Insurance for smartphones is pretty cut and dry. You have customers that can’t live without it in fear of running into one of life’s accidents and accept it no matter what or those that are willing to risk it all by declining it.  With phone prices rising, it would not be a shocker if people were more easily persuaded to pick up the extra charge to their monthly bill.  But as some of us may know, insurance isn’t as easy as just sending in a broken phone and receiving a new one.  Most times, we are sent refurbished phones that could just as easily have as many problems as our last.

Verizon offers a few different options for purchasers.  There is the popular TEC (Asurion) route which is $6.99 with a $99 deductible, Wireless Phone Protection for $5.18, and then the basic extended warranty for $1.99.  Let us know how you take on the task of deciding whether or not to add insurance and then whether you have ever had to use it, down below.

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It has been about a year since we saw the first major player in the Android game, the original Samsung Galaxy Tab. That particular slate kicked off the release of the Froyo tablet era followed by the barrage of Honeycomb entries in mid-2011. The world was supposed to gobble up Android tablets by the millions, overtaking the iPad on the way. Well, we all know now that that did not happen. After reading sad story after sad story of Honeycomb tablet disappointments, we are wondering now what the future of the Android tablet game looks like. Ice Cream Sandwich could breathe new life into a platform that struggled throughout much of 2011, but we won’t know until it finally arrives.

Are you still interested in them? Did you go with an iPad instead? Have you ruled out the purchase of one altogether? Will the next batch powered by quad-core processors entice you? Be sure to weigh in through the poll and with your thoughts in the comments.

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I feel like it has been ages since we last asked everyone what their current launcher of choice was. Is everyone still using one of the old standards like ADW and LauncherPro or have you gravitated towards some of the more frequently updated replacements like GO Launcher? Is there a chance that some of you have adopted the current crop of stock launchers that Moto, Sammie and HTC are tossing out? I feel like there is some sort of new home replacement that is dying to be found that we just haven’t heard of yet. If you answer “Other”, please let us know in the comments which launcher you are using.

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It has been a couple of months since we last had everyone share their crop of most recently favorited apps. So let us go ahead and do that today to see what has received a little extra attention on your smartphones and tablets. We saw the release of some top tier games like Shadowgun, an app from our friends Android and Me called Photobooth, Google Offers, and a whole bunch of old timers that were overhauled. After thumbing through our Apps section, I was amazed at how many of some of our long time favorites had been completely redone.

So this time around, feel free to shout out of some of your all time favorites that may have received new looks. Still try to toss out as many newbies as you can though, since after all, that is the whole point of this post.

For me personally, I’m really loving the newest release of Screenshot ER. After snapping a shot, you get a mini preview in the top right corner that can be saved, shared or discarded. Long gone are the days when taking screenshots either took over your whole screen or disappeared without your approval.

I’m also really addicted to WidgetLocker again ever since they released the Ice Cream Sandwich lock screen.

What else have you guys been obsessing over lately?

Mobile security on Android certainly seems to have become a much bigger niche than I think most of us figured it ever would. In fact, Lookout Security today, announced that they have gone global and are now offering products in the UK, Australia and Canada to compliment their U.S. offerings. If that doesn’t scream success, then I don’t know what would.

There was a time when we all laughed at anti-virus programs, but should we continue to? You have read the few reports here or there of malware creeping in and out of a variety of markets, which can only mean one thing – that the problem isn’t going to just go away and could get worse. Dirt bag developers and scam artists have made it pretty obvious that they feel as if Android could be their next gold mine, and that’s frustrating.

So we are wondering, what security apps are you using? The poll below is just a simple yes/no question on whether or not you are using some sort of security app, but I would love to hear which apps in particular through the comments. And when we say “security,” we mean remote lock apps, anti-virus apps, etc.

Personally, I haven’t found a need to use an anti-virus app, but I usually have something like SeekDroid installed just in case I were to lose it (knocking on wood) and need to remote lock, wipe or locate it.

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Keep it clean, peeps. But yes, we want to know what the first thing is that you plan to do with your Samsung Galaxy Nexus (whenever it finally arrives, that is). Since this will be the first Nexus device for many of you as long time Verizon customers, and the first stock experience since the OG, we are curious to hear what you are most looking forward to. Are you going to pop open the camera and see if it really can take a series of zero-lag pictures in a row? Are you going to Beam something to your friend who bought the device as well? Maybe just sit back and admire the beauty that is ICS? Watch a video on the gorgeous 720p HD screen? Or are you simply going to turn on USB debugging and OEM unlock that bad boy through fastboot – something you haven’t been able to do ever, on a Verizon smartphone?

Let us know in the comments.

A number of readers have been asking, so we decided to do it one last time. With all three of Verizon’s mega-phones receiving official announcements, it’s time to do the poll prior to them all hitting store shelves (hopefully they all do). You were all asked back in early October if the Galaxy Nexus was going to be your phone no matter what. Almost 60% of you were willing to say “yes” at that time, prior to it even being announced. Now that the RAZR and Rezound are also on the way – and possibly a couple of weeks before the G-Nex – has your mind changed at all? Tell us which phone will be your next.

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