Samsung Instinct Cell Phone Review - Messaging

We were very happy to see a real email client on the Instinct, none of this web-based junk that we see on so many other devices. Push email fans will like the ability to plug into an Exchange server and get emails instantly, but will probably find the limited array of options in the email client limiting compared to a BlackBerry or Windows Mobile device.

Supported Email Services (8.0)
One of the Samsung Instinct's key features is the full email client included on the device. This is in contrast to most non-smartphones which use only web based email or a java application. The key difference is that the Instinct's email client allows you to view downloaded messages and compose new ones even when there is not a data connection available. The Instinct supports many popular email services including AOL, Hotmail, Yahoo and Gmail, with the ability to set these services up with just your username and password. It also supports any POP3 or IMAP4 enabled email account. This makes its email client as powerful as those found on many smart phones like the Palm Centro.

Push Email (1.5)
The Samsung Instinct also supports push email via Microsoft Exchange Server. In order to access your Exchange server and receive push email, which means email arrives on your device as soon as it's on the server, you'll need to have Outlook Web Access to your Exchange service. This is slightly different than devices that plug directly into an Exchange Server like many Windows Mobile phones. As such we are awarding half points for this support, as some users won't have Outlook Web Access enabled on their exchange server.

Multiple Email Accounts (10.0)
The Samsung Instinct supports at least five email accounts, which is the maximum we test for. This is an important feature for those who need to be able to check multiple accounts on their mobile device.

HTML and Attachments (1.0)
The Samsung Instinct does not support viewing HTML email, such emails will instead be rendered in plain text. The only one of our test attachments the Instinct was able to view was our Word document. You can save any attachment to your memory card.

Email Customizations (0.0)
The Samsung Instinct's email program doesn't offer users any customization options like adding signatures to outgoing emails or changing the font type or size of emails viewed or composed.

Time to a New Email Message (3.79)
It took us an average of 5.28 seconds to create a new email message on the Samsung Instinct. You can see below that this isn't a very good time, significantly below average and much slower than all the comparison phones that also had email programs. We were slowed down by the fact that from the home screen we first had to switch to the Main tab and then tap email. You can speed this up a bit if you add an email account to your favorites.

The thing that slowed us down the most, however, was the time it took for the email program to start up. We should also mention that you will immediately be taken to the inbox of your first email account when you enter the email program. If you want to compose a message for another account it will take a few more steps to get into that account. For more information on how we conduct this test see this article.

Time to a New Email (sec)

Email Usability (6.0)
When you enter the email program you will be taken to the inbox of the first account. Messages are arranged vertically with email address and subject visible. You scroll up and down by flicking your finger just like the iPhone. To see a message just tap it. To the left of this is a small envelope icon showing whether the email has been read as well as whether there are attachments in the message. If you tap this envelope it will select the message, and you can select multiple messages at once. At the bottom of the screen are three buttons to Delete or Mark selected messages as well as Refresh button to get new mail. At the top you see the name of your account as a long button, pressing on this will take you to your folder list so you can switch to drafts, sent, deleted, etc. To the left is an icon for the account that somewhat unintuitively will take you to your list of all accounts. To the right is a button to create a new message.

Once you open up a message you see the To: and subject lines at the top with the body below. At the bottom of the screen are two buttons, one for marking the message unread and another for Reply/Forward. At the very top you seen an indicator for your current mailbox along with an indicator of how many messages are in the box and which one you are viewing. To the left of this is the account icon that once again will take you to all your accounts. To the right is a trash icon for deleting the message.

We found the email program on the Instinct to be generally straightforward and easy to use. There are a few things that aren't entirely intuitive, for example we didn't realize at first that tapping the envelope icon next to a message would select it, and the account icon in the top left doesn't make it clear that it will take you to a list of all your accounts and settings. Despite these slight niggles we found the Instinct's email program to be pretty good for a phone that doesn't aspire to be a smart phone. You'll still be better off with a Windows Mobile, Palm or BlackBerry if you're a serious email user, however.

Instant Messaging (0.0)
Curiously the Samsung Instinct does not include an instant messaging client. This is a strange omission as it is a standard feature on most phones nowadays. For those who are wondering there is no IM client available from the additional applications that you can buy from Sprint.

MMS Support (4.0)
MMS support is well integrated into the Samsung Instinct's album software, although unlike most phones it's not integrated directly into the camera application, meaning that when you take a photo you aren't prompted if you want to send it via MMS. In the messaging program MMS is separated from regular text messages, there are two tabs at the bottom of the interface for the two message types. We prefer phones like Palm Centro that integrate the two into a single interface.

SMS Smiley Face Interpretation (0.0)
Those who like smiley faces won't like the lack of support for viewing smileys as graphical images rather than text, and they'll like the inability to insert smiley faces even less. Apparently the Instinct hates smileys.

SMS/MMS Ease of Use (6.5)
The SMS/MMS application can be found under the Main tab in the home screen and is called messaging. As we mentioned above there are two tabs at the bottom of the screen, one for SMS and the other for MMS, or Text and Picture as they are labeled on the Instinct. Most of the screen is taken up by a list of phone numbers you have messages from/to. The reason for  listing numbers instead of the actual messages can be seen when you tap on the number and see all the messages to or from that number nicely arranged in chronological order. This type of threaded SMS is a very nice feature that we see on other devices like the iPhone and Centro, and we're glad to see it here too.

At the top of the screen are buttons for composing a new message and deleting messages. One inconsistency is that unlike in email where you can select messages in your inbox and then delete or move them in the SMS/MMS interface you hit delete first, then choose if you want to delete all or selected. If you choose the latter you are then given the option to choose the messages you want to delete. We would have preferred to see the interfaces stay consistent. There isn't any support for advanced features like saving messages into folders of your own, but at least you can send messages to multiple people, something the iPhone wasn't able to do for months.

Time to a New SMS Message (3.88)
It took us an average of 2.58 seconds to create a new text message on the Samsung Instinct. You can see below that this is just about average, however it's slower than all our comparison phones except the iPhone. To create a new text message on the Instinct you tap on the Main tab on the home screen, go into the Messaging application and then tap on the Compose button in the top left.

We found the application pretty quick to load, but also found the Compose button was a little fiddly to hit as it is very small. You can speed things up somewhat by adding a shortcut to messaging to your Favorites tab, or you can even add a shortcut to send a text message to a particular contact if you want. For more information on how we conduct this test see this article.

Time to a New SMS (sec)