It feels like we've barely met, but already we're besty mates. See, me and the N96 go back a long way. Ever since I got my first N95, I've wanted to snatch its replacement. Not because I didn't like the N95, simply because I knew the next one would be even better. With its ickle kickstand and lush finish, the N96 fails to disappoint on first hold. It feels bigger than the N95 but when you put the two together, it actually looks smaller. Then, compared with my old trusted steed from the last few months, the E71, the difference is almost immeasurable - both the Nseries devices are almost twice as bulbous as my slim jim business device. But, does the N96 pack twice the punch?

Well it certainly has a lot going for it. Dual slider makes it pocket friendly (though I rarely had a problem with the E71's phantom keyboard) but that does mean the return of the manual keyboard lock. One of my biggest pet Nokia hates. Please, get rid of this now! Turns out it's not so bad, if I open the phone after it's been locked, it auto locks when I close it again. This is a big bug bear of mine though.

My first step with any new device is syncing and for once I had a dream experience. Of course the iSync plugin wasn't available on the Nokia site. It'd be too much to expect that to be the case, particularly when the phone has only been on sale. A. Whole. Two. Weeks! Still Google came up trumps with a search result which ironically is a file stored on Nokia's own servers. Just not linked to yet, I guess. Syncing worked perfectly, except Nokia contacts still don't recognise an area code zero in brackets (0), so the first number I dialed (out of 500+, what are the chances) was one with an extra zero in it. The others seem fine though.

I rushed out of the house before setting up my network settings so had to make a call to T-Mobile to get up and running. Whaddya know, they don't have any setting for an N96 yet, so they sent me the ones for the N95. Shame. Wonder if the Nokia Website has them? I'll try later and let you know.

Sitting on the train I had to try the one thing that's pushing this N96 harder than anything. iPlayer. It fired up snappily enough, but you can only watch stuff over WiFi. Genius. Then the second shocker, there's an update. Already. Exactly when was this device boxed up? Methinks some time ago. BBC iPlayer 1.5 is downloading now, so I'll tell you all about it when I've managed to install it and get it working. On my home network, no doubt.

Whilst bouncing around the menus is reasonably snappy, talks of a firmware upgrade being available suggests it could be even snappier. I'm going to check this out before deciding if this little friendship will just be a laugh for the weekend, or we're destined to be together forever. Although the first impressions are good ones, and whilst I enjoy the N96's company, I still don't know if I like it that much.