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How to Start a Mobile Poker Account

Online poker is a huge industry, and without it, the number of people playing poker today would probably be greatly reduced. One of the things that drew people to online poker was the ability to learn and play without making the effort to find a brick and mortar casino and without the self-consciousness that might come with being surrounded by players who know the game better than you. Now, even more people can enjoy poker through mobile gaming. If you’re new to the idea of mobile poker, here’s what you need to know.

The Mobile Device

It starts with your mobile device. It could be a PDA, cell phone, or any device that communicates wirelessly. Not all mobile devices will function with the mobile gaming application, but most of the newer ones will. To find out if your device is enabled for online poker, simply go to an online poker site that offers mobile gaming. In most cases, if you go to one of the more popular online poker sites you will find that they have a mobile poker option.

Downloading the Application

Once you’ve confirmed that your device is compatible, simply follow the instructions provided to download and activate the application. This should take only a few minutes. Once the downloading and activation process is complete, you’ll be ready to play. If there is any problem with the process, it will probably be addressed in the site’s mobile gaming FAQ. If not, you can go online and talk to support personnel for the site.

Playing Online Poker

Once you’re set up, it’s time to play. If you’ve never played online poker before, you’ll need to set up an account. This is a simple process involving creating a screen name and password and loading an account with funds. If you have played online poker before, you can access mobile poker using your online login and password. Once your account is active and you are logged in, just play poker as you would normally. Remember to play your best game, as the results of mobile poker are just as real as the results of any other online poker that you might play.

Two touchscreen media phones square off in this DogFight: The Samsung Eternity for AT&T and the LG Dare for Verizon. Both phones feature full touchscreens, media players with 3.5mm headphone jacks, and full HTML Web browsers. So which one's better? Noah calls the fight!

PREAMBLE:
Since I've been writing for PhoneDog, I've logged way too many hours navigating the iTunes' App Store, and it's only gotten worse since I volunteered to take on the iPhone beat, among others.

Casual "window shopping" can be a fun pursuit, but looking for specific, but unlabeled, categories of apps usually ends with frustration — and often, a headache. From what I hear, this is a pretty common scenario, and so I've written a letter to Apple to suggest some fixes.

Do I think it will resolve things? Probably not. But it sure felt good to jot this down. And who knows? With the company possibly creating a more robust gaming platform for its phones, maybe someone there will realize something — making it difficult for people to find (and therefore purchase) the games and apps they seek just isn't good business sense.

Dear Apple,

Though I've long enjoyed your phone and all the cool, crazy, useful, fun apps created for it, I have some small suggestions. I'm not writing to complain about the lack of MMS messaging and copy/paste functions, or the inability for programs to run in the background. Nor will I kvetch about the locked-in portrait orientation of the "skinny" keyboard in certain programs. No, this isn't at all about the quirks of the handset or the OS (though, if you are indeed working on that stuff — well, gee... that would be swell).

I am asking for a revision — actually, a minor tweak — to the App Store itself. With the 10,000+ applications that it houses, with many thousands more in line for approval, please help us, your devoted customers, navigate the mountains of entries in there.

The key lies in one word: Search.

The ability to search, then sort the results by star ratings or cost would be excellent. Searching within results would be fabulous. And if you had some extra time to kill, enabling search based on icon characteristics (because I often remember what an app thumbnail looks like, but forget the product name) would be near thrilling.

The categories are great and enormously helpful. Being able to directly compare similar programs would be even better.

For example, plugging in "dictation" delivers 20 results. Searching "voice recorder" yields 60+ results. Many of these are similar, yet there's a huge gap. Perhaps tags would help? Then it would be easier to find all comparable apps without the extraneous ones. And if the results actually put the ratings or number of downloads beside them, shoppers might spend less time clicking on each individual program to explore (and more time finding and buying the ones they want).

Yes, there are plenty of blogs and websites devoted to cell phones and their apps (I happily write for one of them), and we do our best to offer help and guidance (or at least a fun read) for end users. And so, I humbly write this letter on their behalf, as well as my own — please, PLEASE, untie the knotted quagmire of comparison shopping in the App Store!

Sincerely,
Your pal, Adriana

P.S. Please give Steve my best. I hope he gets better soon.

Texting-happy teens will be pleased to see the LG Neon, the latest phone to be in line for an upcoming release on AT&T.  Sporting a 2.4-inch touch sensitive screen and a sliding QWERTY keyboard, the device will be offered in a puke-like lime green color.  Release date and price are still unknown at this time. 

Perhaps this would be a great replacement for the girl that sent 14,528 text messages last month.  Granted, it's a given that most 12 year olds around the US will be begging their parents for this device, but we would also recommend it to Dodge Neon owners; how neat would it be if your car and phone shared the same name?

via BGR and PhoneArena

Though the phone hasn't been wildly successful on T-Mobile to date, it appears that Verizon Wireless is gearing up to launch the BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8230 (the XX30 designation refers to a CDMA device) in the near future.  Following the typical Verizon silver BlackBerry color scheme, test units have been sent out to several individuals, usually indicating an imminent release.  Perhaps some love on Big Red will give the unit more success.  Feature-wise, the phone offers a flip form factor, QWERTY SureType keyboard, and a 2 megapixel camera.

Look at the positives: not only do you get the first BlackBerry clamshell, but you also get a phone that prevents butt dialing!  Check out the picture below.

If you were T-Mobile, you had to have been upset last year, when Verizon Wireless received the 2008 J.D. Power Customer Care award.  T-Mobile, always priding itself in superior customer service, appeared to be hurt by the introduction of FlexPay, and the numerous issues that surrounded the program.

As of today, T-Mobile can smile again and be true to their "Stick Together" mantra, as they've snatched the 2009 J.D. Power Customer Care Performance Study award back from Big Red, making them the winner for 7 out of the past 8 years.  This year, T-Mobile soared in with an index score of 755 on a 1,000-point scale, followed by Verizon Wireless at 749, and Alltel at 744.  According to J.D. Power, the following criteria sent the carrier to the top:

• T-Mobile ranked highest among all wireless providers in Overall Customer Care Performance, above all its competitors and significantly ahead of the industry average.
• In interactions between consumers and customer care representatives, T-Mobile ranked significantly above the industry average. 
• T-Mobile ranked highest in online customer service and walk-in interactions at retail stores. 
• T-Mobile scored well above other wireless carriers and the industry average with the lowest average hold times.
  

Great news for Magenta and a strong start to 2009.  Now that customer service is situated, keep those hot new devices coming and we'll be happy!

J.D. Power Press Release

I'm not hating on the BlackBerry Pearl 8100.  After all, it was the first BlackBerry to include a camera, but that was two years ago.  So, needless to say, when Fido announced the availability of the 8100 and touted it like it was a brand new device, it made me chuckle a bit.  Still, the device is the first BlackBerry for the subsidiary of Rogers, which most likely means that if successful, we could see the 8800 or the Curve series on the carrier's network.
The price, you ask?  A mind numbing $400 on a month-to-month plan, or $25 for a three year contract, coupled with one of the data plans below:

• $15 - Unlimited personal email and instant messaging
  
• $25 - 500MB
• $30 - 1GB
• $60 - 3GB
  

After seeing data prices like that (and I won't even begin to talk about the phone price), I really appreciate my $29.99 BlackBerry Web and E-Mail plan.

 

 

If you've been having any issues with your T-Mobile G1 Android phone, help is on the way. A new fix is being pushed over-the-air to Android cell phones. T-Mobile customers will receive the update over the next couple of weeks. Here are a few of the fixes you can expect:

• Google Search by voice
• Google Latitude, a new feature of Google Maps for mobile used for finding a friend's location on a map, sharing your location and status with friends and then being able to contact them via IM, text, or call
• Get reminders for calendar appointments
• The ability to check for upgrades directly from your G1
  

You can find out more information about the update at T-Mobile Forums.

Palm Pre fans, bolster your savings accounts and take note: the folks over at Boy Genius Report have snagged Sprint's end-of-life list, and it holds some very interesting dates:

Device Name | Projected EOL Date | Replacement

• Sierra Compass 597 USB | Early February | Sierra 598 USB
• Motorola ic602 | Early February
• LG 160 | Mid-February | Samsung M220
• LG Rumor (blue) | Mid-February | LG 265 Rumor II (target in-stock 2/15)
• Motorola i325IS | Mid-February | Motorola i365IS
• LG Rumor (green) | Mid-March | LG 265 Rumor II (target in-stock 2/15)
• Franklin Wireless U680 USB | Early April
• Palm 800W | April | Palm Treo Pro (target in-stock 2/15)
• LG Rumor (black) | Mid-April | LG 265 Rumor II (target in-stock 2/15)
• Motorola i615 | Mid-April
• Samsung M520 Lumina | Mid-April | LG LX-370 (slider)
• RIM BlackBerry Pearl (red) | May
• LG LX400 | Late May
• Palm 755P (blue) | Late May | Palm Pre (target in-stock 3/15)
• Sanyo 6750 Eclipse (pink) | June
• Palm Centro (berry) | June
• Motorola Q9C | Mid-June
• Sierra 597E | July | Sierra 2-in-1 Aircard
• Palm Centro (green) | July
• Palm Centro refresh (black) | July
• Motorola VE20 | July
• HTC Touch Diamond | July
• RIM BlackBerry 7100i | August | RIM BlackBerry 8350i
  

The LG Rumor II (LX265 I presume if it's headed to Sprint) and the LG LX370 both caught my attention, as QWERTY and slider devices are all the rage at the moment.  Unfortunately, little to no information is available, and the FCC website doesn't offer anything beyond relatively boring documents.  We'll keep you updated as we receive more information!