Samsung Instinct-M800 Review - At Glance



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Noah Kravitz
Posted on Friday, June 27, 2008
by Noah Kravitz, Senior Editor, Consumer Products and Services
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At Glance

 
Editor Rating: 4.5
5 
4 
What’s Good: Supports every feature Sprint offers; EV-DO Rev. A data speeds; Good touchscreen response; Bright, clear display; Excellent GPS/navigation and voice command features; Good visual voicemail feature; 3.5mm headphone jack and stereo Bluetooth; Second battery included in packaging; Excellent value at $129 retail price

What’s Not Good: “Full HTML” Web browser is disappointing; No IM support; No calendar synching; No support for user-created ringtones or background images on menu screens; No phone as modem support on mandatory Simply Everything plan

Bottom Line: Sprint’s new flagship media phone is a very good device, even if I wish they’d skipped the whole “Instinct vs iPhone” marketing campaign.  The Web browser needs work and mobile IM addicts will be left in the cold by Instinct, but otherwise Instinct offers solid support across a huge variety of features and excellent implementation of GPS-based navigation and voice activated commands in particular.  Though plans start at a hefty $70/mo, if you use the unlimited data, navigation, and Sprint TV it’s actually a good value.  And you can’t beat the $129 price tag.

Specs:
Make/Model: Samsung Instinct (M800)
Network: CDMA 850 / 1900
Data: 1x EV-DO Rev. A (3G)
Carrier: Sprint
Size: 116 x 55 x 12.4 mm
Weight: 128 g
Form Factor: Candybar with Full Touchscreen
Display: 3.2” Color LCD, 240 x 432 resolution, 262,000 Colors
Memory:  32 MB built-in, microSD card slot, 2GB memory card included
Notable Features: GPS with navigation; Support for Sprint Music Store, Sprint TV, Streaming music services; Voice control system; First Sprint EV-DO Rev. A device for consumers

Samsung Instinct
 

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Our fancy algorithm says this stuff is related...

so_damn_cute
Sunday, November 30, 2008really nice phone def would consider it!
Brandon
Sunday, November 02, 2008The games are ok on it. The phone is pretty cool, browser is good(after update) music isen't that loud but its clear and sounds nice. Navigation is real good, camera is mediocore (5.5 out of 10) messaging is ok, although you make mistakes and cant really type fast. TV on it IS bad, but if u set ur ip and port to all 0's its alot better.
lilray163
Friday, October 17, 2008can u show some games apps on the instinct im dying to see how the games are
Joey77
Tuesday, October 07, 2008Should i get the samsung instinct or the razr2 v9m?, im having a really hard time trying and figure it out because i heard that its too delicate. All i know is that motorola is sorta better in phones.....plz send me a message someone, PLZ.
juavez
Monday, October 06, 2008just so u know sprints working on alot of updates on this phone so they can download 3rd party apps and surf threw the web easier...and they should be available at the end of this month i think and i really don't get why the dare is rated higher than this phone.....
polkmnpo
Saturday, October 04, 2008i just bought the instinct and im with telus...in the fun section it just says tv, not tv/video, can i still watch movies without paying or whatever
Joshua915
Friday, October 03, 2008Is there any 3rd party apps for the instinct?????? WTF!!!!
kenedoskeet
Saturday, September 20, 2008phones: yes u can upload music that is already on ur computer to ur phone u dont have to pay a dime.. unlike verizon and the dare. it comes with usb cable and a memry card adaptor so u can do it 2 ways...
rhythmikmasta
Sunday, September 07, 2008Are they working on an AIM application for the instinct?
peter
Saturday, September 06, 2008can you get the phone ublocked and can it be used in england
Denial
Thursday, September 04, 2008http://instinctbookmarks.blogspot.com/ This contains some nice stuff about Instinct
mortalkombat
Thursday, September 04, 2008http://instinctbookmarks.blogspot.com/2008/07/some-popular-websites-for-browsing-in.html http://mortalkombat4.googlepages.com/player
diana
Sunday, August 31, 2008this phone is badass! i wish i could have it right now, but i cant, but i will someday=]]
ajcook
Saturday, August 30, 2008Noah, In all your great and thorough reviews of the Instinct features, I never saw any commentary on the Instinct's most fundamental function: Use as a cell phone. Did I miss it somewhere? I'm curious on your assessment of the following: * reliability of maintaining a call (signal strenght, dropping calls) * Instinct user's sound quality to the remote user (cell-to-cell? cell-to-landline?) * Instinct's quality of sound listening to a remote caller (cell-to-cell? cell-to-landline?) * What is the effect on the microphone pick-up on quality of audio in noisy envirionments (my wife's cell phone stinks when she's in a noisy environment, making her sound "mushy") Also, what is your assessment of the Instinct in terms of overall reliability? Would you expect this phone to make it through a 2-year contract? Should a buyer put a scratch-resistant film on the screen? What is your assessment of Samsung as a manufacturer? (I've never had a Samsung phone before. I've had terrific luck with Sanyo, and bad luck with LG). Thanks!
bbaxter
Thursday, August 28, 2008is there any place to put the stylus on the instinct?
kiddo
Monday, August 25, 2008honestly speaking, the instinct is garbage, its a phone that has potential but thats only if its tv, internet and youtube issues are resolved, until that happens sprint really has no business thinking of comparing it to the iphone talkless of the iphone 3g
alex
Sunday, August 24, 2008i'm thinking of getting this phone but im not sure if the instinct is better or the lg dare is better any preferences or recommendations and why\?
travis mayes
Friday, August 22, 2008the samsung instinct sucks bad the phone is no good
kiddo
Wednesday, August 20, 2008how soon can we expect updates that take care of the tv and youtube clearity issues? is it possible to use the instinct as an internet source for the ipod touch via bluetooth? (with a bluetooth adapter ofcourse), and i put a movie on my 2gb memory, the movie size is like 877mb but for some reason my instinct isnt playing it....any advice?
bbaxter
Monday, August 18, 2008This is my first time leaving a comment but I think you all at phonedog do an awsome job. If you get a chance Noah you should tell your contacts at sprint to add more customization to the UI. I love thats it's easy and simple to use but it gets dull. And whats the longest time it takes to get all the app updates because I still haven't gotten mine.

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