Playing with the Instinct, Samsung’s answer to the iPhone, is a fun experience, but not one I could handle on a daily basis. The touch interface is nice, with a satisfying vibration each time the phone registers a touch command, but lacks an accelerometer to register the changes in direction, like the iPhone has.
The Instinct will be available in June, and it appears to have all the features a consumer could dream of wanting.
In fact the phone has so many features crammed onto it, and it’s such a small device, that it was hard to do things without accidentally taking a picture or hitting one of the three hard-wired buttons on the bottom. The same thing happens on my BlackBerry Pearl, however, so my fat fingers might be the problem.
The navigation feature, which is powered by TeleNav and incorporates voice-activation technology from Microsoft (acquired through its TellMe acquisition), was my favorite. I could just tell the phone the name of one location and it would bring up a list of others nearby. Click on a car icon and it figures out where you are and then offers turn-by-turn directions to the place of your choosing. The icon will also appear near addresses in emails, eliminating one step in getting directions.
The phone uses a proprietary Samsung- and Sprint-developed operating system. The software-based keyboard can be used in landscape mode or vertically. When web searching, the keyboard contains a handy dedicated “.com” key. Surfing was easy and you could drag your finger across the screen to navigate down the page.
The television service, provided by Mobi, is still under development, so was slow to load and pixelated. Downloading music was easy, although the files downloaded from the Sprint store were a scant 1 MB, which makes me wonder about their quality. Battery life is about 5.5 hours, according to a spokeswoman, which includes a mix of talking and data usage. The phone will also come with a second external battery.
The best part about the phone seems to be that these features will be available under Sprint’s unlimited plan. That includes, texting, talking, navigation and data. But without an idea of what Sprint plans to charge for the phone, it’s hard to say how this stacks up against the competition that is similarly aimed at challenging the iPhone. And although not as intuitive as the iPhone, if the price is reasonable, given how many services Sprint includes in the plan, the Instinct may be a bargain.
19 comments so far
3:25 PM PT
where can I find more information about Instinct?
4:52 PM PT
try a google search for “samsung instinct.”
5:12 PM PT
[...] surely will draw attention away from the CTIA Show and all that handsets that are being launched in Las Vegas this week. . It would be a Machiavellian move by Steve Jobs & Apple to shift [...]
5:17 PM PT
or Google search under:
“soon to be bankrupt sprint, samsung instict”
:)
5:42 PM PT
I may just have to buy one of those.
8:57 PM PT
[...] are divided as to the Instinct’s degree of iPhone-iness … GigaOM says that while the thing is “less than instinctive”, it stands a chance if priced [...]
10:00 PM PT
Here’s more information from Sprint: http://www.nowisgood.com/
10:22 AM PT
bummer! according to the nowisgood.com, purchase of the instinct REQUIRES subscribing to the $99 everything plan. f-that.
11:17 AM PT
[...] surely will draw attention away from the CTIA Show and all that handsets that are being launched in Las Vegas this week. It would be a Machiavellian move by Steve Jobs and Apple to shift attention [...]
10:54 AM PT
[...] the vibration in Samsung’s Instinct phone gave me that tactile fix, and the HTC Tilt allows for touching and a keyboard entry. Since many of [...]
1:48 AM PT
[...] a cada comando por táctil (habrá que probarlo, pero de momento tiene buenas críticas como en GigaOm). Además el Samsung Instinct acepta órdenes por voz con tecnología Tell [...]
1:49 AM PT
[...] a cada comando por táctil (habrá que probarlo, pero de momento tiene buenas críticas como en GigaOm). Además el Samsung Instinct acepta órdenes por voz con tecnología Tell [...]
2:08 AM PT
[...] a cada comando por táctil (habrá que probarlo, pero de momento tiene buenas críticas como en GigaOm). Además el Samsung Instinct acepta órdenes por voz con tecnología Tell [...]
1:03 PM PT
Finally a phone that can compete with the iPhone.
http://www.instinct-samsung.com has more info about this phone.
9:13 PM PT
I will be getting it when June comes….I have the Blackberry 8830 right now and after 9 months of having it I want something new…if a new Blackberry doesnt come out on Sprint by June I’ll get the Samsung Instinct…
11:04 PM PT
Check out the Samsung F700..Its the same phone but with a keyboerd…
8:06 AM PT
[...] course, Nokia isn’t the only company to be readying an iPhone response. Last week Sansung announced its iPhone-like “Instinct” handset in conjunction with Sprint, and LG already has its own iPhone-esque offering. Perhaps more [...]
11:56 AM PT
[...] Samsung’s “Instinct” (and let’s just say some have said using it is “less than instinctive“). Now, Finnish mobile giant Nokia is starting to show off its own killer, code-named [...]
6:05 PM PT
Sprint is no where near bankruptcy….Sprint is not only coming out with the samsung instinct which is a generation 4 phone but it is also coming out with curve by blackberry and also later a new treo…with the $99 everything plan who else can beat not only the plan price but the technology that pass the competition
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