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.
Inside the main box they seem to have stepped up their packaging a notch from the brown drink holder crate that normally accompanies any phone not made by Apple.
Once the lid is opened you are greeted with a glimpse of the Instinct, which so far in my opinion looks pretty nice.
The screen cling that protects the screen has that fun little smiley face and a little message that challenges you to “get in touch with the world…now”. Hope that means both batteries are fully charged…doubtful!
After lifting off the top tray hold the phone I was greeted by the many accessories that accompany my new toy that include
-Owners manual
-Sprint Media Manager CD
-Charging cable
-Headphones that also work as wired headset
-USB cable that connects Instinct to computer for either file management or tethering.
Leather protective case that lets you charge the phone while it rests peacefully and protected.
My favorite part, the spare battery and spare battery charger, for those of us on the go this is money as it allows us to charge the spare battery by either the wall charger or USB cable.
And lets not forget the 2GB microSD card, adapter, and stylus…wait did I just say…yes STYLUS! Not sure on the use here as the phone itself doesn’t even have a storage option for the stylus.
Few screen shots of the menus
Favorites menu…no I’m not that boring just haven’t customized yet.
Main menu
Fun Menu
Web Menu
Dedicated Back, Home and Phone buttons.
Cool little drop down menu that displays various information regarding the phone, most importantly battery percentage and network.
After a about an hour or so with the Instinct, I am now confident that Apple is no longer holding on to my electronic heart, it has been quite an experience between utilizing the Navigation features and bouncing around the menus. At the $129.99 price point it was hard to pass up this deal, and being that I have a family plan the $129.99 monthly for 1500 minutes and unlimited everything is another great selling point as I am now hearing that AT&T is no longer going to include any Text messages on their iPhone plans, but then again they always surprise us. As I said before anyone wanting to pick up an Instinct should definitely try to go the Best Buy(they have exclusive rights until August) route as you get the rebates instantly as long as you are either a new customer or upgrade eligible. A full review of the Samsung Instinct should follow after I have had enough time to really dive into the features and options.
The Samsung Instinct is available from the Sprint Retail Stores and Best Buy.
MSRP: $449.99 dropped to $129.99 after rebates for eligible buyers.
What I Like: Price Point
What Needs Improvement:
