The iPhone 5 comes in a compact and attractive retail box. I ordered the black one since I thought the black metal looked attractive online.

The box contents include the new Apple Earpods, USB charging adapter, and USB cable with the new connector.

Apple spent three years developing the new Earpods. I NEVER used the earbuds included before, but do find these to be decent and useful.

The back of the iPhone 5 is well designed with glass pieces along the top and bottom and metal in most of the back cover. It is attractive and feels great in the hand.

The camera and flash are found in the upper glass area of the back.

The Apple logo is glossy metal.

This smartphone lineup shows the front of the Nokia Lumia 900, Samsung Galaxy S III, Apple iPhone 5, HTC One X, and Nokia N9.

Here you can see the backs of the Nokia Lumia 900, Samsung Galaxy S III, Apple iPhone 5, HTC One X, and Nokia N9.

The ringer switch is on the upper left with the volume buttons positioned below it.

The metal edges are beveled and if you watch the Apple video you can see it is done by a diamond blade.

The back of the iPhone 5 looks great.

The iPhone 5 is quite small in the hand.

Here you can see how small the iPhone 5 appears on my Galaxy S III.

In this photo I show the iPhone 5 next to the Samsung Galaxy S III.

This photo shows the iPhone 5 on top of the Nokia Lumia 900.

And here is the Lumia 900 next to the iPhone 5.

My daughter and I took this photo using the 1.2 megapixel front facing camera on the iPhone 5.

My two oldest daughters the day before we head out to drop off my oldest for college.

I love my oldest daughter.

Do you like my "I love Windows Phone" sweatshirt? I had this shot taken at the Puyallup Fair near the Krusty Pup vendor.

Scones are one of my all-time favorite things at the Fair.

I am enjoying the new Siri and finding it more useful in iOS 6.

I can't get Passbook to do anything for me yet.

The new iOS Maps look good, but there is plenty of controversy at the moment.

You can toggle between maps and satellite view in iOS Maps.

I may go back to trying out Safari on my MacBook Pro now that syncing to the iPhone is supported.

There are some new settings within iOS 6.