According to a rough translation from tw.apple.pro, Apple may be prototyping an iPhone with a physical slide-out keyboard.

The site’s source claimed that Apple has built three prototype models for its anticipated “iPhone 5,” and one of them has a “sliding cover” that conceals a keyboard.

The translation also mentioned the rumored iPhone Nano which has picked up a lot of traction recently, as well as a prototype similar to the iPhone 4 but with upgraded internals.

While we’ve seen a few different rumors floating around about purported iPhone models coming down the pipe, this one seems a little too far-fetched for our liking. When we asked if anyone still wanted an iPhone with a physical keyboard, the majority of responses we saw were in favor of a software-based keyboard. On top of that, Steve Jobs has professed his love for the software keyboard because of its ability to adapt to any use-case needed.

Any of our readers think there’s weight to these new rumors? Let us know in the comments below!

[tw.apple.pro via AppleInsider]

Apple prototyping iPhone with physical keyboard?! is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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It looks likely that iOS 4.3 will not be arriving until March. The evidence, although a little sketchy, comes from The Daily! No it is not an article in the app, but a subtle change in the subscription information. When The Daily was originally launched, you were given two weeks of free access. It was free because iOS 4.2 does not have the subscription services required to enable regular billing.

Now when you check your subscription information within The Daily, it is now showing as valid through 28 Feb 2011. As it is not a leap year this year, we can glean from this, that the earliest you can subscribe on a paid basis to The Daily will be the 1st March. Is this because iOS 4.3 will not be available until then? It’s starting to look that way; despite the rumor that it would hit today. Looks like we will have to wait just a little bit longer for iOS 4.3!

[Macerkopf.de]

Daily subscription extension mean iOS 4.3 not coming until March? is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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Every week a few of us from team TiPb will bring you our current favorite, most fun and useful App Store apps, WebApps, jailbreak apps, even the occasional accessory, web site, or desktop app if the mood strikes us. As long as they're iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch related, they're fair game.

To see what we picked, and to tell us your pick, follow on after the break!

Alli’s pick: Netflix

Nothing better for Valentine’s Day than a sappy chick flick. Unless it’s an action adventure movie with Vin Diesel, Johnny Depp, or Matt Damon…you get the idea. And how better to watch whichever movie you choose, than streaming over Netflix?

Your Netflix subscription allows you to sign into the iOS app, and view tons of classic movies on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch. And while the choice of current movies isn’t exactly extensive, there’s still something for everyone. You can sort movies by genre: Romance, Thrillers, Action & Adventure, Comedy, Drama, and lots more.

So why not download Netflix today, and plan on spending Valentine’s Day cuddled up with a good movie.

[Free with Netflix subscription - iTunes link]

Andrew’s pick: Valentine’s eCards

Want to surprise your significant other with a creative and romantic eCard for Valentine’s this year? Valentine’s eCards is the app with all the bells and whistles you’re looking for! The app is pretty straightforward in its mission and lets you put together a nice eCard filled with flowers and love. You can choose from hundreds of different types of flowers from a number of categories. All you have to do is pick your flower, write a cute Valentine’s Day message, send it off through email and then wait for their response!

If you’re hoping for this year’s Valentine’s Day to go off without a hitch, then Valentine’s eCards is definitely a requirement. So go on, head over to the App Store and pick up Valentine’s eCards for half off through Valentine’s Day — especially if you don’t want to be in the doghouse for Valentine’s this year!

[$0.99 - iTunes link]

Brians’ pick: Epicurious

With Valentines Day coming very soon what better way to treat the person you love than to cook them a home cooked meal instead of bringing them to a restaurant. It would mean more and also makes it a little more romantic with just the two of you rather than a big crowd of people. Well if you are like me cooking isnt the easiest thing in the world. But my pick this week will help make the process a little bit easier and help hopefully score you some points. Epicurious has more than 30,000 recipes from their website all contained inside this free app! The recipes are easy to follow to help prepare even something that you might think is challenging. Trust me I have used this to make food and if I can do you anyone can do it! They also have drink recipes and desserts for after dinner romance as well! So stop reading this and go get Epicurious from the app store and be romantic this Valentines Day!

[Free - iTunes Link]

Chris V’s pick: Angry Birds Seasons

My Valentines pick of the week is Angry Bird Seasons. This was recently updated to include a “Valentine’s Day” themed level. At this point, if you don’t know about Angry Birds, you really need to read this website more! Back in Halloween, they came out with what would eventually become Angry Birds seasons – an Angry Bird variant that has themed levels for individual holidays. As you would expect, the Valentine level abounds with hearts all over the place, and like every Angry Bird level it is loads of fun to play. Go ahead and gift your significant other Angry Bird Seasons (Valentine’s Day theme) through iTunes, and you will be their Valentine for a long time.

[$0.99 - iTunes link]

George’s pick: ColorSplash

ColorSplash is a neat little photo application that allows you to add some cool colour effects to your images, perfect for those loving pictures this Valentines day.

The app takes a photo and completely greys it out, allowing you to colour in the parts that you want to stand out, whether, thats you and your significant other on a beach, or every individual light from a night skyline, the app offers unlimited zooming, so you can be precise on what you want to colour in.

The app is super simple and quick (the picture above took me around 2 minutes to colour in)

Export your finished pictures and send it to a loved one this valentines day.

[$0.99 - iTunes link]

Leanna’s pick: Yelp

Still don’t know where you’re going out to dinner for Valentine’s Day? Yelp may be exactly what you need. You can search for restaurants, read reviews, and even make a reservation with OpenTable directly in the app.

Rene’s pick:

That’s right. Nothing. No app for that. No site, no service. This Valentine’s day put the iPhone away and give the iPad a rest. Focus on that special someone. Give them your interruption-free attention. Have a conversation. Have dinner. Have time together. Let Apple and Google take the night off so you can get the night on.

Sure it can be difficult, especially if you both are glued to your iPhones, so make it a contest. First one who even reaches for their tech loses and the winner gets a prize. (It’s Valentine’s day, use your imaginations. Or, you know, any of these…)

Your pick?

You're part of the team as well, so jump into the comments and let us know your pick of the week!

TiPb Picks of the Week – Valentine’s Day edition is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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Just get a new Verizon iPhone, or a new iPhone on any network, and curious how to get to your Facebook account? If so, we’re going to show you how dive into the mobile-social wave with grace using the official Facebook for iPhone app. And although Facebook doesn’t currently support an official app for the iPad, we’ll show you a few alternatives to help you get started after the break!

There are umpteen millions of Facebook users and Facebook for iPhone is probably the most download app in mobile. Still, if you’re new to social networking and don’t yet have a Facebook profile, that’s where you ned to start. Just head on over to Facebook.com and register an account before getting started.

Now on to some basic tasks using the Facebook for iPhone app…

Facebook for iPhone

Fortunately Facebook provides an official app in the App Store alongside their mobile touch version in Safari. The native app allows iOS users to view the news feed, upload photos and video, check in to places, view upcoming events and birthdays, chat with your friends and a lot more. Here are a few quick tips to help you get started using Facebook on your iPhone.

News Feed

The News Feed where you’ll find all of your friend’s status updates in one place. If your friends upload any photos or videos you’ll be able to see them in a stream of aggregated updates. From the news feed you’ll be able to comment on a status, jump into a photo or ‘like’ a status update you find interesting or compelling. If you see an interesting link in the news feed the app has a built-in web browser so you don’t get kicked out of the app if you want to continue reading. You can also filter down the news feed to only show photos, notes, status updates etc if you want to cut down on the noise and get to specific updates.

Update your status, photos or location

To get started with the first tip you’ll want to go back into the news feed. Here you will be given three options along the top: Photo, Status and Check In. You’ll be able to post a quick status update, pull a photo or video from the iOS photo-picker to upload or check yourself into the nearest location and broadcast it to your network of friends. The process is easy and straightforward. If you’re uploading a picture of a friend, you’ll also be able to tag that friend from directly within the app!

Chat

Most of my friends use Facebook chat, so if I’m looking to communicate with one of my friends on-the-fly I’ll usually jump into the chat instead of posting something on their wall. To use Facebook Chat on the iPhone just tap the Chat icon in the main section. Next you’ll be taken to an alphabetical list of friends that are online, and from here you can tap a friend to begin chatting. If you don’t want to be seen online whenever getting into Facebook for iPhone, just tap ‘Go Offline’ in the upper-right corner of the chat. The latest update to Facebook for iPhone fixed issues with inconsistencies in the chat, so don’t worry about always having to go offline every time you launch the app if you want to appear offline most of the time.

Search

If you’re quickly trying to find one of your friends all you have to do is tap the search field at the top in the main section of the app. From here you’ll be able to filter down your list of friends and jump to any friend’s profile. From the profile viewer, you can comment or ‘like’ your friends status updates and photos just as you can from the news feed. You can also search the entire Facebook user directory by selecting ‘Everyone’ below the search field, or ‘Pages’ to filter through different Facebook pages.

Notifications

With the latest update to Facebook for iPhone, Facebook has also redesigned the notifications section allowing for a much more aesthetically pleasing interface making it easier to sort through your latest notifications. Using the Notifications section is also a very easy process, as you simply tap your desired notification to be taken to the corresponding update. You’ll be able to view any new comments or changes since the last time you were online from the notifications section.

Facebook apps for iPad

Unfortunately Facebook has yet to release an official app for the iPad – they apparently don’t view the iPad as a mobile device (say what?) – so we’ve rounded up a few great alternatives to use until Facebook comes to their senses.

1. Friendly for Facebook is an app that recently went free, making it a great way to get started if your not looking to spend any money. This app is all around a great full featured way to engage with friends on Facebook and allows you to upload photos which is something you don’t get in Safari. You can even get into limited profile editing and customize the color of the layout in the settings. Also look for its counterpart Friendly Plus for Facebook ($.99) which takes out the ads. [iTunes -- free]

2. FacePad was released last week and combines the look and feel of the official Twitter app for iPad, but it’s for Facebook. It really doesn’t get more simple than that. If you’ve ever used Twitter on your iPad then you’ll probably be able to pick up the layout right off the bat. One thing you’re not getting is the ability to upload photos or video and there are a few bugs that need to be worked out, but the app has definitely made a stir in the iPad community and has room to grow. If you like the Twitter app for iPad, check out FacePad today! [iTunes -- $.99]

3. Facebook Browser for iPad isn’t one I’d personally recommend, but it does offer some nice features. I’m not a fan of the layout and design, but others might like it. You can do all the regular things like check your messages, view the live stream and comment on status updates. There are a couple of themes to choose from, but transitions are slow and the app feels more like a webpage than a native app, however it has some promise. Check it out! [iTunes -- $.99]

4. Facebook Touch HD has similar aesthetic qualities to that of Friendly for Facebook, but doesn’t quite pull it off with as much grace. Although you can do things like upload photos and even save your friend’s photos to your camera roll, the app doesn’t have as much polish as I feel it should and crashed more than once while I was playing with it. There are a few things they need to work on given the price, but if all you care about is accessing Facebook outside of the browser then maybe this one is for you! [iTunes -- $2.99]

Remember that you can always get back to the familiar Facebook layout by using Safari, but you’ll lose some abilities (uploading photos). Then again, you’re also gaining other abilities (‘liking’ someone’s comment within a status update), so it’s really a give-and-take game until Facebook officially comes out with a killer way to use the service on the iPad.

As always, let us know if you have any questions or run into any issues and we’ll do our best to help out in the comments. Also let us know what your favorite apps are for browsing Facebook on the iPad below!

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 get started with Facebook on your iPhone or iPad [Beginner] is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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Mobile World Congress 2011 has brought a couple of Android tablets — LG Optimus Pad, Samsung Galaxy Tab 2– and slew of Android and Windows phones — LG Optimus 3D, Sony Xperia Play and Xperia Pro, and Samsung Omnia 7 — but a quick look at the blogsphere shows an awful lot of headlines about iPad 2, iPad 3, and iPhone nano — products that don’t (yet) exist from Apple, a company not even at the show. (And which may or may not fit into an iPad or iPhone “family”.)

Last year Apple was the talk of MWC after their iPad announcement, and 2009 they got the buzz following the success of Apple’s App Store. How does one company who doesn’t even attend MWC still manage to hijack so much press?

Rene joked on Twitter yesterday that the iPad 3 and iPhone nano leaks, coming right at the start of MWC, was remarkable timing. Could it also be remarkable, and remarkably effective strategy on Apple’s part to keep their competitors on their heels? Do you think the rumors warrant all the buzz they are drawing at MWC 2011?

Despite still not being there, Apple again the talk of Mobile World Congress is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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Cult of Mac is following up on the iPhone nano rumors from Bloomberg and Wall Street Journal saying Apple will make the low price points by getting rid of all onboard storage. No NAND Flash storage, no big price tag. Apple would get around this by streaming everything from an iTunes.com/MobileMe cloud just like Apple TV 2 does today.

However, Apple TV 2 still has 8GB of NAND Flash storage to hold the OS and apps and cache the content. Sure streaming media could make up for lower storage levels but no storage? What about camera roll and apps? Would Apple let me stream Infinity Blade from the cloud? Would I even want to?

It sounds far fetched. However, an 8GB iPhone nano using components from the huge iPhone 3G/iPhone 3GS production runs of the last few years, augmented by cloud storage could be super cheap and super sweet.

What do you think?

[Cult of Mac]

iPhone nano — with no storage? is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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While many have been waiting a long time for the Verizon iPhone, the same CDMA network that gives Verizon its terrific coverage and reliability brings with it a host of other problems, including the famous lack of simultaneous voice and data and limited international roaming, but also some lesser known issues such as split SMS messages and greatly reduced conference calling options.

None of these are new to the Verizon iPhone but they are new to iPhone now that it’s on Verizon, and new to users who haven’t experienced CDMA before. We’ll take a look at them after the break.

No simultaneous voice and data

Verizon runs on CDMA2000 using EVDO Rev. A for 3G data (see our wireless networking guide for more on what those terms mean). EVDO Rev. A does not support simultaneous voice and data the way AT&T (and other GSM carriers) HSPA networks do. That means if a call comes in while you’re using 3G data — surfing the web, Skyping, sharing your connection via personal hotspot — you can either ignore the call and continue using 3G data, or answer the call and effectively put your 3G data connection on “pause”. If you’re on a call you won’t receive email or push notifications and if you try to surf the web or download an app you’ll be informed you’re not connected to the 3G network. Once the call ends, 3G data reconnects and you can start using the internet again.

If you’re on Wi-Fi as opposed to 3G data you can make calls and use data without a problem. It’s only 3G that cuts out during calls.

Verizon has chosen not to roll out EVDO Rev. B, which does support simultaneous data in favor of more quickly deploying a 4G LTE network (currently a hybrid CDMA-voice with LTE-data network, in the future a Voice over LTE network). They are rolling out Voice over Rev A (VoRA) aka SVDO which will allow for simultaneous voice and data on future CDMA/EVDO phones, but not the Verizon iPhone. (See The Cell Phone Junky for more on the technology.)

Limited international roaming

GSM/HSPA, the standard used by AT&T and T-Mobile in the US, is far closer to being an international standard than the CDMA/EVDO technology used by Verizon. While there are a few other CDMA/EVDO networks in North America and Asia, GSM/HSPA is supported throughout most of the rest of the world, including Europe. If you use a Verizon iPhone there are a limited number of countries where you’ll be able to roam. Verizon does offer loaner GSM phones for international travelers but that’s not as seamless a solution as GSM iPhones that can intrinsically roam around most of the world.

SMS/Text splitting

SMS/Text messages are limited to 160 characters. On AT&T and other GSM iPhones, if a message exceeds 160 characters it will still be shown as a single message to both the sender and receiver. On Verizon once an SMS hits 160 characters, any additional text is split off into a second message, after 320, a third message, etc. The same content is still delivered, it’s just not presented as nicely. (In some cases the message parts might even appear out of order which is even more annoying.)

Limited conference calling

Verizon’s CDMA network only supports “3 way calling” so you can only enter into a conference call with up to 2 other people (3 including yourself) at the same time. It doesn’t matter if iPhone can handle more, Verizon’s network and hence the Verizon iPhone is limited to 3-way calling.

Likewise, 9to5Mac points out that handling conference calls is also more challenging on the Verizon iPhone since you can’t take one party “private” or hang up on one caller while keeping the other active. (It hangs up on all callers.)

That network

So yes, overall there are a lot of limitations to the way CDMA handles voice. However, if Verizon has great coverage in your area, you’re on Wi-Fi when you want to talk and surf, you rarely if ever travel internationally, split SMS/Text messages don’t bother you, and agile conference calling isn’t a must-have business feature for your iPhone, you may not care.

Otherwise it’s a compromise. Decide what’s most important to you and which carrier best provides it. If anything is a deal-breaker, then that makes your choice much simpler.

For more information and help check out our Verizon iPhone Forum.

TiPb Answers: Verizon iPhone and the limitations of CDMA is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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AT&T boasts of being “America’s fastest 3G network”, so I’ve been putting that claim to the test by comparing the speeds with Verizon and AT&T iPhones side-by-side. The results were incredibly surprising. To find out what they were, watch the video above then follow along after the break!

First of all, I must preface this by saying that these tests took place in Denver, CO. Testing elsewhere could yield significantly different results.

When it comes to numbers, AT&T typically (not always) has faster speeds as you can see in the screenshots above. However, when it came to real world tests with Safari and Facebook, Verizon was neck and neck with AT&T and often times faster.

When out and about, I was consistently getting these results, but not at home. In my house, I have very spotty AT&T coverage and typically connect to a microcell to ensure I can make a phone call. In order to test AT&T against Verizon, I unplugged the microcell and got surprisingly mixed results. Even though I often only have 1 or 2 bars with AT&T, browsing with the AT&T iPhone is usually significantly faster than with Verizon. I say usually, because there are times when AT&T slows down to match Verizon. It’s very inconsistent to say the least.

I cannot emphasize enough how my results were obtained from Denver and cannot be generalized to all of America. In fact, Ally has been executing the same tests in the Chicago area and been getting significantly different results than me. Not only do the following screenshots show AT&T with must faster speeds, but Ally reports that the difference is undeniable in practice.

Now, Chicago is one of the best places to have AT&T because it is very stable and running HSPA 7.2. It just goes to show that location is very important when choosing a network. If possible, run tests yourself while within your return period before committing to a network. Here in Denver, I may be considering a switch to Verizon if the iPhone 5 is available on Verizon the same day as AT&T.

Your data speeds?

To help increase our sampling, please add your carrier, location, and current data speeds in comments. Lets see what iPhone 4 can do on Verizon and AT&T in different parts of the country!

Verizon vs AT&T data speeds is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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Remember that annoying bug that causes a blue tint in the center of photos? It looks like it may have been fixed in the new version of iOS that is running on the Verizon iPhone 4.

For many people running iOS 4.2.1, there is a blue tint in the center of images – most notably of subjects that are white. There have been mixed reports of the lighting situations that cause it. For some, it’s only in the presence of fluorescent lighting. For others, it’s only when using the flash, and for the incredibly unlucky, it’s for all lighting scenarios.

I tried every lighting situation I could imagine with the Verizon iPhone 4 and never had an image tainted with a blue spot. Hopefully this is a sign that the bug will be fixed in iOS 4.3.

Any of our Verizon iPhone wielding readers getting the horrid blue spot in their photos? Let us know in the comments below!

Blue spot camera bug fixed with Verizon iPhone? is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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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!

• Ultimate Mortal Kombat™ 3 for iPad: The original arcade fighting game is now available on iPad with 13 Klassic Warriors including Scorpion, Sub-Zero, and Sonya Blade. Finish him! [$4.99 - iTunes link]

• YouMail: Scroll and play your voicemail on any device: iPhone, iPod, iPad, computer, or e-mail account and for a small monthly fee, you can save time by simply reading your voicemail within the app or by e-mail, without ever having to listen to it. [Free - iTunes link]

• miCal – missing Calendar: A very robust calendar with lots of features such as landscape week view, pinch to zoom, and adding a GPS locations to an event. [$0.99 - iTunes link]

• eMailGanizer – intelligent email reader: This email client learns your email filing behaviors and provides the best filing choices right on your iPhone. [Free - iTunes link]

• WhatsApp Messenger: This cross platform smartphone messenger currently available for iPhone, Android, BlackBerry and Nokia phones now supports group chat! [$0.99 - 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 Monday, February 14 is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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