Samsung Instinct gets its first firmware update: too little, too late

Quite a few Instinct owners were giving Samsung / Sprint one option: crank out a firmware update to show that they cared before the 30-day test period expired, or deal with all that messy RMA paperwork. Unfortunately for the aforesaid firms, the handset's first update is coming ten days after that date (at least for the earliest of adopters), and initial reports suggest that glaring problems still exist. Some users are suggesting that Sprint TV is less pixelated than before and that overall snappiness is improved, but the patently awful browser still remains at 1.0 (and thus just as awful). Look, when the change that gets most people jazzed is the battery meter's newfound ability to hit 100% (and not just 90% as in the past), something is seriously wrong. Anyone else find any nuggets of goodness in the new update?

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Update: A bigger, more life-changing update looks to be planned -- hang tight, Instinct owners!

[someone @ Jul 30th 2008 2:34PM]

OK, when the iPhone had issues, there were over 200 comments on it. Let us see if the Instinct can indeed compete...

[Eric @ Jul 30th 2008 2:54PM]

don't be stupid.

[Luddy @ Jul 30th 2008 4:03PM]

@Brad maybe it is true in his area but all the Sprint stores in my area are claiming they can't get enough of these phones, and have had WAY fewer returns than any other phone. As a matter of fact I went in yesterday to purchase another phone for my father and while I was waiting in line I saw no less than 4 people ask for the phone, all in a span of fifteen minutes. When I bought my instinct a couple of weeks ago they told me it was the last one in stock till their next shipment came in.

[fred @ Jul 30th 2008 4:41PM]

@Brad

"Engadget authors seem to really despise this phone"

I suppose it is mostly because Sprint made such a big ad push with it, part of which involved going directly against that other phone which Engadget is so fond of. They seem to take companies efforts to make a name for their devices that compete against an Apple one very personally to the point where they actively try to smear it at every opportunity.

Likely it ticked off the same folks that lost their $hit over the Mojave video yesterday.

[Pochi @ Jul 30th 2008 2:34PM]

Hold on... the battery only reached 90%?

I don't get it... do they not have a quality assurance department? Or did nobody AT ALL touch the phone before it shipped?

[Anthony @ Jul 30th 2008 2:41PM]

They relied on Instinct to tell them the phone worked properly, not Touch.

[Evan @ Jul 30th 2008 2:44PM]

oh har har.

[who? @ Jul 30th 2008 2:49PM]

Wait, you get a high rank for ripping on the Instinct or the Jesus phone (iPhone)? Are there any touch screen cell phones that Engadget's commenters actually like?

[Adrian Williams @ Jul 30th 2008 3:01PM]

@ Who
I was thinking he was talking about the HTC Touch and not the iPhone

[Jeff @ Jul 30th 2008 3:15PM]

@who?

i seriously hope you'll get severely low ranked for calling it "the Jesus Phone"

...but i fear that won't be the case.

really - that's tired, and wasn't ever really clever to begin with.

[Dale @ Jul 30th 2008 3:33PM]

@who?: This one is highly ranked...

http://www.buffalocommons.org/docs/smenu2/images2/crank_telephone.jpg

Other than that, they would rather hate than congratulate.

[John Doe @ Jul 30th 2008 3:49PM]

i tried one of these yesterday...it was awesome
mobile tv worked smoothly and videos were crisp and sound was clear
gps worked fine too

the only thing i didnt like was the keyboard...could type well on it but had a hard time using the backspace...weird

[Pochi @ Jul 30th 2008 7:33PM]

@who?

If you were going to write "iPhone" in parentheses anyway, why ALSO write Jesus Phone?

I dislike you.

[phanbouy @ Jul 30th 2008 2:35PM]

if you give a shit about watching TV on your phone you need to take up mountain biking or skeet shooting or basket weaving or mitten knitting or juggling or...

[someone @ Jul 30th 2008 2:41PM]

iPhone promoting? Apple fanboyism? Microsoft loving?


I'll go with coin collecting... got a head start.

[SneAKz @ Jul 30th 2008 2:43PM]

Skeet shooting. I'm pro at that sport!

[Daniel Steinberg @ Jul 30th 2008 2:44PM]

Haha - I looked quickly at your post and thought you said "kitten juggling"

[Lowest Ranked @ Jul 30th 2008 2:49PM]

But I could be watching the game while I'm mountain biking or skeet shooting or basket weaving or mitten knitting or juggling or...

[DeoWulf @ Jul 30th 2008 2:59PM]

Better yet, try them all at the same time.

[NHAnimator @ Jul 30th 2008 3:07PM]

Kitten juggling? Cool!

Oh, wait. Sorry. Misread.

[imacmatt09 @ Jul 30th 2008 3:08PM]

@SneAKz

That's what I said... to her. :p

[Stevo @ Jul 30th 2008 3:10PM]

...Engadget posting....all day

[Guybrush @ Jul 30th 2008 3:16PM]

A Shaken Can of Root Beer, FTW!

[Wayne Schulz @ Jul 30th 2008 2:35PM]

Don't forget they were rushing to get this out the door to beat the iPhone launch. That's probably where there were so many uncorrected issues.

Not to say that the iPhone doesn't have similar problems.

[thatrotierkid @ Jul 30th 2008 2:58PM]

plus all you get from the hooker is herpes

[Eric @ Jul 30th 2008 2:59PM]

why would you do it that way? being seen in public with an iPhone makes the ladies jump all over you. fo' free. everyone knows this. 0.o

[thatrotierkid @ Jul 30th 2008 3:03PM]

wow engadget deleted that kids post, now mine makes no sense

[Seth Porter @ Jul 30th 2008 3:19PM]

@eric
I'm pretty sure that having an iphone doesn't make the ladies jump all over you. They might express curiosity about the phone, but it sure as hell ain't going to get you laid.

[helloUser @ Jul 30th 2008 3:21PM]

they deleted it because they cant take analogies from commentators.

[Adam @ Jul 30th 2008 4:19PM]

Introducing the new "Instinct" by Samsung...

(Also brought to you in part by those same witty engineers who brought you Vista).

Yeah, yeah, I know, different companies... just go with it though, eh?

And now for the cheezy coin phrase "I think I'll trust my Instinct and not buy one".

Actually - Holidng out for an HTC Diamond Pro for Sprint. The Diamond has gotten really sweet reviews as a pretty rock solid phone and serious competitor to iPhone functionality, but also great business apps ability like a good crackberry.

Adam

[daaper @ Jul 30th 2008 4:22PM]

oh, I thought you were just being meta. I was trying to figure out how a hooker with herpes could possible relate. Thanks for clearing that up and freeing my mind...

[UnixSystemsEngineer @ Jul 30th 2008 5:46PM]

Wayne, yeah, that probably explains why both the Instinct and the crappy iPhone 2.0 software are so buggy. They were racing each other to release first, and instead it just ended up being a race to see who could churn out the least bad software.

[iEye @ Jul 30th 2008 2:37PM]

well at least the plastic back is not cracking +1

[Drew @ Jul 30th 2008 2:42PM]

Yeah because these issues are not more important than the backing. The Instinct could be wrapped in the best material in the world and given away for free and I still wouldn't take it.

[John Doe @ Jul 30th 2008 6:36PM]

yeah...u could use the cracking back cover as it could probably result in a user replaceable battery of the phone

[totoro @ Jul 30th 2008 2:42PM]

This is the first story I've seen that indicated there were issues with the Instinct launch. Any links to other stories about the problems?

[Jeff @ Jul 30th 2008 3:18PM]

http://www.engadget.com/2008/07/11/is-your-samsung-instinct-working-alright/

google.

[totoro @ Jul 30th 2008 3:29PM]

thanks, Jeff! That link looks like its mostly data update issues with weather and email-what about the keyboard stuff, sprint TV video, tilt scrolling,battery indicator etc. that users on that Samsung forum seem to be having/expecting fixes for? Just curious why they haven't been more vocal, given the Instinct is apparently Sprint's best.

[Wonderkid @ Jul 30th 2008 2:46PM]

America really does get the worst phones. I have played extensively with the Samsung 490 ('Instinct' in the USA) and Samsung 480 ('Toco' here in the UK). The Toco is not only smaller and almost perfectly formed, but a) Faster b) More usable c) Great fun d) Has an excellent camera interface e) More versatile. Why on Earth is the Instinct even for sale? It is sluggish and pales in comparison to the Toco and iPhone from just about all angles - except the TV, which is pointless anyway as you may as well stream video over WiFi or HSDPA from anywhere in the world or watch clips on YouTube! Why why why? Who makes the buying decisions at operators? Don't they sit for hours testing phones before they take them on? I just don't get it because returns will cost them money. A silent customer is (often) a happy customer! (Toco is a top seller at the British Phones4U outlet. People are apparently buying it after making a feature comarison with the iPhone, that itself has failed to understand it's European market - we Europeans like to photograph our mates getting plastered, and that requires a decent camera - with a lamp or flash for those dark bar scenes. Toco delivers. (I'm in business and thinking Nokia E71, but if I was younger, a Toco would be nice. It's only real negative is the touch screen typing - there is no on screen QWERTY keyboard.)

[pokey @ Jul 30th 2008 3:15PM]

Before someone thinks it's just a Samsung thing: There are piles of decent S60 flips out there and AT&T had to choose the N75 to stock.

[Joshua @ Jul 30th 2008 3:06PM]

First, the Instinct it the M800. The F490 is the European Version and there are slight differences. Second, the Instinct does have an on-screen Qwerty keyboard...+1 over the Toco F480.

The 480 is a nice phone, don't get me wrong, but you are comparing a UK phone to another UK phone in your post. The US phone is a little nicer. And of course we all know the US always gets better phones slower than anyone else in the world. Even the Jesus phone is junk compared to some of the stuff available everywhere else. Hell, it is basically junk here too (just my personal opinion, no need to start a fight over it).

[William @ Jul 30th 2008 5:02PM]

we here in the USA do not base our buying needs on our ability to photograph our idiot drunk friends. I had a 490 and it was a clunky pile of crap. Say what you want as you are entitled to your own opinion but at least make it an educated comment...

[Bill @ Jul 30th 2008 2:58PM]

I have not yet seen one touch phone competitor that even comes close to the iPhone. I've tried the Instinct, Dare, Voyager, etc. and they all suck. The Dare gets closer than the others, but is still a long way off from the responsiveness, fluidity, and UI consistency of the iPhone.

[Sean M. @ Jul 30th 2008 3:08PM]

If the iPhone has 0 issues and fulfills your every phone dream, why look at/compare with other phones.

I have a Ford. It moves my family around great. No complaints. I could give two squats what some other guys Toyota can or can't do. That's an over simplified statement, but seriously. I'm happy that every iPhone user LOVES their iPhone. Seriously, that is great. But why must every conversation about every other phone in the world be iPhone related?

For the love of all that is good and right in the world, just sit back and watch everyone crash instead of commenting on every post that doesn't herald the iPhone as the second coming (which, at engadget, every 3rd posts re-affirms the iPhone as a savior to humanity, so you'll still get to comment).

[Bill @ Jul 30th 2008 3:22PM]

"why must every conversation about every other phone in the world be iPhone related"

Well, um, because the Samsung Instinct is a clear attempt at competing with the iPhone? So yes this phone deserves to be compared. I agree the iPhone fanboyism is out of control, but in this case I'm commenting on phones that clearly compete with the iPhone, not some Nokia or Motorolla. And I JUST got the iPhone on Monday, after agonizing for a year about having to leave Verizon to get one, and hoping that a competitor would come along that allowed me to stay on Verizon and still enjoy a good touch phone. Many "clones" came along, and I gave each a fair try in store, and left frustrated every time. So I think I earned a right to comment, thank you.

[Anthony @ Jul 30th 2008 3:22PM]

I think comparisons are warranted. The iPhone was a game changin device. Yes, others had touch screens but the iPhone moved it into the masses &, like all Apple products, they were able to take something, refine it & have it be part of the zeitgeist. I commend them on that. Doesn't mean I own one. Just being honest.

[bjsguess @ Jul 30th 2008 5:48PM]

I'll take my Touch any day of the week over an iPhone.

[Sean M. @ Jul 30th 2008 4:28PM]

@bill - I understand the touch screen phones invite the comparison, fair enough. I guess I over-reacted to the words 'iPhone'. I primarily get riled up because (and I'm not saying the Instinct is a great phone), it's just that iPhone doesn't seem like the holy-grail to me. No copy-paste, no MMS, a life-cycle of 1 year, no replacable battery, now we hear cracked cases, activation issues, strict 3rd party app rules, etc..., yet you still rate all other touch-screens as 'suck'.

I'll give you that it's a great user interface, no question. My wife has the iPod Touch...and it is slick. But as phone's go, Apple simply put a little spin on it to the point that most people, and I'm happy to exclude you from this list, lash at any other phone simply because it doesn't start with 'iPho...'.

I want my star-tac back...

[Darrin @ Jul 30th 2008 3:03PM]

Should I buy this phone? Have a 8830 Blackberry was either gonna go with the Curve or This. I also may wait for the bold to come out in september im just scared that becuase it's sprint, ill have to wait a lot longer.

[Mike @ Jul 31st 2008 2:02PM]

HTC is releasing the touch diamond. Hopefully that will be a lot better than the instinct. P.S. I recently purchased an iphone.