First Impressions on the iPhone 5

By Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

San Francisco - I had the opportunity to check out the iPhone 5 following yesterday's Apple announcement. The attending visitors and press were ushered into the back room where Apple executives and even a few Foo Fighters were waiting while various tables were set up with the newly released products.

As expected, the swarm of people surrounding the few iPhone 5's available was immense. It took a lot of effort to inch in close to the devices but everyone got a brief chance to get to know the new iPhone. 

Having been an iPhone 4 and 4S user, the visual difference between those glass-encased iPhones and the new aluminum and glass iPhone 5 doesn't seem that dramatic. But once you put them side-by-side the differences quickly become evident.

The iPhone 4/4S distinguished itself with its design, materials and solid build quality. Delicate glass enclosure notwithstanding, the iPhone 4 had a great look and felt dense.

Well, the iPhone 5 is a much finer, subtler creation. Side-by-side, the iPhone 5 is so much thinner and oddly enough feels lighter than the iPhone 4/4S. It is in fact 20% lighter and 18% thinner and this difference is something you can feel right away.

The first thing that came to mind when I picked up the iPhone 5 was, "this feels  light and almost hollow." The iPhone 5 is so precisely designed that the weight is distributed so well across the device. It also helps that the design is so clean and flat in all sides without any awkward protrusions.

The iPhone 4 had a ridge where glass front and back met with the antenna, the ridge is  still there but hardly perceptible now.

The fit and finish of the iPhone 5 is simply exquisite. Phil Schiller said during the keynote that the iPhone 5 was, "the most beautiful product we've made, bar none." It is hard to argue this point.

Apple has gone to a whole new level of obsessive focus on even the most minute details of design and construction of this device.  The degree of fabrication, detail and all the smart industrial design used in the iPhone 5 is remarkable and so well executed that it doesn't  even call attention to itself and is easy to miss. Until you put your hands on the device.

The new black on black 'slate' treatment is breathtaking. Even the metal antenna band surrounding the device has a distinct satin-finish to it. The white and silver variant is also attractive but I am gravitating heavily on the bad-ass looks of the black iPhone.

If Mies van der Rohe ever set out to make a smartphone, this would definitely be it. More than an iterative product, the iPhone 5 can be seen as a bold attempt at perfection while paying homage to both the original iPhone (aluminum case) and the iPhone 4. The thinner profile does take getting used to and might feel slippery for users with smaller hands. 

The machined aluminum rear panel with the black Apple logo is both smooth and subtly grippy at the same time. Best news of all is that the new finish is one of the most smudge resistant ones we've seen. The screen is of course larger than the iPhone 4 but it is also brighter, far more saturated and appears to be more vibrant.

I didn't really get a chance to test performance, the new camera or the new Lightning dock connector as my time with the device was brief and there were many patient colleagues waiting to get their hands on the iPhone 5.

These features, and the 4G-LTE connectivity as well as iOS 6 will be covered at length when I do my full review of the device in the coming weeks.

From what I saw and experienced, the iPhone 5 is a solid mix of well-loved design and reliable features with a more aggressive styling and very high standard of fit and finish.