Samsung Instinct
Maxabout Review
Serious iphone Rival
Monday, June 30, 2008
Photos
Samsung Instinct
Samsung Instinct, exclusively from Sprint, offers consumers an industry-leading user experience by combining full touch screen functionality with access to the fast speed of Sprint's EV-DO Rev A Mobile Broadband Network.
Samsung Instinct provides easy access to Sprint exclusive multimedia content, business or personal email, GPS navigation, live and on-demand TV content, full song downloads, streaming radio and an impressive HTML Web experience.
Samsung Instinct offers localized haptic feedback and a new level of customization by allowing the user to access their favorite applications with a single touch. This stylish handset provides an expansive touch screen display and three navigation keys that keep all of the device's features and applications within immediate access. Samsung Instinct offers Visual Voicemail, stereo Bluetooth with audible caller ID, expandable memory up to 8 GB and a 2.0MP camera with camcorder.
Though the Instinct and the iPhone look about the same, and they rely heavily on touch screens with unique interfaces, there are some important feature distinctions. The Instinct offers its own brand of visual voice mail and it bests the first incarnation of the iPhone by offering 3G (EV-DO Rev. A) network compatibility, integrated GPS, and work e-mail support, just to name a few. The new iPhone 3G will be more evenly matched, but even the Instinct gets points for its multimedia messaging, voice dialing and video recording. In the important areas of usability and performance, however, the Instinct struggled on a few fronts.
The Web browser wasn't quite as easy to use as we had hoped, the camera lacked editing features, and the Instinct's call and video quality were variable. However, even with those caveats, the Instinct remains a powerful, innovative cell phone with a loaded feature set and an appealing design.
The Instinct comes bundled with a stereo headset, but uses Samsung's proprietary headset jack, not a standard 2.5mm or 3.5mm one. The Instinct got almost four and a half hours of talk time, a pretty decent amount considering its large, bright screen. The phone also comes with a spare battery and USB charging cable, which is unusual, and a direct shot at the iPhone, which has a non-removable battery.
The Samsung Instinct offers a slick, intuitive design and a heavy load of powerful, innovative, and easy-to-use features. It particularly shines as a messaging and GPS device. It lacks Wi-Fi and instant messaging, and its call and video quality were erratic. Also, its Internet browser could be refined, its internal memory is small, and its camera lacks editing features.