Samsung Instinct M800
Phone Scoop Review
Jun 13, 2008 by Eric M. Zeman
Samsung and Sprint break out the touch screen Instinct to combat the swelling ranks of touch devices. Does it compare to the competition? With video tour. read review ›
User Reviews
Average Ratings
Great phone. Period.
Windows mobile guy for some time. The fact this OS is NOT Windows is fantastic. Everything works. Give it full exchange support for calendar and its 100% terrific.
Pros: Doesn't lock up like a windows powered device from HTC for example.
Phone dialer is superb for touch. Again, compared to a windows device..simply fantastic.
Screen res is terrific. Volume, sound and call quality are great.
Navigation from Sprint is simply superb. It truly is.
Live Search is a great feature and is tied to the navigation function which is great.
Cons: Syncing with outlook is a bit strange. Certainly a windows device has this down pat. Lots of ringers but all are "musical". No standard "beap" for example.
cool phone cool features
Overall I love my phone. Its the third cell phone I've had with sprint and happy I chose it. I liked pretty much every feature but they take a little getting used to. Like the first night I had my phone I was trying to set up speed dials and when scrolling through the d's for my dad I acidentally clicked on a coworker's name and called her not realizng you have to slide the end button.
I miss my Katana (the first one) a little bit I guess cause of t9 word for texting.
I had to change my plan to be able to get the instinct but so far its been worth it.
Pros:
-cool design
-i really like how you can preview a ring tone without clicking on it
-good battery life when not usuing it very often
-big pro: the phone comes with a memory card inside the phone, a memory card adapter, wall charger, spare battery, charger for the extra battery (runs off the wall adapter), headphones, and a "leather" case and a stylus
-voice dialing is pretty cool
-the stylus extends
Cons:
-if you receviced a text message or missed call and ignored it for awhile you have to unlock the phone to read it
-harder to text. if you are using your finger to text you often hit the wrong letter if your not careful
-case that came with it doesnt have a belt clip and no storage for the stylus on the phone just in the case
-voice dialing seems to mess up some
-a few things will freeze up every now and then
-shows smudge marks really bad
-whenever i go to use the camera it says "fuzzy picture warning"
I hope they make updates that will fix some of the issues the phone has. Otherwise I love the phone and glad I bought it. If it hadn't been for this phone I prbly would have chosen the katana lx, dlx, or eclipse, the muzic, maybe the rumor or possibly razr 2
I also loved the video sprint made of the phone defeating the iphone. I would recomend this phone to anyone who has the money for it. Its deft. a great phone and Im glad to have it.
I really like tis phone
Hey you guys I just wanted to give an update. Recently I upgraded to a Samsung Instinct from an LG Rumor and I`m lovin it!
Pros:
Great Keyboard
Easy Texting
Crystal Clear Calls
Many features
That`s all I can think of off the top of my head but I definetly reccomend~ !!! :)
M800 instinct
Love It!!!
I previously had the Samsung A900 (blade). I loved that phone cause I was in construction and it held up through hell but now that Im out of construction I wanted something with more functions.
there are very few cons that I can find.
Cons-
-sometimes the texting cant keep up with me.
-on occasion going between the different menus it cant keep up with me
- the sprint tv is choppy
Pros-
-virtual keyboard is easy
-Web is fast
-navigation is amazing
-the favs page is usefull
-Email is so easy to use
-Like being able to check movie times
-Camera is great needs flash tough
-couldnt go without the visual voicemail either
Overall love the phone but if you dont like touch screens dont get this phone.
If you are thinking about it just GET IT
I really enjoy this phone. I have had it for a few months now and it has been a great addition to my purse. I use the Instinct as a phone/text machine/mp3/navigator/email checker. I havent used the TV yet, but between everything else, I dont really have time for it.
My friends say that my signal is a lot stronger and before I could tell them I had a new phone they were saying I came in much clearer.
If you dont like the way it locks then you can set it so it doesnt. There are ways to make the phone do whatever you want.
The text screen is fine. I've had about 3 typos so far. I think that if you are really interested in the phone get it. This phone is fun and easy to use. (and currently on sale)
Good phone, lacks polish
First of all, I love this phone. It looks sexy (shiney, black, super thin, minimalist) and it feels so good. Its on the heavier side which gives it a very solid feel. It vibrates when you touch it, using this phone is nothing less than fun.
That being said, there are a few things which have eventually caused me to give up on this phone. So here are my CONS:
- the calender cannot by synced with anything, this renders it almost useless. it also has a lot of bugs in it which cause some alerts to not show, some repeated events to disappear, etc.
- java apps simply do not run on this phone. it lacks a software keyboard for the java apps, so when it comes to enter some text into the app it just takes you to a blank screen with no exit.
- no task list
- music player refreshes songs and sync with web every time you open up a song. this is very annoying; it causes a 10 second delay when you launch the music player, and then another 1 or 2 second delay when changing songs.
- keyboard could be a little bit more responsive. when you are typing a text that is more than a few words long, it starts to lag. presumably from running the spell check.
but don't get me wrong, if you do not use the calendar to do your scheduling, own an ipod, and text fast anyways then none of these are problems. So here are my PROS:
- contact list is good, quick and easy to find anyone. its a pleasure to scroll. the favorites is great too.
- browser, it gets the job done, and its fast (version 1.1). wish it would run opera, and it will someday. but for now this is good enough.
- camera takes good pictures, picture browser is a bit slow though.
- sports, weather, news, etc. all these widgets are great and work great.
- navigation is good, but sometimes it doesn't download the maps fast enough to keep up with how fast i am driving on the highway.
Overall, if you are looking for a nice looking compact touch screen phone, then this is for you. otherwise, look elsewhere.
Love it!
I've officially had my phone for a month on a sprint employee plan(indirect) and I love it. Here are my pros and cons:
Cons:
1. Texting can be a pain sometimes on the touch screen. (although I am ok with it since i've seen over 4000 so far)
2. I wish u could actually view your designated backround.
3. web browsing could be a little smoother.
Pros :
1. Looks great
2. call quality is great. i ca n usually make a call even if I only have 1 bar.
3. Its sports features, movie features etc are a great tool especially with the playoffs underway, and the fact that i love going to see movies haha.
4. Scrolling is fun to do!
5. email forwarding works perfect.
Over all I love this phone and the only other phone I might consider is the Touch Pro. I didn't use any rebates on my instinct so I'm eligible still for a full upgrade ;)
Instinct sucks on Bell and Telus
Having used an iphone, an HTC Diamond an LG Vu and an Instinct let me tell you that the Canadian version of the Instinct does not even come close to competing with the iphone. Short and sweet are a list of pros and cons:
Pros:
-reception
-voice quality
-music playback quality
-solid body
-ok camera
-portrait qwerty keyboard while texting.
-loud speaker although not the best
-good battery life
-Turn by turn GPS worked pretty well
Cons:
-Ugly menu cannot be changed
-Telus/bell prevent the use of google maps and force the use of their in house gps service (10$) which cannot find my street where as google maps can
-Telus and Bell have programmed in their in house music players which aren't bad in of themeselves but they neglected to adjust the resolutuion size of the buttons for such a large screen so you practicaly have to use a stylus to use them.
-On the Telus Service their in house email and live TV services are still not working over 1 month after launch.
-ON THE TELUS MODEL, THERE IS NO OPTION FOR OTA UPDATES IN SETTINGS MEANING WHAT YOU GET IS WHAT YOU'RE STUCK WITH!
I don't know about the sprint version but from reading forums it does not seem much different
my speaker phone works poorly
I like my phone a lot which is why I am on my second one. Both phones have this terrible cut out when you have it on speaker. Only on the other end which is very annoying. Anyone else have this problem? I have contacted Sprint many times they want me to send the phone in for more than two weeks. Who can do that? Looking for help.
Great Phone
I recently came back to sprint from Helio and the ocean phone (device,Whatever you wanna call it) anyhow this phone is great If sprint would have had a phone like this or the m520 2years ago i would have never left in the first place.
The is new so its bound to have bugs but it works and does what it says its suppose to.
Pros:
GPS
Camera quality
Touch Screen is very responsive
call Quality Is Great
Visual Voicemail is better than regular voiccemail.
Live search works great BB don't have this yet.
Movies app on screen Best thing ever I use it alot.
Music player
Sprint Tv
Easy to Use the phone.
Cons:
No flash on camera
No facebook app on the American version.
(Canadian Version has Facebook Not Myspace)
no On screen unlock
Over all the pro's of this phone really out weigh the con's if you like touch screens and are with sprint i say follow your Instinct And get this phone.
