I'm back in Manchester for a few days and lately I've had issues with my mobile phone, I headed to the large Nokia store here today with Mark Dormand of Sreski to have a look at the N96, I was fairly sold on the idea of a pay as you go handset with a bolt on internet package before I went, and was amazed to find, I didn't like the handset.

Internet browsing is important to me if I'm going to shell out £500 on a phone. The N96 feels like it should have been a touch-screen phone, though, they had done a good job of making it work without, but it still felt awkward and unfinished. Good for developers, but not for the end market.

I decided I wanted to see the Google G1 for myself, this is Google's first phone to work with Android, their new phone operating system. The phone is fantastic, I have to say, the market place works very well with other user reviews underneath. At the time I wrote this there was over a hundred applications in the marketplace, all of which were free. So far I've installed IM+ and ShopSavvy. I was warned at the store that ShopSavvy wasn't ready in the UK yet, but after I brought some things today, and tried it with the barcodes, it seemed to work fine. If I had thought about it, it would have saved me money!

The actual buying of the phone was fairly painless, it was from T-Mobile on Market Street in Manchester City Centre, and although the promoting man was fairly scary in his happiness, to the point I thought he would marry the phone and secretly sought therapy for complete lack of emotions that are not happy to the point of demented.

It comes with a neat little case, and the phone itself is gorgeous, I was expecting something cheap and terrible from all the reviews I saw, and yes, I would like something a bit slimmer but it's not uncomfortable in it's size, and the thickness is worth it for the full keyboard. The trackball is very nice, like that of an Apple mouse.

All in all, I'm happy with it, and think it is definitely the phone for me.