Samsung Instinct HD pops up on Best Buy's website with 5 megapixel camera, TV out
By Ross Miller 
posted Aug 23rd 2009 11:42AM
posted Aug 23rd 2009 11:42AM
[Thanks, Benny L]
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I wouldn't mind seeing some divx and SCXC support mixed in there, but I know how this stuff is.
Sorry, "SDXC".
it's kind of hard to have sdxc support when the technology hasn't even come out yet.
The model name was tainted with the Instinct S30 actually being worse then the original and the Instinct line should become extinct.
You know I often wonder about posts like this. Have you actually tried both? Because I have. I know on specs pages the radio is Rev 0 instead of Rev A, as well as it didn't come with as many accessories. But I owned a S30 for a couple weeks and to me it totally felt like an upgrade from the first Instinct. For one the more contoured shape and lighter weight improved the feel of the phone, made it feel more on par with newer handsets. The radio speed difference isn't noticeable. But the main difference which was never discussed anywhere that made it feel like a TOTALLY different phone is the Touchscreens responsiveness. I loved my S30 and it fit me perfectly. My issue was its reception. I had major issues with reception at my office, which come to find out is like that on most new phones.
I'm not telling you the S30 was awesome while all reviews say it was suck. But I'm defending this phone saying there is nothing wrong with the S30, it IMO is a better phone than the original Instinct.
The S30 won me over and now I'm waiting for the Instinct HD to be my upgrade for the next year.
The S30 was a downgrade over the original Instinct... and as long as it continues to use that crapass Java Brew OS rushed and pieced together by Sprint... it's going to be a sucky ass phone. I don't care how much you say it won you over. I had the original Instinct from day one and it was the worst phone I have ever owned. The support from Sprint was absolutely pathetic. The only people who appeared to actually care about anything on the phone was SEVEN, the makers of the email app. The GPS was updated, then pulled within 2 days, with no update yet after 10 months. Pocket Express screwed you by updating their apps and sneaking in ads. WTF? There were a few people who did things for the Instinct like Killer Beagle, Dolphin and akiPika, but the truth of the matter was the Sprint app contest was an epic failure. There are very few actual 3rd party apps designed for the phone.
The m800 was rushed to market to beat the iPhone 3G and it completely shows. The phone was not ready to be released. The only thing that could save the Instinct would be dropping the Brew OS in favor of Android. Sprint's restrictions on the phone with certificates and the $5k price for a signed cert to access the APIs killed any hope of actually having decent apps for the phone. Android already had an app contest with winners before there was even an Android phone on the market. Google kicked it up a notch while Sprint and the Instinct kept sinking deeper and deeper into the pit of suck. Seriously, we are talking about a phone who's only solution to slow loading time of MP3s was to limit how many MP3s you could actually load. This is a phone that with each update removed LIVE TV and Radio stations.
The Instinct blows... which is why I gave Sprint the one finger salute and went to AT&T and the iPhone. I had been with Sprint for over 10 years but my time with the Instinct just pissed me off to no end, forcing me to leave.
@CBT
So did you try the S30 or are you just ranting at the original?
@Mark
Obviously CBT is ranting about the M800, and I agree word for word (except the go with ATT part. I stayed and got a Pre)
The S30 didn't improve on anything CBT was talking about.
What were your experiences with the S30 like?
Okay smart guy, you tell me how many of the TV and radio channels magically came back on your S30, or how your browser was touched by god and started rendering pages correctly and quicker even on a slower network. How about Pocket Express? Oh wait, they took that off of the S30. How about the wonderful instant messenger that sends you text messages? How about all those wonderful apps that started pouring in after the S30s Developer's Contest? And I'm sure your black screen with white text is much easier to read outside than my M800s black screen with white text. And isn't it nice that your S30s screen goes black on a phone call so you can save the battery life and not have to worry about accidentally muting yourself? Oh wait, it doesn't.
Spare me the defense of the phone. I've lived with it for over a year. The OS is a horrible design with an even more horrible execution by Sprint. The S30 did improve on the touchscreen, but that's about it. The Instinct OS and support is still shit.
I was a little harsh there. Truth is, the Instinct is a great *idea*. I loved the visual voicemail (when it worked). I loved how the address book, voice search and Telenav worked together. I loved the favorites page and the shortcuts for the contacts. I loved the voice dialing. I miss all those things on the Pre. What I don't miss is the laggy OS, not being able to see my screen outside, non html email, laggy onscreen keyboard that I constantly misspelled words on, maps disappearing in Telenav, a shitty browser (Opera is better, but still doesn't come close to a Webkit browser), being signed out of my email accounts because my password "changed" (i never changed them), and zero developer support.
Mark,
I was mainly talking about the m800, but I did play with the S30 and was not impressed at all. I saw many of the exact same flaws that existed with the m800, not to mention the specs were indeed weaker than the m800. What is so hard to understand about that? The only real change between the m800 and the s30 was the more rounded look. There's an old quote that applies here to the s30 - YOU CAN'T POLISH A TURD. The m800 got worse and worse with each update... to come out with a more rounded version of the phone doesn't change anything. It's still a shitty phone. I could go on a long diatribe about all the things wrong with the Instinct, but I can simply just point you to the BuzzAboutWireless forums and you can read about them all day long.
I'm amazed that Sprint is carrying on the Instinct name. Anyone who has used the m800 or s30 should be well aware by now how awful the phone truly is. I hope to all things holy that Samsung and Sprint did the right thing here and went with a completely new OS. The Sprint Dev Team are the most clueless lazy dimwits around. Those idiots could not beta test pop corn.
Sweet Greggo knows what I am talking about. He's been an active member over at BuzzAboutWireless.
@S30
Easy chief, I was asking you why it was so bad from your experiences. I don't have one since I live in the UK, didn't fancy it anyway and prefer Nokias.
I can see a lot of people using this to make crappy videos and post them on Facebook, YouTube etc.
I'd imagine that most of the videos on youtube are made using crappy cellphone cameras, and this thing has a halfway decent camera.
Looking at the BestBuy Mobile phone buyers guide... It says that it is 32gig... :)
Hmm... Maybe that is just its maximum capacity for the microSD card...
Finally more info. I'm getting bored waiting for this phone to finally be in my hands. :) C'mon soon plz.....
Soon we'll see Blackberry Storm HD, Whirlpool Dryer HD, Starbucks DoubleDecafHalfMochaAlmonddFrappachinoSwirlytop HD.....etc All thanks to Microsoft using "HD" to drum up interest on their joke of the industry Zune.
Sure, HD is WAY overused but marketing people have been tacking it on to their products for a while before Microsoft did it with the Zune
Have you seen those commercials for HD *sunglasses*? I bet marketing people were talking and one was like "Wait a second... do you realize REAL LIFE is in HD?" "Woah... that's deep man, lets call it that"
HD is green.
Bitch, I've seen adverts for HD LIPSTICK
Uhh, since when is this a smartphone?
Its not, its full featured dumb phone.
Yeah, that's what I was getting at. I'm not sure why the following states otherwise: "The 'Weekly Ad Specials' listing confirms that the smartphone really does handle HD video, both recording and playback, with a 5 megapixel camera and a TV out connection for sharing."
Sprint quickly removed SMARTPHONE from the description of the original Instinct and slyly called it a MULTIMEDIA PHONE. Which ironically, it even sucked at that ;)
Just a question is iPhone a smartphone?
@quakerface
no
Hve you tried Charmin HD, man it's wipes with such definition
What happened to all those Verizon phones that were supposed to appear today. Like the OMNIA and new Chocolate???????????????
Verizon still needs time to remove features and modify the software to charge you $1.00 everytime you press 1.
joaqdel: LOL. man that's so true. They'll cripple the hell out of this thing, as usual, ...just wait n see.
Does that look like some sort of camera on the front of the phone? VIDEO CONFERENCING? :D A man can dream. This looks like the instinct I would have bought if I didn't already have a pre. It looks very promising. Anyone notice that Sprint is getting lots of really nice phones lately?
Wait for the HERO or InstinctQ
don't forget the touch pro2
The TP2 looks really nice, except it is running WinMO. I don't mean to sound like a fanboy or anything, but jesus, way to ruin it HTC.
I like the fact that the Hero supposedly doesn't lag anymore, and apparently it gets good battery life. The thing is though, it is last-gen tech, about 40-80% slower than the iPhone or the Pre. By next spring we should start seeing Zii powered phones that are going to be faster even than these two, so the Hero becomes two generations old just months after release. I would buy the Pre, it really has an absolutely excellent OS, but it just feels too much like first generation hardware. The battery life sucks and the keyboard is too small(a keyboard has a wide aspect ratio, it should be in a landscape orientation the way god intended).
I would buy the Instinct Q in a heartbeat if it had a 600mhz or faster ARM Cortex A8. Otherwise, it suffers from the same problem as the Hero.
The Hero is, IMO, the best phone in terms of external hardware out today. It also has a UI that is easily as good as what Palm and Apple have put out. It just needs a little more oomph.
I hear it. I don't have an unlimited amount of money as some of the people on these message boards seemingly do so I can't afford to buy a new phone every time something slick comes out. I like the hero but I feel like the hardware specs are just one step behind. I guess I'll just wait and see what the next gen hardware can do before I get a new phone.
This looks like what the S30 should looked like. I hope to see some mayor improvements in the browser.its a nice addition the samsung apps store.
hmmmmmmmm so yeah about all those phones coming out on the 23rd? no info about them engadget?
Really okelys? i dont think i have ever heard of those. i think i'll just have to try them out while your horribly mispelled website tries to take all my money. oh and great screen name. very new age.
hopefully they will actually license activesync and stop using some outlook web access ripper.
Why would anyone even remotely consider this with the Hero coming in October....and as for the Hero's processor....who cares! It is easily as fast as the iphone and Pre. Speed has just as much to do with software as it does hardware, and the Hero will hold its on against any competing handset. Enough said.
Please tell me that the New SAmsung Instinct HD has a FLASH FOR THE CAMERA, PLEASE!! SOMEBODY PLEASE ANSWER THAT OR I AM TOTALLY WASTING MY TIME. HELP!
Yes, it has a flash! You're prayers are answered! Check out the video on youtube - just released.