SplashID

SplashID acts as a universal, secure data-storage utility for Web user accounts and passwords, frequent-flyer programs, birthdays, e-mail accounts, and myriad other data types. The app keeps a password file on the phone that's encrypted with the 256-bit Blowfish encryption algorithm, one of the most secure (and speedy) methods available.

At $10, SplashID is one of the pricier apps in the Android Market, but it clearly surpasses all other password-manager apps in both versatility and features. And the $20 desktop version of the software lets you wirelessly synchronize your stored information between a Mac or PC and your Android phone, which saves your thumbs an incredible amount of data-entry-on-tiny-keyboard time and also gives you a nonmobile backup of your passwords and other important data in case you lose your handset.

As with any sensible password manager, the first step with SplashID is to set a master password, which you'll have to enter each time you run the app. Next, you create accounts, which you group together under categories with names like 'Serial Numbers' or 'Web Logins'; you then further classify them into Business, Personal, or Unfiled subcategories, and assign one of 55 custom icons. Each entry can contain a URL, a username, a password, and several other customizable data fields of information.

The only gripe I have with the synchronization is that the wireless sync with a PC isn't an entirely automatic process, and it requires you to know the IP address of your desktop or laptop. But that's a minor technical hurdle--one that won't cause most users to stumble.