The iPhone 5 has been out for almost one month now, and I've been carrying it around as my primary phone. With the obvious and well-documented exception of the new Maps application, the iPhone 5 has certainly met my expectations. It's a solid, very thin smartphone with excellent performance. While the user experience hasn't changed dramatically from 4S, most of the incremental changes, like the longer screen and the faster processor, do add up to a nice improvement.

Initially, I migrated to iOS 6 on an iPhone 4S and I've found it's pretty much the same on an iPhone 5. In particular, I really like the changes to the Notifications screen, accessible by swiping down on the home screen. It now collects a lot more information—weather, calendar events, stocks, app updates—in a single place and lets you post directly to Facebook or Twitter. To me, this seemingly minor change has been the most useful of the iOS 6 upgrades.

Siri has certainly improved, though I often find it's faster and more accurate to search myself.

On the other hand, as I wrote earlier, the Maps application has a long way to go. I tried it a few times but was disappointed. I found myself lost at a suburban cul-de-sac when the application assured me I was at a restaurant in a shopping center. I also miss the transit directions. 

You can, however, use Google Maps via the browser or download some good third-party maps and transit applications but these aren't integrated into the other applications. I haven't done a thorough investigation of the alternatives but I have used HopStop, Mapquest, and Waze more successfully lately. Apple has apologized for the problems and I'm hoping for improvements soon, but it seems to be harder than Apple had anticipated.

In addition, Wi-Fi connectivity seems a bit less stable than on previous releases and I know others who have had the same experience. It's nothing I can test because it seems to come and go, but it just feels slightly less consistent. It's somewhat annoying that Apple removed the YouTube application, but it's easy enough to download the app (although I wish it really used the big screen). 

Passbook, which organizes things like boarding passes and tickets, is a great idea but I haven't used it much, in part because there is limited support so far. I expect that will improve. 

I continue to like many of the minor features, such as integrated search absent on most Android phones (and subject to patent litigation). Applications, such as the Good Technology messaging environment, don't run as consistently in the background as on Android, but they seem to use less battery.

On the hardware front, there's a lot to like. It's surprisingly thin and light, and while the new features don't sound a whole lot different from those of other phones, it just seems a bit easier to carry.  

The longer screen gives a bit more real estate when you're browsing a webpage, although even bigger screens on Android phones like the Galaxy S III give you even more to see.

This isn't a big deal for me, but the new 4-inch screen is just large enough that I can't quite navigate the whole screen with a single hand. (I could pretty much do this on the older 3.5-inch iPhone displays.) For people with larger hands, the iPhone 5 is probably easier to operate with a single hand than a larger Android phone. The bigger screen is nice in a lot of applications and most have already been adapted for the larger size.

The biggest difference to me, though, is simply support for LTE networks. Compared with HSPA+ on the iPhone 4S, LTE on the iPhone 5 is much faster. Both may be labeled 4G these days (although I can argue that's a bad idea for HSPA+, it now seems to be the industry standard), but it isn't close in practice. Pages load much faster over LTE—in many cases, as fast as I could get them over Wi-Fi. (Obviously, that will vary depending on crowding on the LTE network and the speed of Internet connection.) I'm lucky to have reasonable LTE coverage on AT&T and Verizon where I live and work but this won't be much help if you don't have such coverage. At the moment, I'm seeing faster downloads on AT&T, but Verizon's coverage with LTE is broader.

I have been using the new camera a bit, with quite pleasing results. It's great to be able to snap a picture while taking a video and I have found the new panorama feature to be good. The iPhone 5 isn't unique in these features (and it lacks a few features like burst mode) but overall, the pictures I've taken have been of surprising quality. Others have complained about a "purple flare" but it hasn't been an issue for me.

I have mostly focused on personal experiences here. Others, including PCMag, have done battery life and performance tests, but my own impressions are that it is quite fast and has had good enough battery life to survive the day.

For iPhone 4 and 4S users, the big change will be speed, particularly the LTE support, and the larger screen is nice, but the actual experience is similar.

Compared with high-end Android phones, the iPhone 5 has a smaller screen but similar performance and better battery performance for the weight. (You can get Android phones with larger batteries, but they are heavier; I assume there will also be external battery packs for the iPhone 5 shortly.)  

I still find iOS to be the easiest of the mobile phone operating systems, but the gap between it and Android and Windows Phone is significantly narrowing. Apple's more controlled approach to applications means it's less open but more consistent and probably a bit more secure. In general, I've found the Google Now feature on Jelly Bean (Android 4.1) to be a bit more useful to me than Siri, but neither is quite compelling yet. Many Android phones have near-field communications (NFC) these days; Apple left that out of the iPhone. Some people will like the larger screens available on the top-of-the-line Android phones; others will like having a smaller phone.

Every smartphone has trade-offs and the iPhone 5 is no exception. (And of course, it's easy to laugh at the nit-picking that we all do. Watch this Saturday Night Live skit for an example.) Still, the iPhone 5 offers great speed and impressive functionality in a well-built design that is extremely easy, thin, and light. It's not perfect, but it's certainly a winner.