Apple’s beta of the iPhone OS 3.1 update has begun to circle the web, indicating the company is close to offering the first major update to the new OS. While none of the tweaks are overly groundbreaking, impatient iPhone users will likely be happy about one thing.

The beta appears to turn back on the MMS functionality for all iPhone users, including those on AT&T, as well as updating the “profile” for the carrier. These appear to be the first steps towards bringing the functionality to the consumer, at least on the device side.

It should be noted that installing 3.1 beta will not give you MMS. As AT&T has said, the carrier must enable it from it’s side before you will be able to picture (and video, if you have a 3GS) message to your hearts content.

Rumors had circulated on the Internets that AT&T was targeting a July timeframe for the debut of MMS. Seeing that 3.1 is already enabling the functionality, that’s surely a promising sign.

Besides MMS, most of the other tweaks are fairly minor, and seem to generally be 3GS centric. Non-destructive video editing seems to be the biggest addition (where editing will not destroy the original video), as well as bluetooth-enabled voice control.

Developer enhancements include improvements to OpenGL and Quartz, as well as an API to allow third-party apps to call up the video editor. A video picker API has also been added, according to reports.

 
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Read more: AT&T, iPhone 3.0