Anyone Else Thinking Of Upgrading To Samsung Instinct

[chris]

You can get the Instinct on a $69.99 plan, but it's not available on Sprint's site. Not sure about Sprint in-store, but it's definitely available through Best Buy. I haven't used it yet, but will be unboxing today and putting it through the paces. To me, it's apples and oranges. This is more an iphone-esque phone, rather than a Q alternative. It's the old QWERTY vs non-QWERTY debate. I think HTC is catering to both. However, they only offer the slide out keyboard (which I'm no fan of). For a true on-device QWERTY, the choices are:

• Moto Q, Moto Q 9m, Moto Q 9c, Moto Q 9h
• BlackJack
• Palm Treo 755p, Treo 800w, Treo 850 (Q3)
• BlackBerry

The Omnia definitely has an opportunity to do some interesting things.

Sprint dropping the Q line is definitely cause for concern. The last buzz I heard was the Moto Q 10.

BTW, for those making the jump, there is Everything Instinct.... and I sure could use willing participants to join the Sprint Instinct forum over there. It's definitely not EQ and probably never will be... I'm consistently amazed at the community here at EQ. On the road to 100k.


-Chris

[chris]

Here's a quick look at the Sprint Instinct -- just unboxed it today.

Samsung Instinct Unboxing

http://youtube.com/watch?v=wRuYADezWkY

[PacoJr67]

kinda wish there were some action shots, but I'm sure those will be yet to come.

although coming with 2 batteries out of the box is nice.

[chris]

Originally Posted by PacoJr67

kinda wish there were some action shots, but I'm sure those will be yet to come.

although coming with 2 batteries out of the box is nice.

Don't worry, I haven't seen any action shots yet myself. The batteries say that you must charge them before the activation process. I'll shoot some stuff tomorrow for sure.

[kogama]

personally the omnia is a lot better from what ive seen and the specs. But the omnia and instinct both dont have wifi which is a downer

[Jandrsn36]

Originally Posted by kogama

personally the omnia is a lot better from what ive seen and the specs. But the omnia and instinct both dont have wifi which is a downer

Will the Omnia be on the Sprint Network? Seem like a pretty slick phone, I would choose it over the Instinct.

[chris]

Originally Posted by Jandrsn36

Will the Omnia be on the Sprint Network? Seem like a pretty slick phone, I would choose it over the Instinct.

Looks like the Omnia is headed for AT&T first, according to Boy Genius.

[kogama]

I dont know if its for sprint i doubt it...but im not completely sure and i know its coming for atnt
[IMG]chrome://dictionarytip/skin/book.png[/IMG]

[EdgeQ]

I did it; I pulled the trigger and replaced my Q9c. Actually, we got four of them.

My wife, my two kids and I are all on the Unlimited family plan. For $129 a month for the first two phones and an additional $20 for each Instinct, we were able to save $3 a month on our month bills, add 700 minutes to our plan, and go from only my daughter having unlimited texting and her phone and mine (both Q's) having unlimited Internet to all four phones having unlimited texting, Internet, and picture messaging.

The phones are quite amazing, and very usable. The texting is easy and fast, picture mail is fun (we use it a lot now), the camera is quite nice, the calling is very nice, and overall, it's just a great device. It has tethering built in as well.

The GPS works well, and the voice-activated live search is batting 1.000 for me so far with recognizing my voice and finding businesses. The Telenav GPS software is okay (not as slick as my wife's TomTom), but is overall very usable and useful.

It was not a very hard decision for me to go from the Q9c to the Instinct. The interace is fast and snappy, and it just does what it's supposed to do, and does it well. Every application I run on mine runs nicely, and the sports apps are especially well-done. Watching videos on youtube even works without any monkeying.

Music plays very well... and the headphone jack is regular size. I can connect it to my car's aux-in and listen to music on my car's stereo just as I can from my iPods or Zune. My nice headphones finally find use again... not that I needed any. The Instinct comes with a pair of nice stereo headphones that also double as a extended headset w/mic.

No AIM or anything like that... yet.

Browser is okay, but there are supposed to be options coming soon.

As for email, I will say that it connects VERY nicely to Gmail and Exchange. Attachments download from Gmail without problems (not sure about Exchange; I haven't had any attachments from that account yet).

Obviously, the keypad of the Q/Q9c is better suited to power texters who are writing long emails on their devices, but for regular use (I type about 10-20 emails a day with about 10-25 text messages), it's quite easy to use (and actually quite fun). The handwriting recognition (a little touted feature) is very nice, and works very well albeit it's actually faster to just type it in with your fingers.

The accessories it comes with are quite welcome considering the trend lately of companies cutting out the accessories that devices ship with.

Am I trying to sell people here on it? No. I'm just reporting my own experience (and the experiences of my kids and my wife who is a software architect and programmer) and my impressions of the device. I don't work for Sprint or Samsung or any of their subsidiaries.

I still have my Q9c attached to a fifth line we have, and we'll probably keep it on that line for the forseeable future, but I'll be honest: I don't miss it that much. The Instinct really is everything I've ever wanted in a true convergence device (music/video/web/email/text messaging/GPS/nav/phone). This really IS a Hitchhiker's Guide.

[25bbmom]

Originally Posted by EdgeQ

I did it; I pulled the trigger and replaced my Q9c. Actually, we got four of them.

My wife, my two kids and I are all on the Unlimited family plan. For $129 a month for the first two phones and an additional $20 for each Instinct, we were able to save $3 a month on our month bills, add 700 minutes to our plan, and go from only my daughter having unlimited texting and her phone and mine (both Q's) having unlimited Internet to all four phones having unlimited texting, Internet, and picture messaging.

The phones are quite amazing, and very usable. The texting is easy and fast, picture mail is fun (we use it a lot now), the camera is quite nice, the calling is very nice, and overall, it's just a great device. It has tethering built in as well.

The GPS works well, and the voice-activated live search is batting 1.000 for me so far with recognizing my voice and finding businesses. The Telenav GPS software is okay (not as slick as my wife's TomTom), but is overall very usable and useful.

It was not a very hard decision for me to go from the Q9c to the Instinct. The interace is fast and snappy, and it just does what it's supposed to do, and does it well. Every application I run on mine runs nicely, and the sports apps are especially well-done. Watching videos on youtube even works without any monkeying.

Music plays very well... and the headphone jack is regular size. I can connect it to my car's aux-in and listen to music on my car's stereo just as I can from my iPods or Zune. My nice headphones finally find use again... not that I needed any. The Instinct comes with a pair of nice stereo headphones that also double as a extended headset w/mic.

No AIM or anything like that... yet.

Browser is okay, but there are supposed to be options coming soon.

As for email, I will say that it connects VERY nicely to Gmail and Exchange. Attachments download from Gmail without problems (not sure about Exchange; I haven't had any attachments from that account yet).

Obviously, the keypad of the Q/Q9c is better suited to power texters who are writing long emails on their devices, but for regular use (I type about 10-20 emails a day with about 10-25 text messages), it's quite easy to use (and actually quite fun). The handwriting recognition (a little touted feature) is very nice, and works very well albeit it's actually faster to just type it in with your fingers.

The accessories it comes with are quite welcome considering the trend lately of companies cutting out the accessories that devices ship with.

Am I trying to sell people here on it? No. I'm just reporting my own experience (and the experiences of my kids and my wife who is a software architect and programmer) and my impressions of the device. I don't work for Sprint or Samsung or any of their subsidiaries.

I still have my Q9c attached to a fifth line we have, and we'll probably keep it on that line for the forseeable future, but I'll be honest: I don't miss it that much. The Instinct really is everything I've ever wanted in a true convergence device (music/video/web/email/text messaging/GPS/nav/phone). This really IS a Hitchhiker's Guide.

Can you tell me a little more about the $129 plan? How many minutes does it include? Is the unlimited texting, internet, and picture messaging included? Does that plan also include the GPS without an additional fee? Are there any other fees that you pay other than the $20 for each additional line? Thanks for all the information you provided.