in Gmail, Skype or Google Voice if you don’t have another phone – just use your computer) to find the phone, when the phone is on silent, it won’t work. Fortunately, apps like this will allow you to text a special phrase to your phone that will turn up the volume to max even if the phone is currently on silent. It also allows you to text a phrase to your phone and the phone will text you back with it’s location and a link to map so you can navigate straight to your phone. It does require your phone to be turned on, however. If the power is off, this won’t work. Note: If you don’t install an app like this and you’ve lost your phone, you’ll need to use the app “Plan B” to track your lost phone.

What about voice control?

For those of you who are more than just a bit jealous about Siri on the iPhone – did you know your phone has most of that functionality already and that Google actually released similar technology a year before Siri was released?

All you need to do is download the Google Voice Actions app from the Play Store (will be listed as “Voice Search“).  Many Android phones have Voice Actions pre-installed.  With this app, you can do searches, send text messages and emails, play music, and even set your alarm clock with your phone.    And it does one thing Siri doesn’t do, let’s you do Navigation (not just maps) with your voice.

It’s not quite essential but it’s pretty darn close.

If 2011 was the year the LTE powered phone with the 4.3″ screen became common, 2012 might be the year of the HD display.

First the Galaxy Nexus, then the LG Spectrum, and more Android phones with HD displays are on the way.

In this post we’ll take a look at each phone and how they compare to each other.

Processor

Both phones have plenty of horsepower under the hood.  The LG Spectrum features a 1.5 GHz dual core Qualcomm Snapdragon S3 processor while the Samsung Galaxy Nexus has a 1.2 GHz dual core TI-OMAP processor.

Graphics Processor

The graphics processor in smartphones doesn’t get talked about a lot, but if you’re going to be playing some of the higher end games and want the best performance, the graphics processor does matter.

The LG Spectrum features the newer and faster Adreno 220 graphics processor while the Galaxy Nexus uses the less powerful PowerVR SGX540

RAM

Both phones feature 1 GB of RAM.

When you consider the processor, graphics processor, and RAM together, both phones have plenty of power to do virtually any task you throw at it.

LTE

Verizon’s LTE network is blazing fast and they’re expanding coverage rapidly so it just makes sense to get an LTE equipped phone even if coverage hasn’t been expanded to your area as it probably will be before your next 2 year contract is up.

Both the LG Spectrum and Galaxy Nexus are equipped with an LTE antenna.

Memory

The LG Spectrum has a mere 4GB of internal memory, but does come with a 16 GB Micro SD card giving it a total of 20 GB of memory.  It has a 32 GB max capacity if the 16 GB isn’t enough space for you.   A 32 GB card will run you about $30 when you buy online.

On the other hand, the Galaxy Nexus has 32GB of internal memory giving it better performance (Android is optimized to perform better with internal memory vs Micro SD cards) though there is no option to expand capacity – the Galaxy Nexus has no Micro SD expansion slot.

Operating System

While both phones run Android, the LG Spectrum ships with Android 2.3 Gingerbread with a 2nd quarter upgrade to Ice Cream Sandwich expected.  The Galaxy Nexus is already running Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich and since its part of the Nexus line, it delivers the “stock” Android experience with no third party interface interfering with the experience.

The LG Spectrum uses the Optimus UI 2.0 which some people have claimed should isn’t very well fleshed out.  Keep in mind you can change the homescreen just by installing an app like ADW Launcher or many other excellent homescreen replacements in the Android Market.

Display

One thing you’ll notice about the phones is that they’re both HUGE!  The LG Spectrum has a 4.5″ display and it’s the smaller of the two phones.  It also features extra strong Gorilla Glass and boasts a resolution of 1280 x 720 and a pixel density of 326 ppi – the same pixel density as Apple’s Retina display, but on a 4.5″ screen, not the 3.5″ screen of the iPhone 4 and 4S.  It’s an LCD screen using True HD IPS technology.

The Galaxy Nexus has an even bigger screen – 4.65″.  It has a contoured (slightly curved) Super AMOLED display which uses fortified glass to give it strength.   It also has a 1280 x 720 resolution but the slightly bigger screen means it has a lower pixel density – 315 ppi.

Both screens are gorgeous.

 Battery

Neither phone has a great battery and their juice sucking big displays and LTE antennas are going to prevent you from going long periods of time without having your charger handy.

The Spectrum has an 1830 mAh battery while the Galaxy Nexus has an 1850 mAh battery.

For comparison, the new Droid Razr Maxx and it’s excellent battery life does so with the help of a 3300 mAh battery.

You should be able to get through full day of light use with both phones but not much more than that.

Camera

When you look at the specs of both phones you’ll probably assume that the Spectrum sports the superior camera, but in reality the Galaxy Nexus has the better camera of the two thanks to several improvements made by the Android 4.0 operating system itself.

The Spectrum has an 8 mp rear camera with LED flash, a 1.3 mp front facing camera, and the rear camera can record video in 1080p.

The Galaxy Nexus has a smaller 5 mp rear camera with LED flash, a front facing camera for video chat, and also records video in 1080p.

Sensors

Both phones have plenty of sensors.

LG Spectrum Sensors

• Gyroscope
• Accelerometer
• Compass
• Proximity
• Light

Galaxy Nexus Sensors

• NFC
• Gyroscope
• Compass
• Light
• Proximity
• Barometer
• Accelerometer

While most sensors are standard fare for smartphones these days, the NFC chip in the Galaxy Nexus is the one that has the potential to be the game changer.  The NFC chip allows you to use your phone as a wallet and also allows you to exchange information with other similarly equipped phones by using the new Android Beam functionality built into Android 4.0.

Price

Right now the LG Spectrum came in at a somewhat budget friendly price of just $200 with a 2 year contract, bucking the trend of 4G LTE phones costing somewhere in the neighborhood of an arm and a leg.

The Galaxy Nexus still maintains its higher $300 with 2 year contract price tag.

The Droid Bionic - It's fast and worth considering as your next smartphone

I just realized that even though I’ve had my Droid Bionic for a few months now, I haven’t actually sat down to write a proper review of it.

Heck, I’ve already had enough time to break the darn thing (more on that later), I should have enough time to write a review.

Keep in mind this review will be from the standpoint of someone who uses the thing every single day – I’ve learned some of its little quirks as well as some little know features worth using.

So let’s jump right in. I’ll start with the 4G LTE antenna.

LTE – yeah, it’s fast.

I originally bought this phone because it was the first dual core LTE phone that Verizon released. That was enough for me. My original Droid was on its last legs so I knew I wasn’t going to have time to wait around to see what else was coming out.

If I’d have waited I might have bought the Droid Razr of Galaxy Nexus, but newer, shinier, better phones are released all the time so I bought a new phone when I needed it and the Droid Bionic was the best available at the time.

I don’t live in a current coverage area for LTE (I live out in the sticks) but I’ve found that many cities now have coverage and it’s blazing fast.

Speed & Performance

With a 1 GHz dual core processor and a full 1 GB of RAM, this phone has plenty of horsepower. I haven’t found anything that really bogs the phone down which makes the “guts” of the phone irrelevant and I can just use the phone.

That’s probably the best endorsement I can give to the performance of the phone – it’s fast enough that you don’t ever think to yourself, “gosh, I just wish it had a 1.5 GHz processor because it’s not fast enough yet.”

Battery

Like all LTE phones not named the Droid Razr Maxx, the battery life of the phone really isn’t great. You can get a full day with light to moderate use but that’s about it. If you’re going to use your phone a lot during the day, make sure you have a charger with you or a spare battery.

Locked Bootloader

On my original Droid I had Cyanogen Mod installed. It’s a fantastic operating system, but unfortunately it’s not officially available for the Droid Bionic since Motorola saw fit to lock the bootloader. This won’t be an issue for you unless you’re bit into the homebrew OS scene. Since you can still root the phone easily, it wasn’t a dealbreaker for me though I do still do occassionally miss my old Cyanogen Mod OS.

It’s Popular

One thing I’ve learned over the years is that if you want your Android powered phone to get the latest and greatest versions of the Android OS, then you should buy a popular phone.

The Droid Bionic happened to fit right into the upgrade window for a lot of people who purchased the first Moto Droid so this phone sold a lot of units and has a lot of unofficial support available and also means that the phone should continue to get OS upgrades in a timely manner.

FM Radio

You won’t see this in any official listing, but the Droid Bionic does have a built in FM tuner. That means you can listen to your local radio stations without needing to worry about streaming them so if you have a morning show you really enjoy or just want to listen to the radio, you can… you just need to download an app to access it.

It also means you don’t need to take along a separate radio when you’re at the gym and you want to watch TV while you’re on the elliptical or treadmill – just use your phone to tune into your desired radio station.

There’s a good app called “FM Radio” in the Android market that’ll run you $2. If you prefer free, you can down the Moto FM Radio APK from Droid Life, but only do this if you’re comfortable installing unofficial, non Android market apps.

Please note, these apps don’t work with all Android powered phones though they do work with all the new Motorola phones.

Camera

I don’t use the camera on the phone a lot, but it gets the job done when I need it. Is it the best smartphone camera on the market? No. Is it good enough for most situations? Yes. It does also record video in 1080p which is a nice feature as well. Once the Droid Bionic gets its Ice Cream Sandwich update, that should help improve the camera performance as well.

Display

I admit I had some reservations about getting a 4.3” screen – I was concerned that it’d be too big for my average sized hands. What I’ve found is that a 4.3” screen can make swiping your thumb from the bottom left corner to the top right corner a bit of a challenge if you’re only using one hand. However, I’ve only ever seen that become an issue when playing games and since I don’t play many games, it’s not a big deal.

Where I really like the size is when I’m using the phone for Navigation. The screen is bigger than a lot of standalone GPS devices and that just makes it easier to quickly read the display and the less time you have to spend looking at the display, the safer you’ll drive as you can keep them affixed to the road, as they should be.

Note: I recommend getting the Vehicle Navigation Dock directly from Motorola or through Amazon.com. It’s currently priced at $59.99, which at first glance seems more expensive than the Verizon version which is priced at $49.99. The one thing Verizon doesn’t tell you is that the charger isn’t included in the $49.99 versions so you have to spend another $20 or so to get one. Save yourself the $10 and just buy the $59.99 version right away.

How I Broke It

I did manage to break the darn thing already though that’s not the fault of the phone. I dropped it in a puddle of water and slush when getting out of my vehicle yesterday. I immediately popped the battery out and took it home and put it in some rice to help draw out any moisture that might have gotten inside the phone.

Unfortunately, I didn’t get the battery out before the handset speaker shorted out. The rest of the phone works fine, I just need to use my Bluetooth headset to talk to people (or speakerphone, that still works) until my replacement arrives. Remember, your regular warranty won’t cover water damage, but the Total Device Replacement plan (provided via Asurion, the $6.99 a month plan) will once you pay your $99 deductible. It’s not cheap, but it’s a heck of a lot cheaper than replacing the phone at full retail price – $589.99 and cheaper than getting it off eBay as well – at the time of this writing, about $340 for a new device.

I wouldn’t say the fact that it broke is a knock against the phone. Only rugged phones can handle getting wet and still keep on ticking.

Little Things

With phones being so similar in features and specs these days, sometimes it’s the little things that make the difference.

One of the little things I really like about the Droid Bionic was that the Swype keyboard app came preinstalled. I had been using the Flex T9 app on my old Droid, but only because I had trouble keeping the Swype Beta apk I’d downloaded working. I haven’t had any issues whatsoever with Swype on the Droid Bionic, though. It works great and is my favorite keyboard app out there.

One feature that is also pretty neat is the ZumoCast app (already installed on the phone). The best way I’ve heard it described is cloud storage without the cloud. Basically, ZumoCast allows you to access files on your desktop computer or laptop and stream directly from them. So if you have a gigantic collection of music on your computer and it doesn’t all fit on your phone, it’s not a problem, just stream straight from your computer to your phone.

I do like the Motorola MOTOBLUR interface. I’ll be honest, I was on the fence about it at first but I’ve come to like it. I really do like the contact widget that comes with it called Quick Contacts. It’s kind of like speed dial in a nifty little interface.

I wasn’t a big fan of the extensive bloatware that came with the Bionic. I can’t figure out for the life of me why VZ Navigator and other crappy apps are installed on the phone when far betters apps (like Google Maps Navigation Beta) are already installed on the phone and are free other than it being a blatant, greedy money grab. Same goes with Visual Voicemail – just use Google Voice and you get FREE Visual Voicemail and virtually unlimited voicemail storage… not to mention Google Voice is just a far better way to do voicemail.

And don’t get me started on the City ID app. $2.99 a month? Are you kidding me? I like the feature a lot, but you can buy the app once your 30 day free trial is up in the Android Market for $1.99, and that’s not a monthly fee – it’s a one time payment.

One thing that was nice was that it came with NFL Mobile Premium. I’m not sure if that will continue for next year or not, but it was nice to be able to access all the premium video features of NFL Mobile without having to pay for it. Again, not a big thing, but a nice little perk.

Bottom Line

The bottom line for this phone is that yes, I’d absolutely recommend this phone in a heartbeat. It’s priced at $200 with a 2 year contract from Verizon.

In that price range, the Droid Razr & LG Spectrum (both are dual core, LTE phones) also certainly worth considering and since both feature faster processors, they just might be the phone you want.

In a lot of ways, the Droid Razr MAXX and the Droid RAzr are really the same phone with a bigger battery.  However, a few other changes had to be made to accomodate that huge new battery meaning you can’t just take the battery out of the Droid Razr MAXX and stick it in the Droid Razr and assume it’ll work.

What’s The Same?

But the guts of the phone are still virtually the same.  You still get:

• 4G LTE
• 1.2 GHz Dual Core Processor
• 1GB RAM
• Smart Actions App
• LapDock Compatibility
• 16GB Internal Memory and a Micro SD card slot that can accommodate a 32GB Micro SD Card
• 4.3″ Super AMOLED Screen
• 8MP Rear Camera with LED Flash and a front facing camera for video chat.

What’s Different?

Battery

The biggest difference is that the Droid Razr Maxx has a much bigger battery.

3300 mAh vs 1780 mAh.

That gives it nearly twice as much standby time, 2 days of continuous music playback, 15 hours of video playback, and 21 hrs of talk time.

Thickness & Weight

That huge battery changes the size and weight of the phone, however.  The Droid Razr Maxx weighs 5.1 oz while the original weighs 4.48 oz and the thickness of the phone has increased from 7.1mm (.28 inches) to 8.99mm (.35 inches).

Price

The price of the original Droid Razr has been reduced to $199 with a 2 year contract while the Droid Razr Maxx takes on the $299 price tag that originally accompanied the Droid Razr when it was released.

Memory

The $100 price savings you get with the Droid Razr also comes with less memory.  Yes, you still get the 16GB of internal memory (11GB available to the user) but the 16GB Micro SD card is no longer included.   Fortunately, more memory is cheap – Amazon sells them for less than $15… or you can get yourself a 32GB Micro SD card for about $30.

Colors

Henry Ford had a famous saying when he was talking about his Model T Ford.

You can have it in any color as long as it’s black. 

The same applies here for the Droid Razr Maxx.  However, the original Droid Razr now comes in white and purple in addition to its original black color.

Why?

They were nothing to write home about.

When you consider how far behind the operating system was compared to iOS and Android there really was no comparison – it was innovative but its lack of features was a major hindrance to anyone who was considering switching.

The Nokia Lumia 900 Brings LTE Power To Windows Phone 7

However, with the Windows Phone 7.5 Mango update, WP7 did some catching up and brought a lot of highly desirable feature to their smartphone platform.

The only thing that had been missing with WP7 was a flagship phone (sorry HTC Titan) to show off the improvements.

The Nokia Lumia 900 is that phone.

The Lumia 900 was announced at CES 2012 and nearly all publications and blogs rated it as the best in show in the smartphone category.   Keep in mind that Apple wasn’t there and RIM seems to have given up even trying anymore so that really only left Android devices as competition for the title.   While several new Android devices were debuted at the show, none of them really generated much buzz or excitement compared to the Lumia.

First, let’s start with the specs.

Lumia 900 Specs

• 1.4 GHz Processor (single core – WP7 doesn’t currently support dual core processors)
• 16 GB Memory (no micro SD card slot for upgrading – instead you can use SkyDrive for cloud storage)
• 512 MB RAM
• 4.3″ AMOLED screen – 800 x 480 resolution – 217 ppi
• 8 Megapixel Rear Camera with Carl Zeiss Optics.   Front Facing camera for video chat.
• 4G LTE (AT&T)
• 1830 mAh battery – 7 hrs of 3G talk time estimated.
• Accelerometer
• Gyroscope

The biggest reason people were excited about the Lumia was that it is the first Windows Phone 7 device to be able to take advantage of AT&T’s fast 4G LTE network.

While AT&T’s  LTE network is small at this point, a mere 26 cities, it’s expected to expand dramatically over the next 2 years so buying an LTE powered phone if you live in or near a big city would be recommended.

Windows Phone 7.5 – Mango

Of course, this review is as much about Windows Phone 7.5 Mango as it is the Lumia 900.

So for it’s part, what is Microsoft bringing to the table?

While its app store pales in comparison to the size of Apple’s and Android respective markets, there are currently 43,000+ apps available which is still a lot and since creating apps for WP7 phones is relatively easy compared to iOS and Android, developers have been quite willing to build apps for the OS.

User Interface

The biggest thing you’ll notice if you pick up a WP7 phone is how different the user interface is.  While Android and iOS are very similar, WP7 is very different.

Instead of little icons, it uses “live tiles.”  They’re sort of like widgets… sort of.

If you’re curious about the “Metro UI” interface, as its called, there are a few apps in the Android market that brings a similar look and some of the same functionality to your phone.    They’re not as nice as the Real McCoy, but it can help you determine if you love or hate the interface – some people think it’s the best interface on the planet… others hate it so you’ll have to make your own decision on if it’s better than the Android/iOs interface.

Another big difference is how Microsoft has tried to bring “integrated experiences” into its apps.  Microsoft has taken a page out of Apple’s playbook by trying to control the whole user experience with certain apps.  And just like with Apple, as long as you’re happy with how Microsoft has implemented their “experience” you’ll be very happy – if you want to go outside the box, you’ll feel limited and constrained.

Bottom Line

Bottom line, the Nokia Lumia 900  is the best Windows Phone 7 device out there right now.  If you love Windows Phone 7 and were waiting for a great phone to go along with it, then the Lumia 900 is the phone you’ve been waiting for.

However, it’s hard to see this phone challenging Apple’s iPhone or any of the high end Android phones for marketplace dominance.

I’ll admit it. I just didn’t understand what was cool about the iPad at first. However, I’ve found more and more plenty of times where I don’t need/want to use my laptop but my smartphone just doesn’t do the job well either and I’d be quite pleased if I had an iPad available.

It’s the kind of device that I would say isn’t the perfect device for any one task. For example, I can write a blog post using it. I can read a book on it. I can watch a movie on it. Heck, I could record, edit, and publish a movie in HD using just an iPad.

And while having a laptop, Kindle, HDTV, and video camera with wireless microphones, are better suited to doing each of those tasks, respectively, the iPad is good enough to get the job done in many cases.

The beauty of the iPad 2 really is in how well it can do so many tasks.

It’s the perfect in between device!

No, I don’t plan on replacing my TV, laptop, GPS, or anything else and using just my iPad, but its plenty good enough to get the job done and get it done well when I don’t want to use a specialized device. Add in the fact that it’s lightweight and portable and it’s really a hard to beat device and while I’m an avid Android fan and don’t want an iPhone, I do love the iPad and don’t want an Android powered tablet.

So without further adieu, here are my favorite, must have, iPad 2 apps.

As is my custom, I don’t have any games on this list and will leave that up to other gaming enthusiasts.

Netflix / OrbLive – Love watching movies or TV shows on your iPad? Then one of these apps will be perfect for you. If you only have Netflix for movie streaming then just download the free Netflix app. If you enjoying watching from Hulu, Netflix, and others, then the OrbLive app might better suit your needs. My recommendation is to start with Netflix since its free and if you need more capabilities, get the $10 OrbLive app.

FX Photo Studio HD – Sure, you iPad already has pretty good photo editing capabilities. However, FX Studio HD really takes things up a notch. It brings tons of effects and filters to the party. Check out the demo video below to see some of it’s features in action:

Google Earth – The iPad 2 and Google Earth were made for each other. Some have called this app the best you can get for you iPad. It seems like the perfect fit for exploring the planet you and I live on, Earth.

iMovie – iMovie makes editing and publishing videos a piece of cake. Record a video on your iPad, edit it, and publish it to Youtube without ever needing to tranfer the file to your Mac. You can’t get the same degree of polish as you can with Final Cut but you probably don’t need to for most things.

GarageBand – GarageBand is a great choice for composing as well as recording your own music and it’s all optimized for touchscreen only inputs. Whether you’re using it for Podcasting, recording your bands music, or just adding special effects to your audio, GarageBand makes it easy.

Pandora – I think just about every top 10 list I’ve ever made on this site mentions Pandora. There are plenty of other similar services that have popped up over the years but none has worked as well as Pandora. I highly recommend it and if you love it as much as I do, upgrade to Pandora One – the $3/month for commercial free music is well worth it.

Djay – If you ever have parties or do entertaining, this is a fantastic little app. It brings many professional DJ features straight to your iPad and for a fraction of the price.

Epicurious – This is a fantastic little recipe app. And the nice thing about using an iPad for recipes is that you can just set the iPad in your kitchen and check off steps as you go along. Epicurious can also create a shopping list for any of its recipes and it’ll sync with your iPhone so you don’t have to lug your iPad into the store or write things down separately – just bring up the list on your iPhone and use it as your grocery list. Think of all the trees you’ll save!

Instapaper – I probably learned about this app backwards. I downloaded an App for my Droid Bionic called Read It Later and thought it was the coolest thing since sliced bread. I didn’t now that it was largely the same as an iPad/iPhone app called Instapaper. It’s a simple app but it’s tremedously useful. If you’ve ever been reading a news story, magazine article, or blog post on your iPhone or iPad and not had time to finish it, this is the app for you. It saves the article you’re reading, stores it for offline reading and syncs it to all your other devices (iPhone, iOS, Mac) so you can read it on whatever device you’re using later in the day.

Blogsy – Composing a blog post on an iPad was inconvenient at best before this app came along if you wanted to do anything other than compose text. If you wanted to embed media, upload pictures, etc, then you were really in for a lot of trials and tribulations. Fortunately, Blogsy is optimized for iOS and touchscreens and adding media is as simple and pleasurable experience.

Bonus Apps I Really Like That Didn’t Make The List

Credit Card Machine – I’d have made this a “must have” app if everybody needed the ability to accept credit cards. They don’t. However, if you have a retail shop setup, you can turn your iPad into a point of sale device. There’s a chocolate shop I love to go to and they have three iPads all setup to function as cash registers. And when you consider how much traditional cash registers cost, it makes using the iPad a low cost and just as functional alternative.

TWCable TV – This one is just for people with Time Warner Cable, but if you have it, the free TWCable TV app will allow you to watch live TV on your iPad. Not all channels are available but a lot of them which means you’re no longer tethered to the living room for watching TV.

There are a lot of magazine apps available for the iPad but rather than putting specific newspapers and magazines in this list, I’ll leave the up to personal preference. I do recommend trying them out even if you only subscribe to free ones.

The Pocket Projector turns your iPhone into a 50" projector!

A couple years ago I wrote about a phone called the Samsung Galaxy Beam (Halo).    It sure was a neat idea.  It was an Android powered phone with a built in pico projector.

Unfortunately, the phone never made it to the United States and while phone with built in projectors are expected to be released in the coming years, there isn’t a single phone you can buy right now with this capability.

However, you can add this funtionality to your phone right now… with the Pocket Projector for the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S.

With this adapter you no longer need to have all your friend huddle around your tiny little screen to see that hilarious Youtube video and while it’s no pro level quality, it’d certainly do in a pinch during a business meeting.

For example, I know I could use then when doing an app demo with a prospective client, especially when I have two or three people in the room and we all have to huddle around my iPad.

The resolution is only 640×360 but the 15-lumen bulb is bright enough to display images clearly in a darkened room.

One nice extra perk is that the battery on the projector will charge your iPhone when it’s not in use as a projector so even when you’re not using the projector function, it will serve as a backup battery for your iPhone.

It’s priced at $229.99 when your order it directly from Brookstone.

This is one of the nice things about being an iPhone owner – all of the extra accessories you can get since the form factor is the same for millions of phone meaning it’s cost effective to develop technologies like this for third party companies.

Watch the demo video for a lot of cool use suggestions (my favorite was the watching movies in your tent while camping).

Meet the Kogeto Dot - a 360 degree video camera for the iPhone 4, 4s, and Samsung Galaxy Nexus

360 degree video is actually a lot more disorienting but strangely cool, somehow.

Of course, up until now the technology has been prohibitively expensive, requiring expensive cameras, lenses and often times even more expensive processing software.

But a New York City based company called Kogeto is working to change all of that with Dot.

Dot is a 360 degree video camera adapter that snaps on directly to your iPhone 4, 4S, and now the Samsung Galaxy Nexus (Android users are no longer left out in the cold).

Here’s a short demo video just so you can see it in action.

While the technology isn’t perfect and the videos didn’t work well (they require Kogeto’s proprietary player and don’t work on Youtube) on my phone, they did play nicely on my computer and have plenty of potential.

And the nice thing is that they work break the bank. The Dot adapters cost a mere $79 so they’re extremely affordable if you want to try one out.

What do you think? Useful tool or fad? Post in the comments to let me here about it.

There are hundreds of thousands of free apps available for Android phones so with all the wonderful free apps that will never cost you a penny, why would you want to pay for an app?

Because they’re worth it.

I don’t purchase a lot of apps, but there are a handful of great paid apps available for Android that I think are well worth the little bit of extra cash they cost. Most of them are really reasonably priced, often costing less than a drink from Starbucks.

Here are what I feel are the 10 best paid apps for Android Phones – all are available directly from the Android Market.

One last thing, I decided not to feature any games (like Angry Birds or Fruit Ninja) since games depend so much on personal preference and I don’t play many games though I do have a weakness for Airport Mania.

Tasker – If you’ve seen the Smart Actions commercial for the Motorola Droid Razr then you probably have some idea what this app can do. Smart Actions basically duplicates Tasker’s functionality but offers less features and makes it a bit more user friendly.

Tasker is an automation app. For example, it can launch your music player (whichever you use) when you plug-in headphones. If can go into airplane mode at night to conserve battery life. It can turn Wi-Fi on when you’re at home but turn it off when you’re not and with thousands of pre-made profiles, you don’t need programming expertise to use it.

Bottom line, if you’re only willing to pay for one app, this is the app to get.

WaveSecure – McAfee bought this company a couple years back and surprisingly they didn’t ruin it. It’s still great. This is a security app for your phone so if your phone is ever lost or stolen, you can remotely lock down your device if it’s missing so that nobody starts accessing your personal data or calling and harassing your friends (that actually happened to my sister once). If you’ve decided it’s unlikely that you’ll ever get your phone back, you can wipe your personal data off the phone remotely as well. It does backups and device locating as well. It’s the most expensive app on this last and will run $19.99 a year but I think it’s $20 well spent for keeping your personal information safe.

SlideIT / Flex T9 / SwiftKey X Keyboard – There are a lot of things I love about Android. The stock keyboard isn’t one of them. It’s not as bad as it used to be, but there are much better keyboards out there. Personally, I think Swype is the best keyboard app out there, but unless your phone comes with it preinstalled, it’s a pain to get it working. The Flex T9 and SlideIT keyboards are the closest thing to Swype that you can download from the Android Market.  I personally used Flex T9 for about a year and it works great.  I haven’t played with SlideIT much but it has earned an Editor’s Choice from the Android Market and has been voted the best keyboard replacement app for Android and you can even try it out for 15 days for free before you have to pay for it to make sure you like it. If you prefer a keyboard that’s a bit more familiar, try the SwiftKey X Keyboard. It works a lot like a regular keyboard but with excellent memory of words you use frequently.

Camera Zoom FX – This has been voted the best camera app for Android and it’s easy to see why. It adds a lot of “real” camera features like burst mode and a timer. It also has voice activated, collage, stable shot, and time lapse shooting modes. With a ton of post processing features for editing your photos on your phone, it’ll make your smartphone camera seem like the only phone you really need and when combined with the camera improvements made in Ice Cream Sandwich, it’s amazing.

Gentle Alarm – I’ll just say this, I hate alarm clocks with a passion – hate them. I do my best to avoid using an alarm clock whenever possible. However, like you, I don’t always have a choice – I have to be awake by a certain time.

A few years ago I got my favorite alarm clock of all time – a SleepTracker watch. It works by monitoring your sleep cycles and waking you up when you’re not in a deep sleep so you can wake up feeling rested. Research has shown that if you’re jolted out of a deep sleep, you’re more likely to be tired and cranky and feeling “like you woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning.” It sounds a little gimmicky, but it works… as long as you don’t mind wearing a watch when you sleep or spending $150 on the thing. I found wearing a watch to bed kind of weird, but it’s still my favorite as you can set it so it only vibrates in the morning. When it’s attached to your arm, that’s plenty to wake you up.

Now your cell phone doesn’t have that capability since you’re not going to wear it to bed, but Gentle Alarm uses the same principle of gently easing your out of sleep.

It starts with a pre alarm phase and very quiet music. If you wake up at this point, you’re in a light sleep cycle and it’s a good time to get up. I find myself waking up during this period about 1/3 of the time. If you don’t wake up during the pre-alarm, then the regular alarm goes off and it plays music that slowly gets louder. If you still don’t wake up, it has an extremely loud white noise siren

And if you are the kind of person who will mindless tap the snooze button, you can have it make you solve a math problem or solve a pattern challenge.

This app has a few neat features that I really like and it’s all very customizable. My favorite alarm clock app (if there can be such a thing for a person who hates alarm clocks).

AirSync by doubleTwist – doubleTwist is an iTunes like app for managing music on your Android phone. It can read your iTunes playlists and sync them to your phone when you plug it in via the USB cable. The AirSync allows you to do all of this via WiFi, without wires!

Locale with Astrid – One neat feature that Apple built into their iPhone is a location aware reminders app. However, Android users have had that capability for a while by using two apps – Locale and the accompanying Astrid Locale Add-On. If you have milk on your list and you drive by a grocery store, it’ll remind you to get some milk.

Business Calendar – Since I’m a boring business guy, this app is greatly preferred over the standard Calendar app built into Android since it allows me to sync not only with Google Calendar, but also Basecamp. I can see everything in one nice little widget.

PocketCasts – I’ve become a bit of a podcasting junkie in the car these days. I rarely listen to radio because I’ve got so many fantastic (and commercial free) podcasts that I can listen to instead. Google Listen is a free alternative if you want to listen to podcasts (nearly all podcasts are free, btw), but I think PocketCasts is just way better and it’s super easy to use. Well worth the $3 it’ll cost you.

Read It Later – There is a free version of this app, but the pro version is better since it doesn’t limit you. If you’ve ever been reading an article on your phone but don’t have time to finish it, this app allows you to save it for later. It makes the article available offline and syncs it to your computer as well as your phone.

Best Paid Apps For Rooted Phones

And while I won’t to into a lot of detail about these four apps below, here are my favorite apps for people with rooted phones.

Titanium Backup Pro ($6.58)

ROM Manager ($5.99)

Root Explorer ($3.99)

Absolute System Root Tools ($1.99)