The Let’s Talk iPhone event is now over and we officially have the iPhone 4S, Siri, iOS 5, iCloud, and several other cool new features to be excited about.

But what about what we didn’t get?

What about all those iPhone 5 cases we saw mysteriously pop up over the past several months? While Apple announced a good amount of hardware improvements to the iPhone 4S, the update still left a lot of people underwhelmed. In some ways, this is understandable given Apple had more time than ever between launches to come out with a new device.

A lot of people were still holding out for a new design. Apple also seems to be attempting to deter cries of antenna-gate this time around with a newly designed antenna system with a technology known as “intelligence switching”.

Likewise, there was no LTE radio for faster internet speeds, not even real HSPA+ at 21mbps or 42mbps. The proper LTE chips that Apple would need to keep battery life and thinness won’t be ready until 2012, but why no HSPA+ at this point?

Many people also wanted an alternative to the glass back of iPhone 4. Aluminum, like the iPad, was a frequent rumor. So whether you love the all glass front and back design or not, you’re stuck with it for at least one more year.

While I didn’t mind the general design staying the same I really was holding out hope for a larger screen. With a flooded market of Android phones boasting screens of 4″ or more, I really would have liked to see the new iPhone step up to compete with that. While the screen on the iPhone 4 and 4S are gorgeous, they really are on the smaller side when you look at the competition. I’m expecting at least 4″ next year.

We also heard rumors of Apple implementing NFC into the next generation iPhone. Yet there was no mention of NFC and as far as we know, the iPhone 4S won’t be supporting it. Given this would be a pretty cool feature, I don’t really think it was a deal breaker for a lot of folks just yet.

iOS 5 announcement was clearly Apple’s flagship announcement this year. Features like iCloud, iTunes Match, OTA backups, and others will come to the older devices, but Siri will be iPhone 4S exclusive.

That, Cards, and Find my Friends were the only new software announced alongside iPhone 4S, however. While we can’t expect another 200 new features, was Cards really the best use of Apple’s time? Sure they can use it to sell some prints but what about an Airport Utility app? A Files app that does for documents what Photos does for images? An improvement for the Maps app, perhaps? What about FaceTime over 3G? Panoramic photos?

Add to the list no Steve Jobs appearance, no “One more thing…” and there’s lots to gripe about. Don’t get me wrong, Apple certainly brought a lot to the table yesterday, but they left a lot off as well. Were there any killer features you really wanted that you didn’t get?

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Yesterday we asked you “What’s the iPhone 3G Chip and When Will it Ship?” Today we want to know what YOU think the iPhone 3G is going to look like?

Darth Vader black and Paris Hilton thin? Candy red fatty with Kevin Rose cam up front? High-def white with chrome button trim? What do YOU think?

To give you some help, here’s a HUGE roundup of all the iPhone 3G form factor rumors. Epic-style. Because let’s face it, roughly 0.01 seconds after Steve Jobs pulled the first iPhone from his pocket back at Macworld 2007, and someone, somewhere, put aside their childlike sense of wonder long enough think: “Nice! What’s the next gen going to be like?”

Complementary, contradictory, obvious, confusing, all but confirmed or from left field via outer space, the rumors have flooded the internet ever since. It’s become almost impossible to keep track of them all.

Six days from today Steve Jobs takes Moscone Center stage for the sold-out WWDC keynote, and according to everyone and their newsfeed, announces the iPhone 3G. In eager anticipation, every day this week, TiPb wil be asking you to tell us what you think the next generation iPhone will be, from 3G to GPS, release dates to price points, colors to casings, 2.0 software to .Mac .Me services, and this weekend we’ll wrap it all up with a look into the WWDC/iPhone 3G Crystal Ball, and a roundup of the very best of YOUR predictions.

So come on, let’s get in on!

WWDC -6 and Counting: Form Factor

Right after “OMG 3G!” and “when can I get it?!”, the next most burning question in the heart of the blogsphere is “what will it look like?!”

The current/original iPhone is 4.5″ x 2.4″ x 0.46″ (115mm x 61mm x 11.6mm) and weighs in at 4.8oz (135g) with a glossy black, optical glass facade, silvered trim, aluminum backing, and a black plastic band over the bottom rear to allow the antennae better reception. It boasts a 3.5″ 320×480 display at 163dpi, a rear-facing 2.0 megapixel camera, 3.5mm recessed headphone minijack, 30-pin dock connector, speakers at the top and base, microphone at the base, accelerometer, light sensor, proximity sensor, top-mounted SIM slot, on/off button, mute switch, volume button, and home button. All of this wrapped up in Apple’s trademarked rounded rectangular slab form factor.

It’s an admittedly drool-inducing beauty, having won numerous design awards including the prestigious Black Pencil. What then could they possibly change only a year later?

Let’s start at the beginning and work our way forward. Please note, since it’s ridiculously easy to stuff a current-gen iPhone into a new case and snap a pic, not to mention photoshop an iPhone (or even another phone/device altogether) and claim it’s the iPhone 3G, these should all be taken with the largest grain of salt that can comfortably fit in a C-130 sized transport:

March 7, 2008: Beginning the SDK-related leaks, the iPhone Lounge stumbled over a small image of a “fatty” iPhone on the Education First Educational Tours “private page” on iTunes. Sure, it could have been a next-gen iPod Touch or even iTablet, or just Apple playing with us, but it was enough to get the rumors racing!

March 18, 2008: Apple Insider, ever vigilant over Cupertino-based patent filings, came across something that included references to:

capacitive array element [that] may be a dual-sided panel that is capable of sensing touch from either side and sending signals indicative of the touches to a host device (e.g., a desktop computer, a laptop computer, a digital music player or a mobile telephone unit).

And we said “hello” to iPhone Flip rumors!

April 4, 2008: The iPod Observer ran a picture of a supposed iPhone 3G spy shot, and it was painted black. It later turned out to be just a current gen iPhone in a black case, but the iPhone Black rumors were here to stay.

April 25, 2008: Engadget’s trusted source claimed to have the know on the iPhone 3G. They stated numerous test units were already out and about in “super secret pockets”. And the specs? Same size and shape as the first gen, with glossy black finish like that in the fake “spy shot”, chromed(?!) volume buttons, no removable battery, flush(!) headphone jack, and the same screen size and resolution.

May 1, 2008: iLounge provided a picture of an iPhone 3G spec sheet for accessory makers. Highlights included blond, brunette, and redheaded models. Also featured were a tapered back, and a slight repositioning of the sensors. The conservative changes (color aside) made this one of the first leaks to seem at least part-way reasonable.

May 12, 2008: The Boy Genius Reports captured AT&T’s website suddenly offering the choice for an “iPhone Black”, which added further fuel to the black plastic iPhone fire. A UK accessory store also showed strings for “iPhone Black” accessories (or were they iPhone “Black Accessories”?).

May 13, 2008: But as AT&T leaketh, they also taketh back, and an AT&T spokesperson claimed the iPhone Black listing was a system glitch caused by some placeholder text for the different 8GB and 16GB models. The explanation made no sense to anyone familiar with website wiring, but other reports surfaced saying “Tilt Black”, for example, had also shown up, suggesting the excuse did cover a glitch, only a sillier one than claimed.

May 15, 2008: Fed up with AT&T hogging all the leaky glory, Intel Germany Geschäftsführer Hannes Schwaderer let slip that:

There is an iPhone with Intel’s new Atom chip. The device is slightly larger than the current version. That is not, however, because of the Intel chip, but because of the larger display used in the new iPhone.

Intel tried to claim it never happened, but others in attendance’s take on the comment was:

The Intel CEO mentioned furthermore, that the display on iPhone 2 would be bigger than on iPhone 1 (although it is already quite big). iPhone 2 is also thinner than iPhone 1.

May 19, 2008: Perhaps riffing on the aforementioned (rumored) specs, accessory maker EXO posted a mock up of what one of their cases would look like on such an iPhone 3G, potentially confirming both the specs, and the Nano-like fatness.

May 27, 2008: iPhoneClub.nl posted some images of an iPhone White that looked eerily like the fake spy shots of the current gen iPhone-in-a-case we saw previously. If by some means legit, they confirmed both the increase in width, and plastic and more rounded back.

May 28, 2008: The spy shots got kinda hectic when IdealsChina showed off a supposed mold for well known accessory maker, Griffin’s iPhone 3G case, as well as a mock up that matched previous rumors rather closely. (meaning they were real, or the rumor people had resorted to copying each other).

The same day, MacRumors Forums lit up with what was claimed to be a new iPhone icon file inside the just-released iPhone 2.0 SDK Beta 6. The icon, if legit, hinted at a less-rounded rectangular shape, thinner silver bezel, wider body, and slight rearrangement of the buttons (or that someone was good at photoshopping iPod Touch icons…)

June 1, 2008: Reports had previously surfaced that Apple was filming an iPhone 3G commercial at the Flagship Apple Store in NYC, so it came as little surprise when a “spy shot” surfaced that claimed to be connected to the TV shoot. What was a surprise was that rather than the glossy black that consumed most previous rumors, this one went with a more understated matte blackish-charcoal finish. (Or at least the casing did…)

June 2, 2008: “Inside Steve’s Brain” author Leander Kahney of Wired magazine claimed a programmer source inside a major software house revealed that the next generation iPhone 3G would be a whopping 22% thinner, even with better battery life, and twice the storage (for an uber-cheap $200 to boot!).

UPDATED!

June 5, 2008: iDealsChina (via Apple Insider), who previously leaked the Griffin “iPhone 3G” molds, now claimed that Apple had made some last minute case changes resulting in a next generation device 2mm (0.08 inches) shorter and 0.5mm (0.02 inches) thinner than the previous leaks showed.

At the same time, iLounge doubled up on the rumors and claimed that Apple may be releasing not one but TWO new iPhones with 3.2″ and 2.8″ screens respectively. Dubious, and they could just as easily be for a next gen iClone as iPhone, but iPhone Nano rumors are hard little things to squash…

Your Turn!

So there you go, now it’s your turn. Tell us what YOU think the iPhone 3G is going to look like. Blond, brunette, or redhead? Thinny or fatty? Shiny or matty? More buttons or less? Toned down or pimped to the max?

And after you’re done telling us, don’t forget to head over to our iPhone Blog’s super Wait-a-Thon spectacular where you could win an iPhone 3G of your very own, whatever it looks like, on the very day it’s released!

Go back and read Part 1: What’s the iPhone’s 3G Chip and When Will it Ship?
Continue reading Part 3: What Surprises Will Be in iPhone 2.0 Software & Services?
Continue reading Part 4: What 3rd Party iPhone SDK Apps Will Be Available Launch Day?
Continue reading Part 5: What Will the iPhone 3G’s Hardware Features Be?