Samsung has disabled an advanced search function in an update to the international version of its flagship Galaxy S3 smartphone, following a patent dispute with Apple.

Once the software is installed the phones no longer search contacts, apps and other on-device material using software developed by Google.

If you own an HTC HD2, you may be pleased to find out that the device has been hacked to run Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean). Now you can get Google’s latest and greatest once again instead of Windows Mobile 6.5.

Ever since it launched in November 2009, the HTC HD2, which runs Windows Mobile 6.5 out of the box, has been hacked over and over again. We’ve seen it running Windows Phone 7, Android 2.2 (Froyo), Android 2.3 (Gingerbread), Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich), MeeGo, and even Ubuntu. Last week, Google open-sourced Android (Jelly Bean) 4.1 for third-party modification. As such, nobody should be surprised to HTC HD2 owners can now install Jelly Bean on the ancient phone that just won’t die.

Nielsen has published a report on U.S. smartphones and their operating system. Of course, Android is in the lead, running on 51.8% of all smartphones. iOS came in second with 34.8%, which is a 17.5% difference between the two. It’s interesting that Android and iOS combined make up for over 85% of the entire smartphone market, as RIM and “others” come in at a cool 14%

Worldwide sales of mobile phones to end users reached 419.1 million units in the first quarter of 2012, a 2% decline year-over-year, says Gartner. This is the first time since the second quarter of 2009 that the market exhibited a decline, the firm notes.

According to the technology research company, 419.1 million mobile phones were sold in the world during the calendar quarter ending in March. That’s a two percent drop from the same period in 2011 and the first time there’s been a sales decline in the market since 2009, it said.

In our post, few days back, we have talked about upcoming HTC One X. Here is a full review of released HTC phone.

Over the past 12 months or so, HTC has seen sales dry up, revenue forecasts slashedand the company has been forced to admit that its rapid product development cycle was doing nothing to help the company in a market dominated by two smartphones — the Samsung Galaxy S II and Apple’s iPhone 4 (and 4S).

Sales of Android-based devices are on track to eclipse Windows-based gadgets by 2016, according to new data from IDC.

A separate report from Nielsen, meanwhile, finds that just about half of U.S. mobile subscribers now own smartphones, and the majority of those who purchased a mobile device in the last three months opted for a smartphone over a feature phone.