Unfortunately, we’ve found it’s pretty hard to cheat at Video Poker, but if you like Vegas-style entertainment, Encore currently has two games in the App Store worth checking out — Hoyle Video Poker and Hoyle Red Hot Slots. These casino apps have all the glitz of a night on the strip, but at just $1.99 and $0.99 you won’t have to hock the kids to have a good time.

We’re still in the early stages of testing, but we’ll have reviews up on both games in the next few days.

© AppCraver, 2009. | AppCraver: Sponsored by a Casino Near You | Get our iPhone Reviews on Facebook & Twitter!

Steven Frank, Michael Arrington, OM Malik are longtime iPhone users with a large sphere of influence. And they’re walking away from their iPhones. They’re not the only ones, just the latest to get fed up with Apple’s wall of silence and AT&T’s double-standards. All three site the recent rejection of Google Voice and subsequent pulling of  GV-style apps from the App Store as the insult that went too far.

There is still speculation about whether the rejection is motivate by Apple or AT&T. In the end, it doesn’t matter. Users are tired of watching AT&T customers get services that are routinely denied to iPhone owners — MMS, Slingplay and now Google Voice.

Developer Justin Williams succinctly captures one view on his blog:

With the latest app rejection being Google Voice, I am one step closer to selling off my iPhone products and focusing entirely on the Mac once more. I can’t help but feel that I’ve wasted the past 9 months of my life building on a platform that is so hostile and anti-developer.

Developers are one of the main reasons for the success of the iPhone. Apple and AT&T would do well to remember this. Yes, Apple created an awesome device. But, for most users it’s all about the apps — especially for those faced with less than stellar cell service from AT&T. If developers leave the iPhone, eventually users will surely follow.

Sure, iPhone users have more than 50,000 apps to choose from. But, we still want the ones that we can’t have. It’s even harder when those same banned apps are allowed on similar devices. And nearly unbearable when users and developers aren’t given adequate explanations of why the apps are banned.

For the record, the editors at AppCraver.com aren’t giving up our iPhones anytime soon. In fact, at least one of us has already upgraded to the iPhone 3GS. That doesn’t mean we’re not disappointed with Apple’s decisions to ban certain apps. Or that we’re thrilled with waiting for features we should had months ago (MMS). However, the iPhone is still an exciting device. And developers continue to do amazing things with its operating system. We see more improvements and great things on the horizon. Perhaps, we’re optimistic, but we’re not giving up yet.

We think that most users will agree with us. For many users joining the iPhone community now, this is their first smart phone. They’re happy with the apps — if not with AT&T — and will find plenty of programs to keep them productive and entertained. They’re not going to give up their brand new iPhone because of one app.

But, once again, it comes down to the apps. If Apple and AT&T continue to keep hot new apps off the platform, it’s only a matter of time before users switch to a phone that will give them what they crave… berrycraver anyone?

© AppCraver, 2009. | Will Google Voice be the Straw that Breaks the iPhone? | Get our iPhone Reviews on Facebook & Twitter!

MusicSkins LLC, a creator of vinyl skin products for iPhones, iPods, laptops and gaming accessories, recently announced the launch of its new Customizer, an online tool that allows anyone to easily design and create unique one-of-a-kind personalized skins using their own favorite photos, graphics, and artwork to suit any taste and style.

Up to now, MusicSkins has been best known for its line of skins featuring musicians and emerging artists.

“Our focus on the music scene puts us in the forefront of pop culture. The popularity of so many diverse images in our music-themed skins catalog clearly proves our belief that everyone has a unique personality and style,” observed Jed Seifert, MusicSkins LLC Executive Vice President. “Personal electronic devices are the perfect canvas for expressing individuality, and MusicSkins has always been the source for the coolest skins.”

“Now our Customizer introduces a fresh new twist on personalizing the electronic devices we all use every day, making it easy and fun for people to express themselves using their own favorite photos and images,” continued Seifert. “You easily can feature your band, friends, family, loved ones, a favorite pet, a crazy party pic, great vacation photo, or your company logo on your cell phone or iPod.”

The Customizer is available online on the MusicSkins website. Users simply choose from a wide selection of devices including iPhones and iPods, then upload a personal photo, logo, artwork, image or pick artwork from MusicSkins collections. Customizer lets them size, position and manipulate the image, and even add background colors and personalized text.

The custom iPhone and iPod touch skins are priced between $15 and $30 USD to make it affordable for consumers to create personal collections of individualized device skins. MusicSkins are quick and easy to change, giving people the freedom to be as creative and in the now as they want to be.

Like all MusicSkins products, the Customizer personalized skins are made of premium quality vinyl that provides a high-gloss photo grade finish while protecting the electronic device with a durable, scratch-resistant, anti-UV coating. The skins’ patented 3M air release adhesive technology ensures that they apply easily, evenly and bubble-free. Unlike decals, stickers and other kinds of device covers, MusicSkins can also be easily removed without leaving any residue, making it clean and easy to switch skins. MusicSkins add almost zero bulk so the device will still fit perfectly with any case, bag, dock, iTrip or armband.

For more information visit www.MusicSkins.com.

© AppCraver, 2009. | Customize Your iPhone with MusicSkins New Customizer | Get our iPhone Reviews on Facebook & Twitter!

Push notifications are used by applications to alert you of new information, even when the application isn’t running. Notifications differ depending upon the application, but may include text or sound alerts, and a numbered badge on the application’s icon on the Home screen.

You can turn notifications off if you don’t want to be notified or want to conserve battery life.

Push notification has been long awaited by iPhone and iPod touch users. Until the release of OS 3.0, Apple was unwilling to enable users to run applications in the background (or conversely, when the app has not been launched) because it said PNS would drain the devices’ batteries prematurely.

Now, apps can be always connected to an Apple server, enabling, for example, users to receive IMs without having the app opened on their iPhone or iPod touches..

Here’s a quick roundup of some of the new or updated apps capable of alerting you when you’ve received a text, IM, update or other message from developers.

BeejiveIM, from Beejive, is among the first of these apps to be available. BeejiveIM supports AIM/iChat/MobileMe, MSN/Windows Live, Yahoo!, MySpace, GoogleTalk, ICQ and Jabber, allowing users to access all of their IM clients from one user-friendly interface.

Pinger has released Textfree, which enables you to send an unlimited number of text messages to any U.S. mobile phone instead of via Simple Message Service, or SMS, for short. Sending texts over cellular networks is free, unlike sending texts via SMS, which typically run $0.05 apiece.

ngmoco updated its new Star Defense to enable players to expand their campaigns and compete with friends via Direct Challenges. In addition to Twitter, Facebook and email, players can send Direct Challenges via PNS to their friends over the Plus+ network, a free service for the iPhone gaming community.

Fans of Tapulous’s Tap Tap Revenge can now send challenges to friends via PNS.

NotifyMe (with Push) from PoweryBase has been getting good reviews since it debuted less than a month ago. It’s a to-do app capable of push reminders to pick up the milk, take care of business or anything else you might need to do by deadline.

You get PNS, but only if you want it. To turn all notifications on or off, go to Settings and tap Notifications. To turn notifications on or off for an app, tap Notifications and then select an app from the list and choose the types of notification you want to turn on or off.

© AppCraver, 2009. | Developers Rush to Update their Apps with Push Notification Services | Get our iPhone Reviews on Facebook & Twitter!

Apple says you should operate your iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS in a place where the temperatures are between 32º to 95º F (0º and 35º C ). Low- or high-temps might temporarily shorten battery life or cause the device to temporarily stop working properly.

Store your iPhone where the temperatures are likely to stay between 4º to 113º F (-20º and 45º C). Leaving your iPhone in your car on a sunny day is not a good idea because inside temps in a parked car can exceed this range.

Some clues that the interior temp of you iPhone is beyond normal range are:

• The device stops charging
• Display dims
• Weak cellular signal
• Temperature warning screen appears with the message “iPhone needs to cool down before you can use it”

The warning message is a safety mechanism that protects the components of your iPhone, Apple says. If the message pops up on your display, turn the device off and let it cool down before firing it up again.

No worries: Even if you get the warning message, you’ll still be able to make emergency calls, Apple adds.

You’ll see the temp warning message under the following conditions, Apple says:

• Leaving the device in a car on a hot day
• Leaving it in direct sunlight for extended amounts of time
• Using certain applications in hot conditions or direct sunlight for long periods of time, such as GPS tracking in a car on a sunny day or listening to music while in direct sunlight

For what it’s worth, I’ve been running my new iPhone 3GS nonstop since I received it 4-5 days ago and have not experienced any issues with over heating. In fact, the only issues I’ve experienced with the new phone is an over abundance of goodness.

© AppCraver, 2009. | Apple Issues Advisory on How to Keep Your iPhone 3G and 3GS Looking Cool | Get our iPhone Reviews on Facebook & Twitter!

This is not exactly a revelation for most developers as well as for companies such as Pinch Media, AdMob and MobClix who have been tracking App Store sales and who have made similar assessments.

The App Store is quickly approaching its first-year anniversary (July 11). In that time, the App Store has approved more than 58,300 apps, submitted by some 14,000 publishers. Developers are introducing apps  at the rate of 1,300 per week, yet, only 1 percent of them are responsible for more than 30 percent of apps.

The picture is overtly grim, according to Busted Loop. What follows are some of Busted Loop’s direct observations and charts. For more details, follow the link above to its blog.

This first chart shows a comparison of free versus paid apps. It’s evident that paid apps dominate.

However, although most apps are paid, the most popular apps are free, Busted Loop says.

To compensate for this, you would expect paid apps to be concentrated at the bottom of the popularity curve but it doesn’t work out that way:

Most of the categories have no free apps at all in the bottom 200. It turns out that at the bottom of every category there are pages and pages of paid apps, uninterrupted by even a single free app.

Busted Loop calls this segment of paid apps in each category the “dead zone”. App Store popularity is based on daily download rate, so the apps in the dead zone for each category have fewer daily downloads than even the least popular free app in that category, Busted Loop points out.

So how many times per day are apps in the dead zone downloaded? Well, since the vast majority of downloads are for apps near the top, we assume that the least popular free apps in each category have very few downloads per day. Probably none.

© AppCraver, 2009. | Busted Loop Says Most Paid Apps are Stuck in a Sales Dead Zone | Get our iPhone Reviews on Facebook & Twitter!

Radial 50 is a new take on the classic “Breakout” game first introduced on the Atari in 1976. It brings an innovative twist to the arcade classic by allowing the player to control the paddle and ball around a 360-degree playfield, focusing the gameplay on defeating a central target rather than the often painful task of eliminating all targets on the gameboard. The iPhone and iPod Touch are a perfect platform for the circular, brick-breaking action, as they allow precise movements on the touch screen.

“As gamers, we appreciate the classic arcade games that paved the way for the current gaming environment,” said Robin Rath, co-founder of Roundthird and creator of Radial 50. “Radial 50 celebrates the vintage brick-breaker game while showcasing the iPhone’s advanced technology.” Radial 50 has created an entirely new challenge with unique design and leaderboards that set it apart from other mobile games. “All of us at Roundthird are thrilled to present Radial 50 to the iPhone community, we’ve had a lot of fun creating everything from the unique gameplay to the design and soundtrack.”

The game showcases 50 rounds of increasingly challenging gameplay for both beginners and arcade veterans, where players attempt to gain the highest scores possible. They can earn points through a number of ways, gaining “achievements” along the way. Radial 50 is filled with exciting elements of strategy and skill.

Radial 50 incorporates many ways to connect players with one another. The game tracks all scores, allowing players to compete with friends and access location-based boards to see how they fare against players in their city, state, country, and world. , players can compete against others from around the world and seek the classic arcade thrill of viewing their scores ranked among other players.

While players can track their scores and others’ through the location-based leaderboards, they can also win prizes by becoming one of the first 50 people to beat level 50. Roundthird will give a prize to each of the first 50 to beat the game—40 players will receive an iTunes gift card, and 10 players with the highest scores will each receive a gift card for the coveted Fathead wall graphics, a prize worth $100. For more information and rules of the contest, please visit http://radial50.com/contests.

Radial 50 is available now at the Apple App Store for US$1.99. A free, lite version is also available, including three rounds of intense gameplay.

About Roundthird (www.roundthird.com)

Roundthird provides a wide range of services that offer an all-encompassing, interactive marketing strategy, perfectly tailored to achieve business goals. They understand the importance of synergy between a brand, website, online and mobile media offering products and services in each of these areas.

• app_name: Radial 50
• rating: NR

© AppCraver, 2009. | PR: Radial 50 is a New “Spin” on a Brick-Breaker Arcade Classic | Get our iPhone Reviews on Facebook & Twitter!

The iPhone 3GS is waaayy faster than my 2G. That’s not my impression; it’s a fact. Benchmarks conducted for ExtremeTech indicate the 3GS smokes nearly every smartphone on the market except one, which also happens to be running the same ARM Cortex-A8 processor as the iPhone. The 3GS also uses the PowerVR SGX graphics core, a bump above the PowerVR MBX in the iPhone 3G, says ExtremeTech.  In the real world, that means 600 Mhz, instead of 412 Mhz speed and 256MB RAM for the OS, double that of the 128MB in the original iPhone add it up and you can believe the S in GS stands for “Speed” as Apple claims. Apps launch and close faster; Web pages load and render quickly; and zooming and scrolling are speedier. Everything, in short, is more responsive.

3G, finally! I seldom used EDGE networking with my 2G. It was much too slow and there were plenty of times I couldn’t rely on it at all. Fortunately, using Wi-Fi scanning apps I was often able to find an open network. Now, there’s no worry that I can get online no matter (almost) where I am.

The sky’s the limit with GPS. Using cellphone tower triangulation worked pretty well. I was able to pinpoint my location on a map close enough to figure out where I was and where I wanted to go. Now, with GPS, I can narrow my location or destination within a matter of feet. And if I want turn-by-turn directions, I can get that too. It’s still not as useful as a dedicated GPS, but it sure beats using the sundial and sextant that I used to lug around.

Greater clarity. My new 3GS has 3 megapixel camera and it’s auto everything: focus, macro mode and white balance. I also can now shoot VGA video (with audio) in portrait and landscape modes at 30 fps frames per second and I can edit my video inside the device.That’s a lotta cool.

which was never enough for my music and apps to keep me happy. With my current 32GB, I have four times the storage room, which is a big plus. When it gets to 100GB, I’ll be happier, but for now, 32GB is pretty darn good.

Listen and obey. To make a call or play music, I can now use voice control by pressing the Home button for two seconds and then speaking a command. That’s the theory anyway. When I asked my phone to play songs by Stevie Ray Vaughn, my iPod played White Stripes. This is the one feature that has yet to work reliably for me. I’m not surprised. No voice control app I’ve used on the iPhone has been all that reliable.

Boy Scout memory. The built-in compass works remarkably well and it works with the map function to pinpoint your location. With GPS, I don’t know how often I might use it, but it’s nice to know that I can use those navigational skills I learned as a Boy Scout if I suddenly find myself lost at sea, or more likely, in one of those huge underground parking garages at some airport.

What it all adds up to: If you’re asking yourself whether you should upgrade, the answer is: “It depends.” If you have a 2G and you’re nearing the end of your contract, then an upgrade is definitely the way to go. If you have a 3G, wait until your contract is about to run out. It would be hard to justiy the cost of upgrading, even with the newer knobs and dials.

© AppCraver, 2009. | Should You Upgrade to the New iPhone 3GS? | Get our iPhone Reviews on Facebook & Twitter!

To my surprise and delight, I ordered it on Thursday and it arrived on Monday. Not bad at all, especially with the intervening weekend to slow things down. I received a black one, which is what I wanted, although I didn’t have the option to order it in white. Word is that Apple will make the 3GS available in other colors once the buying frenzy subsides.

I bought my 2G with 8GB the day after Apple dropped the price on that model from $600 to $400. Although my 2-year contract had a few more months to run, I was able to upgrade for $18, so I jumped on board.

After lovingly unpacking the box, which in itself is an object d’art,  I plugged the phone in for about an hour to make sure I had a fully charged battery (it was already partially charged). Then, I fired up iTunes to activate the phone with Apple and transfer my existing apps and music to my new phone. The entire process took about an hour, which is less than I expected because I also had heard horror stories about Apple having problems handling activation requests.

Once that was done, I went online to activate the iPhone with AT&T, which took all of about 15 minutes, again a pleasant surprise.

The first thing I noticed was everything was speedier — apps loaded faster and I was able to move icons from one screen to the other with a zipadeedoodah. I launched Free Memory, after about an hour of toying around and saw that I had 81.77 MB room left to play with. With my 2G, if I had say, 22 MB, it was a big deal.

I fired up Speed Test-iNetwork to see what kind of download speeds and latency I was getting off 3G and EDGE networks. It was no contest, as you would expect. Now, I’m looking at getting downloads speeds that are almost twice as fast. “You can’t beat that with a stick,” as my friend Howie used to say.

This phone sounds better too. The familiar click, for example, was replaced by one that is “meatier,” which is about the only way I can describe it. The phone is louder for the same setting as my 2G and the ring tone seems more full. All this is purely subjective, I admit, but all I can say is that it rings with quality.

The headphone jack is no longer proprietary like it is on my 2G. Listening to music with a high-quality pair of Sennheiser headphones was a revelation compared to everyday earphones like the one Apple includes with the iPhone and iP touch.

It’s still early, so please give me a little time to poke around with the hardware and report in.

Next up: I’ll answer the question that everyone wants to know: Should I upgrade to the new iPhone 3GS?

© AppCraver, 2009. | First Impressions: iPhone 3GS | Get our iPhone Reviews on Facebook & Twitter!

SquareTrade (a company that sells iPhone warranties) did a study in which the company found that although the iPhone had a better failure rate (10 percent) from normal use over 22 months compared to the Blackberry (15 percent) and Treo (20 percent), failures from accidental damage were highest at more than 20 percent in the same period.

Of all iPhone accidents studied, drops resulting in a broken screen accounted for 65 percent of all accidents reported and water damage accounted for more than 25 percent of reported damage.

Nearly two-thirds of iPhone accidental failures were the result of a drop or fall — mostly resulting in cracked, unusable screens. Click here to go to the complete report.

Apple covers the iPhone with a 1-year warranty for defects but not if you crack the screen or drop it in water. For problems caused by “negligence,” Apple will repair your iPhone somewhere between $200 and $250 (the price varies with  the model).

If you’re handy with tools, you can replace your iPhone or iPod touch’s cracked screen. It will cost you somewhere in the neighborhood of $85 to $150. One consideration is that fixing the iPhone yourself will void your warranty. You’ll also need an inexpensive fix-it toolkit but that’s some times included in the price of the replacement screen.

Here’s a look at what’s involved with disassembling your iPhone and replacing the screen:

© AppCraver, 2009. | iPhones are Reliable, but You Can’t Always Be Counted On | Get our iPhone Reviews on Facebook & Twitter!