iLounge was able to run a few tests on the microphone housed in the new iPad 2 and found there’s a noticeable difference in quality between the Wi-Fi-only iPad 2 and the Wi-Fi + 3G models.

When using Skype and Garageband on the iPad, iPad 2 with Wi-Fi, and iPad 2 with Wi-Fi + 3G, we found that audio from the 3G iPad 2's mic sounded somewhat more muffled and echo-prone than with the original iPad's or the Wi-Fi-only iPad 2's mics

This is due to the microphone being moved from next to the headphone jack on the original iPad to a top-center position on the iPad 2. The Wi-Fi-only model is fully encased in aluminium whereas the 3G models have a plastic strip along the top which has an impact on recording quality.

Have you noticed a big enough difference in microphone quality between models for it to actually mean anything to you? let us know your thoughts in the comments!

[iLounge]

Wi-Fi-only iPad 2 mic captures cleaner audio than 3G models is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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The New York Times says Netflix may start delivering their first TV show, House of Cards, and it got us wondering if Apple shouldn’t get into the production side of show business as well? Netflix might outbid the likes of HBO and AMC to get House of Cards and it would give them original programming that you couldn’t get anywhere else. Sony has their own Hollywood studio. Comcast is buying NBC. Will Apple be at a disadvantage if they only deliver content but don’t make any themselves. (No, Disney doesn’t count — just because Steve Jobs is the largest shareholder doesn’t mean Apple owns it or has exclusive rights to any of their content.)

Apple already has the tools to make TV shows — Final Cut Pro on Macs. They have iTunes to market, sell, and deliver it. They have iAds if they want to use it. They have clients on Windows, Mac, iPhone, iPad and iPod touch to watch it. All they’re missing is the actual content. Sure it could spread Apple too thin and be too far outside their core business but that hasn’t stopped Sony and it might not stop Netflix.

What do you think, would a Dr. Horrible-style show, only available on iTunes be an advantage for Apple? Given the increasing competition, will Apple have to do something like that eventually?

[NYT]

TiPb Asks: Should Apple make their own TV shows? is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

TiPb - The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Blog

Chris posted Apple’s new “if you don’t have an iPhone” ads earlier and they didn’t really work for me. Apple usually nails their marketing and these were somehow… qualitatively different. Watching them again I think I figured out why. These weren’t commercials for apps, music, or books, not entirely at least. These were, in their latter halves, commercials for App Store, iTunes Store, and iBooks Store. This wasn’t Apple differentiating solely based on their playing, listening, and reading experiences. This was Apple showing off their massive and still growing content catalogs, and the ease with which that content can be acquired and enjoyed. And that’s fine in theory but in practice they just didn’t seem to come off as well as past commercials. At least not to me and I’m an admitted enthusiast.

When the original iPhone launched, Apple’s commercials focused on internet and activities that could be done on the phone — the web, email, iPod, maps, etc. They showed you what you could do and most importantly, how easily you could do it. The second part was key. Hardly anything they showed was new to existing smartphone users but in practice, but the UI made it better and more accessible than ever before. And Apple wanted to show that.

Following iPhone 3G and the App Store, Apple began their famous App for That series which continued with iPhone 3GS and App for Everything. Again there was some brief education about how to use the App Store in the commercials, and some crowing about the huge and growing numbers of apps available, but the focus was undeniably on the apps.

By iPhone 4 competing platforms began to get competitive app catalogs and Google’s Android Market was gaining momentum, so Apple shifted back to features like FaceTime, Retina Display, battery life, etc.

Since competing phones have or will start to match those iPhone 4 features, however, I wondered what Apple would do next. I thought they might go back to apps, specifically games like Infinity Blade that hadn’t shown up yet on rival platforms. I think they still might. I wouldn’t be surprised to see an Infinity Blade, Real Racing 2 HD, or more likely a GarageBand commercial for iPad 2, and when the Apple A5 chipset presumably hits iPhone 5 this summer, I’d be surprised if we didn’t see just that. Apple has made it clear they’re “post-PC” and re-framing the debate from specs to experiences. They’re also really good at writing really good mobile software, which can’t be said about everyone in the market — yet.

But that’s not what Apple did, at least not in these commercials. There was a brief Two is Better than One stint to launch the iPhone on a second US network, fun-house mirrored by Verizon and AT&T spots, then they went right back to features but shifted to ecommerce — App Store, iTunes Store, and iBooks Store. No one else has that diversity of content in one place, in as many countries, available with one-click ease under a single account login. (Sony should but they’re lost in the wilderness at this point, Amazon might when they launch their app store and link it to MP3 and Kindle, and Philp Berne says Samsung does though I’m not sure it’s iTunes level yet.)

Like battery life, Apple’s online marketplaces aren’t obvious choices for a commercial. I’m not sure how many consumers weigh which phone has the best stores before buying. Sure, like great battery life it’s what lets you do what you want to do — play, listen, watch, read, but it comes off as being Apple-centric and not consumer-centric. They’re ads for stores and not for stuff, and those never seem to come off as well.

Apple’s new iPhone ads should be called App Store, iTunes Store, iBooks Store is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

TiPb - The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Blog

The New York Times will start charging readers a subscription fee to access some of it’s content, effective immediately in Canada and starting on March 28 in the US and globally. Arthur Sulzberger, Jr., publisher of The New York Times, said:

Our decision to begin charging for digital access will result in another source of revenue, strengthening our ability to continue to invest in the journalism and digital innovation on which our readers have come to depend. This move will enhance The Times’s position as a source of trustworthy news, information and high-quality opinion for many years to come.

Here’s a breakdown of the new digital subscription model.

• All users of NYTimes.com are able to enjoy 20 articles at no charge each month (including slideshows, videos and other forms of content). Beyond 20 articles and for open access to the site, users will be asked to become digital subscribers.
• On The Times’s smartphone and tablet applications, the Top News section will remain free. To delve deeper into the apps’ other sections, users will be asked to become digital subscribers.
• The Times is offering three digital subscription packages that allow users to choose the devices on which they want to access Times content. NYTimes.com will be included as part of any subscription.
• All New York Times home delivery newspaper subscribers receive free, unlimited access to NYTimes.com and the full content on all of The Times’s applications.
• Readers who come to Times articles through links from search, blogs and social media will be able to access those individual articles, even if they have reached their reading limit. For some search engines, users will have a daily limit of free links to Times articles.
• The homepage at NYTimes.com and all section fronts will remain free to browse for all users at all times.

Access to The Times’ iPhone app runs $15 every 4 weeks, the iPad app costs $20 every 4 weeks, and a subscription to both devices is whopping $35 every 4 weeks. In keeping with Apple’s new subscription policy, The New York Times will begin using in-app purchase by June 30.

Anyone planning on signing up?

[The New York Times Company]

The New York Times raises pay wall, launches digital subscriptions is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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We’ve heard rumors and gotten questions about whether the iPad 2 gains any GPS functionality when tethered to an iPhone 4 and, based on our tests (see the video above) — yes it does, albeit a little dumbed-down. GPS functionality seemed to be working in both Maps and Navigon, but it clearly doesn’t work half as well as the 3G enabled iPad with assisted GPS built-in. Still, if you’ve decided on purchasing the 3G enabled iPad 2 primarily for its GPS capability, you may want to consider tethering an iPad Wi-Fi to iPhone 4 as an option.

Keep in mind the test was conducted on an iPhone 4 running iOS 4.2.1 using MyWi to create a wireless hotspot, however the results should be the same when using an AT&T or Verizon iPhone 4 (running iOS 4.3 or 4.2.6 respectively) with the Personal Hotspot feature baked-in. Results should be similar on the original non-3G iPad as well, and make sure you have location services enabled on both devices for it to work properly.

So although this technically works, we wouldn’t suggest using it as a full in-dash GPS unit by any means. If you want to do things like location-aware tweets it should work like a charm by roughly pinpointing your location when Wi-Fi router mapping isn’t an option.

If you have a Wi-Fi-only iPad then pair it up with your iPhone 4 and let us know how it’s working for you in the comments below!

[Urbanape via Daring Fireball]

Wi-Fi-only iPad gains limited GPS ability when tethered to iPhone 4 is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

TiPb - The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Blog

Apple has added three new iPhone ads to its website and YouTube channel with the new hook, "If you don't have an iPhone". The three ads all focus on different features, first up is the App Store showing a flight check in app. The second ad is aimed at iPod and iTunes features and the final ad focuses on iBooks. All the ads end with "Yup, if you don't have an iPhone, well, you don't have an iPhone."

The three videos are after the break, let us know what you think of them in the comments!

Apple release three new “if you don’t have an iPhone…” ads is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

TiPb - The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Blog

Every day, TiPb gets flooded with announcements for new and updated iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad apps and games. So every day we pick just a few of the most interesting, the most notable, and simply the most awesome to share with you!

• iCookbook: A full-featured cookbook with voice control – just speak simple commands to move to the next step, manage timers, view notes, and more. [$3.99 - iTunes link]

• Due: Set up reminder with alerts in seconds—up to 3x faster than Calendar app! New update brings native iPad support and lots more. [$4.99 - iTunes linke]

• WordPress: Blog from your iPhone or iPad! Update to version 2.7 brings performance improvements as well as a cleaned-up UI. [Free- iTunes link]

• WebCamera: Turn your iPhone into a high quality wireless webcam with microphone. [$1.99 - iTunes link]

• JumpShip Thrust Control: As captain of a proton class fighter, you’ve just escaped death by evading rouge fighters. Now inside the tunnels of a large asteroid, with your auto levelling gyro broken, you’ve got to use your thrusters manually. An addictive and challenging side-scrolling game for iPhone and iPad. [Free - iTunes link]

Any other big apps or game releases or updates today? If you pick any of these up, let us know what you think!

New and updated iPhone and iPad apps for Thursday, March 17 is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

TiPb - The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Blog

Angry Birds HD has updated with 15 new levels and a new golden egg. This will be the last set of levels for the Frontier Badlands.

• Adventures in the Frontier Badlands come to a close
• 15 new levels – each more challenging the the next
• A new golden egg that is good, bad, and ugly

As of now, this update is only available for the iPad version of Angry Birds, but we expect that the iPhone version will shortly follow suit.

If you pick this one up, let us know what you think!

[$4.99 - iTunes link]

Angry Birds HD updated with 15 new levels is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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Have an iPhone and and another iOS device like iPad 2 or iPod touch 4 and curious how to use personal hotspot to place a FaceTime video call over 3G? We showed off the feature in our TiPb TV iPad tourist video and mentioned it as a bonus in our how to connect your iPad to iPhone personal hotspot tip, but enough of you wrote in to ask about it we figured we better feature it in a tip of its own. And we’re doing just that after the break!

While you can’t do a FaceTime call on an iPhone 4 or iPad 2 over 3G, for some flummoxing reason you can turn on personal hotspot on iPhone 4, connect to it on another iPhone 4, iPad 2 or iPod touch 4, and make all the FaceTime calls you like. Here are the steps and each one is a link to previous step that gives you more info.

1. Turn on personal hotspot on your iPhone
2. Connect your iPhone 4, iPad 2 or iPod touch 4 to the personal hotspot
3. Launch FaceTime and start your video call!

The quality is good, better in fact than I remember it being with Jailbreak 3G enablers for whatever reason (though Jailbreak doesn’t require a second device). Just remember to keep an eye on your iPhone’s battery life and data cap!

Tips of the day will range from beginner-level 101 to advanced-level ninjary. If you already know this tip, keep the link handy as a quick way to help a friend. If you have a tip of your own you’d like to suggest, add them to the comments or send them in to dailytips@tipb.com. (If it’s especially awesome and previously unknown to us, we’ll even give ya a reward…)

Daily Tip: How to do FaceTime over 3G via iPhone personal hotspot is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

TiPb - The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Blog