Samsung Instinct S30
Phone Scoop Review
May 4, 2009 by Eric M. Zeman
Samsung takes another stab at the basic Instinct. The S30 is an all-around better phone than its predecessor, but it's still far from perfect. read review ›
User Reviews
Average Ratings
phone is great better then last tru i phone -m800 killer
great phone louder speaker then old version better browser opera mini love it hear music while texting the old m800 cant do it I'm great faster responds faster speeds don't need the crappy case that the old m800 came with bought me a nice rubber case 2 different colors from best buy for $10 1 gig memory is all i need stylus don't need more round in shape then old m800 looks like a remote control for my tv and best part is best buy has it for $49.99 with a 2 year contract cant beat this is the tru i phone m800 killer .....
Definately an improvement...
I've been waiting for a long while to upgrade and spent nearly 8 months playing with various phones from Sprint waiting to make my move. I'd looked at a bunch of over the top smartphones with all sorts of great but overrated features and finally decided to look into something I really needed, a touch phone with a decent camera, good speaker quality, a decent battery life, dcently fast internet with email and IM capability, and most importantly reliability. I've played with my father's Instinct M800 on several occasions and heard listened to horror stories about it's several quirks but was still impressed with several of it's features... then enter the S30. It has all of the Instinct's strengths and thus far none of its weaknesses. It isn't perfect but it is by far my best yet.
PROs:
Form and build quality- feels like a champ in your hand.
Improved web speed/options- was curious how a EVDOrO device was gonna beat an EVDOrevA but it does. Also love the addition of Opera Mini
Sound- call quality is pretty nice and the speaker is great... ringers and music at max volume cannot be missed or ignored.
UI- the user interface on this phone is amazingly easy to get used to and requires very little learning.
New features- all the little feature tweaks and additions over the last Instinct make this phone a vast improvement.
CONs:
Shorter battery life- when it comes to talk time this one is beat by its predecessor, but in standby it seems to keep up with its predecessor.
Lack of goodies- when my dad showed me his M800 I was shocked to see it came with a spare battery, a stylus, a case, and a 2GB card... Why didn't I get all that? Not fair.
Overall I'm pretty happy with my choice and wouldn't trade my new toy for any other phone Sprint has to offer, not that they don't have better, but I don't need a Touch Pro or Treo Pro.
Can't wait to see the next version. I hear it's gonna have an HD screen and be 4G. But there will be a patch for us 3G people I'm sure.
S30
This is the same phone. The Internet is a fraction of a second slower, I cant tell the difference. There is no improvements as far as software. The hardware is more rounded, and also it lacks true pocket express applications like the instinct. It lunches web browser to give the info, instead of being a nice clean app on the original. Phone call quality and all other functions are roughly still the same. if you have the 1st one, don't buy the new release.
much better, you really listened
well since i am the first to make a comment about the instinct s30, too all who read this review, here's the fat and skinny.
1. slim form is good, guys with big hands use the hard case, by itself is good the hard case makes it more comfortalbe. 2. slim form and shorter are great for pockets, didn't know i had it in mine at first. 3. like the colors, i have the bronze bronze makes the phone more of a bling bling look. pros and cons;
pros:
*fast response time when you press screen
*has alot of upgrades ie; 3d surround for mp3 player with equalizer.
*nfl and nascar apps are part of the initial page under fun.
*web is faster also has opera to use if you want, it's under the apps/games. web home page has changed, looks like from other sprint phones but looks good. the homepage has catagories like msg, my account, news, even portals.
*1.3 browser version nice and clear, has google search engine. kudos for that.
*speaker is a little louder nice and clear. louder when playing mp3s
*pressing buttons on the qwerty keypad has better response time has a minute lag when typing fast. for you ladies that type 50 wpm.
*video playback is better still buffers but no freezing, will give it time then review later.
now for the cons:
*for the big handed folks out there, phone is too small for long typing, use the hard case that will fatten it up, won't compromise fitting in pocket.
*as stated earlier video playback is a little better but still see some chop and buffer. but not that much.
*some pages on the sprint tv are not there spike tv, cartoon netwrok, don't know why sprint took them out.
*no spare batt, i mentioned hard case, no case with the phone, so you have to buy the hard case.
the phone is a good improvement from big brother, wish sprint didn't take some of the tv pages out. the phone is bout the same through and through, but it does have some good improvements. i just picked it up today. will play wit it more then comment.
