The Nokia 6790 Surge is the third Symbian-powered smartphone for AT&T this year and features a slide-out QWERTY keyboard. Highlighted as a social networking machine, the Surge features a 2 megapixel camera and is preloaded with a JuiceCaster application that promises quick photo and video uploading to Facebook, MySpace, and others.
Physical Aspects
The Nokia 6790 Surge from AT&T, from the front, looks like a standard portrait-oriented cell phone, with a small display and a column of shortcut keys just off to the left. However, slide the phone to the right and a spacious QWERTY keyboard is revealed as the display quickly rotates to landscape orientation. The slide mechanism is sturdy, smooth, and spring-assisted, with a confident thud in either direction. The phone itself is built from plastic, but does not have any unwelcome creaks or sounds when in use. Looks are deceiving, and the Surge, while it appears large, is actually quite small, measuring in at 97.5mm x 57.2mm x 15.5mm (3.84in x 2.28in x 0.61in) and only weighing 124g (4.4oz).
The front of the Nokia 6790 Surge has a very crowded look, even with its small 2.4-inch QVGA (240 x 320 pixel) resolution display. Below the screen is a small d-pad and navigational cluster, with two softkeys and a pair of end/send keys. The send key doubles up as the power key, as well. To the left of the display and navigational cluster is a column of 3 buttons. The center button is the menu key, while the remaining two can be customized by the user to access any application or internet bookmark on the phone - a nice touch, indeed.
The micro-USB port, used for data connections via USB cable, is positioned in the center of the left edge of the phone. However, AT&T does not supply a USB cable with the phone, so this port is essentially wasted unless you've got your own cable already. Along the top of the phone, you'll find the single mono speaker, 2.5mm audio port, and covered 2mm Nokia charging port. The volume rocker is awkwardly positioned along the right edge of the phone, towards the bottom, just above the dedicated camera button.
Sliding the QWERTY keyboard out, the display automatically rotates to landscape orientation, which makes the front part, with the display, look much more natural. There are four rows of buttons on the keyboard, with each button shaped in a slightly elongated rectangle, with edges that are tapered down. This tapered edge serves to separate each button from the next without wasting any physical space, and works quite nicely. The buttons have a definite tactile click, and make up one of the best QWERTY keyboards we've ever used on a phone, period. Unfortunately, there are no directional buttons included on the keyboard, which means you must reach up with your right hand to use the d-pad when navigating through the Surge's menus. There is a standard numeric keypad embedded in the center of the QWERTY keyboard, as well, accessible by using the grey highlight key in the bottom left corner.
On the back of the Nokia Surge, there is a 2 megapixel camera, with no flash. The entire back cover of the phone needs to be removed to access the massive 1500mAh battery, as well as the SIM card slot and microSD card slot.
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