It is finally here. The long-awaited Apple iPhone 5 releases tomorrow, and people are going completely bananas over it.
    Just 24 hours after its announcement, orders for the new phone topped 2 million-doubling the amount of orders of last year’s 4S over the same time period.
    Apple’s unveiling of its new iPhone last week finally gave its longtime fans the new physical design they were looking for, but does all the hype around the new device mean you should fork over your money right away? The answer is yes and no.
    Last year’s announcement of the 4S left most Apple fans upset that the phone looked exactly the same, even though the software received a complete overhaul as well as the new Siri feature that was exclusive to the new device.
    The iPhone 5 gave us the same kind of update, only the opposite (that makes sense, right?). The 5 finally got the physical update that everyone hoped for:  a larger screen, a new material and a thinner, lighter phone, but the software stayed basically the same.
    The iPhone 5 screen is now a half-inch longer than before, finally making it a true 16:9 widescreen display. The new screen will also allow one extra row of apps to be seen when on the iPhone home screen.
    Possibly my favorite new design feature on the iPhone 5 is the new aluminum casing. The back of the 5 is made of anodized 6000 series aluminum-the same material used in Apple MacBooks-making it virtually scratchproof. To me, this is a huge improvement from that glass backs that the iPhone 4 and 4S have that tend to be a magnet for little scrapes and scuffs.
    Along with a new look, the new iPhone also received a few performance hardware upgrades like the new Apple A6 chip, designed to be faster and deliver better graphics without losing battery life in the process, and a new LTE chip for faster data on cellular networks and Wi-Fi.
    By looks alone, this phone would make anyone want to go wait in line at the Apple store right now. The problem is that the software received virtually no updates at all (not to be confused with all the new features that will come in iOS 6, which is available to all phones). I’m talking about software features that are exclusive to the 5 like the way Siri was exclusive to the 4S.
    This means that if you have an iPhone 4S, your phone will be able to do everything exactly the same as the iPhone 5-just without the larger screen.
    Another thing to consider about the iPhone 5 is the new lightning dock. In order to give the 5 a larger screen without having to make the chassis larger, Apple redesigned the 30-pin iPhone dock to a new, smaller version. This means that all of your iPhone accessories will no longer be able to connect to the new iPhone. For an extra $30, however, Apple will sell an adaptor that will allow 30-pin accessories to work with the new lightning display.
    So what’s the verdict? Should you get a tent ready and get in line at the Apple store right now even if you don’t have a two-year upgrade and have to pay full price? It all depends on what device you are using now.
    If you still have an iPhone 3G, 3GS or 4, then the iPhone 5 is definitely a great new phone to upgrade to, especially if you are up for a two-year upgrade.
    For the iPhone 4S owners who are only halfway through their two-year contracts, you may want to wait another year for the next iPhone rather than pay full price for the 5 now. By that time-if we’re lucky-there might just be a new, updated version of the iPhone 5 that will make an extra year of waiting worth it in the end.