Is this the next gen iPhone?  According to Gizmodo it is.  The prototype phone was found in a bar in Redwood City disguised to look like the iPhone 3Gs.  To add credence to its authenticity the innards are real, there is a microSIM slot (much like the iPad 3G) and it bears all the stylings that we’ve come to know and expect from Apple.

The design of the phone has largely remained the same, but the back is now flat, there is a front facing camera, an LED flash, the edges are square, there should be a high rez screen and the volume buttons now stand alone.  Gizmodo says the phone is 3 grams heavier than the 3Gs, which might be attributable to the supposedly ceramic or glass back as well as the slight larger (16%) battery.

But we’re still a bit skeptical that this thing is real since it seems to be a stretch that Apple would let their employees hit their local pub with an unannounced device in hand – that person must have gotten sloshed and fired this weekend then drunk again in light of their lack of job.  But behold, the innards are real, the phone doesn’t work or boot (it had been remotely disabled once Apple had gotten word that Gizmodo got their hands on it – the person that found it says they were able to play with iPhone OS 4.0) and Steve Gruber of Daring Fireball has reported that Apple has indeed lost a prototype iPhone.

So will this be the final design?  At this point in the game yeah, or damn close.  Apple will probalby make some slight tweaks but for the most part here’s what you’ll be carrying around come June.  Then again, perhaps some genius industrial design student with money to burn is playing a massive trick on the gadget world.

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