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This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Follow Friday: Keep Current with TiPb and the iPhone via Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, or RSS!

Blue Skies [iTunes Link] is one of the first notable iPhone 3GS-specific applications to hit Apple’s App Store, and at a great low introductory price of $0.99.

A helicopter shooter that was orginally introduced one year ago by RockingPocketGames, this version of Blue Skies is identical to the original version in terms of gameplay, but as would be expected with the beefier processing power in the iPhone 3GS, the graphics have gotten a nice overhaul.

The 3GS enhanced version makes use of the pixel shaders that are ONLY found in the new iPhone 3GS. It has per pixel bump mapping and amazing dynamic animated water that demonstrates the true power of the new iPhone 3GS!

If you currently have the original version along with an iPhone 3GS, is it worth your $0.99 to update? Depends on much you value better graphics in your games. Now if you have never played this shooter and have a 3GS, for $0.99 you are getting a good deal for your money. To see the graphical improvements firsthand, be sure to download Blue Skies Lite [iTunes link].

The big question remains, do you appreciate an iPhone 3GS specific version, or do you think it’s finally breaking the platform compatibility?

Sound off in the comments!

[Via Touch Arcade]

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Blue Skies: iPhone 3GS-Specific Apps Start to Land in App Store

Apple announced that iPhone 3.0 would include MMS functionality way back on March 17 at the Sneak Peak Event. At WWDC 2009 Apple announced MMS would be available by launch day, June 19, to iPhone users all over the world — except on AT&T.

Since then AT&T, already enjoying the disdain accredited to all modern, oligopolistic carriers, has taken an even worse beaten than usual in the arena of public perception. Either they were incapable of supporting the sheer number of iPhones they exclusively locked down on their network, or they were incompetent in handling the roll out in a timely manner. Even Apple’s VP of iPhone Software, Scott Forstall, gave AT&T their equivalent of the stank-eye during his WWDC keynote segment. “Late summer” is all we’ve heard in terms of schedule, and the summer… it grows late.

But here’s the thing we’re curious about: let’s say AT&T did launch MMS back on June 19 like the rest of the world, or let’s say they launched it today even — would you really use it? How many and how much? What kind of an onslaught is AT&T desperate to delay looking at here?

[Thanks to iPhoneduke for the prompt]

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Still No MMS on AT&T — But Would You Use it Anyway?

According to Apple Insider, Apple has filed for a patent that would help them determine (we supposed prior to fulfilling any warranted repairs) whether an end user had subjected the iPhone or iPod to abuse including such as exposing it to extreme cold, heat, or moisture:

“The system may include an interface by which a diagnostic device may access the memory to analyze the records and determine whether a consumer abuse event occurred, when the event occurred, and, in some embodiments, what type of abuse event occurred,” the patent reads. “By providing the capability to quickly and easily detect whether consumer abuse occurred in an electronic device, a vendor or manufacturer diagnosing a returned product may be able to better determine whether or not to initiate a product return under a warranty policy.”

Yet Apple has also applied for a Karaoke patent, which for some poor iPhones or iPods, may end up being a far worse form of torture…

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Patent Watch: Apple Taking Stand Against Abused iPhones