iPhone 4's internal version is 3,1, so what then are the iPhone 3,2 and iPhone 3,3 versions referenced in the just-posted Apple TV iOS firmware? Seth Weintraub from 9to5Mac speculates:

Verizon? Sprint? China Mobile? T-Mobile? Antennas? All very good questions. No answers yet.

To put things in context, the original iPhone 2G was iPhone 1,1, iPhone 3G was iPhone 1,2 and iPhone 3GS was 2,1. So we're looking at the difference between iPhone 2G and iPhone 3G, which mainly consisted of a new shell and new 3G radio, not the completely revved up guts the iPhone 3GS or iPhone 4 got.

CDMA (like Verizon, Sprint, or some parts of Asia), or the higher frequency AWS radios needed for US T-Mobile and new Canadian providers like Wind and Videotron are certainly possibilities. Since there are two new product versions, how about both?

And if that's not tease enough, there's also reference to a 20547 unknown device. New iPad, iWatch, iOS desktop? Who knows, but feel free to give us your best guesses in the comments.

[9to5Mac]

9to5Mac casts a spotlight on the file sharing feature shown off during Apple's iPad Announcement event back in January as part of iPhone 3.2 for iPad... and how it was mysteriously gone come launch day, April 3.

Given the current kluge that is getting files onto and off of the iPad file sharing seems like a fairly important feature to suddenly go missing.

You could flip a switch in the Settings and your iPad disk would show up on your Mac/PC's desktop as a drive. You could copy files from your desktop to iPad this way manually. This would have been a great feature for carrying around important PDFs and other documents. You could store important files on your iPad, not just ones that were going to be used in iWork.

Was the feature not working properly and, given the already slipping deadline for delivery, get pushed off to a future iPhone OS update? It doesn't seem to be in the iPhone OS 4 beta 1, but that doesn't mean it won't show up again in time for the final iPhone OS 4 release this summer.

Given the inclusion of iWork, however, and the ability of the iPad to handle a higher level of productivity it is strange and irksome to be waiting, especially after having been teased by the prospect.

Anyone else missing it?

9to5mac continues to dive into the iPhone 3.2 Beta 2 SDK and its iPad simulator, this time showing off HTML5 YouTube, file sharing, lock screen media controls, and more.

HTML5 H.264 YouTube video is shown playing right in the iPad Safari browser, just as it does on Mac or Windows. It looks good enough for 9to5mac to wonder if the YouTube app is still needed!

File sharing has an on/off toggle, and TiPb's really excited about this one. The text reads "File sharing allows you to transfer application files to and from your iPad and computer", and there's a (currently empty) header that reads "Applications".

We've already asked for a file repository, sort of like the Camera Roll does now for images, and some apps have gotten in trouble for using the DCIM folder to do just that. And official place to load, share, and save documents and other files would fill a huge functionality gap for iPad and iPhone both.

Lock Screen media controls are interesting, as we saw Apple demonstrate the iPad lock screen woking as a digital photo frame, but it does make sense for watching movies as well.

There are a few more finds, including some new things like built-in Google suggestions in iPad Safari, and some things we've already seen in the iPhone like percentage battery readout and Chinese character handwriting input.

If anyone else is digging around in the simulator and comes across anything more, let us know!

The brand new Apple iPad is running iPhone 3.2 and has several features we've wanted on, you know, the actual iPhone device for a while now. Never mind that the iPhone 3.2 SDK is iPad-only, just like the features. And never mind that the iPad might still be waiting for iPhone 4.0 to get it's full functionality in place. TiPb wants an iPhone (and iPod touch) version of iPhone 3.2 while we're waiting, and we wants us some of those features!

Our list after the break!

Home Screen Wall Paper

We noticed it the moment Steve Jobs pulled out the iPad. It had wallpaper behind the Home Screen app grid. And he said users could customize it. Sure, the iPhone has a denser grid (the icons are closer together and would blot out more of the background), but it would be nice to have a background we could blot out. Also, we couldn't help but see that the iPad could go landscape with the homes screen. Flipping back and forth would probably annoy us too much to want that, however, at least for the current 3.x home screen...

iBooks App/Store

Is it strange that iTunes Store and iPod are separate apps, but the iPad iBooks app spins around from reader to buy'er? Maybe, but since we already have iTunes Store, App Store, and iPod on our iPhones, we'd like iBooks as well. As with many of the other items to follow, the UI will obviously need tweaking (as apps taken from the iPhone for the iPad have already been tweaked) but we want it and Apple is going to want the whole platform to have it. Oh, and something akin to Kindle-like "WhisperSync" would be nifty for all our media, so where we finish reading, listening, or viewing on the iPad is where we pick up on the iPhone (or iTunes, or Apple TV, get the idea?)

Calendar Week View

The lack of a week view on the iPhone calendar is something we've complained about since the original iPhone 2G launched in 2007. And now the iPad gets it? Fine. Whatever. We're just happy it's finally here and we'd like it on our iPhone now-ish as well. And landscape mode to make it more useful. Please.

Enhanced Photo App

The new scrubbers shown off on the iPad are hawt. iPhone iPod app lets us scrub quickly through audio and video, and while the thumbnail line probably wouldn't fit on the smaller screen, just the ability to quickly fly through photos with a standard scrubber would be great. One. By. One. Flicking. Can. Get. Tedious. After. All. Syncing Faces, Places, and Events from iPhoto is also want-worthy, as are the new slide transitions.

Drop-down/Pop-up Menus

Probably the biggest system-wide eye opener for iPhone 3.2 on the iPad was the use of drop down and/or pop up menus. The way they're implemented on the iPad wouldn't work on the smaller iPhone screen, but the idea behind them -- to allow quick access without moving up or down a set of screens -- would. Let us tap the top corners to get quick access to radio settings, for example. It may sound all Android/Windows Mobile, but Apple could make it work. SBSettings already does...

Mechanical Keyboard Support

iPad gets both dock-connected and Bluetooth keyboard support at launch. We'll forgive not getting it in three versions if you give it to us in an iPhone 3.2 update post haste. Many people might never use it, or want to, but for some road warriors it would be just what their productivity ordered.

Mobile iWork

3rd party apps shows it's possible to do office suites on the iPhone and iPod touch. You're Apple and you figured it out iWork for the iPad. You could figure it out for the iPhone too.

What Else?

That was just TiPb's quick take, did you see any other iPhone 3.2 features on the iPad that you want for your own, more mobile, device?

While TiPb's been wondering just what happened to iPhone 3.2, app analytic company Flurry reports that it's been undergoing testing since September... on the iTablet! Engadget sums up:

Flurry is saying that it's detected around 50 devices on Apple's Cupertino campus that have the "characteristics" of a tablet, running a new version of the iPhone OS numbered 3.2. How? Around 200 different apps with Flurry's tracking code were downloaded and used on these mystery devices -- mostly games, followed by entertainment and media apps -- and Flurry first noticed this new device in October, with numbers picking up in January. Unfortunately, Flurry hasn't said what these mysterious tablet characteristics are, so we don't have much to go on.

While rumors suggest we might just see iPhone 4.0 announced this Wednesday as part of Apple's iTablet/iSlate/iPad-centric "Come see our latest creation" event, they also suggest the iTablet itself won't ship to customers sooner than March, and iPhone 4.0 may only get released to developers in beta. If that means a general release for iPhone 4.0 in June/July like previous years (and as opposed to March with the iTablet), there will have to be some compatibility update for the iTablet (and maybe iPhone and iPod touch) in the interim, and iPhone 3.2 is as good a name as any, right?

If iPhone 3.2 is released any time soon, however, we wouldn't hold our breath for anything other than iTablet compatibility and maybe some tweaking of Apple's built-in apps (like iTunes LP/Extras support). Any API or other substantive changes would require a beta period for developers. Now if 3.2 is announced for March (with immediate beta) and 4.0 for June/July, then that's a different story...

UPDATE: 9to5mac followed up with Flurry and heard back from Peter Farago , VP of Marketing. Farago confirmed that they'd seen iPhone devices running OS 4.0 but those left the Cupertino campus whereas the tablet device did not (for secrecy reasons?). Also, the types of apps being tested (news, books, games) matched what they believed a tablet device would run. Read the complete statement via the link above.

What do you think?

The Boy Genius claims, based on info from a source who's proven reliable before, that we haven't gotten an iPhone OS update recently (oh, hai still missing iPhone 3.2!) because:

there’s too much tablet-related code/references in the OS and Apple obviously didn’t want that to leak.

He's also heard that multitouch gestures for the iTablet/iSlate are "out of control", it's got a super-fast ARM processor that runs the iPhone OS kernel, is model K48AP, and is pretty much an "iPhone on steroids".

If this pans out, being so closely linked to the iPhone will no doubt disappoint Mac OS X tablet enthusiasts, but benefit the iPhone in terms of leveraged development and shared features.

Either way, we can still only expect it when we see it...

So it's November, have you seen the iPhone 3.2 beta? We've been over this before -- iPhone 2.2 beta was released on September 25, 2008 and the final version was made available on November 21. So where's 3.2?

Yes, Apple hasn't announced iPhone 3.2, so we can't really call it delayed, but then Apple never announces anything in advance -- all we have are historical patterns and market realities.

Was Apple waiting to integrate iTunes LP and iTunes Extras? They've done that for Apple TV 3.0 already. Where's the iPhone and iPod touch love?

We've already postulated what other features they could be exploring, including Google Maps updates with Latitude (and now, of course, Google Maps Navigation), but given the strained relations, rejection of the former, and brand-new beta status of the latter, 3.2 might be too early. Likewise, Zune HD competitive features like 720p video out.

With the onslaught of new Android software, like HTC Sense UI, MotoBlur, and Android 2.0, could Apple have decided to raise the level of this update? A few minor tweaks were certainly possible for a standard schedule iPhone 3.2, but would Apple delay their frequent update cycle in order to make a more impressive version?

We're not going to get our hopes up, but if Apple is getting ambitious, if Scott Forstall and team are going to "blow us away", we're willing wait. If not, then where is it?

Dear Apple, if you're releasing a new wireless keyboard, why not take this opportunity to make it work with iPhone? If the rumor-mill is to be believed, you're set to release new iMacs and Mac Minis (and hopefully a 27" or 30" LED display!) perhaps as soon as next week (hey, there was a Spotlight Turns to Notebooks event last October!). And if the FCC filings are accurate, you'll have a new multitouch mouse and wireless keyboard to go with them. Apple, in the name of everyone whining on the internet for it -- let that wireless keyboard work with the iPhone.

You introduced enhanced peripheral functionality last March during the iPhone 3.0 SDK event, including dock and Bluetooth access, but you didn't add the Bluetooth profile or any drivers for keyboards. That led to many sad, irritated messages sent our way via comments, email, and tweets. Now, with MMS in the US finally off your miss-list, wouldn't it be nice to scratch external keyboard off that list as well? Since we haven't even seen a beta for iPhone 3.2 yet, mightn't you not introduce said drivers there?

No need to answer now. We'll just wait for your next event (which we'll be liveblogging right here at TiPb, 'natch) and hope for the best.

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Thanks to the the iPhone Blog Store for sponsoring the podcast, and to everyone who showed up for the live chat!

Our music comes from the following sources:

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Apple is no doubt already hard at work on iPhone OS 3.2, the second minor update to the third major release of their mobile platform. Sure, we got iPhone 3.1 just over two weeks ago on Sept. 9, but looking back, we should expect to see the first beta versions of 3.2 sooner rather than later.

By way of comparison, iPhone 2.1 was released on Sept. 12, 2008. iPhone 2.2 Beta 1 was released on Sept. 25, with some tweaks to App Store and Safari's UI. iPhone 2.1 Beta 2 dropped on Oct. 24, with Google Street View, SDK support for line-in audio, and direct podcast downloads and streaming. The final iPhone 2.2 firmware was released on Nov. 21, and both Google Street View and the ability to get podcasts on-device were great enhancements.

So, it's not unreasonable to imagine 3.2 Beta 1 could show up before the end of the month, with a final release before the holidays.

Since we've already gotten direct TV and Movie downloads (over Wi-Fi), there may not be an analogous improvement to iPod and iTunes this time around. Subscribing to podcasts on device, however, where a push notification alerts you when a new episode is available and you're on Wi-Fi to download it, is something we'd adore. iTunes LP and iTunes Extras support would also be dandy give their introduction in iTunes 9.

Likewise, Google Voice and Google Latitude having been rejected/held-for-study by the App Store, we may not get a Maps app update either (though Apple baking Latitude into the existing Maps app, Google-willing, could be a great compromise solution). We won't hold our breath for push Gmail either (not GoogleSync, we mean built-in, doesn't use up your only ActiveSync slot, genuine push email like MobileMe and Yahoo!)...

Enabling 720p TV-out from the iPhone 3GS and iPod touch G3 would be a great, and competitive addition, especially with a souped up dock-to-HDMI video cable to go with it.

We have our ongoing (though admittedly greatly reduced since 3.0) wish-list: better support for Bluetooth controls (AVRCP), APIs to allow apps to interact with the calendar, some form of background support for streaming audio, turn-by-turn, and other apps that cry out for it, Mobile iChat, remote backup and restore, iTunes music and video streaming, file system access for document handling, etc.

(Yes, we left out bug fixes, as we hope Apple sees those as urgent enough to address in an iPhone 3.1.1 release much, much sooner).

But what do you want to see Apple prioritize for iPhone 3.2?