With the aim of enticing the social networking fanatics, AT&T and Nokia have announced a new Symbian S60-powered, quick messaging smartphone - the Nokia Surge - which features multimedia as well as support for instant messaging, text and e-mail.

Essentially aimed at text-heavy users who desire to stay connected to social networks, the new Nokia handset will not only enable users to receive e-mails, but would also offer mobile access to Facebook, YouTube, Flickr, and Twitter.

The Nokia Surge, which will be available July 19 onwards in AT&T stores and online, features a QWERTY keyboard and browser with Flash. The phone's built-in JuiceCaster feature would enable users to share picture and videos from the phone to popular social networking sites.

The S60-based Nokia Surge handset can also receive some corporate e-mail, along with messages from Gmail, Yahoo Mail, and others. New applications and content over the air can also be added through Nokia's Ovi Store.

The other specs of the handset include 2-megapixel camera, stereo Bluetooth, and expandable memory via a microSD slot.

After a mail-in rebate, AT&T intends selling the new Nokia Surge handset for $79.99, including a two-year service agreement.

About the new Nokia handset, Michael Woodward, VP of AT&T's mobile phone portfolio, said: "Nokia Surge hits the sweet spot between a quick messaging phone and a smartphone because of its low-price and strong feature set."