Steve Says

First things first.

This is not an iPhone.

It's not supposed to be an iPhone.

It's not offered by the same carrier that offers iPhone.

But undoubtedly the comparison will be drawn.

Perhaps it's because of the familiar looking sleek design, the virtual keyboard or the touch screen. Or maybe it's because in their own on-line marketing Sprint compares their new Samsung Instinct to the iPhone in a round-by-round battle worthy of "Golden Gloves" branding. I'll be honest I don't think that anything can be the iPhone- not necessarily because of functionality, but because of the P.R. buzz and pop-culture craze that it has created. The good news is, Samsung's new Instinct phone offered exclusively on the Sprint network, doesn't need to be the iPhone. It does just fine on its own.

It is a shame thought Instinct didn't come first. Had it, you'd be a lot more amazed by what Instinct does. But now that virtual touch screens, bottomless handsets and sleek designs are "so June 2007" what is truly a beautiful product seems to have a little less sparkle.

Once you're past the familiar design of Instinct, one of the first things you'll notice is the responsive handset which "buzzes" as you navigate your way through it. Icons entering and exiting the screen are not as smooth looking as that "other" phone- but lets not crucify the Instinct for being itself. Had this looked too much like the iPhone, you'd see a rash of reviews pointing fingers at Samsung for not being able to create a product of their own. So in order to avoid inciting any sort of school-yard "Red Rover" antics. I'll stick to what I felt Instinct did well and where it needed improvement.

To be honest I'm not a high-tech guy. I'm just a regular guy who likes a regular phone that can do a few tricks and is cool enough to assist me in striking up some cocktail conversation when I take it out of my pocket and people ask "what's that?" I want to look at my phone and find out what time a movie starts. I want to be able to send a photo of the new sofa I'm considering buying to a friend as I look at it in the store. (It's the last one and I have to make a decision right now). I want to be able to find my way to a destination.

All things that Instinct allows me to do.

That said, the slight difference in screen resolution between Instinct and iPhone doesn't make a big difference to me. I would have liked Instinct's screen to have been a bit wider- things seemed a little crammed (especially for my big fingers) when typing on the virtual keyboard. I missed the responsive way iPhone changes images from portrait to landscape when you turn the device. For this product that is supposed to "Instinctually" know my next move, it was noticeably absent.

A dropped call when field testing the Instinct was more likely the Sprint network than the hardware. Sound quality was good otherwise.

Where Instinct excelled is in in the turn by turn GPS navigation (something you will not get on iPhone). It certainly holds its own against any on board navigation system (and is in a much nicer package). The directions and functionality were excellent. It also has a handwriting recognition function which was pretty cool to toy around with (although less responsive than my first Palm Pilot- no "special" character shapes required here).

Instinct also allow users to send and receive photo messages without having to access an e-mail server or website. A major plus for this user.

The one place where I felt the (clearly faster-than-CURRENT-iPhone) web browsing system fell short, was in the scrolling function. Often when I would touch the screen to scroll up or down I would accidentally activate a link and be sent to an entirely new website before I realized what was going on.

Overall this is one pretty packaged piece of technology who's biggest fault is going to be that it wasn't "first". Had it been first, and had it been accompanied by the 'you-can't buy-that-kind-of" buzz that iPhone comes with- I think you'd see people more amazed.

The bottom line is that while people may not be leaving the "apple of their eye" behind for this one, that probably has a lot more to do with status and a lot less to do with performance. Stack Instinct up next to the first generation iPhone and you will find that while it can't anticipate my next move, Instinct has enough plusses to balance out anything that may be missing.

One MAJOR plus? Total cost of ownership! Instinct is far less expensive at $130 for the device and $99 for the unlimited usage plan- (which you will need in order for the visual voicemail function to work properly). In short, if you love the carrier- SPRINT to the nearest store and pick up this pretty cool phone.

More from the manufacturer when you visit http://www.samsunginstinct.com/