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. …

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 …