Monthly Archives: March 2012

Use the Secondary iPhone Microphone for Facetime

GREAT tip from Tidbits that points out something I (and I bet many of us) didn’t know:

Facetime uses the microphone at the top of the iPhone that is normally dedicated to noise-cancellation.

You probably know that there’s a speaker and a microphone at the bottom of the iPhone used for most calls, but when you put the iPhone into speakerphone or Facetime mode, the device uses its proximity sensor to tell you’re not holding the phone next to your face and it switches which microphone it uses to avoid feedback.

Genius!

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No Facetime over 4G LTE in the US

Although you will have the bandwidth to do a high quality video chat if you’re on a 4G LTE wireless cell network in the US, you wont be able to Facetime unless you’re on wifi.  Word has begun trickling out (I saw it first on Cult of Mac) that the carrier-imposed restriction banning video chat over cell towers will remain in place as the iPad 3rd Generation gets into people’s hands this weekend.

The only upside to this is that you won’t have the chance to accidentally blow through all of your monthly allotment of data for your mobile plan.

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If you’re getting a new iPad, consider a warranty

As a little public service announcement, I wanted to point out that you can get a warranty for your new iPad 3 for cheaper than Applecare.  Squaretrade is currently offering warranties for as low as $59.

Applecare has been $79 (slightly less at Amazon) BUT Apple has just raised renamed it Applecare + for iPads and raised the price to $99.  My advice–pick up a copy of Applecare from a retailer while you still can before the stock runs out.  Apple will honor the extended warranty and you’ll get a good deal while supplies last.

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The New iPad, the (old and) new camera

The internet is buzzing with anticipation of the newest (generation three) iPad. This site is primarily focused on Facetime & video chat technology, so let’s hit this highlight first. The big news from Apple in relation to the new iPad is that they have specified that the front-facing camera is officially the “Facetime” camera, while the back-facing (higher-quality 5 Megapixel) camera is now called the iSight camera.

Although the new iSight camera is the same super-awesome camera in the iPhone 4S, the Facetime camera is still the same old VGA (low-res) camera we’ve become so accustomed to.

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