Why the N96 went back into the box..

I have been using the N96 for a couple of days now determining if this is the right phone for me. At first I didn’t like it all. I have been so used to the N95 form factor that something thinner felt kinda funny in my hands. After playing with it for a while though I did grow to appreciate not having a huge block in my pocket. Form factor aside the S60 feature pack on this phone was pretty impressive. They have added a lot of eye candy and everything seemed to work okay.

It sounds like a win win right? Well yes and no. I’m a pretty heavy user of Nokia Chat so of course I attempted to install this. Guess what? You got it, the N96 is not supported. Okay huge strike in my book but lets move on. My next step is to install Nokia Messaging (Email). I start through the guided installation process on the website. I select my phone and it ask me this funny question. Is your firmware version 12.0.0.0 or above? Well of course its not. I have been trying to install the latest firmware on my phone from the first minute I booted it up with no such luck. For some reason my phone, unlocked/unbranded, is not able to find the firmware upgrade that I’ve been yearning for. This was my last straw. I got the N95 back out and it has become my primary smartphone for the time being.

Has anybody been able to pull the firmware for their N96 (NAM) yet? If so how in the world did you get it?