Nokia Surge Smartphone Seeks Social NetworkersNokia Surge Smartphone Seeks Social Networkers

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Nokia Surge

AT&T and Nokia announced a smartphone that is aimed at text-heavy users who want to stay connected to social networks.

The Nokia Surge is a Symbian-powered handset that has a full QWERTY keyboard that slides out horizontally. The handset will come preloaded with JuiceCaster, which enables users to share picture and videos from the phone to social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Flickr, and others.

The S60 device comes can receive some corporate e-mail, as well as messages from Web-based providers like Gmail, Yahoo Mail, and others. Users will be able to add new applications and content over the air through Nokia's Ovi Store. The Surge will go on sale July 19 for $79.99 after a new two-year contract at rebate.

"Launching at $79.99 with a complete e-mail solution, downloadable applications and a full HTML browser with Flash support, Nokia Surge hits the sweet spot between a quick messaging phone and a smartphone because of its low-price and strong feature set," said Michael Woodward, VP of AT&T's mobile phone portfolio, in a statement.

The Surge will be able to play multiple types of audio and video files, and it will come preloaded with AT&T's Mobile Music and Video Share services for more entertainment options. The handset has a 2-megapixel camera, stereo Bluetooth, and memory that's expandable via a microSD slot.

Nokia is the world's leader in cell phones and smartphones, but its market share in the U.S. market is considerably less than in other regions because it hasn't had many smartphones picked up by carriers. That may be slowly changing, as AT&T also recently subsidized and launched Nokia's E71x smartphone.

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