The iPhone 5, like every generation of iPhone before it, promises to be a game changer - but before you go ahead and throw away your previous iPhone let's take a look at whether the iPhone 5 really lives up to its claims.

By now you've most likely seen the iPhone on TV, magazines, and plastered all over websites. Placed next to the previous two generations of iPhone it might be possible to not tell the difference between them and the iPhone 5. It's not until you hold the phone in your hand that you can appreciate the differences in design.

Embarrassingly the first word I said when I held the iPhone 5 was "wow". I was surprised how light the phone was. At 112 grams it's almost 20 percent lighter than the iPhone 4S.

The back of the iPhone 5 is made of the same aluminium that's used on the bodies of MacBooks, and it's bounded by two glass panels on the top and bottom. This boxed design makes the iPhone 5 look almost unfinished but I was told by an Apple representative that if the entire back was made of aluminium the radio signals for cellular and wi-fi would be disrupted.

I was very disappointed to see that my 'pristine' iPhone 5 had scuff marks and one small knick straight out of the box. This problem was limited to the bevelled edges on the front and back of the phone, and seems to be a common problem if customer complaints online are any indication.