I know i posted this in the 'hello' thread - but probably more pertinent here....

I have only had the phone for one day, but like most here have been doing a lot of research prior to getting my grubby little fingers on it! I am in New Zealand so Nokia have not released it for local sale – I purchased from a parallel importer. While a little more expensive than importing from say Amazon, at least I now have a one year warranty (peace of mind).

Mine is a MENA region one (from Africa/middle east), so on startup the ‘New Zealand’ region was not there which seemed strange – but it does not appear to really matter as I have the correct time zone dialled in anyway! I did a full OTA update once I got it from 42.11 to 44.1 to the newest 51 software without any hitch whatsoever and its running perfectly.

I am not a ‘power user’ at all – I am frugal with my data, so out and about I really just use it as a phone and only use an active data connection if needs must (update my feeds for some news, check email, check facebook or upload a pic to there). Although at the moment I am trying the 'constant active connection' thing to get emails and RSS feeds, in conjunction with the data plan monitor! seems to be working ok although yes, the battery is taking a hit. I wish it would automatically connect/disconnect to the net on its own accord like the n95 did though...I always think a constant active connection uses data - having said that with the monitor I can see that it doesn't - if you have your apps 'autoupdate' features set accordingly

However, I am only on my 2nd battery cycle and it seems pretty good. I am sure it will improve as batteries do after a few charge/discharges. I haven’t had a problem with the charging plugs but I just make sure I am careful. They seem to be ‘just right’ pressure wise.

Overall it has exceeded my expectations. I can see this really is a powerful device and it performs flawlessly for me. Sure there are a few niggles (headphone jack gets in the way using the keyboard if you have phones plugged in is my main one, and I cannot delete emails in my hotmail account from the phone - even when that 'delete from server' tag is checked) but in general it does everything I need it to do well. I am sure I will find a few problems down the track, and sure it’s a bit of a brick – but worth it. I would like to see OVI desktop support for my PC as I really like that…I am coming from an n95 haha! So this is SUCH a step up.

Other minor gripes would be lack on GPS (not aGPS) functionality, music album artwork seems to populate in the image gallery as well which is a pain, and lack of integration with a sim card (does not show up with the vodafone sim icon like the n95 used to. This was good for acessing account balances etc - but a minor inconvenince only.

I can see this device might actually have an impact on my lifestyle in terms of keeping in contact with people and online interfacing – it makes it so easy and a real pleasure. For example, last night I was doing some internet banking, updating facebook, reading the news and having a game of chess while listening to music through the headphones – AND installing a few apps at the same time! I also uploaded a few movies too which look great. Oh and pixel pipe is GREAT!

SO all in all, really happy and think it was worth it.