Samsung Instinct HD Review
Share:
Callers were pleased with how we sounded on the Samsung Instinct HD, but weren’t blown away. They rated us an 8/10, saying that there was nothing particularly wrong with it but that we just sounded normal for a cell phone. We would say the same for them; our only complaint was the volume could be higher. It was fine in a room with minimal background noise, but in noisy conditions we had to ask callers to repeat themselves at times. The battery is rated at a very solid 5.8 hours of battery life, which is excellent for a CDMA phone.
Conclusion:
The Instinct HD has some excellent elements, including a gorgeous screen, HD video recording and a vastly improved browser. Performance was good and battery life is stellar, and it is a better phone than the original in every way. There are several useful apps this time around, and the accelerometer makes the phone more natural to use. If this had come out last year, or even in place of the Instinct s30 Samsung and Sprint would have had a killer phone on their hands, but right now it’s at best the third most exciting phone Sprint has behind the Pre and Hero. The Tour and Touch Pro2 can be thrown in the discussion as well, but then again having too many cool phones isn’t exactly a problem. What will ultimately hurt Instinct HD sales is the inflated price (though it’s not bad for those looking to buy a $100-$170 Flip for example,) but if it is dropped to match the current Instinct offerings that could change a lot of things
Samsung Instinct HD Video review:
 |
Pros
- First phone to offer HD recording
- Opera Mobile 9.7 is a great browser
- Good size and build quality
- The accelerometer makes the phone more natural to use, and the onscreen keyboard is still our favorite
- Beautiful, vibrant display
Cons
- Price is too high
- HDMI cable not included
Share:
Related phones
12 Comments
1. acipollo posted on 20 Oct 2010, 01:55 0 0
The screen is not resistive, it capacitive. Just because it does not have multi-touch, people seem to think that. Try using a stylus or a fingernail on it and it wont work.
8. thunder18 posted on 07 Oct 2009, 17:40 0 0
Trust me they did. Anyway, the did mention first off that it was not immediately apparent to them that it was capacitive. They're not saying that it's not. I think a lot of that has to do with the UI lag after pressing the home back and call key. If you turn of haptics...at least on mine, there is a small but noticeable lag when pressing each one which you might feel is alleviated by pressing the button harder/longer. However, in testing you will find that if you feather touch those same keys and just wait, the UI will change screens like it's supposed to.
11. PhoneArena Team posted on 08 Oct 2009, 02:16 0 0
Yes, the screen is indeed capacitive. We are sorry for the mistake we accidentally did in the beginning.
3. lovinlissa1984 posted on 07 Oct 2009, 14:42 0 0
"Unfortunately it does not have the slick panoramic mode found on many newer Samsungs, including Sprint’s Reclaim." The phone does have a feature that will stitch 4 photos together( just in case you wre wondering)
4. mr. anderson posted on 07 Oct 2009, 14:45 0 0
i havent tried the instinct hd, but i have used the omnia II and it takes 8 or 10 shots in succession, basically creating a 270* view. im not sure how much id use it, but it is a very cool feature and youd think with such a camera-centric phone theyd include s/w theyve already written
6. lovinlissa1984 posted on 07 Oct 2009, 14:54 0 0
it does have a multi-shot capability but im not sure of the amount of photos Dale
7. thunder18 posted on 07 Oct 2009, 17:36 0 0
The multi-shot mode allows for 3, 5 or 10 pics to be taken in quick succession.
5. lovinlissa1984 posted on 07 Oct 2009, 14:52 0 0
also for those that dont know the battery life on the first batch of phones is terrible also for now you can get the phone at Best buy for 199.99 after instant rebates..and i can imagine that when the phone comes out officially on sprint it will be a little cheaper, tho with a mail in rebate. Dale
9. thunder18 posted on 07 Oct 2009, 17:42 0 0
Yeah, I'm kind of wondering how they got their battery life that high. I want a tester phone!
12. douchka posted on 12 Mar 2010, 10:43 0 0
Is it me or Phonearena just rates Sprint phones above 8, and any other carrier 8 or below? Same way cnet.com always rates ATT's phones way above average and any other carrier phone average or below? Must have something to do with advertising. I mean most of the advertisement on here are sprint ones... Just saying
