And you thought T-Mobile and Sprint were
sniffing the good stuff when they demanded
$350 for the HTC Touch Pro2. Shortly after
Instinct HD boxes
began showing up at select Sprint stores, the flagging carrier has finally come forward with an official ship date (9/27) and price. Try as we may, we still can't figure out why exactly "HD" is tacked on the end of this thing; the 480 x 320 display is decidedly average, it can't play back high-def content on the device itself, and the "HD" video output is a feature that approximately 3.8 Earthlings will ever use (on a phone like this, anyway). Compounding the problem is the remarkable lack of detail in the specifications -- Sprint simply swears that its 5 megapixel camera and video record mode are HD, but it fails to provide any elaboration whatsoever. Other specs include WiFi, EV-DO Rev A support, Opera Mobile 9.7, an ambient light sensor, haptic feedback and an accelerometer, but even those can't help justify the $249.99 (after a $100 mail-in rebate and a two-year agreement) asking price. Hey Sprint -- we thought you guys were
actually looking to
gain subscribers. Right?
posted September 24th 2009 10:32AM
negative, ghostrider.
I hope you're trolling.
negative, ghostWRITER.
Please don't confuse a classic TV show from the 90s with a crappy Nicholas Cage movie.
JC, are you ten?!? It's a quote from Top Gun.
"Negative, ghostRIDER."
please don't confuse your apparent love of 80s TV shows with actual, real knowledge of pop culture, r-tard.
I don't know, but are they trying to push everyone to buy the HTC Hero? It make no sense to me.
I wanted the TP2 for a long time, but I cant justify the sprint price, so ok, HTC Hero here i come.
I Think the HD stands for Huge Disappointment?
American cell customers are about the most uneducated, math impaired morons on the planet. Go price a phone on the AT&T or Verizon networks, great so you save $100 up front and pay $30 more per month. Good savings you idiot. Sprint and T-Mo will have you pay $250 up front and $30 less per month.
I question the education of every person who thinks Sprint and T-Mo charge too much for phones. I also have to call into question how much AT&T and Verizon are paying the Engadget staff to avoid reporting the TCO of this phone compared to the TCO of a phone on their networks.
Wtf. Are you kidding me? This isnt Aprint fools and it isnt funny! I waited 5 months for this? I passed up on a Pre at launch day to pay $249 for a dumbphone? Not only passing up on a Pre but the fact that this is $100 more expensive than a Pre right now? No wonder they didn't advertise this phone. They must be positioning this to make the Pre and Hero look like a good deal. Which makes no sense to actually compete with yourself while you're having to fend off $99 iphones... I've wanted this phone for a very long time but I dont know that I can justify that type of pricing.
The last thing that pisses me off is that due to an error at the warehouse processing a return of my previous(defective) handset I lost my eligibility in the system. So I have to buy thru telesales so they can do a manual override. Which means I also have to wait till Oct 11 to get this...if I really want it...F you Sprint. I'm a loyal 8 year long "premier" customer who is seriously tired of getting crapped on. Seems like no matter how patiently I try to be I get accidentally or in some instances($250 intentionally) crapped on by you guys.
Oh well, I might still buy this phone, I dont know if I can swallow my pride enough to do it. That or I might just buy a Pre, or take the $200 hit and buy a *F*ing iphone for NINTEY NINE DOLLARS.
Sprint, you SERIOUS? I mean, I still love you and all but this is ridiculous.
I like the Instinct, I thought it was pretty nice when I tried it, my partner has one, but $250 for those crappy specs? You've really got to be kidding me. I had a friend buy the HTC Touch Pro2 from Sprint yesterday, best phone ever, heck worth the money, but that's the TP2. Instinct "HD", hell no. Like Engadget, neither the screen size or resolution is "HD"-like, so what gives?
I'm going to like, get some nachos. Call me when you come back to your senses.
I dont see what the problem is, why get a good phone like a Palm Pre when you can buy this piece of shit? I would MUCH rather pay more for a crappy phone.
Well, they already screwed all the original Instinct owners.
Why not bend them over for round two....
i had an original instinct. oh how excited i was to get it, and oh how quickly disappointed i was. waited a whole year for updates that always seemed just on the horizon.
went with the palm pre and not looking back. which btw cost me only 80 dollars at best buy. who the hell would pay 250 for this (presumed historically) piece of garbage.
Wait, $250 human dollars?
Republican Credits perhaps?
"And you thought T-Mobile was sniffing the good stuff" seems like Sprint is sniffing and shooting up the premium stuff now
phone looks ugly too
*Waves hand across Sprint Employees face*
150 credits should be enough
Sprint,
If you wanna compete with other carriers who offer touchscreen phones, PRICE YOUR DAMN TOUCHSCREEN phones the same!!
Although the pricing will do more with what Samsung wants, rather than Sprint, still..why should I choose THIS over a $99 iphone 3G or a $199 Palm Pre??
Correction: $149 Palm Pre.
the sooner Tmobile buys them out, the better.
My thoughts exactly...
GUYS ITS OBVIOUSLY A PLOY TO KEEP CUSTOMERS
THE INSTINCT OS IS TERRIBLE! THEY ARE PRICING IT SO THAT SPRINT CUSTOMERS NEVER BUY IT AND AS A RESULT STAY WITH SPRINT!
they DONT WANT their customers to buy the instinct HD because they would LEAVE SPRINT on pure principle after using a Pre or iPhone in comparison! lol
save yourself from the terrible java based Faux-OS and get Pre (Pre FTW!)
Not sure if that was meant to be sarcastic, but it makes more sense than any other explanation :)
This is way too much unless you get a Monster HDMI cable in the box. Then it's cheaper than buying cables alone!
Still think this is a cool phone though.
u can get hdmi cables way cheaper than 50 dollars and anyone who pays for monster cables either has the money for them and want them or are terribly informed about hdmi cables
250 is NUTS.
250 of deez NUTS...
Should we be blaming Sprint or Samsung? Noticed how Samsung charges a price premium for most of their products now that they have established name recognition?
My thoughts exactly.
The HD stands for Highly Deceptive.
The fact is that you can slap the letters "HD" on the end of anything, it's not a trademarked phrase. I wish that there was an "HD consortium" or something to regulate that, but alas.
It reminds me of those stupid TV commercials for "Riddex" in which the announcer always said, "...with DIGITAL technology!!"
they lost their mind when they want $350 with 2 year contract on touc pro 2
I don't know what sprint is thinking. I would wrather pay 250 for the HTC HERO when it comes out than the Instinct HD. Funny thing is that the HTC HERO is only 179.99 and in my personal opinion i think it will be a better phone than the instinct. Although this is probably the best instinct yet. I'll stick with my pre.
Vote this guy up, please! For $50 less, you can get an actual smartphone with an actual OS. I mean, really? Plenty of apps, customizable, and a stunning UI? Pass that good stuff to the left, Sprint.
Correction $70 less for a Hero and $100 less for a Pre.
Not everyone thinks "Why get the Instinct HD when I can get ANDROID!?!?!!?" A lot of people bought and were happy with the Instinct. Samsung and Sprint are continuing the brand. People that are into technology enough to want smartphones and frequent blogs may see it's not the best value of most capable phone in Sprint's lineup, but for tons of Sprint customers, this is a new version of the phone they have and love with a familiar UI, meaning there's little to learn, with some new abilities to like Opera Mobile and the HD playback to warrant the switch.
The InstinctHD can playback and record 720P video on the device- hence its HD moniker. And given that it can do HDMI out without a dock vs. the ZuneHD with a dock- it's definitely noteworthy.
not necessarily because from what I read before is that the instructions say you can use an HDMI but there is only a standard charging port on the phone. Which would make me think you might actually need a dock as well for the HDMI capability. this is just an idea.
I've used the phone and I can assure you it outputs via a built in HDMI port.
Next time read the news release then comment, because it's in black and white on it "it allows photo and video playback on an HD capable auxiliary device but it does not provide HD playback directly on the handset" http://newsreleases.sprint.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=127149&p=irol-newsArticle_newsroom&ID=1335169&highlight=
@gmklay
I don't need to read the press release, I've been testing this phone for months. It still does playback of HD streams on the device (how else do you think it would output them over the HDMI connection?) the screen is just not HD resolution aka it's downsampling it. The point is the device has the processing power to handle HD streams which is exactly what I said- thus you don't need to reencode video.
Remember when it was a big deal that people found out the iPhone 3GS had the processing power to handle 720p/and some 1080p streams? Same thing.
engadget should update their post to show that Sprint still wants $450 - $100 MIR for their TP2... even T-Mobile's $350 OTD pricing is better (due to tax)
Oh, totally!
Except... the Zune HD is a dedicated media player with a gorgeous interface to handle media. People buy media players to play media. Have you ever tried playing media on an Instinct?
Soooo, since Samsung manufacturers the phone we thrash on Sprint for charging a stupid amount of money for it? I'd re-direct this angst at the maker not the carrier. Besides...it's gonna suck, just get a Pre or something and stop complaining about the price.
Do you struggle with math? Clearly Sprint's cheap phone plans come at the cost of higher upfront phone costs. I like that business plan because it save me money if I keep a phone for more than 2 years but I guess in a time of economic insanity - consumers want to back loaded debt!
The Pre is VERY competitively priced.
And you're absolutely in the minority, if you buy smartphones, and keep them for longer than 2 years.
Either Sprint's lost their mind, or they have finally realized that Instincts are wretched pieces of devil work born of Satan himself, and is somehow locked into a contract with Samsung that they can't get out of. Thus, to ensure that their customers' opinions of Sprint as a carrier aren't harmed by the horrendous phone, they are pricing it absurdly high so that anyone that walks into a Sprint Store wanting an Instinct HD will see the Pre at $149 and pick that one up instead.
I seriously think that Sprint must have signed a ball-busting contract with Samsung before the launch of the original Instinct that probably had a minimum device purchase for the Instinct that forced them to offer future generations of the device. Given that the Instinct was originally meant to be their iPhone-killer, it wouldn't surprise me if they signed a very stupid contract in panic. Now, they are in a bad situation, so they are trying to steer people away from the Instinct.
Now, the best way to prove that theory would be if the InstinctQ is magically cheaper than the Instinct HD. If that's the case, we know there's some bizarre backroom dealing going on.
Well i think because the Instinct Q has android that it will be priced at or below the HTC Hero (Unless it comes with internal memory of 8gb) ,Then they dont have to worry about the InstinctOS
Also has an HD radio and a market where you can buy HD content to output on the HD dock..
Instinct has none of this.
Wait now.. According to Sprint commercials, you will end up paying hundreds of dollars less over the life of that two year contract.. right? Why do people freak out about an extra $100 or so up front, if you end up saving a shit ton more then that overall?
I think our European friends are right... we are too addicted to that up front subsidy.
Uh... because the much cheaper, and much better, Palm Pre is on the same low-cost network?
Because the Pre is 100$ less.