Pocketnow Daily: A Needed iPhone feature Apple just SILENTLY KILLED! (video)

On today's Pocketnow Daily, we talk about the feature that Apple will remove from future iPhone models, the new Mario Kart Tour and more

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Super Mario Run is finally available on the App Store

The wait is over. The unicorn dream that many of us thought would never happen is finally a reality. Surely if you’ve grown up after Generation X, then getting Mario on a mobile device is probably not that important to you. For us that grew up having the 8-bit Nintendo console being our first ever, this is a big deal.

After being announced in September, Super Mario Run goes live on the App Store as an iOS exclusive. The game is free to download for both iPhones and iPads, but to enjoy the full experience you have to pay a single in-app purchase of $10. Yes, it is a rather steep price point, but I consider it far better than the unknown variable of continuous app purchases over time.

What makes Super Mario Run special is not just that this is the first time we see a popular Nintendo character reach iOS, but also that this game was made for mobile in mind. Mario runs automatically, and like the glory days of Flappy Bird, all you do is tap the screen to make him jump. The game has three modes, World Tour, Toad Rally, and Kindom Builder to start.

Yes the servers are jammed, my download has taken for ever, but forgive me if I go MIA for the next hour or two reminiscing.

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Sprint and Niantic partner to bolster Pokemon GO stops count

Over 10,000 Sprint, Boost Mobile and Sprint at RadioShack stores will either become PokeStops or gyms in Pokemon GO starting December 12.

The deal between Sprint and the game’s developer, Niantic, will ensure that the stores are at least one guaranteed destination for fans — ready to take on the game’s newest features like trainer-to-trainer battles and the reinstatement of the Nearby tracker — to visit. These stores will also provide charging docks to Pokemon GO players fee-free.

If anything, the deal seals a first link in a possible series of others between Sprint and Niantic. This week, Sprint’s parent company, SoftBank, pledged $50 billion of investment into the US tech environment.

T-Mobile also offered its own perks to Pokemon GO players nearer to the launch of the game.

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Post-peak, where will Pokemon GO’s bottom be?

Pokemon GO’s first month has seen stellar growth that Nintendo couldn’t have imagined. The Pokemon Company and Niantic were riding the coattails of this windfall as did what we found out to be contingent markets.But the party has to be done soon, right? Every viral product has that top ...

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The Batphone we deserve is a Samsung Galaxy S7 edge [UPDATE]

Update: Samsung has officially announced the Galaxy S7 edge Injustice Edition. The device itself plastered black with gold Batwing detailing. It’s paired with a Gear VR headset, in-game credit for “Injustice: Gods Among Us” and Oculus VR content vouchers.The packages will be available early next month in China, Singapore, Korea, Latin America, Russia and other markets to be revealed at a later date.Samsung is teasing a new, special edition device in ...

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Love Ingress? Considering signing up for the Pokémon GO field tests

Google-owned Niantic Labs, the maker of Ingress, has been working with // The Pokémon Company to literally bring a beloved video game franchise into the real world. That project is being called Pokémon GO.Excitement has building around the game with gameplay footage leaked continuously onto YouTube. When it came time, fans in Australia and New ...

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mNectar avails Force Touch advertisements to game developers

Ads. We love to hate them. But content providers can’t really live without them. And for those selling their wares, they have to clinch onto the attention of impatient people and appeal to them with compelling bullet points.Game developers have to be really engaging with their 30 or 15 or even five seconds’ worth of content to pop. Having that become interactive in a way to convey a sense of atmosphere and ...

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One million Miitomo users play every day

Traffic. It’s one of the dreaded metrics in web life. But in this respect, there’s some great news for Nintendo — if we’re to believe SurveyMonkey Intelligence.In its first full week of global availability, Nintendo’s first mobile app was able to grab 2.6 million downloads. Miitomo got downloaded about 370,000 times a day last week, with the iOS-Android count split roughly 2 to 1. ...

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If you’re “Feeling Lucky” at home, you can play the Google Store Claw on Twitter

If you’re in Austin this weekend for SXSW, we’re jealous. Major jelly going on. And for those of you who aren’t participating in the hours of tech, music, thought-provocation and the mad dash to Franklin Barbecue, you can grasp at the straws of fun or grasp at a few Nexuses or a Moto 360 or two.LIVE on #Periscope:

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Off-beat: You may get to build Monument Valley with Legos

This makes so much sense. Also, I’ll admit that I’m biased.If you’re not familiar with the iOS and Android game Monument Valley, go take a few spins on that and come back to this story when you’re done. You can probably see why someone would envision a Lego set to celebrate the aesthetics of this Escherific™ adventure.Thing is, since some of the design elements will need some ...

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Elite: Dangerous development now focused on SteamVR and the HTC Vive

You know how bad the hype is for the HTC Vive? You really want to know? Well, you may be familiar with Frontier Developments’ big first-person space simulator, Elite: Dangerous. It’s in the process of dawdling its way over to Oculus Rift right now. We say dawdling because the Frontier has admitted to putting ...

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When it comes to the Vive, walking is believing

I’m in the cockpit of a spaceplane, a control stick in my right hand and a throttle in my left. All around me, dotting the space between asteroids, are the explosions of my enemies. Their fiery destruction is recorded by the computer screens surrounding me, bathing me in a serene glow that reflects off the canopy over my head. In short, I’m in my own personal, impossible heaven. So why does it feel so … conventional? The cockpit in Elite Dangerous [Source] The Vive Pre is the updated version of the original ...

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Guess which smartphone took these photos (Vol. 7) (Update: answer within!)

(Update 1/29/2015: the answer now lies at the bottom of this post, so be careful when scrolling if this is your first time seeing this edition of the smartphone guessing game! Also, our apologies for the late update, folks; our lead smartphone reviewer came down with a wicked-bad case of the coughs in this year’s Boston Blizzard, so he’s been out of commission.)When it comes to analyzing the quality of a smartphone’s camera, there are two main approaches. There’s the guided style:“We had a gander at the new [Smartphone] from the fine folks at [Smartphone ...

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