If you’ve been tempted by the lower $129 price for Sprint’s Samsung Instinct head to Mobility Site and watch Chris Leckness’s (that’s a lot of S’s) video first look. He spends over 18 minutes showing not only what’s in the Instinct box but compares size to the Treo 800W, Glyde, Centro, iPhone (naturally), Samsung Ace (Chris must have the worlds largest collection of phones as he pulls out all the different phones to compare them onscreen!). This is a great start to finish video of the Instinct and will be especially valuable to anyone thinking of buying a Samsung Instinct. Tip: Be sure to spend some time reading Howardforums for feedback - the consensus on the Instinct seems decidedly mixed with many concerns about the browser and speed of the device.

Samsung Instinct Video 1st Look

Technical support representatives on the official Sprint discussion forum have disclosed more details about the eagerly awaited software update for the Samsung Instinct. The phone was released in June to generally good reviews. However there have been some complaints primarily about the browser functionality, online speed and Sprint TV performance. Sprint is not giving a specific date when this update will be available other than stating “this month” and “over the air”.

Here are the categories of issues that the product management team has been looking at and an example of something that will be fixed. This list is not a comprehensive statement of everything that is gong to be fixed but should give you an understanding of the types of things you will see corrected.

Physical device — better volume though bluetooth headsets
Picture Mail — reduction of ’system busy’ errors when sending large picturemails
Browser — more user friendly customer access to Hotmail accounts, Best Buy,YouTube and Yahoo! sites.
Sprint TV — reduction of pausing and freezing during playback of streaming video clips
Navigation — navigation session will not longer run in background after user goes to ‘home menu’. This will improve battery life
E-mail — save e-mail address to the favorites menu
Music — removal of periodic ’skips’ when listening via bluetooth headset
News — increased ability to play news story video clips
Voicemail — phone can now present voicemail notifications when device is not in data service

It’s this month. It’s got some great fixes. It’s Over The Air. Be patient.

Buzz About Wireless

I wish I could take credit for this find, but I found it over at iPhone Alley.  They reference a cool site called BillShrink.com, where you can either manually specify your cell bill, or have it import your bill auto-magically from your carrier and perform an analysis on it. The analysis will tell you what your spending, where you’re spending it, and more importantly, what the BEST rate plan is for your account, on your carrier.

I’ve got 3 numbers on my account, and we spend about $220-$230 a month, depending on text and data usage. I don’t think the analysis is 100% accurate, as I KNOW some of the numbers it threw into Any Time Minutes were, in fact, Mobile to Mobile Minutes.  However, yes… we do seem to yack our heads off at my house.

If you’re considering a change to your cell account (like purchasing a new iPhone 3G or other cool device…maybe a BB Bold/Thunder or Samsung Instinct), you might find the Cell Phone Advisor at BillShrink.com pretty interesting, and quite useful. At the very least, its going to suggest a halfway decent change to your account that might just save you some cash in the long run.

 

Sprint eCare is telling some Samsung Instinct users to check for a software/firmware update on June 30 (Home icon -> Main -> Settings -> General -> Update Software). While it seems unlikely that Sprint would push out an update so quickly after the iPhone killer was released, you never know. If you’re using the Instinct and plagued by any issues, it may be worth your while to check on Monday to see whether miracles have happened and there actually is a Sprint eCare representative who knows what they’re talking about with respect to pending handsets or upgrades. PS - Don’t forget the Samsung Instinct $100 rebate expires July 12, 2008 with a rumor that the phone price is rising to $199 after rebate.

Link: Software upgrade coming Mionday (6/30/2008)

After reading review after review and probably driving my poor wife up the wall about it, I decided to take the plunge and stick with Sprint(they only have 30 days to prove their worthiness). My obsession with everything iPhone 3G has been outweighed by my necessity to pinch pennies for the diapers my 4 month old Cooper so lovingly annihilates on an hourly basis. So that led me to the much anticipated Instinct, mind you it was purchased at Best Buy as they give you the $129.99 price out the door…no waiting until Halloween for my rebate check! And no the box didn’t get wet, that’s actually how it looks.

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Starting June 30 Sprint will feature a promotion that promises to pay you $20 to feature the Samsung Instinct in a YouTube video. There are no details yet (check the link below on June 30) and participation will be limited to the first 1,000 videos posted. Not to be overly obvious here, but I’m pretty sure they’re looking for a favorable appearance for their phone. Things like running a Samsung Instinct over with your car, lighting it on fire with rubbing alcohol or popping popcorn with it won’t earn the $20.

Link: Samsung Instinct YouTube $20 Promotion

The Samsung Instinct is available today, June 19, for those who received a pre-release email from Sprint that invites them to the early sale. The release date for everyone else is Friday June 20. If you didn’t get the pre-release invitation you could head to eBay and get ripped off by buying some guy’s printed invite buy one, but why bother when these invites have been posted all over the place - like here and here. If buying an Instinct is on your “to do” list, print an invite and pick up the iPhone lookalike today. Expect to pay $229 and send in a $100 rebate for a net of $129. And rumor is that Best Buy will be offering the Instinct for $129 without the need to send in any rebate forms. At least for now it doesn’t appear that the SERO plans work with this - so expect to pony up for a Simply Everything plan. Of course you could also wait a month until the iPhone 3G launches and Sprint will probably pay you to buy this phone.

The user manual for the Samsung Instinct has been posted online. I always find reading the manual a useful way to figure out whether the phone has all the features that I want. Earlier we noted that the Samsung Instinct will NOT be compatible with Sprint SERO. A reader emailed me this morning to share a reply from Sprint that addresses the question of what plan the Instinct must be used with. Keep reading for the Sprint response to the “Will the Samsung Instinct work with Sprint SERO” as well as a link to the Samsung Instinct manual online.

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With Apple widely expected to unveil their next generation iPhone on Monday, it looks like Sprint figured they should get some Samsung Instinct review units out. Of course we pointed out that Vincent over at Phonemag has a huge gallery and video on the Samsung Instinct already. Now both PC Magazine and Engadget Mobile have extensive reviews as well. Reading through them, each seem to agree that the web browser needs work. PC Magazine say’s “If you want an iPhone, buy you don’t want to switch from Sprint, the Instinct is almost as good.” (Note: Obviously they are comparing it to the old model - so depending upon what is unveiled Monday the Samsung may become a weaker choice). Here’s links to their full reviews.

Link: PC Magazine - Samsung Instinct Review
Link: Engadget Mobile - Samsung Instinct Hands On
Link: Phonemag - Samsung Instinct unboxing and hands-on video!
Link: Gizmodo - “Best Sprint Phone Ever, Best Samsung Phone Ever, Too”

All of you who’ve been waiting to check out the upcoming Samsung Instinct can commence salivating: Vincent has unboxed it and posted impressions, and it looks tasty!

The Instinct is primarily a touch-screen centric featured phone that’s wrapped up in a thin candy-bar form-factor; measuring 4.57 by 2.17 by 0.49 inches thick and weighs 4.4 ounces. The screen measures 3.1-inch offering 262,000-color touch screen, which will be your interface for almost all of the device’s functions including making and ending phone calls. There are three separate touch controls placed right below the display: a Back, Home and a shortcut control that will take you to the calling menu. I’m super thrilled that the Instinct features localized haptic feedback, a faint vibration to indicate you’ve pushed a button.

Before you dismiss it as an iPhone wannabe, you seriously need to go take a look…

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