More and more I find myself untethered from my computer and able to deal with what I need either from my Blackberry or my iPad. I now often go an entire weekend without opening my laptop, but still get the work done I need to get done plus easily stay connected to friends and family.  And I’m far from alone.

While it’s no surprise that some 234 million Americans  age 13 and older use mobile devices (that’s 90%), the growth of smartphone penetration is very rapid according to the latest report from comScore MobilLens. Over 49 million people in the U.S. owned smartphones as of May, up 8.1 percent from the corresponding February period. The smartphone penetration has nearly doubled in just one year to nearly 21%.  According to Nielsen projections, by third quarter 2011 smartphones could have nearly the same market share as feature phones.

RIM (like my Blackberry) still has the largest share of the platform market. And while the iPhone has received the lions share of the buzz, especially with the release of iPhone 4, it’s Google’s Android platform that has seen the greatest growth in the smartphone market over the past several months. Android continues to propel itself closer to the #3 spot (currently held by Microsoft).

And just how are we all using our smartphones?

The only stat that surprises me is the one on accessing social networking sites. It seems low to me. I can’t recall talking to anyone in the last few months with a smartphone that hasn’t accessed at least Facebook or Twitter with it.  I’m curious. How about you? Do you use your smartphone to access a social network site?  Take this poll.