Armando Rodriguez

Smartphone malware attacks get a lot of attention, but you’re much more likely to lose your device than you are to contract a smartphone virus infection. And you’re just as vulnerable to other problems--such as phishing and spam--on a phone as you are on a PC. No need to panic, however: The following Android and iPhone security tools will help to protect your phone from all kinds of threats.

Android Apps

MyBackup Pro: The Android OS has built-in backup and restore functionality, but handset makers sometimes don’t enable this feature on their phone models. And Android’s basic recovery program won’t bring back your call logs, text messages, or photos if you lose them.

What major tech company isn't involved in some sort of legal dispute these days? While Microsoft has recently been successful in keeping Motorola's Android phones from making their way into the country, a U.S. Judge is giving MS a taste of its own medicine by recommending a ban on Xbox 360s in the United States.

Listen, Google, we need to talk. You seem to be ignoring our green robotic friend. I know you've been battling lawsuits, getting your self-driving cars licensed, and focusing on Google+, but it might be time to show Android that you still care.

While the realm of Internet radio is basically dominated by Pandora these days, that doesn't mean that it's the only player in town. One such competitor, Raditaz, announced Friday that it has partnered with LyricFind to show users lyrics and artist bios for the songs they are currently listening to.

Are you still using the router that your Internet service provider gave you? If so, you might not be getting the best results possible. Routers that ISPs provide tend to be older models running custom firmware, and the download and upload speeds from these routers may not match the speeds you pay for.

The situation is even worse if you rent your router from your ISP, because that's money that could be better spent on more-glamorous gadgets. Though purchasing a router off the shelf requires making an initial investment, doing so will save you money in the long term, and the router you choose is yours to do with as you please. Before you run off to your nearest electronics store (or online storefront) to buy a new router, however, you need to take a few things into consideration.

The HTC One X has a brilliant 4.7-inch display.It was love at first sight: From the moment I unboxed the HTC One X ($200 with a new two-year contract on AT&T; price as of as of 5/1/2012) I immediately fell for its slim profile and brilliant 4.7-inch display. But it was more than just the phone's good looks that snagged my heart, as the HTC One X came with a tasty serving of Ice Cream Sandwich (Android 4) and a long enough battery life to keep me satisfied for hours on end. But like all romances, this one was not without its sour spots, and even the One X's smoking-fast LTE connectivity was not enough for me to overlook the phone's poor call quality and its clunky HTC Sense overlay running over Android.

Design

Walking the line between "phablet" and phone, the HTC Titan 2 ($199 with a new two-year AT&T contract as of April 18, 2012) is a monster-sized Windows Phone handset. We first encountered the Titan 2 at this year's CES, and back then we liked its 16-megapixel camera and LTE connectivity. The Titan 2 is certainly an impressive phone, but it has a few quirks that you should take into consideration before you buy.

Design

The Titan 2 lives up to its name: Sporting a 4.7-inch Super LCD screen, the Titan 2 dwarfs nearly every other smartphone on AT&T, with the exception of the 5-inch Samsung Galaxy Note. The Titan 2, like many other HTC phones, has a minimalist design that makes it comfortable to hold for long periods at a time.

Sprint customers the wait is over: The Samsung Galaxy Nexus will be available on Sprint for $199 starting on April 22nd. The Sprint version of the Galaxy Nexus ships with Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich), and will be compatible with Sprint's LTE network. Like the Samsung Nexus S, the Sprint Galaxy Nexus will officially support Google's mobile payment system, Google Wallet.

Springpad has gone social. On Wednesday, the note-taking Web service Springpad, announced a major update to its platform, one that it hopes will drastically change you use the service.

In the past, Springpad was largely a solo affair: You could create notebooks and save notes and Web clippings to them, but there was no easy way of sharing those notebooks with other people. In the new version of Springpad, you can easily share notebooks with others, allowing your friends to add or edit notes to existing notebooks. While great for group projects, this feature works well for other collaborative efforts as well. For instance, you could create a notebook titled "Must See Movies," and share that notebook with your friends in order to get their movie recommendations.

Android is quirky--the operating system has seen its fair share of ups and downs, but fans have stuck by it through thick and thin. We've survived malware scares, buggy phones, and some severe device fragmentation. However, all of that pales in comparison to the real danger to Android: cheap Android phones.

Cheaply made Android phones are the worst thing to happen to the mobile OS since the discovery of malware in the Google Play store. Not only are these "budget-friendly phones" frustrating to use, but their outdated specs and lack of manufacturer and carrier support mean you'll end up with a dud no matter which one you choose.

Here's how SwiftKey 3 Beta inserts spaces for you in typed emails and updates.SwiftKey just re-invented the way that you type on your Android phone or tablet with SwiftKey 3 Beta. This latest version of SwiftKey's Android keyboard has a new feature called "Smart Space" that allows you to just type continuously without having to remember to insert spaces between words.

Smart Space works like traditional autocorrect software except that, instead of just correcting misspelled words, the software can also detect where you've missed a space in your sentence. If you're anything like me and are always hitting the "b" or "v" keys while trying to hit the spacebar, Smart Spaces will definitely feel like a breath of fresh air.