Samsung takes another pass at the Instinct
You can usually rely on Samsung to drop a load of new phones every trade show, and CTIA 2009 is no exception. After announcing several new phones for AT&T and a WiMax-enabled device, Samsung on Tuesday evening unveiled a successor to the Samsung Instinct. The Instinct S30, which comes almost a year to the day after its predecessor, offers minimal feature and design upgrades. Be sure to check out our Samsung Instinct S3 photo gallery.
As you might expect, the Instinct S30 is all about the touch screen. The 3.2-inch display supports 262,000 colors and 432x240-pixel resolution. You'll recognize it from the original Instinct, along with the menu interface and virtual keyboard. Below the display are three touch controls for navigation while a camera lens sits on the rear face. The candy bar shape has a few more curves than its older sibling, and it's just the tiniest bit thinner, but it's about the same otherwise.
The new Instinct looks much like its predecessor.
(Credit: Samsung)Features include a 2-megapixel camera with video recording, voice commands and dialing, a full HTML browser, stereo Bluetooth, PC syncing, a personal organizer, a music player, a 600-contact phone book, GPS with Sprint Navigation, support for Sprint's Visual Voicemail, and a speakerphone. The S30 is compatible with Sprint's EV-DO Rev. 0 network, which means you'll get Sprint Power Vision content, the Sprint Music store, and Sprint TV. While 3G is great, we're miffed that the S3 isn't also EV-DO Rev. A like its predecessor.
Inside, the S30 offers instant messaging and Outlook calendar syncing out of the box. That means you won't have to add them later via an upgrade. The e-mail should be about the same, though we wouldn't mind seeing an interface upgrade or two. You'll be able to get POP3 and IMAP4 e-mail directly on the device.
Samsung also is promising that the S30 will be more open to developers, who will be able to access the core Java application programming interface. Available features will include messaging, multimedia, contacts, calendar, and Bluetooth. As part of the program, Sprint is creating an Application Developer Program.
The S30, aka the SPH-M810, will be available April 19 for $129 with a two-year contract. Like with the Instinct, you must choose a Sprint "Simply Everything" data plan, which start at $69 per month.
Update: The $99 Simply Everything plan includes unlimited voice, data and messaging, but it is not required for the Instinct S3. The lowest Simply Everything plan, which is $69 per month, includes unlimited data and messaging, but 450 anytime minutes.
On Sale Now:
$99.99
- $599.99
View the latest prices for Samsung Instinct S30 - cobalt metal (Sprint)
On Sale Now:
$99.99
View the latest prices for Samsung Instinct S30 - copper (Sprint)
Kent German is a senior editor for cell phone reviews at CNET. When he's not testing the newest handsets on the market, he's blogging about cell phone news for Crave. In his On Call column, he answers reader questions and gives his take on the rapidly changing mobile industry. E-mail Kent.
Although I think the numbers are skewed because I am on my 4th. They are plagued with problems. If you venture over to the BuzzAboutWireless forums set up by Sprint, you can read all about it. For instance, you can brick it just by installing and then removing Google Maps.
For the most part it's a very good phone. The majority of issues have been solved with the 5 updates so far, so at least Sprint is trying. While there are many things that annoy me with this phone, Live Search and the GPS are surprisingly good. I can go to Live Search, speak or type PIZZA, get a list of pizza places in my area, and if I don't know the location, I can hit directions and get switched over to the GPS and it will turn by turn guide me there.
The music player is horrible and buggy and the lack of WiFi lead me to purchase an iPod Touch. I love the iPod Touch, but AT&T just can't compete with Sprint's Simply Everything Plan. $99 and everything is unlimited... voice, data, text, gps, TV. That saves me at least $55 a month if I'd went with the iPhone. And having the iPod Touch with my Instinct pretty much gives me everything I could possibly want. The only downside is carrying around 2 devices instead of one, but the Touch being very thin and the Instinct not being that big, both fit easily in the front pockets of every pair of jeans and khakis I own.
The original developers contest was a complete FLOP! Sprint canceled it and no apps ever emerged. Of course an indie developer probably didn't feel like forking out $5,000 for a signed cert to access certain APIs. The first contest was a joke. We waited over a month after the contest ended before they had the balls to tell us that there were no winners and that no apps would be released.
Basically, what's in it for us to upgrade from the Instinct v1 to Instinct v2? If it's only minimal features and design changes, doesn't sound like it would be worth it. Surely those features could be and should be available for the original Instinct. Is it too much to ask for a an animated gif? Nothing more annoying than a static weather radar image. There are no smilies in text, although they are buried inside the OS, they just don't display.
Right now, I don't see any advantage over one phone or the other.
"The S30 is compatible with Sprint's EV-DO Rev. 0 network, which means you'll get Sprint Power Vision content, the Sprint Music store, and Sprint TV."
Wouldn't that be a downgrade from the original Instinct (M800) lol. It's on EV-DO Rev. A
-
by bennywhatever
April 1, 2009 1:30 PM PDT
- @pintos-n-cheese,
-
Like this
Reply to this comment
-
(8 Comments)The article left out info. You can put it on one of 5 everything plans. Individual: 450/69.99, 900/89.99, Unl./99.99.
Share Plans: 1500/129.99, 3000/169.99.
@poppyseth,
No, it does not support wifi (as of yet).
And if it has Rev 0 instead of Rev A, I'll be incredibly disappointed with Samsung in their downgrade.