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Log inIt Only Looks Like an iPhone
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It Only Looks Like an iPhone
by Outspoken on Thu Jul 03, 2008 5:17 pm
It Only Looks Like an iPhone
By Rob Pegoraro
The Washington Post
So many people are lining up to buy a new touch-screen wireless phone that the carrier selling it can't keep up with demand.
No, not that one.
The popularity of Sprint Nextel's Samsung Instinct -- the company says its first-week sales beat those of all its other broadband-capable phones -- represents a bit of a puzzler.
Yes, this device bears a resemblance to Apple's iPhone. But the Instinct doesn't come with features to rival those of the iPhone. Nor does its price, $229.99 before a $100 mail-in rebate with a two-year contract, offer a big discount over of Apple's creation.
Like many phones, the Instinct looks much better than it works. A polished slab about half an inch thick and weighing only 4.4 ounces, this smartphone dispenses with almost all of the standard buttons, save a few on the sides that perform such basic tasks as turning it on and adjusting its volume, in favor of a large touch-sensitive screen that fills most of its face.
That roomy display, more than 3 inches diagonally, allows for on-screen buttons that even thicker fingers should be able to hit. And you can scroll through its contacts and recent-calls lists with a flick of a finger -- though a search function is missing. You can also call somebody without lifting a finger by using the Instinct's voice dialing.
Its on-screen slider controls -- for instance, turning on its built-in speaker phone or ending a call requires you to move your finger across an image of a switch -- can prevent you from hanging up on the boss after poking the wrong button on the keypad or the screen.
The Instinct also slays voice mail as Sprint users have known it with a "visual voice mail" display that lets you see who left a message and when, then play their recordings back in any sequence you desire.
Sprint advertises more than five hours of talk time, but even the nearly 4.5 hours an Instinct loaned by Sprint achieved compares well to many other phones.
The Instinct comes with a long inventory of added capabilities: Web browsing, e-mail, text/picture/video messaging, digital music and video playback, photography and video recording, GPS navigation and so on. But it fumbles most of these more ambitious tasks.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/02/AR2008070202762.html?wpisrc=newsletter
(Sprint)
By Rob Pegoraro
The Washington Post
So many people are lining up to buy a new touch-screen wireless phone that the carrier selling it can't keep up with demand.
No, not that one.
The popularity of Sprint Nextel's Samsung Instinct -- the company says its first-week sales beat those of all its other broadband-capable phones -- represents a bit of a puzzler.
Yes, this device bears a resemblance to Apple's iPhone. But the Instinct doesn't come with features to rival those of the iPhone. Nor does its price, $229.99 before a $100 mail-in rebate with a two-year contract, offer a big discount over of Apple's creation.
Like many phones, the Instinct looks much better than it works. A polished slab about half an inch thick and weighing only 4.4 ounces, this smartphone dispenses with almost all of the standard buttons, save a few on the sides that perform such basic tasks as turning it on and adjusting its volume, in favor of a large touch-sensitive screen that fills most of its face.
That roomy display, more than 3 inches diagonally, allows for on-screen buttons that even thicker fingers should be able to hit. And you can scroll through its contacts and recent-calls lists with a flick of a finger -- though a search function is missing. You can also call somebody without lifting a finger by using the Instinct's voice dialing.
Its on-screen slider controls -- for instance, turning on its built-in speaker phone or ending a call requires you to move your finger across an image of a switch -- can prevent you from hanging up on the boss after poking the wrong button on the keypad or the screen.
The Instinct also slays voice mail as Sprint users have known it with a "visual voice mail" display that lets you see who left a message and when, then play their recordings back in any sequence you desire.
Sprint advertises more than five hours of talk time, but even the nearly 4.5 hours an Instinct loaned by Sprint achieved compares well to many other phones.
The Instinct comes with a long inventory of added capabilities: Web browsing, e-mail, text/picture/video messaging, digital music and video playback, photography and video recording, GPS navigation and so on. But it fumbles most of these more ambitious tasks.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/02/AR2008070202762.html?wpisrc=newsletter
(Sprint)
"Music is a moral law. It gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and charm and gaiety to life and to everything."
Plato (427-347 BC)
Plato (427-347 BC)
