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How Social Is The Nokia 6790 Surge From AT&T?

By The Guru on August 22, 2009


Nokia 6790 Surge Review

When the Nokia 6790 Surge for AT&T was announced, the tagline is that AT&T and Nokia are riding ‘a social wave into summer’ with the Surge, and there was chatter about the access to various social networks built into the device. Intrigued by this, I dug a bit deeper, only to find out that the claims were based off a single application pre-loaded on this thing, JuiceCaster.

The JuiceCaster service is not really new, as they’ve been around for quite some time. The free Java application supposedly makes it easy to upload photos and videos to various networks, such as Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, and more. They also brag that you can update your status and interact with these networks through the application, as well. Thus, when I got my Nokia 6790 Surge from AT&T in, this was one of the first things I had to check out.

Unfortunately, it’s a horrid, abysmal experience. For starters, it’s not free – when I first checked out the application, I was greeted by this unwelcome screen

Graphical lameness aside (notice the dropped W), my free 7-day trial of an application highlighted in the device expires soon. Awesome. Even better, the actual service is a monthly subscription of $2.99 per month. No thanks. Even more frustrating, when I attempted to subscribe to the service, my phone was stuck in an endless loop of trying to verify my subscription, so I was unable to use JuiceCaster after my trial expired.

However, just for kicks and giggles, let’s assume money was no object, and I paid the subscription to continue checking out the JuiceCaster application, which was, apparently, designed for this phone that it was preloaded on. Sure enough, if you can navigate through the insanely confusing menus, you can upload pictures and videos to MySpace and Facebook, though I found the status updates to be incredibly confusing, and I wasn’t able to figure out exactly how to check out the status of friends on Facebook.

Here’s the main screen, in landscape mode:

If you choose not to use the JuiceCaster application, for $2.99/month, then the Nokia 6790 Surge from AT&T is decidedly anti-social. AT&T has apparently requested that Nokia remove the Share Online application, which means that using an awesome service – for free – such as Pixelpipe to upload photos and videos is impossible. I even tried installing the Share Online v4.3 Beta from the Nokia Beta Labs, to no avail.

Luckily, Gravity installs easily on the Nokia 6790 Surge from AT&T, and allows you to connect to Twitter and Facebook, with photo uploading and the whole shebang. Unfortunately (again), you cannot access the Ovi Store from the Nokia 6790 Surge from AT&T, as seen below, so you would have to 1. already know about Gravity and 2. know where to go online to download the trial, and then purchase directly from MobileWays.de.

Now, a short while ago, AT&T announced a new free application, in conjuction with iSkoot, called SocialNet, which allows access to Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, and other services, right there on your phone. The application is highlighted as being available for the Nokia E71x (it should, it’s just java), but is supposedly ‘not supported’ on the Nokia 6790 Surge from AT&T. Any attempt I made was unsuccessful, unfortunately.

So, the device that AT&T and Nokia are supposedly going to use to ‘ride the social wave into summer‘ is, in fact, anti-social, unless of course you wish to pay an additional $2.99/mo, on top of the absurd $30/month ‘Smartphone Connect’ plan that AT&T requires for the Nokia 6790 Surge.

With other, more social-friendly featurephones capable of essentially the same thing (since SocialNet is only a java app), it’s easy to see why AT&T thinks no one wants Symbian-powered devices. They’ve strapped them to an overly expensive data package and eliminated most chances they have of offering real value to users over current featurephone offerings. This is something that Symbian, not Nokia, is going to have to combat here in the U.S., if they want to make any headway.

Series Navigation«Nokia 6790 Surge – First Impressions5 Things I Love About The Nokia 6790 Surge From AT&T»Nokia 6790 Surge From AT&T Review: Hardware»

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The Guru

The Guru, aka Ricky Cadden, started Symbian-Guru.com in November 2006, out of his excitement for the S60 3rd Edition version of Symella. The Guru has used Symbian devices since the Nokia 6620, and is known for his perspective as a power user. You can follow The Guru on Twitter at @Rcadden

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  • Pixelpipe

    You might want to give installing Share Online 3 a shot, you won’t have background uploads however you should be able to get the phone plugged into Pixelpipe. You can download from Nokia at http://is.gd/2tDSM and get your Pixelpipe config at http://m.pixelpipe.com/nokia/.

  • http://http//pixelpipe.com Pixelpipe

    You might want to give installing Share Online 3 a shot, you won’t have background uploads however you should be able to get the phone plugged into Pixelpipe. You can download from Nokia at http://is.gd/2tDSM and get your Pixelpipe config at http://m.pixelpipe.com/nokia/.

  • david

    I would personnaly never purchase a nokia device that has direct ties to an american carrier like the surge or the e71x …. bcuz american carriers almost always ruin the true symbian experience, (and for those who wonder yes I am American n I hate our cell phone carriers) (added by Mobile using Mippin)

  • david

    I would personnaly never purchase a nokia device that has direct ties to an american carrier like the surge or the e71x …. bcuz american carriers almost always ruin the true symbian experience, (and for those who wonder yes I am American n I hate our cell phone carriers) (added by Mobile using Mippin)

  • ming387

    Will have to wait for the Nokia 6790 Slide firmware to flash the Surge and get rid of all of AT&T crap-wares and crippings done to this phone.

  • ming387

    Will have to wait for the Nokia 6790 Slide firmware to flash the Surge and get rid of all of AT&T crap-wares and crippings done to this phone.

  • JC

    Actually, the surge only requires the 15/mo data plan. Not that I would have expected you to verify facts before you posted or anything.. :)

  • JC

    Actually, the surge only requires the 15/mo data plan. Not that I would have expected you to verify facts before you posted or anything.. :)

  • http://www.symbian-guru.com/ TheGuru

    Actually, according to AT&T’s page here (http://www.wireless.att.com/cell-phone-service/cell-phone-details/?device=Nokia+Surge%28TM%29&q_sku=sku3850237#tabModule), the Surge is considered a ‘smartphone’, which means that it requires the $30/month SmartphoneConnect data plan, and is *officially* ineligible for the $15/mo MEdiaNet data plan.

    If you contact AT&T and ask them, that’s the official line, though there are certainly ways to use the $15/mo MEdiaNet, it’s not the official data plan for the Surge. :)

  • http://www.symbian-guru.com TheGuru

    Actually, according to AT&T’s page here (http://www.wireless.att.com/cell-phone-service/cell-phone-details/?device=Nokia+Surge%28TM%29&q_sku=sku3850237#tabModule), the Surge is considered a ‘smartphone’, which means that it requires the $30/month SmartphoneConnect data plan, and is *officially* ineligible for the $15/mo MEdiaNet data plan.

    If you contact AT&T and ask them, that’s the official line, though there are certainly ways to use the $15/mo MEdiaNet, it’s not the official data plan for the Surge. :)

  • JC

    That’s still incorrect.

    The surge can *officially* be used with the 15/mo data plan. You need the 30/mo data plan to get the mail in rebate.

  • JC

    That’s still incorrect.

    The surge can *officially* be used with the 15/mo data plan. You need the 30/mo data plan to get the mail in rebate.

  • http://www.symbian-guru.com/ TheGuru

    @JC – if you can provide me a link that shows that, fine. However, when I tried to purchase the phone through AT&T direct, and through Amazon, both required the $30/mo plan. When I asked my AT&T PR folks, they confirmed that the Surge is only supposed to be setup with the $30 plan.

    I’m not saying it won’t work with the $15/mo plan – of course it will. However, if any reader attempts to purchase the phone with a contract, they’re going to be told that the $30 plan is required, because that’s the official statement from AT&T.

    All smartphones with QWERTY keyboards (ala E71x and Surge) require it and are ineligible for the $15 plan.

  • http://www.symbian-guru.com TheGuru

    @JC – if you can provide me a link that shows that, fine. However, when I tried to purchase the phone through AT&T direct, and through Amazon, both required the $30/mo plan. When I asked my AT&T PR folks, they confirmed that the Surge is only supposed to be setup with the $30 plan.

    I’m not saying it won’t work with the $15/mo plan – of course it will. However, if any reader attempts to purchase the phone with a contract, they’re going to be told that the $30 plan is required, because that’s the official statement from AT&T.

    All smartphones with QWERTY keyboards (ala E71x and Surge) require it and are ineligible for the $15 plan.

  • JC

    Perhaps it’s because I go thru premier, but I am not required to use the 30/mo plan… I get the option for the 15/mo plan.

  • JC

    Perhaps it’s because I go thru premier, but I am not required to use the 30/mo plan… I get the option for the 15/mo plan.

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