Samsung Instinct with Haptic Feedback: Yes it is iPhone Killer
June 21, 2008
The Samsung Instinct is the most impressive iPhone 3G alternative we’ve seen so far. It offers haptic feedback (small vibrations in response to touches), 3G, GPS, 2-megapixel camera with video recording, full e-mail and web browsing capabilities, and much more! The Instinct runs on Sprint’s EV-DO Rev A high-speed network.
This remarkable smartphone features full QWERTY touchpad in landscape format for faster typing… but, forget about typing. With Speech to Action feature, all you have to do is say “search” and ask for “coffee shops” or “pizza” or whatever you are looking for.
With the the help of built-in GPS capabilities, the Instinct will quickly locate results near you. It will even give you direction via Windows Live Maps. You can use speech commands for pretty much anything you do - from texting, email sending, news searching, weather info requests, traffic inquiries, and more. With Mobile Sync you can always sync your phone to the Sprint website and back up all your important data. When your battery runs low, simply change it. The Samsung Instinct comes with 2 standard batteries in the box, so you just switch them out while you charge the other.
With Stereo Bluetooth Profiles, you can stream your audio to a stereo Bluetooth headset complete with Call Announce. A very important feature is ability to multi-task. For example, you can listen to music while you browse the web, and you can pause your tunes when a call comes through.
A 2GB microSD card is included, plus the Samsung Instinct can hold up to 8GB of external memory. You can use your memory to shoot, store, and share pictures and videos with 2.0 MP camera and camcorder. All images and videos can be viewed in thumbail mode or can be scrolled though larger previews with filmstrip mode.
Customizable favorites allow you to easily drag-and-drop applications in the order you want them. This feature comes handy when you want your most-used features to be placed front and center.
Sprint Power Vision Services include Sprint TV Enabled, Sprint Mobile Email, Spring Navigation, Sprint PCS Picture Mail, Sprint Music Store, games, screen savers, and more. Most importantly, you can watch TV on-the-go, quickly download your favorite music, and check your E-mail, whether it’s corporate, POP3 or online service.
On Friday, Samsung Electronics began selling its touch-screen Instinct handset for $70 cheaper than Apple’s iPhone 3G. The newest smartphone is offered by Sprint Nextel for $130 after rebate. Sprint has said it will spend more than $100 million to market the touch-screen Instinct in hopes the cellphone can recover from steep customer losses.
What’s in the box? The Samsung Instinct includes: M800 Handset with battery cover, 2GB microSD card (inserted into phone), 2 standard batteries, battery cell charger, AC charger, chargeable USB cable, 3.5mm stereo headphones with microphone, microSD memory card adapter for use with PCs, stylus packed in mini leather case, and printed materials with CD.
the iPhone is the best that ever hapen to technology and the other phones can go just to hystory of the cell phone evolution; GOOD BYE DINOSAURS!!!!!
Hey, A.G., if Apple is so great, let’s review the iPhone: 1) No way to switch out the battery, which in the case of Li-ion, means if you’ve owned your phone for 6 months, you’ve lost about 15% charge capacity. Take that down to 20 to 25% at the end of one year. No big deal though, since your original iPhone is ALREADY obsolete by the 2) recent release of the WAY EASY TO SCRATCH COVERED 3G version which means your NEW OLD iPhone is extinct (love the play on extinct vs. Instinct, lol). Besides, AT&T is now experiencing the same customer support issues that Sprint did one to two years ago, so as Sprint resolves the issues, AT&T is heading into them. Dump the Apple dinosaur, and get with the times, get a Samsung Instinct.
Hey Jim S. Lets face it. Phones have change and it’s all because of the iPhone. Yes I’m sure it has it’s flaws, but what phone doesn’t. With new updates and features, kinda makes up for it. Yes I will be getting the new one also. No different that buying any other phone and changing it out a year later when some newer and better comes out. Stop being silly
The Instinct is WAYYY better then the iPhone. I own both….i should know…
People kill me win ever sumthing new comes out they b so quick 2 turn their back on wut got them there n the first place the “iPhone”. Every thing else is just a carbon copy. I keep the original u keep the copy! I’m not saying samsung has a bad phone. I’m just true 2 alot of stuff.
Features look good. But one big feature missing, it is not Wifi capable. I don’t understand why make a smart phone without wifi capabilities? Without that, it can not be an Iphone killer…period.
I paid full price, $487.00, for the new Instinct. I less than 24 hrs. I returned it. The calendar is awful no way to sync it with you outlook calendar. The repeat function on the calendar is very basic.
deetat2: I believe it will be hard for people to trust a thing you say with such poor grammar. This isn’t texting, stop the short form and type a real sentence.
About the phone:
It is a great phone from Sprint but it is NO iPhone. That being said, the iPhone is no blackberry, Palm or Windows Mobile device either. Neither the iPhone or the Instinct are true SMART PHONES, but they are great entertainment devices. If you want a phone to run a business on, stick with a true Smart Phone, if you want a fun and great phone that can do many of the same things, get an iPhone or an Instinct.
My greatest disappointment is the calendar, but it comes as expected. Maybe we’ll see an update allowing for Outlook/Thunderbird synching but I will not hold my breath.
Finally, WiFi is not a necessity. Hotspots in most parts of the country are so few and far between that having a high speed network (Sprints EV-DO is definitely faster than AT&T’s 3G) carries you to speeds near what I used to get on my HTC AT&T Tilt connected to WiFi…
if what I said was so bad how was u able to understand what I was saying? My way of messaging was not the issue, it was the phone! So u would have a hard time believing what I said. What if you heard it instead of reading it. And I read it off of the message you read would it sound different or would it sound the same. All I’m saying is we’re talking about a phone not my grammar! U ass whole. (hole)
I must say I was a bit disappointed with the Instinct. I was expecting an iPhone killer, but they only got halfway. Having some experience in business development all I have to say is this. In order to surpass your competition you must meet 2 things: 1) You must meet all the pros of your competitor, or else lacking capabilities will become a focus and hurt sales. In case of the instinct there are several key features that make an iPhone what it is today, I’ll cover those in a second. 2) You must be innovative and have something your competitor does not. In this case the Instinct wins; it has several features and capabilities that the iPhone lacks.
The reason I say that this is NOT an iPhone killer is because without matching exactly what the iPhone has today, plus extended features, the Instinct will fail. The iPhone introduced a multi touch screen, a rotating display based on orientation and a full-featured web browser. All these features put the iPhone on top of the market, and all of these features are NOT included with the instinct.
Truth be told, I like Sprint, and will most likely purchase this phone. But in today’s world in order to beat your competition sub-par just doesn’t cut it. So calling this an iPhone KILLER is a bit of an overstatement. Keep in mind millions of those phones have been sold. If Sprint can reach 500K I will be surprised. Requiring certain plans for this phone will also hurt sales as well. If vendor lock-in isn’t bad enough, plan lock-in?!
Oh well I wish you the best of luck…Mr. Instinct.
I have an instinct. It is the coolest phone that i have ever seen. very easy to operate. The gps is awesome…..and way more acurate than the iphone gps……it can even locate different stores and tell you who has the lowest price on gasoline. But i love it for the television…..and not just pre-recorded clips…..live television!! It is voice enabled and it even works through the headsets. You can tell it to call or message or email someone……or tell it what you are loking for or where you want to go and the gps will do the rest. The Iphone might be cool….i dont have one….but this phone doesnt need wi-fi…..it has broad band speed internet…..and a back up mobile band if you get away from signal…..it is still faster than dsl. seriously…….who uses hotspots anymore?????
HOLY CRAP DOES THE INSTINCT SUCKS!!!!! A SIDEKICK IS BETTER THAN THIS! and on top of that print costumer service sucks i never had that problem with at&t. at first i had the sidekick lx and the phone was pretty cool you could have multiple e-mail accounts and it had messenger and internet and if you were on the internet and saw a pic you like you can copy it to your phone and it had flash for the camera and took nice picks the only thing it didn’t have was video you couldn’t see video’s so i decided to hand it down and switch to sprint I ordered the blackberry pearl online at first i kinda liked the blackberry it had the same features as a sidekick but better with t.v. and everything but something was wrong with the dam phone i actually spent 3months going back and fourth with sprint costumer service keeping me on the phone for hours!!! till i got desperate yesterday and said hhhmmmm let me buy the instinct and see what the buzz is about!…..Ok so i bought it……….it doesn’t have messenger’s like you have to go to the website itself on the phone to use it!…doesn’t have flash for the camera and come on I’ve seen better tv and video quality on my blackberry tv and video and on the instinct it’s too blurry and as for fastest internet conection……………DON’T MAKE ME LAUGH!………….it take long to load a page, and i cant even click on a picture and save it to my phone like i did with a sidekick and a blackberry yea the gps is cool but you got the same shit on the blackberry the only thing thats OOOOOOOOOHHHHH….AAAAAAHHHHH on this instinct is that it has touch screen THATS IT!…………… and i just got off the phone with a costumer service rep for sprint and he even said it himself your better off with the blackberry. like does it even give you that option to click and save a pic???? because if it does then some1 please help me figure this crap out! but so far I’m convinced this phone sucks for the things I’m looking for….. blackberry’s are better. Sprint was making a HUGE deal about the new instinct and I’m over here thinking its better than the blackberry as if it had more features and cooler stuff ………NOT EVEN CLOSE! like i said the only thing cool o different about this phone is that it’s touch screen. o now i’m going back and returning the phone i want my $465.00 back!
Which of your iphone-beaters have:
Built-in wi-fi that runs faster than the iphone’s?
Which phone opens Word, Excel and PDF file attachments?
Weigh less than 5 ounces?
Which of them are thinner than 0.5″?
Which have built-in GPS?
Which can I install 500 different apps into?
Which can I write my own code for?
Which phone has more than 16 BILLION bytes of ram?
Which have a better browser than Safari?
Which have 100 accessories that I can buy at stores all over the world?
Which phones cost less than $199?
Which have multi-touch screens bigger than 3.5″?
Which phone sells more than 1 million units… in 1 weekend?
I thought so.
Don’t get me wrong… I would *LOVE* to see 10 different companies making
phones that have all those features. I’m just not seeing them over the past
1-2 years. Maybe they’ll get on the ball in 2009 or 2010????
(Of course… they will STILL be trying to play catch-up to the Iphone v3.0)
What are they waiting for???
I believe that in the end people are going to buy what makes their daily life seem easier. While i have played with the Iphone since its birth, i had the opportunity to buy the instinct. Now I think that the Instinct and the IPhone are the same. Where I Think they differ at are the Wifi. But then again is it really necessary. I mean as long as you have a internet connection and you can surf the net, you should be find.
I Think we as customers try too much to get into the battle of what product is better and we have stepped away from is this really what i need.
I love music and i make music. I brought the Instinct because of the upgradeable memory stick and the fact that i can change the battery when it dies.
while you cant do that with the Iphone, you can but music from their music server with can be hooked up to your Itunes when you hook it up to your computer.
For every pro there is a con and for every company there is a customer………
Back to the “Outlook calendar sync” lack of functionality. This is a requirement in the business marketplace. The addition of this one function could wipe out a great deal of future blackberry and iPhone sales.
SAMSUNG and SPRINT keep fighting the good fight. WE are all behind you and are willing to help. However the window for this critical application - calendar sync - is limited. Get creative! You know like Apple; your main competitor for these types of appliances.
The iPhone 3E is a wonderful piece of kit. Honestly I do think its the best general pocket device around. However it has the following serious limitations:
( 1 ) A close platform. No one can write software for it unless Apple blesses them. For that reason it runs neither Java nor Flash. The Instinct by contrast is an open programming platform
( 2 ) No streaming music service support. Itunes doesn’t so steaming, only pay-for-track. Apple isn’t about to let a competitor to itunes onto the platform.
( 2 ) AT&T. This is the limitation that drove me to the instinct. The man above who predicted customer service problems from AT&T hit a bullseye. They actually drove me FROM their service with their customer support.
You can read all about it here:
http://cto-rebelmonkey.blogspot.com/2008/08/at-american-theives-and-total.html
When there is an iPhone 3G that supports something othrer then American Theives & Total-incompetents, I might go back to it.
The most obvious lie I see here are people totting to have Both iPhone 3G and Samsung Instinct.. I wonder who’s the most stupid. I dunno I think the one paying for 2 REALLY expensive data plans just to attempt to sound credible?
100% of every people here who has both phones is a complete Liar. And if not a liar a complete idiot. Because simply put your not just buying a phone your buying a service plan. sheesh