Hands-on with the Samsung Instinct - Sprint?s answer to the iPhone

Everyone wants needs an iPhone competitor. In a market flooded with notions that sleek and slim smartphones with a rock-solid and intuitive interfaces are the way to go, no carrier can afford to ignore the touchscreen craze that's sweeping the mobile space. And, Sprint has just announced their own attempt to woo the touchscreen crowd with the Samsung Instinct.

Sprint's Samsung Instinct wasn't available at Sprint nor Samsung's booth for some reason. I had to wait until an evening-event to get my hands on the Samsung Instinct, where Sprint had a handful of reps ready to showcase the new Sprint touchscreen handset.

Packed with a 2 megapixel camera, GPS, FM radio, EVDO Rev. A (the first Rev. A device on Sprint, according to the Sprint rep), 3-inch touchscreen (pressure-based and flush with the face of the device), and microSD card slot, the slim touchscreen offering from Samsung should help Sprint regain (or at least retain) some of its lost customer base. The Samsung Sprint measures a svelte 2.17 x 4.57 x 0.49 inches and tips the scales at a rather solid-feeling but still light 4.4 ounces.

The Samsung Instinct looks and feels much like the Samsung F700 Croix/U940 Glyde, without the sliding keyboard (of course) and without the award-winning Croix interface. The haptic feedback on the Samsung Instinct is the same pseudo-haptic feedback system that Samsung likes to use on their touchscreen handsets - the entire device vibrates with every touchscreen input. The vibration feedback novel at first, but then gets annoying quite quickly.

Overall, the pressure-based touchscreen was nice and firm - there was very little touchscreen "squish." The display's flush design helps to keep the Samsung Instinct's lines clean and smooth, and the LED backlit navigation buttons added a bit of flair to the device. As an iPhone competitor, this is probably as good as it's going to get for now (on Sprint). Capacitance touchscreen technology would have made the Samsung Instinct a little snazzier, and the UI could use some refinement. But in the end, if you want to get in on the full-body touchscreen craze, and you want to stay with Sprint, the Samsung Instinct is probably your best bet.

Booth reps said that the Samsung Instinct should be launching in June at a price point that is sure "to surprise" us all. I'd put money on the Sprint Samsung Instinct commanding a mid-$200 price tag with new contract.

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Related Articles at IntoMobile:

• Sprint's Samsung Ace gets reviewed
• CEBIT highlights: Samsung Ultra Smart F700
• Video: Shiny Shiny's Susi gets her hands on the Samsung G800
• Samsung prepping new iPhone rival - Samsung Croix?
• Samsung G810 announced yesterday, already reviewed

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Written by iPod News admin on April 2nd, 2008 with no comments.
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What Does An iPhone Shortage Mean?

It is now clear that there is an iPhone shortage, since AT&T has been busy clearing out their refurbished iPhone stock while Apple stores seem to run short of iPhones no matter which part of the country you’re in. Pundits and Apple fanboys will definitely think positively - is there a much needed iPhone refresh on the way? Chances are Steve Jobs will wait until this June or WWDC to announce a 3G iPhone, so September ought to be the month where you break the bank to pick up one of these newfangled iPhones. Just keep your fingers crossed that a 3G iPhone, when released, won’t experience a $200 price slash a couple of months after that.

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Written by iPod News admin on April 2nd, 2008 with no comments.
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A Third of iPhone Owners have a Second Phone

From what we can tell in the Silicon Valley, a good chunk of these dual-users are around here. I do see a lot of people with an iPhone (to show off) and a Blackberry (to get stuff done) and it is not surprising: despite what iPhone fans are saying, the virtual keyboard of the iPhone simply underperforms, and guess what, it does not get any better overtime.

That’s exactly what I said on January 9 2007: “In my opinion, the iPhone can win the hearts (and wallets) of users who wants a read-only smartphone”

Highlights (from valleywag)

• The most heavily used data function on the iPhone is reading (but not writing) email.
• 40 percent say the iPhone has trouble displaying some websites they want to visit.
• 50 percent of iPhones replaced conventional mobile phones, 40 percent replaced smartphones, and 10 percent replaced nothing.

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Written by iPod News admin on April 2nd, 2008 with no comments.
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Search Local Databases With Wayfinder

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Written by Edward Kirk on April 2nd, 2008 with no comments.
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iShield Mirror Case Turns iPhone Into A Mirror

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