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Mon, Dec 01, 2008 - 01:34 PM EST  —  AAPL: 90.22 (-2.45, -2.64%)  |  NASDAQ: 1445.25 (-90.32, -5.88%)

Washington Post reviews Samsung Instinct: ‘It only looks like an iPhone’
Sunday, July 06, 2008 - 10:08 PM EST

"The popularity of Sprint Nextel's Samsung Instinct -- the company says its first-week sales beat those of all its other broadband-capable phones -- represents a bit of a puzzler," Rob Pegoraro reports for The Washington Post. "Yes, this device bears a resemblance to Apple's iPhone. But the Instinct doesn't come with features to rival those of the iPhone. Nor does its price, $229.99 before a $100 mail-in rebate with a two-year contract, offer a big discount over of Apple's creation."

"Like many phones, the Instinct looks much better than it works," Pegoraro reports.

"The Instinct comes with a long inventory of added capabilities: Web browsing, e-mail, text/picture/video messaging, digital music and video playback, photography and video recording, GPS navigation and so on. But it fumbles most of these more ambitious tasks," Pegoraro reports.

"Start with its on-screen keyboard, which offers neither effective spell-checking nor tactile feedback, ensuring plenty of typos," Pegoraro reports. "The Instinct also doesn't make enough use of its mobile broadband Internet access (limited to Sprint's coverage, as the Instinct lacks a WiFi receiver). Its Web browser struggles as much with full-size sites as the antiquated software on Palm OS phones, taking an irritatingly long time to display some of them. Its e-mail software ignores Web formatting in messages and can't read PDF attachments, one of the most common kinds of files to arrive in a message."

There's more in the full review, "It Only Looks Like an iPhone," here.

[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader "John H." for the heads up.]


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Jul 06, 08 - 09:12 pm Comment from: Arnold Ziffel

My instinct is to not get within 100m of this phone.

Jul 06, 08 - 09:38 pm Comment from: Eee.

Mwahaha!

Second post.
Yeah, the Instinct sucks and stuff.

Jul 06, 08 - 09:59 pm Comment from: Zune Tang®

"It only looks like an iPhone"

That's too bad. Why would anyone want a nasty-ass I-Phone? Apple is only good at marketing and their dumpy I-Phone is as ugly as it is functional. I'm camping outside the local Sprint store with all of the other Instinct enthusiasts. Been here since Thursday.

This Pegoraro moron doesn't know what he is talking about, especially when he mentions the "…crude Windows software Sprint includes…". Hey Rob, Microsoft doesn't release anything crude or otherwise. Dork.

Sent from my Motorola Q Windows Mobile Smarter-Than-Your-MAC-Dorks Phones.

Your potential. Our passion.™

Jul 06, 08 - 10:08 pm Comment from: MikeR

I work with a guy who has one. It does have tactile response. You can feel it in the hand you hold it in. It's nothing compared to my iPod touch, but he was told by Sprint it's just like an iPhone.

Jul 06, 08 - 10:11 pm Comment from: don

Samsung's InStink will end up being flushed down the toilet along with Microsoft's Zune.

Jul 06, 08 - 10:15 pm Comment from: dd

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!!!!!!

Wasn't the Instinct billed as the iPhone killer? LOL

Jul 06, 08 - 10:16 pm Comment from: Joe

In several ways the Instinct is a pretty cool phone (one of my co-workers showed me his). But still, it doesn't hold a candle to the iPhone. The web browsing, in particular, is a big difference--i. e.the Instinct doesn't handle it well at all. The display is also noticeably inferior to the iPhone. Lack of WiFi is another minus.

Jul 06, 08 - 10:22 pm Comment from: eMax

Well this is obvious.

Jul 06, 08 - 10:38 pm Comment from: CYxodus

The Instinct just stinks and will become extinct.

Jul 06, 08 - 10:41 pm Comment from: iDon't

Can you make phone calls on it?

Jul 06, 08 - 10:48 pm Comment from: CYxodus

"Like many phones, the Instinct looks much better than it works"

Well that just inSTINCTS.

Jul 06, 08 - 10:57 pm Comment from: Cartoonasaurus

@Zune Tang

The iPhone is like when the prettiest girl in class is also the smartest... Looks and brains and major Fame.

This pretty girl Instinkt teases and promises & when you get her into bed, she just lays there while you do all the work...

Enjoy your poorly thought out interface, Zune Tang - I hear she's a bad kisser, too...

Jul 06, 08 - 11:38 pm Comment from: Spark

Hey, there are many that either CANNOT or WILL NOT do business with ATT. I can't blame these people for going with Sprint and its Samsung Instinct. For all others, it is hard to imagine why they would decide to buy the Instinct rather than an iPhone. We will know in another quarter or so if the Instinct can claim to be an iPhone killer (doesn't your victim have to be dead before you can be called a killer?). I'm not losing any sleep.

Jul 06, 08 - 11:45 pm Comment from: HMCIV

The Instinct may not be an iPhone killer but word on TheStreet (.com) says it has the ability to give Steve Jobs both Smallpox and Chronic Wasting Disease.

So watch out Apple!

Jul 07, 08 - 12:06 am Comment from: Zune Tang Fan

Zune Tang:

A real gem.

You always crack me up.

Keep going. I love your humor!

Jul 07, 08 - 12:18 am Comment from: The Other Steve

Samsung doesn't need to make an iPhone Killer, all they need to do is have the Sprint salesman tell people who walk that "it's just like an iPhone."

Jul 07, 08 - 01:55 am Comment from: Wandering joe

"she just lays there while you do all the work..."
Talk about taking the "chick" to bed.. wink

sorry, couldn't help myself

Jul 07, 08 - 02:00 am Comment from: john

Yea, just as extinct as I thought it would be. The iPhone stomps on the killer AGAIN! Just like the iPod has stomped the Zune out of existence. Looks aren't everything, in this case it looks like there extinct already. July 11th is coming.

Jul 07, 08 - 02:23 am Comment from: kwalos

Don't waste our time! Who's the next?

Jul 07, 08 - 02:24 am Comment from: pete1967

close but no cigar.

Back to the drawing board - maybe next time you will do something better.

Jul 07, 08 - 03:03 am Comment from: nekogami13

As long as mobile phone builders rely on windows mobile, they will never dent the iPhone.

I do not detest windows mobile, but after using it for the past 2 years-I sure as hell do not like it.
Any OS that dies because the browser crashes or requires at least 1 restart a week is bordeline crap.

I cannot wait until July 11th so I can ditch my windows mobile turd.

Jul 07, 08 - 03:42 am Comment from: Scion

I looked at the video of this thing working - it really sucks - a good try, but still not the iPhone experience.

As for me - well I just ordered mine for delivery Friday - one 16GB Black iphone on it's way - O2 UK orders have opened!

Jul 07, 08 - 04:08 am Comment from: Jamie

@Scion, o2 orders are currently unavailable! I'm trying to order mine now...

Jul 07, 08 - 04:52 am Comment from: Stonesoft

Yeah, Instinct is no iPhone, but the combined strength of InstinctBell is greater than iPhoneRogers. Sorry Ted, I am not gonna comply to your insane demands.

Jul 07, 08 - 05:47 am Comment from: erk

go read the Sprint Instinct forums for the real deal on this phone, alot of unhappy customers

Jul 07, 08 - 06:09 am Comment from: HD Boy

Zune Tang:

I'm officially calling you out -- you're a liar. If you're really camping out at a Sprint Store, waiting for an Instinct, you're a bigger moron than I thought. I challenge you to send me a photo of the line using your Zune.

Oh, I forgot, you can't do that. You can only squirt songs to Gates, Ballmer and that other Zune customer...How about e-mailing "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry."

Jul 07, 08 - 06:29 am Comment from: Private

At least Samsung made a more entertaining TV ad then Apple.

Jul 07, 08 - 06:30 am Comment from: Macromancer

@HD Boy

Zune Tang is not serious. The massive hyperbole and impossible statements should clue you into that. Just sayin' don't waste your time getting all worked up over it. He does that on purpose. It's humor.

Jul 07, 08 - 07:48 am Comment from: Nerd Beautiful

iPhone cannot be improved upon. What would you add? Lasers? A blu-ray drive? iPhone is the third great platform; a hands down win for Cupertino.

Jul 07, 08 - 08:06 am Comment from: iLuvMyMacs

<< This pretty girl Instinkt teases and promises & when you get her into bed, she just lays there while you do all the work... >>

That would be my ex-wife. Waste of bedspace.

But I'm not bitter.

Jul 07, 08 - 10:00 am Comment from: Rudge

@ iLuvMyMacs

I didn't know that my ex-wife married you too. Yep, just a flatback waste of bed space. It was worth anything to get out of that marriage (sort of like moving on to the Mac platform).

Jul 07, 08 - 10:21 am Comment from: PowerPhone

"But it's got a cooler name...."

Jul 07, 08 - 10:41 am Comment from: macman

No wifi? Hahaha!

Jul 07, 08 - 11:35 am Comment from: KenC

Well, putting lipstick on a pig, known as dressing up Windows Mobile, is never going to succeed. They will need a new OS to compete with OS X.

Superficial copycats are just that. People who buy devices that are labeled "just as good as", should know by now that "as good as" is rarely the case. A truly successful device needs to leapfrog the current standard, not be "just as good as". People who believe the Instinct is "just as good as", deserve what they get.

Jul 07, 08 - 06:06 pm Comment from: MacSmiley

Sprint will sell enough of these to make it slightly profitable. There are quite a number of areas where AT&T;doesn't do business. In my area, Verizon does the best job at coverage, too.

For those who actually NEED a cellphone, the iPhone is still not an option, and a second rate copy-cat like the Instinct is bound to piggyback on the iPhone's hype and success... and make some money at the same time.

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