Hideous iPhone Prototypes on Ebay

This picture shows, quite astonishingly, a real iPhone. It is one of two prototypes currently for sale on Ebay, although this is the only one that works.

The phone that works is pretty neat to use. It does make calls (with my ATT sim), and I can surf the net. However when I did get to web pages they were the mobile versions, not the regular versions. I can't figure out how to set a ringtone, it is just silent right now. I can receive SMS but not compose my own, other than 5 included test messages. It doesn't sync to itunes. Camera seems to work. It has tons of testing options.

Clearly the version of the OS that this iPhone is running was a very early test version, designed only to make sure that the hardware was working. Curiously, this one has a plastic screen (the broken one has the more familiar glass screen). We're sure that just seeing this in the wild will send Steve Jobs into a purple rage – the whole UI is so damn ugly that it could be Windows Mobile running on there. Click through to see more pictures and even a video of the iPhone in action.

The current bid is $1,136.11 for the pair, and the auction ends tomorrow.

Auction page [Ebay via BBG]