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iPhone 5 hands-on pictures, video, and impressions

iPhone 5 hands-on pictures, video, and impressions

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We take a closer look at the iPhone 5

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Gallery Photo: iPhone 5 hands-on pictures 2
Gallery Photo: iPhone 5 hands-on pictures 2

This is the iPhone 5. We've just gotten our hands on the new Apple flagship, complete with that 4-inch Retina display, LTE, and new Lightning connector. What's most noticeable about the new device isn't any of that, however; it's how thin and light it is. The 7.6mm, 112-gram chassis is incredibly sleek, and exceptionally light... it feels almost too light in the hand. This isn't just in comparison to the relatively heavy iPhone 4S — sure, the iPhone 5 may not be the thinnest phone out there as Apple claims — but this feels incredibly light against smartphones in general.

The iPhone 5 is still a sturdy and solid-feeling device, despite the weight loss. The back is primarily a slab of machined aluminum — as are the sides — but just as we saw in the leaks there are two strips of glass along the top and bottom of the device. These strips feel identical to the glass that drapes over the entire face of the device.

iPhone 5 hands-on photos

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Within the depths of San Francisco's Yerba Buena Center for the Arts all of the iPhones on hand are running on Wi-Fi, so we haven't yet had a chance to test LTE speeds. We can say that the device is noticeably faster than the iPhone 4S, however, thanks to that A6 processor. That's especially apparent when it comes to the camera, which certainly feels at least 40 percent faster than its predecessor. Of course, the iPhone 5's on hand were running the iOS 6 GM, and everything we saw today about the new operating system is the same as what was revealed back at WWDC — other than that extra row of icons.

It's obvious that the iPhone 5 shares the same design language as the iPhone 4 and 4S before it, and it's clear that Apple was very careful when it came to modifying that chassis. Jony Ive said so himself during the event. There are plenty of improvements, but there are also a lot of similarities.

We'll have plenty more on the iPhone 5 soon.