SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 18, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- CNET, the #1 site for technology news and reviews, has published one of the very first reviews of the highly anticipated iPhone 5, saying it "adds everything we wanted in the iPhone 4S" in a "top-to-bottom redesign that is sharp, slim and feather-light."

The iPhone 5, which earns 4 stars and a coveted Editors' Choice award, is "the perfection of a form in progress, not a reinvention of a form. This is the reboot," the review by CNET's Scott Stein declares.

Stein points out that the iPhone 5 is an "excellent, well-conceived phone" that represents the evolution of the product rather than "a solution to a problem that isn't there."

"It's hard to find a single part of the iPhone that hasn't been rewritten, redesigned, retooled. It's an impressive attention to detail, but it amounts to a rewriting" and not a heavy revision.

Although Stein says the iPhone 5 is one of the top three smartphones around, it does have some drawbacks. Other smartphones beat it on features such as screen size ("pales in comparison to jumbo Android models") and battery life, Stein writes, who also notes that Sprint and Verizon models can't use voice and data simultaneously.

"The bottom line is, we said last year that the two big missing parts of the iPhone were 4G LTE and a larger screen. The iPhone 5 has them, plus a new processor, plus a new design, plus iOS 6, plus a lot more. It's the best iPhone that's been made."

Stein will answer readers' questions in a Google+ hangout at 6:30 p.m. PT tonight.  To see the full review, go to http://www.cnet.com/iphone-5/

SOURCE CNET