iPhone 5: the first hands-on reviews

The new iPhone won't see NZ release until September 28. But a handful of US and UK tech writers have already had a brief hands on look.

A review of reviews:

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"The new phone is the same width as the old one, but taller and thinner, as though someone ran over the old iPhone with a steamroller. When held horizontally, the four-inch screen has 16:9 proportions, a perfect fit for HDTV shows and a better fit for movies. The added screen length gives the Home screen room for a fifth row of icons," - David Pogue, The New York Times.

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"The iPhone 5 replaces the 4S' micro-SIM slot with a nano-SIM slot, for no apparent reason. It means you'll need a new SIM card, which is a pain, but not the end of the world." - CNET UK

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"I’ll grudgingly admit that the Lightning connector is a great design: it clicks nicely into place, but it can be yanked out quickly. It goes in either way — there’s no “right side up,” as there was with the old connector. And it’s tiny, which is Apple’s point." - David Pogue, The New York Times.

The old connector (left) and the lightening.

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"The new "Lightning" connector, which makes about a billion existing ones obsolete in a flash, isn't going to ruin your life – you'll be able to get adaptors." - Charles Arthur, The Guardian [see NZ adapter pricing here].

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"Blogs and leaks couldn’t show what the iPhone 5 feels like in the hand. It’s surprisingly light and thin, and edges subtly milled," - Charles Arthur, The Guardian, on Twitter (watch Arthur's 3-minute video review here).

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"I took only two panorama shots in my limited time with the iPhone 5, but they came out crazy good," David Pogue, The New York Times.

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"The edges of the phone feel very different too -- less metallic, almost plasticky. It has a different feel to it, less cold." - CNET UK

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The iPhone 5 doesn't have several features that are becoming standard across other smartphones. Those features, such as ways to pay with your phone or even bigger screens, face unlook (many new Android phones use facial recognition to allow people to gain access to their phone just by looking at it) and wireless charging (Nokia's new phone running the Windows Phone 8 operating system can be charged without a cord) . - Jessica Vascellaro - The Wall Street Journal

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Click to zoom

Apple has shared a gallery of images from the new iPhone 5, one of which particularly caught our eye.

Comparing the EXIF data of these two images supports the idea that the iPhone 5 does have a different sensor to the 4S. The 4S selected ISO 64, while the iPhone 5 has been able to drop to ISO 50. For images taken in such bright light, this strongly suggests the newer model has a lower minimum sensitivity. - dpreview.com

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"The iPhone 5 is the greatest phone in the world. It has top-notch hardware with a zippy new A6 processor and amazing four-inch display. Its new operating system, iOS 6, is slicker than slugs on ice. And its ultra-slim body, an all-glass and aluminum enclosure, is a triumph of industrial design. There is nothing not to like about the phone. It’s aces. Just aces.

"And yet it is also so, so cruelly boring." - Mat Honan, Wired

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"The new EarPods earbuds, which come with the new iPhone/iPods, STAY IN! (My ears lack the antitragus, the flap that holds earbuds in!)" - NYT's David Pogue on Twitter.

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"The new A6 chip, in typical Apple style, hasn't revealed itself in terms of raw tech specs. But at a glance, it's definitely quicker than the chip in the 4S. Much like the speed increases between the iPhone 4 and 4S (and before that, the iPhone 3G vs. iPhone 3GS), they won't take you by storm right away. But, use it for half an hour and you'll have a hard time going back to a slower chip. The transitions are smoother, switching between apps is a bit quicker and everything just generally feels incrementally faster." - Engadget

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Lastly, internet wags were quick to make sport of the taller iPhone. 

Here's NBR's favourite take on what could be coming next:

And by 2020: