Hard-core Facebook devotees may find Home to be the smartphone experience they’ve been looking for. For everyone else, Facebook’s new Android skin may be little better than bloatware (although, to be fair, it’s not forced on people). In particular, Android purists will want to stay clear. Facebook took a major step today toward staking its …

Samsung Electronics expects to record an operating profit of 8.7 trillion won ($7.7 billion) for the first quarter of 2013, a 53 percent increase over the year-ago period. The guidance, released today by the South Korean electronics giant ahead of full earnings later this month, is better than many analysts had forecast but a slight decline over the fourth quarter …

Facebook launched Home to put a user’s friends at the center of the phone. But for developers, it means a new way to help people discover their apps and reengage with existing users, the company said. Facebook today launched Home, a family of apps and a skin that runs over Android. The company said users will be able to download …

Facebook doesn’t want anything to come between you and your friends, not even Google or Android. Facebook today unveiled a new downloadable user interface that takes over your smartphone’s home screen, lock screen, and wallpaper. Instead of the regular Android features, you’re treated to a slideshow of updates, photos, and shared links. Related stories: Facebook unveils ‘Home,’ a family of …

New phones for the win. The Samsung Galaxy Win, that is — a new quad-core smart phone rocking Android, a big screen and two SIM cards. Winning! Whether we’ll be winners is open to question: the Win hasn’t been officially announced by Samsung but has appeared on a Vietnamese retailer, listing a release date in May. Read on for the …

The smartphone business is becoming more like Nascar every day with multiple companies vying to get their brands more prominently promoted on the screens and cases of mobile devices. It’s an intensely competitive market in which telecommunications carriers, such as AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile, and manufacturers like Apple, Samsung, and HTC are getting top billing. Of course, Apple with iOS …

opinion HTC’s “Facebook phone” suggests that the company has learned nothing from its past mistakes. Why? (Credit: James Martin/CNET) Back in 2011, HTC was a company on the move. The year before, Fast Company had named it number 31 in its list of the world’s most innovative companies, and the Taiwanese handset manufacturer formerly known as the High Tech Computer …

Now playing: Watch this: Facebook unveils ‘Home’ for Android 4:06 Facebook’s new Home family of apps might seem like a threat to Google, but Facebook says that actually the opposite is true. Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg, speaking during an event today in Menlo Park, Calif., said that “this is really good for Android.” “Most app developers put most of …

When it comes to smartphones in the U.S., Apple remains on top, a new study from ComScore says. Related stories: CNET’s take on the Galaxy S4 Finally, the iPhone we’ve always wanted Android outscores iOS in U.S. smartphone sales, says report During the three months ended in February, Apple held onto its title as the No. 1 smartphone vendor in …

The official Google TV Remote app for Android has received its first software update in years, adding in a number of new features. Perhaps most notable in the change log is the addition of voice search support, which provides a more robust user experience. With the update, users can now search for movies, television shows, and other content across the …

Nokia has closed its flagship store in China, once touted as its largest worldwide. Nokia told ZDNet that the Shanghai store, which opened in 2007, shut down at the end of March. CNET also confirmed the closure. Related stories Your Phone Screen Is Gross. Here’s How to Clean It Without Causing Damage Nokia’s Newest Phone Is a T9-Era Throwback With …

The momentum behind tablets can’t be contained, with sales expected to top the combined desktop and laptop market by 2015. That’s according to Gartner, which released a study today looking at tablet, PC, mobile device sales. Total worldwide sales of all the devices are expected to hit 2.4 billion units this year and grow to just under 3 billion by …

Vdio, a classy new film and TV streaming service from the people who brought you the similarly vowel-mangling Rdio, wants you to spend less time wondering what to watch, and more time watching. Like Netflix and Lovefilm it has all the social recommendation dooberries so you can see what your friends like — ie, it can connect to your Facebook …

A Huawei executive has acknowledged that the telecommunicatons equipment maker will not see growth this year in the United States. In a recent interview with The Wall Street Journal, Huawei executive Bob Cai, who is in charge of the firm’s wireless marketing division, said there will be no growth margin in the U.S. market in 2013. Although Huawei does expect …

Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam cracked open the door to a full no-contract wireless world. McAdam said it was “pretty easy” to change up the model to eliminate contracts, and added that he would watch the consumer response that T-Mobile gets from its recent decision to drop contracts and phone subsidies altogether. He indicated a willingness to follow suit if consumers …