Today’s mobile news roundup features Rovio’s new game, new iPhone 5 cases for sale, NY’s free payphone WiFi, and more.

Rovio launches Amazing Alex

Rovio is hoping that their new game for iOS and Android devices will be as successful as their Angry Birds franchise.  Their follow-up game to Angry Birds, Amazing Alex, is also a brain-training game as it requires you to arrange objects on the screen to create a chain reaction in which each piece of the puzzle has an effect on another until the goal is achieved.  Like Angry Birds, this game requires strategic actions–not just a simple kid’s game.

Amazing Alex is not an original game from Rovio, it was formerly known as Casey’s Contraptions – a physics-based game from  Noel Llopis, a California-based independent game developer, and the Washington-headquartered games studio Mystery Coconut.

As for Rovio’s Angry Birds franchise, come holiday season, the Angry Birds Trilogy will make its way to game consoles such as the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and the Nintendo 3DS.  The Angry Birds Trilogy includes the original Angry Birds, Angry Birds Seasons and Angry Birds Rio.

Vendors already selling iPhone 5 cases

If the Chinese retail shop Taobao is already accepting pre-orders for the iPhone 5 even though Apple has yet to announce the existence of the device, other vendors are taking it a step further, selling various types of cases for the iPhone 5.

Taobao is a unit of Alibaba Group, an online wholesale retailer, and is taking pre-orders for the new iPhone for a 1,000 yuan ($160).  The Chinese retailer proudly announced that more than two dozen iPhone 5 preorders were already placed.  As for the iPhone 5 cases, you can find flexible silicone, hard cases, and even customized casing for the mythical device.  The sellers are from China, believed to be from the people with knowledge in the iPhone 5 production.  If the cases are legit, the next iPhone won’t have a teardrop design as rumored.

In other Apple news, they filed a new iPhone case patent that features a noise windscreen that eliminates background noise so phone conversations are clearer.  Though this is a patent for an iPhone accessory, some believe that it can be a permanent fixture in future iPhones when the patent gets approved.

NY offers free WiFi from payphone

It is seldom we see people using a payphone to call anyone.  A lot of times, people use payphones for emergencies or they’re calling someone and they don’t want to be traced.  I’d even bet that some teens don’t even know how to use a payphone.  Absurd?  Not really.  But payphones won’t be phased out anytime soon as they may be able to give new life to your smartphone or tablet.  New York officials decided to turn their payphone booths into WiFi hotspots with a 200-foot radius.  NY partners with payphone advertising  suppliers Titan and Van Wagner Communications, who will be covering the cost of the project, which is estimated to be completed in two years.

Toshiba’s fusion products

Japanese electronics manufacturer, Toshiba, is said to be merging product designers with those for computers and tablets in attempt to create “fusion products” for a simplistic and streamlined approach.  With this move, Toshiba will be moving production outside Japan, relying more on third-party manufacturers, and relocating about 1,000 out of their 30,000 workforce.

Vodafone to acquire TelstraClear

Vodafone Group, the biggest mobile phone operator in New Zealand, is acquiring Telstra Corp.’s NZ unit for NZ$840 million ($668 million), to be able to compete with fixed-line leader Telecom Corp. of New Zealand Ltd.

“The deal premium paid for TelstraClear highlights the importance of this asset to Vodafone New Zealand,” Justin Diddams, an analyst at Citigroup Inc. in Sydney, said. “We see Telecom New Zealand facing increased competition from Vodafone,” wrote Diddams, who has neutral ratings on Telstra and Telecom.

The acquisition will include TelstraClear’s voice and data services, network infrastructure and customers in New Zealand.  The deal is expected to close before the end of the year, pending regulatory approval.