Has anyone seen the new sprint phone called instinct?????

[neodorian]

http://www.mobiledia.com/phones/samsung/instinct.html

It's getting annoying to have everything compared to the iphone. The form factor is similar but this will probably have an inferior GUI but a few features iphone doesn't have.

I would imagine the browser is worse than mobile Safari but this has GPS. I don't think it has wifi. This has haptic feedback but no multitouch and the browser is stuck in landscape mode.

I think the main difference with the iphone is that it was made by a computer maker that wanted to concentrate on phone features and then they kind of hammered out a deal with ATT that left it mostly free of ATT customizations. The only thing ATT got was more customers due to the theoretical lock to ATT. In the case of a lot of these things, they are made by companies who work with the carriers and end up with devices with that in mind.

Until a company comes out and invests a good amount of time in R&D on a killer device as a game maker/breaker the way Apple did, the devices you see will always seem half baked.

I say this as a Windows Mobile user and someone who prefers my Titan over the iPhone. I think the 2 are totally different devices and in different classes. It's like comparing my laptop to an Xbox. I just think that as far as consumer-grade devices go, companies like Palm, Sony, or whoever will always have a hard time competing with Apple in ease of use and straight up flash. They don't have the luxury of having their own OS and team of OS devs so they will always be stuck with their own OS or an existing one like Palm, WinMo, Symbian, etc.

Hopefully as mobile linux and Android get developed, they will provide a stable and scalable basis for these hardware makers to take advantage of. Apple is never going to make a WinMo style workhorse with tons of features that you can run on a wide range of handsets. Likewise, Samsung, Sony, HTC, Nokia, etc. are likely never going to make their own OS that is as capable as Apple's.

[shaun0207]

Originally Posted by neodorian

http://www.mobiledia.com/phones/samsung/instinct.html

It's getting annoying to have everything compared to the iphone. The form factor is similar but this will probably have an inferior GUI but a few features iphone doesn't have.

I would imagine the browser is worse than mobile Safari but this has GPS. I don't think it has wifi. This has haptic feedback but no multitouch and the browser is stuck in landscape mode.

I think the main difference with the iphone is that it was made by a computer maker that wanted to concentrate on phone features and then they kind of hammered out a deal with ATT that left it mostly free of ATT customizations. The only thing ATT got was more customers due to the theoretical lock to ATT. In the case of a lot of these things, they are made by companies who work with the carriers and end up with devices with that in mind.

Until a company comes out and invests a good amount of time in R&D on a killer device as a game maker/breaker the way Apple did, the devices you see will always seem half baked.

I say this as a Windows Mobile user and someone who prefers my Titan over the iPhone. I think the 2 are totally different devices and in different classes. It's like comparing my laptop to an Xbox. I just think that as far as consumer-grade devices go, companies like Palm, Sony, or whoever will always have a hard time competing with Apple in ease of use and straight up flash. They don't have the luxury of having their own OS and team of OS devs so they will always be stuck with their own OS or an existing one like Palm, WinMo, Symbian, etc.

Hopefully as mobile linux and Android get developed, they will provide a stable and scalable basis for these hardware makers to take advantage of. Apple is never going to make a WinMo style workhorse with tons of features that you can run on a wide range of handsets. Likewise, Samsung, Sony, HTC, Nokia, etc. are likely never going to make their own OS that is as capable as Apple's.

Very well put.

[neodorian]

Alright! Another Baltimoron!

[Draiko]

The one thing I don't understand about the iPhone is how Apple could tout it as the "jesusphone" while leaving out so many common phone features. Making a media phone without A2DP or Voice Command dialing? Using EDGE for a phone that's built to promote mobile web browsing when the world is about to go 4G?

Android... well... its Linux. While robust, Linux tends to be too complicated for the end user. All attempts to make Linux more user friendly haven't been completely successful and I don't think Google will be able to pull it off just yet. I think Android will have a bit of an uphill climb.

Windows Mobile won't get a boost until v7 comes out next year. The xbox 360 is proof that MS can build a nice looking UI with smooth transitions.

Blackberries are going to die a slow death.

[neodorian]

Originally Posted by Draiko

The one thing I don't understand about the iPhone is how Apple could tout it as the "jesusphone" while leaving out so many common phone features. Making a media phone without A2DP or Voice Command dialing? Using EDGE for a phone that's built to promote mobile web browsing when the world is about to go 4G?

Android... well... its Linux. While robust, Linux tends to be too complicated for the end user. All attempts to make Linux more user friendly haven't been completely successful and I don't think Google will be able to pull it off just yet. I think Android will have a bit of an uphill climb.

Windows Mobile won't get a boost until v7 comes out next year. The xbox 360 is proof that MS can build a nice looking UI with smooth transitions.

Blackberries are going to die a slow death.

Apple probably didn't include those features because they either weren't polished enough for them or they didn't think people would demand them. As far as 3g there are other reasons like battery life and coverage.

As far as Android, your characterization of linux as "too complex for the end user" probably is based on experiences with desktop linux installs and driver issues or whatever. You don't even notice linux in all of the things it's emebedded in. Hell, even my roommate's HD-DVD player (I know..I know...) runs on linux.

The point is, if you use a linux kernel and make sure you have robust drivers for your hardware, it's not an issue. Just because grandma wouldn't want to use the command line on her PC doesn't mean that will have anything to do with a mobile OS based on linux kernel.

[Pibe38]

As already said above, there's a main thread for this phone in the Off Topic forum. This phone does not run WM OS, so that's where the info belongs.