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What people love about unlocked cell phones is that they do not restrict you to just one carrier. Many handsets are available in this manner, and though people often normally prefer the most recent releases, it often pays to bear in mind older offerings in addition. For example, unlocked cell phones such as the Nokia Surge make terrific second handsets for folks who find it necessary or more convenient to have two separate contact numbers. It looks like a T-Mobile Sidekick but being unlocked means that you aren’t restricted to just AT&T in the United States. It’s got the same form factor as the best-selling Sidekick, only instead of swiveling it slides to expose the keyboard underneath. Packing this smartphone with text messaging and social media capabilities makes it clear that Nokia is focusing on the young with this model.

You can’t do much better when it comes to unlocked cell phones for second or third “lines.” But just what is the Surge? What’s it like? Well, it’s a 3G phone offering 2.4 inches of screen real estate at 320×240 TFT pixels and 16 million colors. The 2 megapixel camera is inferior when compared to the over-3 megapixel version on the related 6760 Slide model available in the rest of the world (which phone, incidentally, isn’t carrier-exclusive), but the Surge did debut earlier, after all. Video recording is done at the standard QVGA resolution.

It uses the Symbian Series 60 multi-tasking platform, nicely complementing the provided feature-set, making this model a mid-level offering. The Surge works with Bluetooth 2.0, and A2DP support, and offers microUSB connectivity as well. Audio is delivered by a typical 2.5mm jack. In common with most Nokia products at the moment, the Surge comes with a built-in stereo FM radio player. MicroSD cards are supported for close to a maximum of 8GB of additional storage space, in addition to the 2GB card included. This phone is available in black, white, or red color schemes. Talk-time is scored for respectable five hours, and standby is a wholesome five hundred.

Best of all, being unlocked means not having to deal with AT&T and their long two-year contract with mandatory voice and data plans that could conceivably result in an average of a thousand dollars a year for even a rather casual user! And naturally the Surge is designed for those who are constantly texting, chatting, e-mailing, or using the internet. Such folks could very quickly wind up with over two thousand dollars a year!