SAMSUNG

Samsung Electronics plans to invest a record 38 trillion won ($33.9 billion) in facilities and R&D next year, a 27 percent jump from an estimated 30 trillion won this year, local media reported on Wednesday, citing Samsung and industry officials.

With the holidays around the corner, smartphone makers have been busy rolling out some of their best devices. From the Samsung Galaxy S2 (SII) to the Motorola Droid Razr, Android devices in particular having been strutting their stuff, giving the much-hyped iPhone 4S a run for its money.

There's been a seismic shift in web browser usage across the world.

Besides already being the most popular mobile system in the world, Google will be adding yet another update to the Android system, nicknamed Ice Cream Sandwich. So far, all of the Android versions in use have been identified using a designated sweet treat as its moniker.

More and more smartphone makers are releasing new devices this month, and almost all of them have bigger screens than the iPhone 4S. It's holiday time, and that means retailers bring out their best wares in time for the shopping rush.

Kindle-Fire ships Nov. 14, just in time for Black Friday, and because it's the shopping season, there are a slew of tablets out there vying for a piece of the Amazon action. Kindle-Fire has the advantage of being tied right to Amazon's online store, something none of the other devices in this list have (besides access to Amazon.com)

Now that the two biggest U.S. booksellers are solidly in the tablet market, investors and consumers can reach two solid conclusions: Apple’s market share will decrease and prices will start falling.

The executive chairman of Google Inc on Tuesday played down concerns the search giant would give preferential treatment to Motorola Mobility Holdings after its planned purchase of the handset maker is completed.

Speculations for the release date of the Samsung Galaxy Nexus continues to grow after a leaked screenshot of a reported Verizon Wireless road map on Monday shows that the Android Ice Cream Sandwich-powered smartphone will launch Nov. 21.

Samsung's Focus Flash and the HTC Radar are two new smartphones that don't cost $200, but also probably will be lost in the shuffle of high-end devices now coming out for the shopping season.

If you are planning on buying the soon-to-be-released Droid Razr or Galaxy Nexus, then Verizon has just the promotion to get you to purchase a contract before the devices launch. For a limited time, Verizon is offering to double a capped data plan for 4G users.

Samsung's Galaxy S2 Skyrocket debuted Nov. 6 and it's iPhone 4S' biggest challenger yet, at least until Samsung releases the highly-anticipated Galaxy Nexus later this month. Samsung has used the Galaxy line of deluxe smartphones to chip away at Apple's dominance to the point where Samsung is now the world's leading smartphone maker.

Samsung launched its newest high-end smartphones Nov. 6, the Focus S and the Galaxy S2 Skyrocket, but they're both very different from the iPhone 4S. That's because they're both 4G capable and running two different software packages

HTC launched the Vivid for AT&T Nov. 6, and the very next day said the new smartphone would be updated to Android's newest version 4.0. Motorola's new Droid Razr will also get the operating system update, but with the added caveat that Droid will be updates six weeks after they system debuts on the Galaxy Nexus.

Samsung's Galaxy S2 has sold millions of devices around the world in 2011, and now the world's number one smartphone manufacturer is set to release two more high end devices this week - the Galaxy Nexus and the Galaxy S2 Skyrocket.

HTC Corp said on Monday it will put equal investment weight on emerging markets next year as it does in developed ones like the U.S. and Europe, and will dip its toes back into the tablet market with a new model next year.

Jim McNeil, a freestyle motorcycle rider in the FMX series, died after injuries suffered in a crash during practice for an exhibition prior to the AAA Texas 500 at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, Texas, an event that is part of the Samsung Mobile 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, Boost Mobile announced Sunday morning.

Google's Galaxy Nexus, the next generation Android-powered device, will be the first smartphone to run the latest software from the search giant, nicknamed Ice Cream Sandwich. Android 4.0 will debut on Google's self branded Samsung device, and then be pushed out to other high end smartphones on an as yet unpublicized time frame

Samsung's Focus Flash and Focus S are the company's latest smartphone offerings running on the Microsoft system instead of the Google Android system they have done so well with.

Kindle-Fire has a been hit so far for Amazon, but an unexpected contender showed up on shelves a bit earlier than announced, Samsung's Galaxy Tab 7.0 Pro. It was supposed to debut in the U.S. Nov. 13, but is now available on Amazon.

EU regulators are investigating whether Samsung Electronics Co Ltd and Apple Inc have breached EU antitrust laws with patent infringement claims in their global legal battle, the European Commission said on Friday.