Today, Samsung and Sprint formally announced the SPH-M800 as the Samsung Instinct. The Instinct will serve as Sprint’s answer to Apple’s iPhone. The device has remarkably similar features, and interface to Apple’s iPhone, but also has a few new tricks.
The device is an EV-DO Rev A phone with a 2.0 megapixel camera, microSDHC card slot, full touch screen, and removable battery with up to 5.75 hours of talk time. The device also has a full range of Sprint services, including Sprint TV, Navigation, Music Store, and Pocket Express (formerly On Demand).
Read more for a full first look at the device, with live shots, and initial impressions.
Update: Samsung Instinct Teaser Site (Flash Required)
Correction: Article initially stated that the Instinct is a Rev 0 phone. It is indeed a Rev A phone, though it does not have QChat Direct Connect.
But, the device improves on iPhone in a few respects. First, the device has integrated Windows Live Search with Voice technology. This is the first Sprint phone to ship with Live Search integrated, let alone the first Java J2ME phone other than BlackBerry to formally receive Live Search in the United States. A user can simply talk to the phone and request anything from weather to directory assistance free of charge. Live Search, like the rest of the operating system, is integrated with GPS.
Also, Instinct does not have an accelerometer, but instead uses new camera software, running in the background. When browsing the web, a user can pan up, down, left, and right by moving the device. The camera processes the motion in the environment and passes those commands to the web browser as sweep commands.
Touch screen performance is important. iPhone set a new standard in touch screen performance, and so did LG’s Voyager (but not in a good way). Voyager’s dismal touch screen makes it appear to be a knock-off compared to iPhone. Instinct, while certainly not finished (the device is still running prototype firmware), currently falls somewhere in the middle. The device responds to most sweeps and touches with ease… but is not as accurate as the precision standard set by iPhone. Instinct at least matches the accuracy of stylus-driven devices.
The operating system interface is clearly Samsung’s standard AU-MIC OS which has been glossed up to match iPhone. And, match it it certainly does… the contacts, calendar, and settings interfaces, as well as the menus themsevles… all are clear mock-ups and rip-offs of iPhone. While it is nice to see iPhone raising the bar, Instinct is clearly mimicking. Is it raising the bar? No, not in terms of interface.
Also, another thing I noticed, was a few interface cues were changed… navigation bar buttons that previously were almost exact iPhone cut-and-paste jobs were replaced with buttons that were custom-drawn, albeit similar to iPhone in every regard. The new buttons bear Sprint yellow instead of blue-and-black Aqua Touch style.
Overall, the hardware is well-designed, I would suggest reserving comment on the firmware until it has been finished. The device is highly reflective (as the live shots below will show), but it also
My personal first take on Instinct is this… it is not going to replace anyone’s iPhone, but it will slow the tide of people porting out to get one. General consumers that are not iPhone SDK-aware, consumers who don’t know their EV-DO from their EDGE… will see Instinct as something that they can keep using Sprint and have a powerful consumer data device. However, with a 3G iPhone coming later this year, Instinct is not going to win back iPhone converts any time soon.
Live Shots & Press Photos
We don’t have time to prepare all the press photos, you can download them at the link below. Note that you really don’t need the high resolution version, the low-resolution version can easily fill a 30-inch computer display.
Low-resolution Press Photos (1.2 MB)
High-resolution Press Photos (11.8 MB)
Live shots available in high definition, click to enlarge…
Soooo it’s not RevA? Also what about the other stuff I heard of: visual voice mail, threaded text, support 8G cards, & threaded text? Also items possibly included in box 2GB micro SD card, 2 standard batteries, and leather case & stylus.
This does have Rev A
Go here http://www.nowisgood.com/ and click on technical specs in the middle
Kenneth: You are right in that the Samsung Instinct is going to com with everything right out of the box. Further goodies include: a battery charging sleeve, travel charger, USB cable, 3.5mm headphones with a built-in microphone and a leather case with stylus as well as the 2GB MicroSD card and 2 1000 mAh Lithium Ion batteries.
It’s going to be a good deal if priced right.
Reminds me of the Upstage without the flipping. I just hope its not buggy. I will love the threaded texts(like Palm OS-what I’m typing on now).
So I am able to put the program that I use for work on this phone? And does it have MMS?
ARGH! No QChat?! DAMN YOU, SPRINT!
when is it available?
Chris, first I want to say I really enjoy your writing and have for the past year and a half. With that being said I think I have had it with the remarks in regards to the iPhone and “it” being ripped off, cloned, and mocked-upped. I’m not a Apple hater and don’t want to start a flame war. But why can’t people understand that companies are going to look at the iPhone as a successful device and try to improve upon it. In no other business is this frowned upon except it seems in the mobile device business. KFC, Church’s, and Popeyes all sell chicken but I have never walked into a Popeyes and heard someone say “Shoot, they’re just trying to be like KFC but hotter”
By everything I have read I don’t even know if Apple was first to market with a “touchscreen” device. They were just first to do it right and then leverage it on top of the best selling MP3 player ever. I guess what I’m saying is I would just like someone, anyone to give a device a fair shot before writing it off. You said yourself that it improved in alot of areas that the iPhone lacked in. Lets try to focus on that because those areas are huge. Removable battery, Rev A, GPS , removable memory, those are all things that kept me away from the iPhone to begin with. On top of that with Sprint not trying to ever lock down their phones this could be a potential winner. The only drawback I really see is that it doesnt have some sort of music manager software to sync my collection.
Honestly, I haven’t seen this thing so I have no idea. But I do rely on you guys to provide me with the best reporting you can. So please let a device stand on its own and talk about the good it can do instead of the copy cat stuff.
PS: I still will be reading, I’m a huge fan.
I also would be a lot happier if the Apple fanboy knob was turned down a notch or so.
So Sprint says you can only get the Instinct with a Simply Everything plan. Does this just mean they won’t sell it to you directly, or will they actually make it impossible to activate on any other type of plan? Could this be Sprint’s new business model, release high end phones for Simply Everything subscribers, and retention / Sero customers will just get the scraps?
This is why we need open access…
Allow me to clarify the iPhone remarks. It seems we take a lot of heat for this, and usually… with some clarification, folks see the comparison.
I am not saying that copying iPhone’s design is a bad thing. I am not saying that is “ripping off”. iPhone set a new standard, and the rest of the industry had to meet it. This happens all the time… iPhone simply grouped a lot of these evolutionary changes into one revolutionary device. That’s Apple’s style. They wait, even at the cost of falling behind, so that when they take a step forward, they outpace everyone. We try to do the same at PhoneNews.com with our work.
Now, what I do critisize the Instinct for, and I think validly, is that they are not being original in the interface of the phone. The interface copies large parts of iPhone’s Human Interface Guidelines (HIG). While Apple has an excellent HIG, competition dictates that originality is necessary. Samsung is not being original in a lot of the interface elements, they could be too. iPhone is not the end all, be all of phone interfaces…
I would prefer Samsung raise the bar on phone interfaces, so that Apple has to go back to the table and re-engineer, rather than Samsung simply answering Apple’s call.
This is not an Apple versus Whoever opinion. Apple has the perceived best interface out there, and I want someone to knock them off of that position. Competition is a beautiful thing, but it requires people to actually compete… not mimic.
Article has been corrected, the phone is indeed EV-DO Rev A.
[…] News With Samsung’s Instinct for Sprint creating a buzz of mimicking the iPhone, one thing that Sprint has done differently is enter into a license […]
should I get the 3g iphone (when it comes out) or the instinct? & why?
Tyler, you really should post your question in the Forums, along with a description of what you want from a phone.
[…] The update also takes out of beta Microsoft’s voice recognition technology. The technology was in previous Live Search for Mobile releases, but marked as functionality in development. This ties in with next month’s launch of the Samsung Instinct, which includes Live Search with Voice functionality. […]
Why is Sprint not doing something about the improvement to the M800, for texting purposes (such as is found with the exact same phone on MetroPCS – choices of T9 input, keyboard layout is different on Metro’s making it less likely to make a mistake, Metro’s configuration doesn’t have the annoying BLUE and RED lettered overlay when making corrections… come on! I have to buy another phone within the same year because they can’t come up with a decent download fix. That is just plain not right. Suppose I could go to MetroPCS for a better design, but why isn’t this a downloadable fix?