Nokia 6760 slide review: Compact messaging

Introduction

One of a kind would be a massive overstatement but there's something about the Nokia 6760 slide that's clearly against the usual run of things. Full QWERTY keyboards are an increasingly common sight on Symbian smartphones so this can't be it. However, the Nokia 6760 slide is a generic messenger - noting to do with Nseries, Eseries or even XpressMusic.

Secondly, the 6760 slide was first seen and used in the US as Nokia Surge. It usually takes quite a while for Nokia handsets to cross the pond and that makes the 6760 / Surge concept interesting enough. Whether it was custom made for AT&T and then given a go at home is irrelevant. Nokia now have a smart messenger ready to roll in the lower midrange.

Official photos of Nokia 6760 slide

The new 6760 slide (we'll use its European name from now on) is ultra compact and the full-QWERTY keyboard is backed by no numpad on top. The Internet and Messaging shortcuts up front are quite handy though and make perfect sense in both portrait and landscape hand hold. The neat messenger is trying to balance features, looks and ergonomics to offer all-round experience within budget. The absence of Wi-Fi support is a letdown, but the rest of the features are from the top drawer.

Key features

• Quad-band GSM support and 3G with HSDPA
• 2.4" 16M-color TFT display of 320 x 240 pixel resolution
• Full QWERTY keyboard
• Very compact, friendly weight and shape
• Fast and responsive interface
• Built-in accelerometer, UI auto-rotate, turn-to-mute
• 3 megapixel fixed focus camera, QVGA video recording @ 15fps
• Symbian 9.3, S60 FP2
• GPS with A-GPS support
• Bluetooth v2.0 with A2DP, microUSB
• microSD card slot with microSDHC support
• Stereo FM Radio with RDS
• Balanced audio output quality
• Large capacity Li-Ion 1500 mAh (BP-4L) battery

Main disadvantages

• Clattering slide hinge, loose battery cover
• No Wi-Fi
• No alphanumeric keypad: impossible to dial with the keyboard closed
• Basic fixed focus camera, no extra features (not even geotagging)
• No USB charging
• No smart dial (3rd party solutions are available)

The Symbian-driven Nokia 6760 slide has a responsive and fast user interface and offers various social networking integration. The good web browser and robust messaging should be welcomed by users with a solid data plan.

We called it a generic messenger and there's nothing really impressive about the idea behind this device - unless you've never seen or heard of E75 or 5730 XpressMusic. Not to mention the N97 mini.

Still, an ultra compact Symbian smartphone with a full QWERTY keyboard seems to make sense. The 6760 slide certainly misses on some features but it does well to position itself as a typical carrier's handset. Fast data, solid messaging and friendly size will perhaps convince enough users they can live without WLAN. Plus, the 6760 slide styling seems to be trying to find middle ground between the too executive Eseries and too juvenile XpressMusic.

Nokia 6760 slide live shots

We called it ultra compact too and we mean it. It's hard to believe the 6760 slide is a Symbian smartphone to begin with. A formidable PocketPC like the Samsung B7610 OmniaPRO makes it look almost toy-like.

Friendly size is one of the Nokia 6760 slide key assets

If you find yourself interested in the new kid on the block, go ahead and take our guided tour of the Nokia 6760 slide. Symbian has little to no surprises perhaps but let's see how this little messenger handles and what it can do for you.