TechRepublic’s Smartphones blog has been busy this year, considering all of the advances in mobile telecommunications technology. We’ve featured tips, perspective pieces, information about mobile apps, and even a few product reviews. Here are the posts that resonated the most with the TechRepublic community in 2011.

1. Set up an Exchange account on your Android phone

Jack Wallen wrote this post in 2010, but it still retains the title of the most popular Smartphones piece in 2011. Why? Well, according to Jack, even though Android lacks Outlook support (without a third-party application), it does have built-in Exchange support, which you can set it up in no time with the help of this tutorial.

2. The five best Android calendar apps

Jack Wallen struck gold this year with yet another post from 2010. If the built-in calendar app for your Android device doesn’t fill all of your needs, Jack suggests some apps and widgets that should do the trick.

3. 10 Android apps that could get you fired

There are a ton of apps out there, but some probably aren’t wise to download on your company phone. Here’s my list of 10 apps to avoid on business mobile devices.

4. Five reasons Android is superior to the iPhone

It’s no wonder that this post also was popular in 2011, because it peeked the interest of both Android and iPhone users alike. Find out why Jack Wallen thinks the Android platform is better than the iPhone — and of course, there are plenty of opinions (almost 500, at the time of this writing) in the discussions thread.

5. Connect to a PPTP VPN from your Android phone

In this tutorial, Jack Wallen describes how Android users can set up and connect to a VPN with the help of a PPTP VPN, which is Android’s outstanding built-in VPN connection tool.

6. How to manage the contacts on your Android phone

Jack Wallen shares some tips on how Android device owners can keep their contacts list under control. Two of the tips are specific to the Samsung Captivate line.

7. Lesser-known Android tips and tricks

Android was certainly a hot topic in 2011, and Jack Wallen was consistently there to share tips and tricks for improving your Android mobile computing experience. This particular post covers voice activation, the power strip widget, 3D maps, and more.

8. What to expect in Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich

Jack Wallen takes a look at Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. Find out what features and updates we can expect to see on smartphones with the new OS.

9. Pros and cons of jailbreaking or rooting your smartphone

Yet another post from 2010 generated considerable interest this past year. If jailbreaking/rooting might compromise a phone’s security and void the warranty, why are some smartphone owners doing it? Deb Shinder takes a look at the benefits and drawbacks of jailbreaking and rooting.

10. Will Mango put Microsoft back in the smartphone game

Deb Shinder also closes out this year’s top 10 list with a more recent post about some of the major improvements to Microsoft’s first major update to Windows Phone 7, code-named Mango. Find out what two features weren’t addressed that she considers deal breakers.