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Review: Samsung Instinct

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I really expected more from Eric and Rich, really. I'm dissapointed in you two.

monkeyracer

Jun 15, 2008, 3:46 PM
Normally, you guys do some great reviews and ignore some of the pre-release hardware issues. You BLATENTLY ignored that the unit you have, despite having the new software, is still a beta unit in regards to the hardware.

Signal Strength, Touchscreen issues, etc. Can only currently be attributed to a bad test unit. You weren't even able to test all the features of it yet.

To compare your review to maybe a new car review would show where you guys failed to deliver. Most brand new cars are test mules or pre-production versions. The magazines usually test them the same way they normally do, but at least notate what deficiencies could be caused by the fact that it's not an official version, and even still some performance will vary between...
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bluecoyote

Jun 15, 2008, 9:12 PM
The software has been for the most part been finalized as of this past week. Might I remind you the multi-touch UI of Apple's iPhone was still functional-if-unpolished at the January unveiling, and several weeks before its release it was perfectly useful.

Regardless, Samsung sent THEM the review unit well aware of any deficiencies it has. Next you'd harp on them because it didn't have the firmware update that will no doubt be released a week after its release.

Samsung has been building phones for a long time and they're the 2nd largest manufacturer. It's not going to go from utter crap to magnificent in a week. And if you've used the Samsung Glyde, you'll have a good understanding of Samsung's expectations.
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monkeyracer

Jun 15, 2008, 11:37 PM
samsung sent out over 1500 "test" units. For them to test each and every one for deficiencies before sending them out is fairly out of the ordinary.

The phone is not "utter crap". The reviewer received a crap unit. Software will not fix a bad piece of hardware.

Capacitive touch screens are cool, and being able to use multi-touch features like pinch zoom are interesting, but in day to day use, I only needed one finger to do anything on the apple. So it became a novelty rather than a necessity. Try using your iPhone in below freezing colorado winter temps without removing your gloves to text someone. Damn, can't do that. There are pro's and con's of each technology, but why aren't there any other capacitive screen phones? hmm...

As y...
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Rich Brome

Jun 16, 2008, 9:51 AM
I'm glad you mentioned the touch screen on the Glyde. I'd say the Instinct and Glyde have very similar touch screens. They're both unreliable and difficult to use, in almost exactly the same way.

What does that tell you?

It tells me that we didn't receive a bum Instinct. It tells me that Samsung's touch screen technology is simply not very good.
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monkeyracer

Jun 16, 2008, 11:00 AM
As I stated in the other post. I have had NO Issues on my pre-production training device. At ALL. So that leads me to believe that your device is defective.
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Sndmn23

Jun 16, 2008, 3:13 PM
I agree. I've had both phones in my hands and the experience was very different. The Instinct was MUCH better. Many others have stated the very same thing, so I think the possibility of a defective handset needs to at least be considered.
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bluecoyote

Jun 16, 2008, 7:05 PM
Having used both, I found the Instinct touch screen to be better than the Glyde's, but that's relatively speaking. Compared to the iPhone's (which I'm going to use as the standard here- deal with it) , it's nowhere close.
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rmcnamee

Jun 16, 2008, 7:07 PM
It seems to me like maybe different people use the device in different ways:

Reviewer #1 types 5 buttons per second, so he/she has a bad touch experience.

Reviewer #2 types 3 buttons per second, so he/she has a better touch experience.

The iPhone has a more responsive touch screen, so it allows you to type faster. If you're using the Instinct, you have to go a bit slower for the pressure-responsive screen, and that could be mistaken as an "unresponsive" or "defective" screen.

The Instinct is a sweet phone, and if you can deal with Sprint it's the way to go.
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Wireless.O.G.

Jun 17, 2008, 4:35 PM
"It has a virtual QWERTY keyboard. It's landscape by default. I tried a few quick things on it today and didn't make a single mistake."
https://www.phonescoop.com/phones/p_forum.php?fm=m&f ... »

I am growing tired of this, truth be told this site has gotten loose with its reporting. It isn't just this phone, you did it to the Glyde too and never followed up as you promised. It gets personal and people take it personal because you are too casual in the presentation. When you avoid industry standards and write an review article more like a conversation with a friend you make it personal. Then when you say it has faults people take it personally.

If you want people to respond professionally then post a professional review.
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ojdidit84

Jun 18, 2008, 12:06 PM
Ok, its very obvious to people that have used the phone that it WAS a USER ERROR when you were trying to press a button multiple times with no response just like the speaker button which you have to SLIDE and not just press. I think I would call that a user error and NOT a non-responsive touch screen. It probably would have helped if you went through the manual to learn how to use the phone correctly. Its a Samsung, not an Apple so of course the UI is going to be different. You can expect it to be exactly the same so... learn how to use it correctly, then give a review and not a comparison.
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tuolumne

Jun 18, 2008, 12:57 PM
Why have other reviewers stated that this is a huge improvement over the Glyde then? Samsung doesn't have good touch screen technology? How about trying out their YP-P2 3" touchscreen iPod touch lookalike. That device has a capacitive touchscreen and works just as well as the iPod's.

Look, I'm not trying to say you're didn't have issues, but when your review is so far extreme from every other, you have to understand why it seems fishy. The only real complaints so far have been weak signal strength, which you did mention. Everything else, though, you skimped over and introduced some new concerns that seem to be isolated to your one device.
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Rich Brome

Jun 16, 2008, 9:46 AM
It's not pre-production.

If it were, Sprint would certainly have made that very clear to us and only let us write a "preview". But no, they sent us an official review unit to ... review.

None of the issues were show-stopping bugs or glitches that would obviously be fixed in a later version. It just doesn't work as well as competing models.

Some phones really are better than others. Do people really only want us to write glowing reviews? What would be the point? We're just being honest.
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monkeyracer

Jun 16, 2008, 10:59 AM
I just want an honest review. You gave that, but omission is almost as bad as lying. The touch screen is awesome on it, one press and I get what I need done. NOT ONCE have I had an issue where I've had to press any more than I expected. (Except on web links, but that's the way it's designed)

The range of ESN's available to the public are going to be the alpha release of phones. Seeing as that won't happen till later this week, any phone currently active is therefore a "preproduction" version.
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Eric M. Zeman

Jun 16, 2008, 1:42 PM
MonkeyRacer, watch the video review, which will be live on YouTube later today. You can plainly see several instance where I have to touch the phone multiple times to get it to react.
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Sndmn23

Jun 16, 2008, 3:10 PM
I have no doubt that you were being honest with the review, but I think we may have to consider the possibility that you reviewed a defective handset.

I had the opportunity to get some hands on time with an Instinct, and although I didn't get to explore all it's features as you did, I can say that my experience with the touch screen and display was VERY different than yours. Furthermore, I came into it completely biased against any phone lacking a physical keyboard.

My time with the phone, as well as the fact that two other reviews I've read are completely different lead me to believe something is up.

I normally find your reviews to be spot on, but this time, I don't feel I got an accurate representation of what the product wil...
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monkeyracer

Jun 16, 2008, 4:15 PM
Thank you for agreeing with me.

As much as we try though, they want to hold their power trip higher than the masses.

They did the review their way;

ignored important features of the phone,
ignored the possibility of a defective phone (touch screen and/or coverage related,)
regardless of their statement, retained bias toward other products,
etc.

As I've stated in the other post:
All they need to do to quiet us is to perform the review the EXACT same way they did with the iPhone. If they do that, then we really can't dispute much of the results.
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scorpio

Jun 16, 2008, 11:40 AM
I don't know where you're getting your info from, Sprint said the phones shipped to the press are review purposes only and ARE NOT final versions. Try speaking to someone in the corporate office. Also, the Glyde and the Instinct do not have the same or similar touch screens. The Glyde uses capacitive touch technology, while the Instinct uses pressure.
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Eric M. Zeman

Jun 16, 2008, 1:49 PM
I have an email from Sprint that says the review unit is final.
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Sndmn23

Jun 16, 2008, 3:16 PM
And there is a failure rate on ANY electronic device, final version or not, so it's quite possible when you look at other reviews out there that you got a clunker.
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