AT&T’s Nokia Surge gets official
“Now you can carry your clique with you in your pocket.” That is the line that opens Nokia and AT&T’s press releases with regards to the announcement of the The Handset Formerly Known as Mako. As you might imagine from the tone of this opening sentence, this puppy has tween written all over it. Earlier this month we learned that the S60-powered Nokia Surge 6790 would launch in the mid-July time frame and sure enough, here we are. We gave you some exclusive hands on goodness a month and a half ago but just in case your interest wasn’t completely diminished at that point in time, here are the highlights from the release:
- 2.0 megapixel camera – Customers can capture quality photos with color camera and 4X digital zoom
- AT&T Navigator – AT&T Navigator provides audible turn-by-turn directions, monitors traffic and alerts users when there is a slowdown or incident
- AT&T Mobile Music – Customers can listen and download their favorite music from Napster Mobile, eMusic Mobile, XM Radio and more over the air
- AT&T Video Share – The first-ever service in the U.S. that allows users to share live video over wireless devices while participating in a voice call
- JuiceCaster – Customers can share videos and pictures from their wireless device to the Web’s most popular sites including Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Flickr
The Nokia Surge will be available online and in stores starting this Sunday, July 19th, for $79.99 after mail-in rebate on a 2-year contract. The line forms to the left.
Yeah not very attractive
Tough price segment on AT&T… good luck, Nokia.
Wow Nokia really sucked up to AT&T with this thing–is this releasing on any other carriers?
If it were cheaper, I could see this being a big hit, but at $79.99, I don’t know…
The only thing I can say is that it’s good to see more S60(as opposed to S40) phones stateside from carriers, though this one looks a bit odd. How about an E75 on AT&T for a good S60 full QWERTY slider?
If they were able to knock it down to $50 with a contract, I could see them selling quite a few of these. At $80, you’re competing with iPhone refurbs and within spitting distance of an E71x, and this thing stops looking so competitive. If they were able to bring the price down to the level of, say, the LG Neon, and it becomes the best phone in its market segment. I don’t know, maybe I’m being pessimistic here, as it looks like a nice enough phone, but I don’t know what there is to recommend it over other phones on AT&T that are comparably priced.
Yikes…that is one fugly fone.
Ravnos is right, 80 dollars is way too much for this phone. There are much better phones in the segment. I can only see this competing if it was offered for free
wow that thing is ugly
just assume the price will drop on promotion like all other phones eventually do and this one will start selling like crazy. the tween market will love it as they are not looking for something like an e71.
That’s one fugly fone… Looks like its for the texting type, but come on Nokia add a little more style to this turd! Looks like a side sliding BRICK!
I could see this being a hit among the tween crowd, if marketed properly. But I agree with the other posters about the price being close to the E71x and an iPhone 8gb refurb. They will probably drop the price over time though.
Posted from BGR Mobile (iPhone).
What a terd can’t wait to go to work and see this piece.
Posted from BGR Mobile (iPhone) at: Ponte Vedra Beach United States
What kind of a data plan are they going to try to lock people into with this guy?
Because it’s S60 are the going to try to get people locked to smartphone data, or will it be compatible with the dumbphone plans?
For the market they’re aiming at they better be going for the dumbphone plans, or this thing is DOA.
Wow a “color camera”?!!
I can’t wait. I’ll be getting one.
Good thing the labels for Nokia and AT&T are horizontally, so they fill some of the empty space created by using a cheap & small screen. It also helps remind you who bent you over as you text your friends on their iPhones/e71x’s.
It will use $15 data or $10 family data.
Posted from BGR Mobile (iPhone) at: Ponte Vedra Beach United States
This is the best Nokia’s effort for the iPhone 3GS competitor! Even the prices are similar… I am having a tough time here choosing wich one to pick! Help me out, guys!!!
One thing that many people forget is that i-phone locks you to 2 yr data plan compulsary, you can’t cancel it. Whereas this phone, if it requires data plan, you can cancel it after you get the rebate or after 6 months if you buy from other online retailers like amazon.
Also some retailers will offer it for free without any rebate, without data plan just like E71x which is offered free currently.
I think the price is beyond reasonable, considering what s60 devices are capable of (if you know what your doing) this little thing is perfect, also it’s not Nokia’s answer to the iPhone, that’s be the N95 or the XpressMusic 5800, I’m definitely going to get one I’m a die-hard Nokia fan
Deuce, I’m not putting down S60. I love my E71, and my N73 before it. It’s a better phone OS than it gets credit for around here. I’m just saying that at $80, this is a tough sell. You can get a refurbished iPhone 3G at that price, and the iPhone is popular enough to rob sales from this thing. Plus, the E71x is only $20 more on a contract and, based on the specs, it’s the better buy. From where I’m sitting, if you pick this over either of those phones, you made a mistake. At $30-50, this thing could clean house. At $80, it’s a tougher sell. The kind of person who’s likely to shop for an S60 phone will be after a better model, especially given the price, and the kind of person who wants a texting slider with Facebook doesn’t care about S60 and what it’s capable of and will probably buy cheaper.
has everyone missed the “video share?” live video during voice… so, its video conf. thats ppretty huge, no?
video share is ok, as long as you are in an hspa area. Rogers has had video calling for over a year now and it’s not as popular as one may think.
I was considering the e71x or this Surge since I get either of them totally free for my phone upgrade. I loved the all steele E71x but hated its microscopic keypad. Love the large keypad on the Surge. Still haven’t decided on which one… or maybe shell out the bucks for the Iphone 3gs…
Hmm, i think E71x has one extra feature that this surge doesn’t have, ie. wi-fi. So you can use free wifi at AT&T hotspots(if you have AT&T dsl).
e71x keyboard may look small, but its quite usable and hence it is one of the higher selling smartphones worldwide. Or better, wait for E72 in few months.
Well, if you have extra bucks to throw away, then sure, go for 3gs, which doesn’t have any physical kbrd too.