CrunchGear

Okay… that was the worst “good” review I have ever seen. It is like the reviewer so desperately wants to like this phone, but at the same time cannot help but point out the flaws.

The iPhone is, in a word: flawless. Why would anyone consider a pale imitation when you can have the real deal ??

iPhone killer ?? I think not…

I have owned the Instinct for about 3 weeks now. I LOVE it! I went with a buddy of mine this weekend to look at the new iphone. The instinct beats the iphone hands down. For one, the instinct is a bit less wide, and just a tad thicker than the iphone, so it sits in your hand much easier and is much more natural to talk with. It has a rubber backing, so it wont slip from your hands like the iphone does. Sure the iphone has a bigger screen, but hello, its a PHONE, not a TV. The instinct menus are much easier to get around with than the iphone. It has a VIDEO recorder, which works good. I was able to film my friend and his wife naming their baby in the hospital. If I had the iphone, I would have some snapshots of it only. Its navigation is hands down much better than the iphone.

To all of you iphone lovers, don’t just bash this phone because you are iphone lovers if you havent even checked it out. And to someone looking for a new phone, definitely take both for a test drive before you buy. Don’t get caught up in all the apple hype.

Oh, did I mention that when the keyboard comes up, the keyboard sits vertical, so you turn your phone and have a much bigger keyboard than the iphone.

Also, forgot to mention the battery in the instinct actually can be removed and you can replace it with a second battery that comes with the phone. It has a separate battery charger that you can charge the second battery while the other is in your phone. You can even hook it up to a computer USB and power it that way. You will never have down time while your phone is charging like the iphone.

The guy reviewing the phone forgot to mention all these cool things that the iphone does NOT have.

BillyBob youre kidding right? Is no copy paste on a smartphone flawless? Is no tactile feel keyboard flawless? Is no external speaker flawless? How about instant messaging? And these are just the device, not even going into the Service provider side.
Try again.

This guy doesn’t know anything about mobile phones

I wont go as far as saying flawless, since nothing is perfect. But iPhone is really setting a very high standard for its competitors.

@Crash

Tactile feed back can be added with an update. But I think apple is leaving it until the battery can hold more power.

Im not sure what external speaker you are talking about, since it does have an speaker and are able to connect to any ipod ready speaker/hi-fis.

Again, things like instant messaging can be added, specially now with app store.

Service provider will not be an issue coming May when first patches of iphone contracts runs out.

If you really dont like the iphone, please ignore it.

I tried this phone out at my local Sprint Store today. It does in fact suck compared to an iPhone (and I’m a Sprint subscriber, even). It’s extremely laggy and lacks the interface polish that makes the Iphone such a pleasure to use. The interface is counterintuitive - I had a hard time finding even simple options that I could get into on the iPhone in seconds. And yes, the browser does in fact suck.

Even with Sprint’s EVDO network, the phone felt slower than a 1st gen iPhone. The Sprint employee who was hovering about when I was testing the phone was visibly embarrassed to admit that the Instinct does not support Outlook synchronization. That alone would be enough to kill the deal for me, but the rest of the Instinct’s flaws make the iPhone all that more appealing.

Iphone killer, not even close!

the iphone has a split second lag when you type keys, where as the instinct keeps up with the key touches right on, so your comment that its laggy is completely incorrect. Its the iphone that is laggy. I will agree the browser is not great.

LOL, spin it all you want. The Instinct with the older touchscreen technology like your ATM and Store debit card screen is the same. They only added a vibration mode and gave it a fancy name “haptic” screen. iPhone is a multi-touch screen that completely interacts with the OS itself, full system calls on it. Don’t forget the hardware accelerated Open GL/ES, blows away any graphics that will display on the Instinct. The app store will provide whatever gimmicky stuff the Instinct has now and the SDK is so rich, the apps coming from developers will be stuff that the Instinct will never be able to copy at the same level. Even the accelerometer on the Instinct is not used properly by the OS.

How is that wi-fi connection coming along?
What? None????

Also… Sprint service here in Michigan is awful!

No thanks, Sprint. Again.

The wifi connection is coming along with video recording on the iphone.

Oh yeah, the keyboard on the iPhone has some REAL intelligence built in. Unlike the other clones like this one. iPhone has a learning keyboard system, and tracks and learns your typing pattern to better improve your speed and accuracy.

I almost forgot to mention the display quality. On the iPhone, the display is extremely bright and clear and is so close to the glass it almost looks like paper. On the instinct, the display is set back within the phone behind the glass and looks like crap. You can see the gap between the exterior glass and the LCD itself.

It also helps that the glass screen has the same quality as your optical lenses. Diamond dust coating during manufacturing also helps prevent scratching, and what makes the glass so smooth when you use it. Thats why the battery is so efficient, light from the LCD easily penetrates through the layers and keeps it bright and clear.

yea, but the iphone also has a higher chance of being broken, the instinct is further back, but has more glass, making it harder to break than the iphone.

I bought the instinct the day before it’s launch to the public, and While the internet speed lags in standard mode, it flies in mobile mode. I can add my own favorites to my screen, so launching news, weather, t.v., or even who I text most can be put there for a quick response. I can play my music in the backround while texting someone, surfing, or playing games, it’s nice.
Sending videos and pics is a breeze, setting up my e-mail was easy, and learning to use the phone was even easier than any phone I’ve ever owned.
Best part is the voice to action button, I can say ” goto search” then say something like “walmart”, or “grocery store”, and all locations show up, with phone numbers, and directions, voice guided directions to all of them. I can say “call”, or “text” somebody on my contacts list and it does the according command flawless. Say “weather” or “News”, or “Sports” and all that shows up. Pretty much, I can tell my phone what I want and it responds flawless, Even “Send video to”, or “Send pic to” and bam, its done.
This phone, to me, was designed simple, not alot to figure out, thats what I wanted, that’s what I got. Calls are great, pictures outside are nice. You can fit the phone for right handed user or left handed user. Most anything done on this phone requires one touch, easy.
To anyone wanting a great phone, touch phone, and are sprint customers, why would you talk ianything…they’re not sprint, and this phone is fantastic. Try it, they give you 30 days to return it if you don’t like it, and a great price. I paid alot more for phones that do alot less, and I found a winner, maybe you will to, anyways, that my take.

Looks like everyone is saying the browser sucks. ( http://boogadget.com/why-samsung-instinct-sucks , http://gizmodo.com/5014419/samsung-instinct-full-review-verdict-best-sprint-phone-ever-best-samsung-phone-ever-too )

So it’s a nono for me as I browse on my phone a lot.

The reason I went with Sprint Instinct Touch screen phone is because UNLIMITED Text messaging is included. So with 2 lines, it saves a ton of money over EXPENSIVE AT&T ripoff plan.

Think about it, text messages take tiny amount of data but AT&T charges enormous amount of money for them because they can!

No they can’t. Go with Sprint Instinct.

You also get UNLIMITED TV channels (live and on-demand) and Radio and turn-by-turn voice GPS Navigation with real street names announced. And it also has a camcorder that iPhone 3G doesn’t! And it is perfect size and fits so well in your hands! The browser on iPhone is better however.

But over $30 per month EXTRA for text messaging for 2 lines on AT&T? That’s a ripoff right there! Not for me! And I can get my work push-email (Outlook/Exchange) for FREE with Sprint. Apple would charge $100 per year for the service. Those fees add-up quickly with iPhone 3G!

Bottom line:
============
iPhone 3G = Good; AT&T = Rip-off!

Go with Sprint Instinct if you live in major metropolitan area! Sprint has much better 3G coverage anyway but there is no wi-fi on Instinct phone.

Plan Comparison:
===============

Sprint Instinct:
—————
2 lines, 1500 minutes talk time, unlimited data, UNLIMITED text messaging, unlimited TV (live TV and on-demand channels), unlimited streaming radio, unlimited Turn-by-turn Voice command GPS Navigation with real street name announcement, push email from Outlook/Exchange: $129.99 per month

AT&T iPhone 3G:
—————
2 lines, 1400 minutes talk time, unlimited data, Unlimited text messaging ($30 EXTRA), no TV, AOL radio, Google maps with GPS, Mobile me email ($100 per year to Apple): $149.99 + $30 = $179.99 per month + ($100 per year for mobileme push email!)

This was a no brainer for me as much as I wanted iPhone 3G.

AT&T Pricing Source:
http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/news/comments/att-iphone-3g-plans-70-130-single-130-360-family/14614

THIS IS VERY TRUE! I have Sprint and I have not always been in love with the customer service, but I also have AT&T for home and DSL and THEY SUCK.

They raise the rates all the time and everyone knows AT&T has a crappy 3G network. The prices are too high just because they know people will pay it to be the latest trend whore to get an iphone.

iphone is cool for what it is, it’s not a smart phone. instinct is a cheaper iphone wannabe but the service is cheaper and the instinct wont be obsolete next year like the iphone. apple will come out with a new iphone and everyone who has the iphone 3g will feel like they have yesterdays news and feel forced to buy a new one to continue to impress his/her friends.

apple is the new microsoft only greedier, u will have to buy a new mac too to sync up with ur iphone, god forbid u have a older mac before apple became so TRENDY.

Just FYI: AT&T may be one name, but is really a bazillion companies all mooshed together. The home/DSL service (probably SBC) is not really the same company as the mobile (Cingular, nee BellSouth Mobility). No At&T lover, but it’s really not even the same company.

No one can touch Sprint’s plans, yet. But someday I suspect someone will perfect Wifi Mesh and VOIP (at the same time) and from then on a $100 one-time investment will get you far more than you pay a monthly fee for now. It could replace the phone company, the cable company, and your cellular company all at once, so it’ll probably be outlawed. Until then, the Instinct on Sprint is about the best deal you can get (and enjoy) on a sub-$100/mo phone budget.

I got my Instinct this weekend. In a matter of minutes, I had synched with my Outlook contacts, set up to receive my work (Exchange) email, and my personal (POP) email. The turn-by-turn nav took me on a few unfamiliar, but ultimately shorter, routes to regular destinations, and, to top it all off, on the family share plan (3 lines), we’re saving about $100/month!

Yeah, Instinct wins for me.

I tried the Instinct at the Sprint store. The fact that you have to flip the phone around for the keyboard, then back up seemed odd. The real non-starter for me was the lack of ActiveSync. You would have thought that Sprint/Samsung would have heard the yelps from the iPhone group when iPhone 1 showed up without it. Until they have that, I stick with the Treo 755. Still the fastest, best connection to Exchange.

The phone has a flip around for the keyboard, so you get much larger keys than the iphone. If you dont like the flip around, you can set it to be the regular way.

Well heres the best thing yet….i bought my first instinct 2 weeks ago and since then ive had to exchange it 3 times. It freezes all the time. the internet is horrible. there is no instant messaging and despite what people are saying there is nothing u can do about it. Believe me! this phone was one of my biggest mobile dissapointments! i do NOT in no way reccomend it for anyone who wants a good quality buy. stick with the iphone…
going to the sprint store tomorrow for my fourth one…maybe ill get lucky since i am no longer able to return it….

The iphone is slowwwwww. The Instinct is fast. I love watching YouTube quickly and easily on my Instinct. I like using AIM and not praying that it will be available someday down the road like the Iphone.

The Instinct doesn’t have Outlook sync b/c it is not made for the business class. It is made for the 16-30 yr old demographic. Most people over 30 want a cell phone they don’t want a gadget.

Bottom line is the Instinct has more features, more options with battery’s and headphones that the iphone doesn’t.
The price is better with the Instinct both in the cost of the phone and the plan that you get with Sprint. Who wants to pay an extra $20-30 a month for unlimited text messaging with AT&T. F that junk. They are making a killing off that and its BS.

phone wise i think the instinct is better. Web browsing wise, the iphone is just in a different class.

Who says business people over 30 don’t want or deserve the new, trendy gadget?? It’s common sense that any phone nowadays - especially with the technology that’s out there - should be able to sync the calendar and an unlimited amount of contacts onto the computer, as well as do all of the cool things the Instinct can. I’ve had mine a week. While loading my events into contacts, I only made it to October before the phone said “no more empty space”. That’s insane, when an outdated phone like my old Palm Treo 700 held years worth of data - and could sync to the computer!

I am also receiving the “no more empty space” error when attempting to add new events to my calendar. I’ve only had my phone 2wks! I spoke to a Sprint Rep and they said this issue isn’t on the list of “known issues”, so go figure. I have plenty of memory left in my phone and on my card. Seems that the calendar application is limited to it’s own memory that cannot be changed. What a terrible design!!
I really like the phone (other than the calendar issue). If they could resolve this issue I would keep the phone, but I need a functional calendar!

I’m very disappointed. Guess I’ll have to go with a blackberry even though a blackberry for me is overkill…*sigh*

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.

I have the iphone as well as the instinct. I have to say, there really is not much to compare. These phones both have their strengths and weaknesses in their own right.

The iphone is still ahead of the game when it comes to touch phones. The Instinct is the closest competitor, but still not the winner. I think the screen on the Instict should be upgraded to glass and the scrolling is a little choppier than the iphone. There truly is a lag in typing with both.

My opinion, which ever company is your provider, get that company’s phone. Either way, there will be an upgraded model before you know it, and all phones will still suck. The only thing that matters is, which one can you put up with for the longest.

Well, I have had the instinct for about two weeks and I’m a lil disappointed. I roam most of the time and hardly have a signal where I used to have six bars on my old sanyo flip phone. Text messaging can be quite frustrating as my small female fingers press multiple buttons at a time in both horizontal and verticle keyboard. Camera needs a lot of natural light to take quality pics. I do like the visual voicemail and the active voice search. Navigation is okay, only got lost once. The next touch from samsung should be pretty good. :-(

I have had the Instinct for a month now. At first, I absolutely loved it. Now, it is driving me insane. It constantly gets stuck, flips to different screens when you get call waiting, and it is so scratched that it is impossible to see it. Lastly, don’t even bother going outside with it, because you can’t see anything on the screen. I completely regret my purchase and can’t believe that I become a traitor to Apple.

Opinions are like assholes. Everyone has them, They smell like bad, And no one wants to hear them. That is my two sense on the whole “I hate anything not iphone” and ‘iphone sucks’ people. Get a life. A phone is a phone and the companies are out to make money. For everyone that has bought an iphone in 3 months you’ll have to buy a new one and shell out another couple hundred bucks to be hip, not ot mention hte old one just won’t work good becuase they have devoted all the time to the new one. ATT service sucks Period!!! this is a fact not opinion. now on the other hand Verizon and sprint are on the same network CDMA. right now the best out there for cellphones. The Instinct is a cool phone I compare it to the iphone. each are good in their own way. hopefully samsung will have made this to be software updated and not a “hey chump we made a new one come get ripped off for the sixth time in a year” type of deal phone. whatever. if that is the case then I am an idiot just like every Iphone user that has to have hte new one. Basicly we are all idiots for even trying to keep up with it and buying into all the new ways to make money in a fucked off economy. you are all chumps. Oh and please let me know that I offended you in any way. I am hoping I did. WAKE UP AND QUIT GETTING RIPPED OFF!!!!

I was wondering why no one had mentioned a palm product. I have a 755p and have played with the instinct and iphone and am amazed that people think they are so perfect. I think they are good offerings but not the end to anything. I even want palm to make a phone that’s all touchscreen and no keys. To anyone on either band wagon I say play with them all then pick the one you like and let everyone else do the same.

I personally think this phone is pretty good. I’m not saying it’s better the iphone, and i’m not saying the iphone is better than the instinct. Personally, I think anyone who says iphone is the best and bashes the instinct is completely wrong. The iphone doesn’t have gps, haptic feedback, video recording, the back isn’t removable, you can’t change the amount of memory, it doesn’t have live TV or radio, a landscape qwerty keyboard and the back of the phone gets so crapped up. Now to people who say the instinct is the best and crushes the iphone, you are also incorrect. The instinct does not not have as pretty web browsing area as the iphone, the iphone has a larger screen and better resolution, it has stock viewing capabilities and the iphone can hold more contacts.

I will probably end of getting the instinct. Where I live the sprint connection is perfect, so the phones never drop calls. Sprints data plan beats any service provider out there. My families current plan is 3 phones with unlimited everything except for voice calling is about 160 a month. Which is pretty cheap. Plus the qwerty keyboard on this phone attracts to me. PLUS, A STYLUS! I feel like a stylus should be placed with every touch screen phone. Many touch screen phones don’t put a stylus in the box, so you are forced to use you finger causing you to get icky fingerprints on your phone. So the stylus is a plus for me. The instinct also has the ability to change the amount of gb it can hold. I know the max at a time is 8gb, and the ipod goes to 16gb with no charge, but if you think about it, if you bought 3 8gb memory cards, that’s 24 gb. Of course you’d have to swap them all the time, but atleast you have the choice.

But all and all, it’s up to the person and the person lifestyles. So you can’t have extreme bias opinions. I will get the instinct because it fits my lifestyle, fills my need for a good phone, and it’s in a reasonable budget. The iphone and instinct are both great phones. They are very different even though sharing similar like qualities. So don’t shove your opinions down someones throat. Let the buyer make the decision according to their life. Not to yours or your specific preferences.

there is a product called Invisible Shield that applies to the screen and also the whole body of the instinct. it keeps everything from being scratched. it’s a great product and my screen is as pristine as when i first got it out of the box. this is a great phone, but with a few limitations. all phones have some limitations. if you can live with the limitations that the instinct has, then it’s your phone. it really does do everything i need.