Samsung Instinct Cell Phone Review - Intro
The Samsung Instinct is Sprint's newest iPhone competitor, and it brings a lot to the table. We found the large display and responsive touch screen were easy to use, and the interface sacrifices extra functions for ease of use, which isn't a bad thing at all. Email mavens will appreciate the Exchange support and the music and video software is good, but slow to load. There's also GPS on board, a good web browser and with Sprint's Simply Everything plan you'll be able to use it all without worrying about extra charges, for a price of course. So does all of this add up to an iPhone killer? Read the review to find out.
| Section |
The Good |
The Bad |
| Tour & Design |
Good selection of accessories and attractive design. |
A bit on the big side and heavier than average. |
| Audio Quality |
Sound received by the phone was just below average. |
Sound sent by the phone and side tone were below average. |
| Imaging |
Video quality is good and the interface is simple. |
Terrible still photo quality with poor resolution and color. |
| Making/Receiving Calls |
Nothing's particularly bad about making calls.
|
Of course nothing's particularly great either. |
| Messaging |
Exchange support for push email and a real email client. |
It took pretty long to create a new email. |
| Organizer |
The contacts and notes were decent. |
A pretty terrible calendar interface makes us cringe. |
| Multimedia |
The interface of both the video and music software is a step up over previous Sprint offerings.
|
Both video and music software were painfully slow to load. |
| Software |
The web browser is very good and the interface is intuitive and easily customized. |
Multiple crashes make us worry that the hardware isn't up to the challenge. |
| Battery Life |
Excellent music playback time and decent talk time. |
Pretty poor web browsing time, the screen is a killer. |
| Connectivity |
EVDO Rev A for the win |
No Wi-Fi support. |
| Hardware |
Large display and 3.5mm headphone jack. |
The virtual keyboard is just not good.
|
| Other Features |
GPS support a big plus. |
No push to talk support. |
| Value & Comparisons |
$130 is a very reasonable price for a phone with all the features of the Instinct. |
Some may not like to pay for the Simply Everything plan. |
