The smartphone business has come down to a two-horse race: Apple vs. Samsung Electronics. The companies are the only two that matter, at least from a profitability perspective. Combined, Apple and Samsung accounted for a stunning 95 percent of the handset industry’s profits during the fourth quarter, according to a study Canaccord Genuity sent out …

Sony’s released a beta version of Ice Cream Sandwich for the Xperia Play, allowing eager-beaver Android fans to get a scoop of Android 4.0 ahead of the official release. Sony’s posted information on the beta and how to install it on its developer site, but there’s a warning — as with the recent Ice Cream Sandwich beta release for the Sony …

Tim Cook knew he had big shoes to fill when he took over from Steve Jobs last summer. But he seems to be doing a bang-up job, if a new report is anything to go by. Cook was named top-rated CEO of 2012 by Glassdoor, a jobs and careers website, BGR reports. He was awarded a 97 per cent approval …

In the quickly evolving world of apps, Skout is a virtually an old standby at this point. Skout Having launched in 2007 and then re-tooled to its current iteration two years later, Skout is a mobile social network built on the premise that people would want to meet and flirt with people close to them. Skout uses the phone’s ability …

One of the things I love best about my iPhone is that it single-handedly replaces a bevy of other devices. Alarm clock? Gone. Digital camera and camcorder? Gone. Reward cards? Gone. Now I can add one more item to the list: wallet. The Poddities Money Clip for iPhone 4/4S adds a metal clip to the back of your handset, allowing …

The iPhone’s camera has long been lauded as excellent but rival smart phone makers are catching up. HTC has overhauled the camera kit in its new line up of One Series phones — with its flagship quad-core One X having an eight megapixel lens, and boasting the ability to snap a continuous burst of up to 99 photos. Another would …

If you’re wondering where your update to Ice Cream Sandwich is for your Sony Ericsson Xperia phone, you’ve a little longer to wait, I’m afraid. Sony has announced the latest version of Android will reach the 2011 Xperia range in mid-April, with some not seeing the update until the summer. Sony initially announced the rollout would start mid-March, but that …

Virgin Mobile has introduced exclusive smartphone covers designed by celebrities, with plans to donate the proceeds from sales to the Salvation Army’s Oasis Youth Support Network. The designers of these cases from left to right: Sir Richard Branson, Natalie Imbruglia, ksubi and Dean Good. (Credit: Virgin Mobile) The covers went on sale yesterday and are designed by Sir Richard Branson, …

Screenshot by Joe Aimonetti/CNET Though it’s certainly too soon to call iAd a failure, Apple has not been happy with the adoption rate of its advertising platform it has seen thus far. In February, Apple reduced the minimum buy-in for campaigns to $100,000 (down from $1 million at the iAd launch in 2010). It was also rumored at that time …

Meet Carla: the latest version of Nokia’s Symbian software is revealed for the first time in slinky screenshots, complete with Android-style unlocking. Carla includes a new onscreen Qwerty keyboard, improved browser and updated music player. An updated options screen draws on the design of MeeGo, the ill-fated software in the Nokia N9. The first shots of Carla appeared on Indonesian …

Now playing: Watch this: Dialed In Ep. 218: The Final Episode 45:55 It’s so hard to say goodbye…but goodbye we must say. For CNET’s Final Episode of Dialed In, we get the band back together, old guard and new. Bonnie and Nicole reminisce about old days when Dialed In was audio-only and they had to wrestle with the sound controls. …

Recently we reported how mobile manufacturers are locked in a standoff over what format the next generation of SIM cards should take. Now the vote has been postponed while the companies fight it out, the BBC reports. The industry was gearing up to vote, but they’ve all ended up squabbling like kids having a food fight. Hence the European Telecommunications …

Now playing: Watch this: HTC One X 2:41 Craving to know exactly how HTC’s latest, baddest, Android smartphone on the block really fares against the competition? Not to worry because our friends at CNET UK have completed putting the Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich quad-core fire breather to the test. The result is sadly as I’d thought it would be. …

AT&T, Microsoft, and Nokia are aligning their marketing dollars toward making the Lumia 900 a hero phone, a device that’s coveted by the masses. Why the big bucks? Nokia and Microsoft have a very small window of opportunity to make Windows Phone stick, as both Samsung and Apple are waiting in the wings with new devices. One misfire, and Nokia …

Now playing: Watch this: HTC One X 4:01 Reading the spec list of the HTC One X, it looks like it has everything the hard-core early adopter could want. Quad-core chip? Check. Massive screen with a high resolution? Check. 8-megapixel camera that can shoot 1080p video? Yep. But what the spec sheet won’t tell you is there’s a price to …