By: www.mountainviewcellphones.com   6/28/2008

The Samsung Instinct is out and immediately OUT OF STOCK.  We get another large shipment in July, but until then, inventory will be spotty.  The great news is that this phone lives up to it’s promise and hype.  It’s not perfect but it does a great job in the things it’s designed to do well.

There are some great things about the phone that differentiate it from the IPHONE alternative. 

Price. 

The best thing about the phone is the value you get for the money.  With Sprint’s Simply Everything Plan, you can use this phone for all it can do without worrying about excessive costs.  For $99.99 per month, you are getting the Instinct at an unlimited everything level, saving over $780+ ($30/month x 48 months) versus an IPHONE purchase for similar features.  You get additional unlimited messaging and GPS and save money over the IPHONE.  In short, a great deal all around.

Speech to Action.

This voice recognition software is actually a lot better than previous attempts at voice recognition.  Not only can you put use voice recognition down to the application level, but you can actually execute functions that would require 2-4 enteries otherwise.  For example, if you like to text particular people, you can use the speech to action by saying “Go To Text, Jim, Mobile 1″ and it will pull up the screen with Jim’s number populated ready for you to type the message.  This saves the trouble of openning up texting, typing in Jim’s number or picking his contact, and then beginning the message.

Live Search + Navigation.

This, combined with Speech to Action above, makes for a very powerful mobile search that will be the standard protocol for future phones.  Using Live Search, you can find the nearest business/service close to you and then get information to quickly call, drive to, map, or send text with map information to someone else.  This truly brings a new level of convenience to LBS information search and sharing that information with friends and family.  As the live search is integrated with Sprint Navigation, you can press the car icon on the search result and it will begin to drive you to the destination (turn by turn directions). 

Visual Voicemail

Very similar to the IPHONE.  You can see what messages you have, playback, play certain messages you want to, and save messages.  It’s a very convenient tool and a new voicemail platform for Sprint in general.  I think we will see this as a going forward standard on many more Sprint phones in 2009 and beyond. 

Rich Web Experience.

The Web experience is very good.  The full HTML browser is a great improvement from Blackberry and Palm units.  It is much more of a true Internet experience.  With Sprint’s EVDO Rev A. network, in over 200+ major locations (vs. 50 or so with ATT 3G), you will get the best coverage for high speed access wherever you go with you Instinct. 

Rich Sound.

In addition to having streaming bluetooth, which the first IPHONE lacked, it has a great speaker phone, front facing.  This provides a little mood music or a better video experience from watching or playing music directly on the device without accessories. 

Haptics.

The Instinct has a setting to allow physical feedback for movement on the screen.  This is a great tool to confirm actions or movements on the screen.  You know when you have pressed a key because the unit gives a “micro-buzz.”  It also clicks a little when scrolling through menus so you can know how fast you are scrolling.  A great use for this novel technology that is beginning to be deployed as standard and will be much more prevalent into 2009 and 2010 in many more handsets.

Battery life.

The Instinct comes with two batteries and an extra charger.  The battery is removable, an invention that the IPHONE disdains but customers love.  The extra battery life provides an extra boost for when you need it.  You have a spare 5.75 hours of talk time. 

Flash Memory.

The Instinct uses a standard flash memory for it’s work horse memory.  8 GB is the limit currently.  This provides more flexibility to use your memory investment in many devices.  This is a standard technology so your investment in a 8 GB card can be used in your camera, another phone, or computer improving your value for the dollar for a sizable accessory.  Because it’s removable and portable, you can continue to expand your memory capacity buy buying more cards, a card for movies, a card for pictures, or a card for computer files. 

Synchronization.   

Currently, email and contacts can synchronize with Exchange and Outlook.  However, in a few months, Sprint will be getting synchronization of Calendar features added.  This will provide parity with IPHONE. 

This is a great phone for the money and the price of service.  Stability and good sound quality allow this device to behave like expected for a solid phone.   The rich features and Internet can provide the icing on the cake for a super buy.       

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