First iPhone speed test using 3G

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Samsung Instinct M800

Sprint has gone after a very specific market with the Samsung Instinct, and succeeded on many levels.  The Instinct is a CDMA Rev. A device that brings the ease of use from a typical feature phone to a touch screen form factor that many people desire.  This look at the Sprint provided Instinct is designed to give my thoughts on the device over the last 5 days.  Keep in mind that your experience may vary.

In the Box

• Samsung Instinct
• 2 Standard 1100 mAH Lithium Ion Batteries
• AC charger
• Charger for extra battery
• Carry Case
• Stylus
• 3.5mm Headphones with microphone
• MicroSD Memory Card 2GB
• MicroSD card adaptor
• USB Charging Cable
• Various guides and CDs

Specs

Like almost all CDMA phones out there, the Instinct has both 850 and 1900 MHZ bands in it.  This allows for native coverage on the Sprint 1900 MHZ network, and Roaming on other CDMA carriers via the 850 MHZ band when needed.  The dimensions measure 4.55” by 2.16” by .49” and has a weight of 4.52 oz.  The battery life is listed at 5.8 hours of talk time which in my use seemed high. I found that with about an hour of phone calls per day and moderate internet use, I was able to get a day and a half before needing to swap batteries.  The extra battery definitely came in handy for this purpose, and I was happy to be able to swap them and continue on my way.  Something to note is the very tight battery cover that takes some pressure to get off.  Each time, I felt like I was going to break the screen with the amount of pressure needed, but on the positive side, the device feels very solid.  A 2MP camera takes decent shots via the dedicated camera button.  Also, the “Fuzzy picture warning” is a nice touch that helps prevent unusable photos.  The phone is available for $129 from Sprint after rebates.

(Instinct Camera photo of the Treo)

Phone

As a phone, I wavered on its quality.  When I first turned on the device at my house, I was a bit concerned about the signal strength indicator.  I never feel that these “bars” are a very accurate way to measure the phones signal, but it certainly should give you a ballpark idea.  The bars on the Instinct constantly bounced from half strength to no strength to full and then over again.  When using other Sprint devices at my house, Sprint service is generally very good, and I’ve never had an issue with this behavior.  Most of my time using this phone however was in my office, which had poor service, often switching over to Verizon.  When this would occur, the phones voice calls would work fine, but data slowed way down, more on this in the next section.  Making up for it though, the calls that I did make sounded fine on my end, and decent to those on the receiving end.  One thing that Sprint excels at is the quality of its voice network.  The Instinct seems to keep that mantra.

Data/Internet

As mentioned, the majority of my time using this phone was at my office, which has poor Sprint service, and caused the phone to Roam onto Verizon.  When this happens, the data connection throttles down to 1xRTT speeds, and makes the great features of the “Fun” section painful.  Sprint bundles some great functions with many of its devices such as Music, TV/Video, Radio, Shopping, Games and Applications.  My trials of these services worked fairly well, with Sprint TV being one of my favorites.  Being able to watch certain live TV stations, and clips from other stations is great

Hardware

Like other devices out there, the Instinct has gone with the full touch screen interface.  Using the screen for all functions gives a versatility that many prefer over buttons.  Distinguishing itself from the iPhone, the Instinct leaves out a home “button” for 3 separate touch areas at the bottom of the screen (Back, Home and Phone).  Also, the handset speaker at the top also functions as a speaker for system sounds.  On the top of the device, you’ll find a 3.5mm headset hack and the power/lock button.  Using this button takes some getting used to, as you must hold it down for a few seconds to get the phone out of its locked state.  On the left side is a covered port for charging via the Samsung proprietary plug, and the rocker buttons for volume.  On the right are a covered port for the microSD card, voice recognition button, and camera button.  The bottom simply has a hole for the microphone.

Software/Features

The software on the device is very easy to learn and use.  There are 4 main tabs on the bottom of the screen (Favs, Main, Fun, Web) that give access to all the functions on the device.  The Favs tab is especially useful as it is the tab the phone goes to when clicking on home.  This gives easy access to the functions you use most.  Those looking for integration to an exchange server are going to be disappointed with this device.  The only functionality that is integrated is email and the Global Address List.  Also, it isn’t push access, so you’ll have to wait as the phone pulls new email at regular intervals.  Visual Voicemail is built into this phone, which provides the user with quick easy access to listen to messages the way they want.  A great feature that many will enjoy.  Built in GPS was a great addition and integrates well with the programs in the phone.  The ability to use the Sprint Navigation, Live Search and other programs with the GPS is convenient and useful.

Overall

The bottom line on the Samsung Instinct from Sprint is the step forward in the feature phone market.  There will always be room for devices such as the Instinct which do not necessarily appeal to the business user or road warrior, but give the average consumer the fun features they want with a nice new form factor.

Hot Today

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Not even 2pm yet and already close to 110. Humidity is up today as well.

Phones!

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If you want to know what we are going to talk about each week on The Cell Phone Junkie show, make sure you reagularly visit www.thecellphonejunkie.com to read about the latest news stories we are reading as they happen.  On the right side of the site, you’ll see an “Upcoming Stories on TCPJ” that you can read and click through of the things we think are important.

Just another way to keep you updated on the latest in the cell phone industry.

After many hours of waiting, searching and disparing, I decided this evening to order an iPhone 3G from AT&T.  After not being able to get one at any of the stores in the area, I ordered one from AT&T tonight that should be in within the next 7-10 days.

One thing that is good about this arrangement, is that I was able to purchase the phone for the discounted $300 price point for the 16GB model through my wifes current iPhone line.  Doing so will require some hoops to jump through, but nothing that isn’t worth the $200 savings.

More to come on this when it arrives!

Samsung Instinct

Originally uploaded by gt2697

Thanks in part to Michael Manna at the T4Show www.t4show.com
I was able to get in touch with someone in
Sprint PR and they sent me out the new Samsung Instinct to review. I
started using it yesterday and have been learning the ins and outs of it
over the past day. A few quick points that I have noticed so far is
that the battery seems to be on par with other devices out there. I
just replaced the charged battery with the 2nd one that came with it.
Not too bad in my book.

However, I do have a concern about the RF of the device. As you can see
in the photo, the service level on the phone is much poorer than my
Novatel Wireless Merlin S720 wireless card for Sprint service. This
isn’t just happening in my current location, but in many areas I have
traveled to in the past day. Anyone else experience this behavior?

I have another 3 days to use it before it has to go back, so I’ll try to
do what I can while I have it. Look for more as I go.

The Cell Phone Junkie Show #111 1:14:40
Show Notes
The Cell Phone Junkie turns 2 this week.
Plus, the iPhone 3G and R.I.P SERO

News
iPhone 3G launch
Rogers plans change
App Store launches with 500 apps, 1/3rd are free
Current iPhone accessories won’t charge iPhone 3G
Check to see if the iPhone is in your store before heading out
iPhone 3G battery problems?
iPhone stories
SERO as we knew it was done
Only 18% of americans have used SMS
NTT DoCaMo getting BIS
T-Mobile pushing FCC for Delay in AWS-3 Rules
Senate backing wiretap bill for phone companies
Comments from Shawn
Verizon agrees to settle ETF suits
Verizon improves SMS options on Prepaid
Canadian providers to start charging for incoming SMS
Sprint expands Qchat markets

Devices
Palm Treo 800w on sale
LG Chocolate 3 arriving July 14th
Palm Centro in Electric Blue coming
Centro $70 on AT&T
Blackberry Thunder not ready for primetime
Another Sprint roadmap
Orange HTC Diamond available
Extended Battery for HTC Diamond
Sidekick 2008
HP iPAQ 910 available
Blackberry Bold approved by FCC
First open Verizon device
BIC disposable phone
Samsung i8510
Sprint phone price drop

Software
Microsoft announced hosted exchange plans

Questions/Comments
Question from Josh
Comment from Janice
Comment from Matt
Question from Greg

Tower Climbing deadliest job in US

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60k

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Pacific beach

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