The first thing you notice when you pick it up is how light it is. It’s a strange feeling, because it looks bigger (taller) but it’s actually smaller (thinner, lighter) than my iPhone 4. It almost doesn’t feel real. I always liked the heft of the iPhone 4, it feels substantial and real. This feels like almost nothing in your hand for the first day or two, like a mockup or a toy. After those first days are over though the iPhone 4 starts to feel like a brick. Unwieldily even. How did I ever like using something that’s so damned heavy?

Also strange is how much more, for lack of a better word, magical the iPhone 5 feels. It doesn’t have the ridges around the outside where the antenna protrudes on the iPhone 4, and as a result it feels like one solid piece. Almost as if at the factory they put the ingredients together in a tub, mix them together, roll them out and then just slice off new iPhone 5s like you would cookies from cookie dough or pieces of a jelly roll.

Mmm, jelly roll. Note to self, find granny’s recipe for jelly roll.

So yes, long story short, the iPhone 5 feels amazing in the hand. Yes, it’s taller and I can see some people having issues with that, but I have big hands so, as the kids say these days, ain’t no thang.

Note to self #2, never say that again.

It’s true that the overall design of the thing hasn’t changed that much. The volume, hold and lock buttons are all in the same place. It’s still a rectangular screen with a small round button underneath. This is something that I think is a good thing though. No, scratch that, it’s a fucking great thing. There have been many people all over the web bitching and moaning about how the iPhone 5 isn’t a revolutionary new design, that they didn’t take any big risks with the look and feel of it. You know what though? Those guys are all idiots. I’m upgrading so I don’t want something different, I want something like what I had but better, and that’s exactly what this phone is.

There is one thing that has taken some getting used to which is the headphone connector being on the bottom of the phone rather than the top. This is by no means a complaint though, i can tell you after this first weeks use that it’s much better places on the bottom than the top. It was annoying to always have the cable strung down over the front or behind the phone and inevitably the phone ended up upside down in my pocket a lot of the time, limiting the length of the cable by a good couple of inches. Relocating the connector to the bottom solves both of these problems.

And yes, I know it’s been this way on the iPods for a while but I don’t have an iPod so it’s new to me.

The other major new addition is of course the lightening port replacing the dock connector. I’m actually good with this change as the new connector is smaller and easier to connect which is really all I care about. I don’t have a lot of accessories that use the dock connector (or to rephrase slightly, I don’t have any) so it’s not breaking any compatibility. Now I’m just waiting for a company to come out with a ten foot long lightening cable so I can enjoy the same freedom I do with my iPad. Apple’s cables have always been too short. Couldn’t tell you why they do that, but I can tell you that i still have and use the 3 foot cable that came with my iPod mini back in the day because it’s longer than the cables that came with my iPhone 3G, iPhone 4 or iPad.

The new screen size, for me, is great. I’m going to say this right now: I fucking hate using folders in iOS. I mean, I use them (see the screenshot below), but I hate them. Things have a habit of disappearing into them never to be seen or used again. I try to only put things in them that will give me alerts to combat this but it’s kind of a losing battle. Because of this I’ve always wanted to have more items on my home screen and now I have them. Which is excellent.

I’m not going to talk much about apps here because a) I use a lot of apps and b) let’s be honest, not all that much has changed from running the same OS on my old phone. What I will say is that apps which have been updated to take advantage of the full screen are brilliant to look at and apps that haven’t are also brilliant to look at. The OS adds black bars to non-updated apps and they blend into the bezel for me. I don’t even notice that I might have to move my thumb a few millimetres more in most apps. Games with touch controls are another story, my thumbs naturally slide to the outside of the screen so I’m much worse at SuperCrate Box on my iPhone than I am on my iPad for example.

Note to self #3, I’m pretty terrible at super crate box, don’t give them the impression that I might be ok at it.

Since we’re on the subject of the screen it’s also worth pointing out that colours do seem to pop more as well. Photos are brighter and clearer, as are videos, and videos don’t letterbox anymore which is a nice bonus.

Speaking of photos, holy shit the camera is amazing on this thing. Granted the lens on my iPhone 4 is scratched to all hell but beyond that the app is more responsive and the panorama feature is pretty spectacular. The camera also does quite a bit better in low light as advertised which is a welcome update since the iPhone 4 did about as well trying to capture something in low light as a British person trying to understand baseball (I kid Simon, I kid).

So conclusion, I like the iPhone 5. It’s a great upgrade over the 4. It’s probably not for everyone, but it is just right for me.