By Josh Ong

Published: 10:30 PM EST (07:30 PM PST)

T-Mobile confirmed the mysterious iPhone charge cable it will begin selling in the U.S. is for roaming European customers. Also, Apple released yet another build of Mac OS X 10.6.5, and, finally, a new report alleges the iPad performs better on a home Wi-Fi access point than a 4G hotspot.

T-Mobile

After reports of T-Mobile selling an iPod and iPhone charge cable emerged Friday, a T-Mobile spokesperson told BGR that the cable is intended for subscribers using unlocked iPhones and European T-Mobile customers roaming in the U.S., quelling rumors that the cable indicated T-Mobile might begin offering the iPhone stateside.

"Select T-Mobile stores will soon begin carrying iPod/iPhone charge and Sync cables to support customers who may be using an unlocked iPhone or are traveling from outside the United States and using an iPhone while roaming on our network. T-Mobile carries the iPhone in Europe, so many people traveling to the U.S. roam on our network with their iPhones," said the T-Mobile spokesperson.

T-Mobile recently lost iPhone exclusivity on its home turf of Germany, with O2 and Vodafone offering the iPhone as of the end of October. In addition, German customers can now purchase an unlocked, contract-free iPhone directly from Apple.

Earlier this week, Deutsche Telekom Chief Executive Rene Obermann blamed disappointing growth from its American subsidiary T-Mobile on the lack of the iPhone. T-Mobile, which is the smallest of the 4 major carriers in the U.S., could face a bigger threat from the iPhone if it comes to Verizon Wireless next year as expected.

Mac OS X 10.6.5

Apple issued a beta of the forthcoming Mac OS X 10.6.5 update to developers Friday. The beta, labeled build 10H571, comes 5 days after Apple released an internal "pre-release build."

According to the release notes, developers who installed Thursday's Mac OS X 10.6.6 beta will need to revert to 10.6.0-10.6.4 in order to install the latest 10.6.5 build. Focus areas for the build are: 3D Graphics, Printing, QuickTime, Time Machine and USB Devices.

The public release of Mac OS X 10.6.5, which is required to take full advantage of the soon-to-be-released iOS 4.2, is expected to come soon. iOS 4.2 is scheduled for a November release.

iPad

BTIG Research analyst Walter Piecyk claims the iPad's average download speeds using 4G hotspot devices are significantly lower than Windows laptops or when connected to typical Wi-Fi access points, John Paczkowski of Digital Daily reports.

The analyst tested the iPad's download speeds using hotspot devices, including Clear's iSpot, which is designed specifically for iOS devices, across several 4G and 3G networks. According to the research report, the iPad averaged download speeds of 2.53Mbps. In comparison, Windows laptops averaged download speeds of 5.2Mbps across three of the same hotspot devices. On hotspot devices using 3G networks, the difference between Windows laptops and the iPad narrowed, with average download speeds of .89Mbps for the iPad and .99Mbps for Windows laptops.

“This appears to be an issue with the iPad and hot spots and not Wi-Fi in general since our iPad speeds on our home Wi-Fi were equivalent to other devices. When we tested the iPad on our FiOS powered Wi-Fi connection, we received the full 25 Mbps of available download speed on every test,” wrote Piecyk.