(Image source: Apple )

BY EVAN THOMAS

Fans won’t be able to get their hands on the new iPhone until September 21, but the tech press had a chance to play around with it after Apple’s announcement Wednesday. Impressions are starting to roll in.

“ The screen does look a lot brighter. It’s surprisingly noticeable. And obviously the touch response is just as good now with the in-cell touch.”

“ Quite a bit thinner and lighter ; it is a little bit taller, but it’s kind of amazing how much lighter this feels compared to the 4s.”

“ Lots of little nips and tucks all over the OS. But the big story today is not the operating system. The big story today is the hardware. It is an evolution in terms of the design language.”

SlashGear explains — to fit everything into the new iPhone, Apple had to do some rearranging.

"The headphone socket is now on the bottom edge, as has been the case with the iPod touch, and the nano SIM slot means your existing micro SIM won’t work. Perhaps more frustrating will be the change of dock connector, the Lightning port being a necessity to achieve the form-factor…"

But TechCrunch likes the final package — it’s a marked improvement over previous iPhones, without straining your pocket.


“…if you’re looking for something in the sweet spot between monsters like the Galaxy S III and the arguably bordering-on-too-small (at this point) iPhone 4, this may be a good compromise.”

But despite the design improvements, Forbes points out the iPhone 5 isn’t a massive change from the formula. Apple appears to be focused less on innovation and more on iteration.

“Perhaps the safe bet here is the right one for Apple – if it’s not broken, don’t fix it – but however classy looking the iPhone 5 may be, it won’t turn heads like it once did.”

That said, analysts at Piper Jaffray told CNET the iPhone 5 is likely to sell extremely well. They adjusted their estimates up after Wednesday’s event — Apple could sell 10 million new iPhones by the end of September, and could clear 27 million in sales this quarter.

Apple's stock, meanwhile, jumped a modest 1.39 percent in trading after the announcement, to close at $669.79.