So, the wait is over. As promised, it is the most significant overall upgrade to the hardware since the original – but do the individual promises live up to the hype? Well, we each queued for up to four hours at our various locations yesterday to find out!

I’m not sure about things at the Apple Store (and looking at the news, I’m glad I’m not!), but I can certainly say that things at O2 were very well handled – in my queue, people came and took our order for coffees, lattes, teas, juices etc., and bought them from the shop across the road, which they covered the expense of. We also had a few handsets going up and down to play with, and communication with the staff was great, who kept coming out to check that we were alright and had all the information we needed. Friends at other O2 queues around London reported back to me on free smoothies, pastries and sweets!

My first impression: the glass façade feels amazing in your hand. It really does, you could just stroke it all day with a sensuality which you would never bestow on a human being. It’s reasonably heavy, but in a reassuring, dense way. The build quality feels really solid, and the side buttons are pleasantly ‘clicky’.

The display – the display is stunning. I actually think that it has impressed me more than any of the bigger things I was looking forward to; everything is unbelievably sharp and is just a joy to read. These little things really do make a difference. It works really nicely in conjunction with iBooks, where it is honestly quite hard to believe that you are not looking at a printed (self-illuminating!) page.

As for the camera, that tiny flash is pretty effective, and 5 MP is a huge relief (the 3GS’s mediocre camera being my main griping point).The colours are more life-like and just result in photos that actually look like something you may want to keep, content permitting.

I seem to be the only person who is not over the moon with the battery life – maybe it’s just my model? However, I really can’t see any difference to the 3GS battery span, which has always been extremely poor. Still, you win some…

The general verdict at the office is that the iPhone has finally arrived. There is no whining to be heard this time about the lack of this or that feature – it is a complete product. And it can only get better with future reincarnations. We’re really excited about what the incredibly fast, sharp hardware means for app development – as usual, watch this space!