There's no zoom, and the flash is inferior. But as the go-to device that accompanies so many folks -- nearly 250 million iPhones have been sold to date -- it's the camera we always have with us. Out it comes at parties, weddings, dinners and other real-life events.

The verdict: The iPhone 5's camera is a major winner and held up well against a point-and shoot-camera. It is easily Apple's best camera performer to date. We compared it to the iPhone 4. (We never did the upgrade but spent several weeks with the 4S when it was released last year -- so we're quite familiar with that camera as well.)

The main selling points of the new and improved iSight camera:

-- Double HD at last! The iPhone has two cameras -- a back-facing one that shoots in 1080p high-definition, and a front-facing option that, until now, only shot in standard definition. With the iPhone 5, that front-facing cam shoots in 720p high-definition. That's a big deal because that's the camera couples and friends hold at arm's length to squeeze themselves together in the same shot. You can use this camera now for Apple's FaceTime video chat in HD, which you couldn't do before. As would be expected, life in HD looks a whole better. If you had to pick one major camera improvement for the iPhone 5, this is the one.

-- Stills and video. You can shoot photos while you're shooting video -- at the same time. Grabbing soccer team footage, but want a quick shot of Johnny as well to post on Facebook? Click record for video, and hit the camera icon while the video is being recorded. This feature works as promised, but watch your hands. When you click the camera record button for stills, you could end up jerking the camera and create havoc with the clarity of your video.

-- Panoramas. You can shoot ultra-wide shots--moving the camera from left to right--for amazing vistas. This is a software update for the iOS 6 operating system, a free upgrade, and works on the iPhone 5, and iPhone 4S as well as the new iPod Touch. It's worth upgrading software if you haven't picked up your iPhone 5 yet. To operate the panorama, open the camera app and go to Options at the top of the screen. Click Panaorama, and then compose your shot holding the camera in a vertical position, moving from left to right. You can choose to go ultra-ultra wide (almost 360 degree) or medium ultra-wide, depending upon how far you want to turn while taking the shot. The feature is standard on many Sony cameras, even point and shoots, but with the iPhone's popularity, you're likely to start seeing way more panoramas showing up in your Facebook and Twitter photo feeds.

-- Faster camera. Thanks to the faster processing chip for the iPhone 5, the camera app opens 40% quicker and responds more swiftly, according to Apple. This is all true.

-- Low light improvement. The biggest problem with camera phone and point and shoot photos is that they're terrific in perfect (i.e., outdoor) light, but they fall part inside, where the inexpensive lenses aren't capable of letting in the light needed for an acceptable photo. That's why so many camera phone shots are dark, muddy and fuzzy. The iPhone 5 did slightly better than the iPhone 4 in lower light situations. Images in low light have less noise and have a different color cast, by playing the white balance of the camera.

-- Image Stabilization. Your videos won't look as jerky, thanks to the improved video stabilization features on the new iPhone. Video clips shot while in a moving car looked quite impressive.

-- Overall better video. Talking Tech likes the iPhone video camera so much, we've used it for many of our episodes. It does a terrific job in good lighting. Shooting videos with the iPhone 5 is an even more pleasant experience. The Retina display produces a sharper screen to compose shots and the sound has been upgraded as well. There are now three microphones in the device, up from two on the iPhone 4S. You'll still need a microphone on a noisy street or bar, but in our tests, three mics sounded markedly better than two.

-- More fun to use. The iPhone 5 display is 4 inches, instead of the 3.5 inches of the iPhone 4 and 4S models, giving you more room and clarity to compose. (Most point-and-shoot LCD screen are between 3 to 3.5 inches.) Apple says the color saturation has been increased as well.