Consumer Reports: iPhone 5 is "best iPhone yet"

If Siri on an iPhone 5 had feelings, it would probably be channeling Sally Field right now and shouting "I can't deny the fact that you like me, right now, you like me!" Consumer Reports, the magazine that would not recommend the iPhone 4 just two short years ago, is now calling the iPhone 5 "among the best smart phones in our Ratings and the best iPhone yet."

Consumer Reports had previously given the iPhone 5 a thumbs-up, but was awaiting the result of full testing of the device. The magazine gushes over the larger display, the "thinner and lighter profile," 4G LTE, and even the new and improved Siri. Despite repeated complaints by iPhone 5 owners about the lens flare problem, Consumer Reports says that "excluding the phenomenal 41-megapixel camera we tested on the Nokia 808, the iPhone 5's 8-megapixel camera is the best we've seen on a smart phone."

Consumer Reports testers also found the turn-by-turn directions of the Maps app to be better than they initially reported, saying that "it generally provides clear guidance, including voice and on-screen directions." As many of us here at TUAW have noted, the testers "expect the Map app to improve in time."

Subscribers to the magazine can look at the full test results online.