Mobility Mind

Samsung Instinct : Good try, but it’s no iPhone

One undeniably positive thing that the iPhone has done for the smartphone industry, is to raise the bar in terms of feature integration, ease of use, and now price. As a result, we now have a choice of better, lower cost phones which are frequently compared to the iPhone. Since Apple has not produced a CDMA/EVDO version of the iPhone, many other phone makers are rushing to fill up the void. One of the most talked about “iPhone killer” for EVDO is the Samsung Instinct.

The Samsung Instinct (also known as also called Samsung SPH M800) packs a lot of features for just US$129:
- touch screen with haptics
- GPS
- voice dialling
- 2 megapixel camera
- EVDO
- microSD expansion slot

As expected, iPhone fans like Walt Mossberg of WSJ are just not that impressed with the Instinct. Gizmodo calls the Instinct “the best phone ever” to come out from Samsung or Sprint. So, while the Instinct stands on its own as a good (even great) phone, it still doesn’t hold up well against the iPhone. Nevertheless, since it is the closest thing to the iPhone on EVDO, it has sold well. Sprint has announced “record sales” during the Instinct’s first release, although there are currently no official figures.

Here’s a video comparison by The iPhone Blog:

I think the Instinct is a sign of better things to come. While Apple has nothing to fear right now, this will force them to continue to innovate — which means a win for customers.