The first rule of dumbphones: They shouldn’t cost more than smartphones. This shall not be broken. The second rule of dumbphones, or really all phones: An announcement should be accompanied by useful information about the product. So, Sprint—what the hell?
The Sprint/Samsung S30 ‘Mini‘, a presumed colleague of the existing Instinct, well, isn’t. Nope, it’s the replacement for the current Instinct, and if anything it’s slightly larger than its predecessor.
According to some legit-looking shots from a Sprint forum, this is your new Samsung Instinct Mini.
We played with Opera Mini 4.2 on Android yesterday, but it’s got one other new platform up its sleeve: the Sprint Instinct. Opera is something we’ve been waiting for ever since the Instinct’s browser totally blew on an otherwise great feature phone (though it’s gotten better with the recent 1.1 update). Opera Mini should add some spring in its web-surfing step, since it’s reading optimised pages that have been crunched Opera’s servers and spat back to your phone. You’ll need to sideload it, but if you’ve got the Instinct, you should give Opera a test drive. [Opera]
Another talking point for the throaty fake movie announcer in Sprint’s occasionally amusing Instinct vs. iPhone schtick: The Instinct now has a Pandora app. However, it’ll cost you three bucks a month (like on most phones with Pandora), even though it’s free on the iPhone. You can grab it through your Digital Lounge. Comment competition: Somehow spin that into an “Instincts Win” blurb. [Sprint Users via Gear Diary]
The Instinct firmware update BH29 was pushed out over the air (a cool feature in and of itself) a few days ago, with one main purpose: fixing the browser with an entirely new codebase. Lame page rendering and navigation were our biggest problems with the Instinct, so this update is definitely worth exploring. Release notes after the jump. [EverythingInstinct]
Back when Sprint’s US$100 million shot to the iPhone’s nuts kicked off, the Instinct had two big things the iPhone didn’t: 3G and GPS. Now, the iPhone’s got both of those, making the Instinct a non-contender, right? Not in Instinct vs. iPhone, 3G Redux. We won’t spoil it for you, but guess who wins by Sprint’s count with a bigger 3G network, turn-by-turn directions, and sprinkles. Yes, sprinkles. [Sprint]
Sprint’s best phone, the Instinct got a little bit better today with a firmware update that patches some sniggles. No new features, but this update apparently lubes it up for a big one next month that’ll drop in changes to the browser (dear god, make it better), Sprint Nav, TV, Picture Mail—and pretty much everything else on the phone.[Buzz About Wireless, Thanks squirtle!]
Sprint is spending a lot of money in attempts to slay the iPhone and give AT&T a run for their money. And while we may all snicker over how closely their new posterboy the Samsung Instinct resembles the iPhone, that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Sprint has worked closely with Samsung to put a sleek iPhonesque UI over a pocketable handset that can handle video, stream TV, and offer turn-by-turn GPS.
