Hands-on with Samsung's Instinct

Samsung and Sprint were keeping their cards close all day today but we finally had a chance to check out Samsung's Instinct up close and personal. The handset's look and feel is really top notch, materials, finish, and the oh-so-glossy -- but hard to shoot -- screen is sweet. Haptics for touch feedback are here as well, and aside from some strange behavior while scrolling, was a pretty useful feature for letting you know you'd actually done something -- it was most noticeable, and most useful when typing. Not a bad effort, look for this to hit Sprint in June. Follow the link to the gallery on Engadget Mobile.

[mymaclife @ Apr 2nd 2008 3:08AM]

Nice look to phone... now that reminds me of something else.

[Draaaainage! @ Apr 2nd 2008 3:22AM]

the LG Prada? Is that it?

[eugene @ Apr 2nd 2008 3:26AM]

Don't be snide. We all know the iPhone was the first touchscreen phone EVER. Even if there was another phone out on the market before. But that phone wasn't annointed with oil by the great prophet Steve Jobs, so it doesn't count. All praise be to Jobs!

[jake @ Apr 2nd 2008 3:55AM]

Actually that kind of glossy black finish, not quite to the edge screen, with flat touchpad buttons reminds me more of the original lg chocolate KG800:
http://chinese.engadget.com/2006/04/19/hands-on-lgs-chocolate-phone/

Only thing that reminds me of that other phone is that glossy black surronding bezel.

[Rowdehaj @ Apr 2nd 2008 4:00AM]

Shut up. Until other manufacturers figure out they need to make decent interfaces the iPhone will be the dominant touchscreen-phone on the market in my books.

[jake @ Apr 2nd 2008 4:16AM]

Sorry meant to be reply:
Just to showcase what I mean, I did a very quick chop:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/25319997@N08/2382502164/

Just chopped of some of the bottom parts of the lg so the screen size will be more similar.

[y3k.nik @ Apr 2nd 2008 6:54AM]

It does look like the chocolate, only running on OSX mobile.

(Please don't low rank me for saying it because I know we all thought it)

[mymaclife @ Apr 2nd 2008 9:35AM]

Who mentioned the Iphone? Those who replied suggesting it didn't look like one.

If the cap fits, wear it!

[retro77 @ Apr 2nd 2008 10:22AM]

Glad someone else is leading this fight.


I'll go along with the other sheep "Oh its such a nice phone" meh. grats [/sarcasm]

[B @ Apr 2nd 2008 4:05AM]

I've been using the Samsung F700, which is an early predecessor to this phone in so far as OS, GUI, Screen and Haptic Interface are concerned, for the last two months. Its really a solid performer. The scroll issues mentioned in the article are present in this earlier version as well and the 'Accept Incoming Call' and 'Hang Up' on-screen buttons can be a bit fidgety at times. But all around its a good phone. My concern with this new device would the virtual keyboard. The F700 has a slide-out physical keyboard and given the fidgety nature of buttons placed at the periphery of the screen. Hopefully they have resolved this issue. I have to say, I am really digging Samsung's latest designs.

[jake @ Apr 2nd 2008 4:15AM]

Just to showcase what I mean, I did a very quick chop:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/25319997@N08/2382502164/

Just chopped of some of the bottom parts of the lg so the screen size will be more similar.

[Argot @ Apr 2nd 2008 4:51AM]

Hmmm, for a while there the "it looks like the iPhone"-retards went away. But guess what. They're baaaack.
In theaters this summer: Return of the iPhone retards!
Critics are ecstatic: The RDF has never been stronger!

[Mog @ Apr 2nd 2008 5:09AM]

What? No Xohm?

Are we going to have to wait until NEXT June for a 4G Instinct?

June 2007: 2G iPhone
June 2008: 3G Instinct, probably 3G iPhone
June 2009: 4G Instinct, who knows what from Apple

[y3k.nik @ Apr 2nd 2008 6:56AM]

Maybe the 4G iPhone will play crysis while blending to its own doom(get it, doom).

[jakeDAsnake @ Apr 2nd 2008 7:25AM]

A wanna be iPhone. Who knew? Blah....

[jake @ Apr 2nd 2008 4:23AM]

Wow, nice first comment, jake! (sarcasm)

[BobTurbo @ Apr 2nd 2008 7:32AM]

Have you guys tried shooting it already?

[FRZ @ Apr 2nd 2008 8:36AM]

Where is the slide out keyboard?

[ThePremierAssassin @ Apr 2nd 2008 10:11AM]

That would make this phone a lot harder to ignore in favor of an iPhone for me.

From what I've seen and read it doesn't have one right?

[tim.disaster @ Apr 2nd 2008 8:57AM]

well the fact that it runs REV-A makes the 3-g iphone look stupid.

[Neeko @ Apr 2nd 2008 9:27AM]

I just watched a couple vids on Ytube for this phone and i have to say i am pretty impressed..I have a sprint Mogul but this phone has a lot of features that i wish my phone had.. It seems like sprint is gonna have a big hit with this phone. It didnt seem as speedy as the iphone but the fact it has 3G and haptic feedback are a plus the iphone cant match...EVDO rev.A KILLS KILLS EDGE hands down.. And having a working GPS feature looked really cool. The interface looked a little rushed and not has polished but i am sure after a month of being in the wild someone will hack it and well have custom interfaces... The only thing this phone is missing is WIFI which means no tethering...THAT SUX. About time Sprint gave us something to semi drool over..


AND SCREW YOU IPHONE WHORES.. whole just ignore everything else with a touchscreen..

[mike @ Apr 2nd 2008 9:42AM]

The only features I think really make the iphone special are visual voice mail and youtube. Thats it. stop debating already its tired. im tired

[mymaclife @ Apr 2nd 2008 9:51AM]

So why join a debate then?

[mike @ Apr 2nd 2008 10:51AM]

My first and last time. I bid you ihoes adieu!

[mymaclife @ Apr 2nd 2008 12:09PM]

That was your second time

[ThePremierAssassin @ Apr 2nd 2008 10:05AM]

Wow...I may actually have to stick with Sprint now.

Damnit Apple announce the iPhone 2.0 NOW so I can abandon ship.

And yes this is an iPhone lookalike. You elitist losers can keep going on and on about the Prada and the w/e that you claim the iPhone was based off of but the bottom line is that in terms of impact on the market, sales, hardware, and overall popularity the iPhone is IT and therefore WAS INNOVATIVE in that all companies are looking to see if they can replicate its success.

No one is saying to themselves..."Hmm lets look at the Prada and base a phone off it". NO ONE. They're looking at Apple and trying to see what they did right and how they can improve on it.

Keep in mind that I'm a 360 fanboys. I have an iPod and I love it to death but I hate Macs so I really don't have any loyalty or hatred towards Apple either way.

My only gripe with Apple is that AT&T won't give me a discount on any of their plans IF I buy the iPhone.

[melloncollie @ Apr 2nd 2008 11:38AM]

I see a lot more BlackBerry's than I do iPhones. I mean, the iPhone is "cool" but I could never really get anything done with it. In my mind, what's innovative is whatever allows me toa chieve what it is that I need to achieve in a much more streamlined and speedy way. Unfortunately the iPhone did not do that. As I see it, the iPhone is just a toy right now (albeit a pretty one).

[mymaclife @ Apr 2nd 2008 12:13PM]

As an iPhone user I seem to get all my business done with one, productivity is up. I assume by your summary of the product you don't use one.

BTW both of them have spell checkers, which should help to improve your productivity further!

[Michael @ Apr 2nd 2008 4:24PM]

You realize that the 2.0 firmware to be released in a couple months is going to allow the iPhone to communicate with Exchange servers right?

It will be interesting how well the iPhone penetrates the business sector once it becomes better at playing in that arena. Currently, it is somewhat hindered by its limitations.

On another note, what is to be made of the fact that some companies don't allow cameras in their employees phones? Will a cameraless iPhone be part of the June roll-out?

[Jeff Ivester @ Apr 2nd 2008 10:21AM]

Well I was going to say it, but so many others have already beat me to it that it would just be too redundant. Imitation is the best form of flattery.

[chris (trade2save) @ Apr 2nd 2008 12:11PM]

iPhone is a good act to follow. If anyone was going to take Apple on it would be Samsung. (they also sponsor my team Chelsea) One thing no one's mentioned is that it doesn't have wifi - this puts me off because even with 3G it's going to be a snail compared to the iPhone on wifi.

[Neeko @ Apr 2nd 2008 1:37PM]

I live in NY and work in NYC park ave.. And i have had a wifi capable phone for 2yrs now Sprint Mogul and ihave NEVER EVER been anywhere that i would use WIFI.... Now unless your a starbucks WHORE i dont see anyplace that i would be long enough to actually use WIFI service and iam def not paying for it...

Me personally i use my wifi (MOGUL)as a ADHOC so my ipod touch gets nice speedy 3G speeds.. i am not sure why sprint would leave out WIFI atleast for tethering..Especially since they now have these unlimited plans for DATA

[Michael @ Apr 2nd 2008 4:20PM]

Sprint has a little site set up at http://www.nowisgood.com that shows off the features of the Instinct.

Interesting bit of legalese at the bottom:

"Purchase of the Instinct requires activation on an Everything plan. Existing customers can switch to Everything plans without extending their contract. New line activations require a two-year agreement. Instinct requires an Everything plan for key features to function appropriately. Customers currently may not switch to a service plan for the Instinct other than an Everything plan. GPS reliability varies by environment. Coverage is not available everywhere. Offers not available in all markets/retail locations or for all networks. The Sprint Mobile Broadband Network reaches over 230 million people. The Nationwide Sprint Network reaches over 262 million people. Other restrictions apply."



Looks as if you better be ready to pony up $99/month to get one of these bad boys.

Wonder if one of the SERO plans with unlimited everything (except phone minutes) will be eligible later?

[haX0r @ Apr 2nd 2008 4:49PM]

I wrote this email to Sprint on 2/28 and it got to the CEO and then I got a call from the area local Manager telling me that my email made a big uproar in the company and that they had a company wide conference call.

This Samsung (already in the works) must have been the result in addition to the N810 from Nokia.


[Email]
Dear Sprint,

Please forward this email to your new CEO and have it read in front of your board members as I believe it directly relates to your current Stock trading today around $8.50 a share and the report this morning of your “Sprint posts big loss, stops dividend, New CEO says company in worse shape than he expected”, “Sprint posts $29 Billion dollar loss”. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080228/ap_on_hi_te/earns_sprint_nextel_4

This also relates to the techies that set trends by trying and buying the latest phones, which in turn, makes the other consumers follow suit. Mind you, I temporarily left Sprint for 3 days when the iPhone came out until it froze up on me and I had to switch back ASAP because of business reasons.

1. TYPES OF PHONES SPRINT CARRY

The business of cell phone carriers are changing. The “phone” will be the number one reason why people will choose your company and the “services” you provide will be your bread and butter. AT&T and Apple’s iPhone have proven this and set a precedence. Sprint, for now has the fastest internet network but the worst types of phones compared to AT&T, Verizon and even Helio (which built a cool phone that leases your network!?!?!?). “technology marketer Anup Murarka of Adobe noted that 77 percent of iPhone buyers have labeled themselves as "very satisfied" with their experience -- something he and the other panelists agreed was not attributable to carrier AT&T, but almost entirely to Apple, the phone's designer.”

Printing out this article from Wired.com (see below) and reading it at your next board meeting would be a good idea. Hire managers with TECH heavy experience within innovation and getting the Phone makers to produce the phones which are able to be released on your networks. This will save your company and make it become a leader and not a follower with low Stock prices. Please read this article: “The Untold Story: How the iPhone Blew Up the Wireless Industry” http://www.wired.com/gadgets/wireless/magazine/16-02/ff_iphone

Do you really want to save your company and start attracting new customers? Start SELLING smarter phones with the latest and greatest like this one by Sony Ericsson's XPERIA X1 QWERTY with Windows Mobile and HSUPA:
http://www.engadget.com/2008/02/10/sonyericsson-xperia-x1-qwerty-with-windows-mobile/

I plan on leaving Sprint again after being a loyal customer and my number one reason is not just the poor customer service, ( I enjoy your high speed network for my wireless card), it boils down to the lack of quality phones without a QWERTY keyboard, running windows mobile 6, Google’s Android and even the Linux platform. Sprint needs to be the innovator and bring over phones that are currently the latest rage, iPhone clones and iPhone killers. That is where both AT&T and Verizon are light years ahead of your company. It is great that you are now offering the "Simply Everything" plan for $99 a month but without the latest and greatest phones, your stocks will continue to plummet and the customers will leave in droves. My friends have horrible coverage, dropped calls with Verizon, but they also much more sophisticated phones with a lesser carrier in my opinion. The other day, my partner at work who just bought the Voyager, hates the fact that he has dropped calls at our office all the time. But when I was driving one day, I had him use my Sanyo M1 to text a message to a work associate, he said and I quote “No wonder no one sends me text messages, this takes forever to send a sentence” = and he can text pretty fast too.

Here are a list of phones that would put some competition back into your hands and bring some new customers into the fold (but your customer service wait times need to be worked on as well):

Android Handset: http://www.engadget.com/2008/02/28/android-gets-handled-now-with-street-view/

Garmin: http://www.engadget.com/tag/Garmin/

Samsung Google Branded Phone: http://www.engadget.com/2008/02/19/samsung-built-google-branded-android-phones-due-later-this-year/

Samsung’s Touchwiz: http://www.engadget.com/2008/02/15/samsungs-new-touchwiz-ui-gets-previewed-on-video/


Invest in getting these latest and greatest phones at Sprint (even it if means leasing networks from your competitors to get these new phones/trading/sharing your networks with them as well), focus on the “Services you provide like downloads and Sprint TV”, have the big makers develop new phones like the ones above and bust your butts to getting contracts for these types of phones, offer unlimited everything including internet for $69-99 dollars a month and watch your stock triple within 12-24 months and become a true innovator or leader in the industry.

2. CUSTOMER SERVICE

My customer service experience which my Girlfriend recently had (in her own words):
Recently Sprint changed its wireless card billing system. I pay my cell phone and wireless card online. When I went online to pay my wireless card bill, I was asked to call Sprint to obtain and/or set a pin number. When I called the customer service representative seemed confused as to why I was calling. Finally when I got him to understand what I was asking for….he said “oh you don’t have a pin number.” No kidding. He had my on hold for over 15 minutes to reset my pin. This call took over 30 minutes. After the call was over, I went online and guess what? He had reset my password and pin for my cell phone – why? So I called again and spoke to “Maria” who I went over and over with this situation because I STILL couldn’t pay my wireless card online. After another 40 minutes, she assured me that everything was reset. I got off the phone and got online again – now the issue was although I could get into the account online, there was no where online where I could pay it. I called Sprint again deciding to pay it over the phone. Well, that took another 3 separate phone numbers. A person who is busy like myself should not have to spend so much time trying to pay her online bill – AND deal with persons representing Sprint who were unknowledgeable at best. Once my contract is up, and if Sprint does not provide the quality phones that I am seeking containing Windows Mobile, Touch Screens with QWERTY keyboards, I am switching my service. Please note that I have had other billing problems with Sprint in the past, and when you ask to have it corrected – you are treated by the staff at Sprint like you are asking for something that you are not deserving???? It was ridiculous.

3. UNFOCUSED MARKETING

“Unfocused marketing and a difficulty in merging the two companies' work forces into a cohesive whole.” When I see your commercials with all these fancy lights using the new LG Rumor phone with a slide-out qwerty keyboard, it says to me the consumer, “Sprint is for kids texting I love you to each other – At the speed of light of course”. Get better phones developed for your network and focus on having the latest and greatest phones out there. Sell that with your unlimited package, streamline pricing so you can cut your customer service wait times regarding billing (which will cut your CSR costs) and sell your wireless cards and promote the Sprint extras. Get rid of the crap phones you carry because those won’t draw half the customers compared to the Four phones I have shown you above. And, please hire a better marketing company that uses Humor to sell your product while showcasing your new phones. Your commercials are boring and do not demonstrate the real value behind Sprint: Your new 4G higher speed wireless network using WiMAX technology. It will allow customers to access cable broadband like speeds wirelessly. I don’t even work for your company but know more about what Sprint has to offer than your customer service reps or tech departments!

When the HD WideScreen Sony Ericsson XPERIA X1 phone with a slide out qwerty keyboard, running the WinMo 6.0 OS comes out, I will probably cancel my account with Sprint and leave you unless you carry this phone. And then I will download www.skyfire.com beta web browser to surf the internet with a better browser than even Apple has on their iPhone. DEFINITELY contact this company and get this browser preinstalled on ALL of your phones. The skyfire browser is built partially off of the Mozilla browser and can read ALL types of web pages which WinMo’s mobile Explorer and Apple’s Safari’s browsers can’t at this time (and I am betting that SkyFire will be able to download all of the plugins developed for Mozilla for use on a cell phone).


A little background on me, I work in the mortgage industry and formed a niche company last year for commercial mortgages while most Brokers were going out of business because of the 231 lenders have gone out of business since late 2006. And we are expanding too. Since April 2007, when we formed Placer Funding through December 2007, our two person office has generated over $40MM in revenue, without any advertising. We are using technology and have used ‘off the shelf software’ to streamline our programs and workflow light years ahead of anyone else in our industry and this has made us a leader in finding placement for Hard to Place Commercial Mortgages. So we must be doing something right!


I hope that you take heed in your customers desires and change your business model, otherwise, your company will either go under or get gobbled up by the competitors because Sprint is a global Tier 1 Internet carrier, and, as such, makes up a large portion of the Internet backbone. Verizon bought UUNET which at one point, was part of the MCI internet group. If someone such as myself, with no telecommunication management experience can figure out what your problems are and I don’t even work in the telecommunications industry, then your management and leadership from the Top Down must make the proper decisions and try not to DICTATE what phones your customers want. We (the customers) now dictate to the carriers what phones we want – and that means switching carriers, even if we have to give up certain benefits like your high speed internet access, which is starting to look less and less attractive when you consider every Starbucks has a WiFi spot set up for internet access, which makes your high speed network, obsolete.

[LoTekJunky @ Apr 2nd 2008 5:12PM]

That's some email. I agree with most of it... good job.

[Zabien @ Apr 2nd 2008 4:59PM]

is it me or is this phone very similar physically and feature wise to my lg voyager?

[Pete @ Apr 2nd 2008 6:45PM]

Looks interesting. Will there be 3rd party applications for it ?

[Xiao4 @ Apr 2nd 2008 10:11PM]

why u never call a samsung's iphone clone a iphone clone?
clone is a way to learn right?
keep it easy for some small factorys in china,ok?
Let's try a bit harder, samsung!

[Gaines @ Apr 3rd 2008 12:09PM]

Looks promising, although it seems Sprint is requiring a change of plan to the $100/month "everything" to buy one of these.
http://www.MySprintInstinct.com

[MobileGuru @ Apr 3rd 2008 7:20PM]

Who are you guys kidding with your "iPhone was the first marketing hit" and "iPhone is the first phone everyone wants to copy" nonsense. Were you guys born yesterday (or rather, June '07)? Please. It's amazing how ignorant people can be when it comes to comparing products to Apple's. Does anyone remember the Moto RAZR? The first truly slim phone that spawned a wave of copy cats? Or the first phone with an external display... again that spawned a wave of copy cats? Apple isn't as innovative as you make them seem. They just have great marketing, and package existing features in "pretty" ways. They only add perhaps one or two cool new touches, and that's what grabs everyone. But try to be a little more objective in your evaluations and give credit where credit is due. Yes, the iPhone has the best overall touchscreen out there, but it could still use a few improvements from other sources (like haptics). And no, don't go claiming visual voice mail is an first from Apple/iPhone... it was the first to market it. The application from 3rd parties for smartphones like Palm and WinMo already existed before iPhone came along.

[Xiao4 @ Apr 11th 2008 2:08PM]

errrr.....i think u are talking about engadget's comparing between some Chinese cellphone(m8?) and iphone,but not Samsung's iphone clone and iphone...

[donaskdonttell @ Jun 20th 2008 3:11PM]

http://www.mobilewhack.com/top-ten-list-of-iphone-competitors/