In an awards celebration in beautiful Barcelona earlier today, the winners of the 5th Annual Best App Ever Awards were announced. It has been an amazing year for apps and an amazing year for the Best App Ever Awards. Receiving over five million votes, the awards this year reached a new pinnacle.

Chillingo founders Joe Wee and Chris Byatte accept the award for Most Innovative Game for The Act. (photo credit Jonathan Morris)

Today we are proud to announce the winners for awards covering both iOS apps and games. Over five million votes were received in the five weeks of voting. Without further ado, here are the winners.

Best App Ever Category

Winner: Walking Dead: The Game by Telltale Inc

Second Place: Evernote by Evernote
Third Place: Minecraft Pocket Edition by Mojang

Here’s a special note from Telltale accepting the win for the Best App Ever!

Most Innovative App Category

Winner: Launch Center Pro by App Cubby

Second Place: The Silent History by Ying Horowitz & Quinn LLC
Third Place: Figure by Propellerhead Software AB

Best Visual Design Category

Winner: Google Maps by Google, Inc.

Second Place: Paper by FiftyThree by FiftyThree, Inc.
Third Place: Clear by Realmac Software

Most Innovative Game Category

Winner: The Act by Chillingo Ltd

Second Place: The Room by Fireproof Games
Third Place: Plague Inc. by Ndemic Creations

For the full list of winners and nominees, head on over to Best App Ever. A text version is also available for quick reference.

Congratulations to all of the nominees and winners!

Today at the Mobile World Conference in Barcelona the the winners of the 8th Annual International Mobile Games Awards were announced. These apps represent the cream of the crop from every corner of the globe, so rest assured that when you download these you’re getting only the best of the best. Also, 148Apps has a special connection to the awards as our owner, the ruggedly handsome Jeff Scott, is a member of the judges panel (hi boss!). So without further ado, here are your winners.

Best Casual Game
Sprinkle
MediocreAB
Sweden

Best mobile social game
Charadium 2
On5
Lithuania

Best Real World Game
Meatspace Invasion (France iTunes Store only)
C4M and Mekensleep
France

Best Sports Game
Touchgrind BMX
IllusionLabs
Sweden

Excellence in Gameplay
Infinity Blade 2
Chair
USA

Most Innovative Game
Superbrothers : Sword and Sworcery EP
Capy
Canada

Grand Prix (Best Overall)
Infinity Blade 2
Chair
USA

People’s choice
Flick Tennis: College Wars
Rolocule Games
India

Contre jour
Mokus Games
Ukraine

It’s a simple thing, really. You want the new Apple iPhone 4S, and Gameloft and 148Apps want to give it to you. Gameloft is celebrating the release of its newly-optimized titles for the iPhone 4S – BackStab, Silent Ops, Let’s Golf 3, Fast Five, 9mm, and Asphalt 6 – by giving you the chance to win one of the coveted little devices.

To enter, just become a 148Apps and Gameloft Facebook fan – www.facebook.com/gameloft and www.facebook.com/148apps.

Or you can follow both of us on Twitter as well at www.twitter.com/148apps and www.twitter.com/gameloft. Then, write the following public tweet: “Upgrade to a 4S yet? Follow @Gameloft & @148Apps & RT for a chance to win an iPhone 4S! Gameloft gaming on the 4S: http://glft.co/uIR3Y1″

Once you’ve done either the Facebook or the Twitter route, head to the Contest Facebook Page and fill out the form to be entered.

It’s as simple as that! Even better, there are more ways to increase your chances to win, so read the full rules and requirements here to learn how.

So what are you waiting for? An iPhone 4S hangs in the balance.

The new iPhone is here, or will be on Friday. We’ve already covered the big bucket of amazing that is the iPhone 3GS and the huge disappointment that is the horrible carrier we are saddled with here in the US. But, let’s get back to the item at hand, our Design the Next iPhone contest.

As you remember our contest was for you, our faithful readers, to pick the features that you thought would be announced on the next iPhone, the one we now know as the iPhone 3GS. We had a great turnout for entries and before we announce the winners, let’s take a look at some of the most popular things people thought we’d see in the iPhone 3GS but won’t.

The most expected feature that wasn’t announced (yet), was multiple colors other than black and white at 34%. Following that closely was wireless syncing and then multitasking for third party apps.

The least picked features overall were the Apple logo used as a flash and wireless charging (ala the Palm Pre).

Contest Results

A big huge thanks to Griffin Technology for sponsoring our contest. They donated over $200 in great products to use as prizes for this contest.

The first place winner of our contest was John Clayton from Illinois. He’ll be getting a great prize pack from Griffin Technology including a PowerDock4, TuneBuds Mobile, and iTrip AutoPilot.

Second place was won by Shivi Aiyar from California. His prize pack from Griffin Technology includes a Clarifi 3G case, and an AirCurve iPhone stand.

And third place winner got a $15 iTunes gift card. The winner was Raul Escutia.