Nokia Surge : A Quick Review

At last, Nokia has understood that to penetrate the US market, they have to tie up with carriers to get some subsidy on their phone. Nokia Surge is a result of that. It is Nokia’s latest smartphone that they are manufacturing specifically for AT&T and its US consumers. There will be no unlocked version of the model like other Nokia mobile phones. The phone is targeted towards a younger population with its looks and feature set. Lets take a look at some details of the mobile.


Hardware & Design

The surge is thin and at only 0.6 inches and the face measures 3.8 by 2.3 inches. It is made of entirely glossy black plastic which is prone to catch fingerprints. There is a slide out horizontal QWERTY keyboard that spans the whole width of the unit. The slide out mechanism is smooth but sometimes it felt a little sleazy. The keys look flat and cheap but they have good response. The end key also acts as a power button. The weight of 4.4 ounces feels light in hand.

Display

The QVGA LCD at 320 X 240 resolution looks sharp and colors are very natural in its display. The accelerometer of the phone is responsive and rotates the screen from portrait to landscape as you reorient the screen.

OS

The system runs on Symbian Series 60 Third Edition software.  It can multitask, it includes Quickoffice for editing Word and Excel documents, it works with Mail for Exchange 2.9, and it can be used as a 3G modem for a laptop.

Multimedia

Surge ahs a 2 MP camera but it does not have the autofocus or LED flash. So don’t expect the camera to shoot good pictures but it captures smooth QVGA Videos which is a nice features. The headphone jack is a non-standard 2.5 mm one but we expected it have a standard 3.5 mm audio jack. The sound is fine if it is paired with a good quality stereo Bluetooth headphone.

Other features

As a standard AT&T device, it boasts a TeleNav powered AT&T Navigator other that Nokia’s own confusing GPS software. It will also support the Ovi Store when it launches. It also features CV for streamed videos.

Battery

The device packs in a standard 1500 mAh battery which is the same as the Nokia N97 or the E71x. The battery is supposed to pump out a talktime of four and a half hours.

Price

The price is expected to be $79.99 with a two year contract.