Tuesday, April 1, 2008 -- 9:14 p.m. -- at my desk

This is not an April Fool's joke.

Sprint thinks it has the iPhone killer in its new Samsung Instinct.

It's a touchscreen phone with a virtual keyboard. It has EVDO rev. A and GPS. It has a 3.1 inch screen. It has only a few buttons.

Can you tell that I'm not excited?

The basic reason is that I look at Verizon's Voyager ... what hype that thing had. It was definitely the iPhone killer. I actually think I like the Zune and hulu.com better than the Voyager.

Sprint may have something here. It really might. But it's too little too late. The 3G iPhone is well on its way and once it comes out it's going to be light years ahead of the Instinct, which apparently requires you to use the phone's accelerometer to surf Web pages. Meaning that to scroll down, you point the phone down.

Forgive me if I don't want to do yoga to surf the Web. Forgive me if I just want a simple and elegant relationship between iTunes and the iPhone.

Do I recognize that fact that there is no actual 3G iPhone yet and that this phone has a faster network and GPS? Sure. And that's great. And I'm sure that Sprint will sell an awful lot of them if the price is right.

I just take any claims of an iPhone killer with a grain of salt. It might look like an iPhone and it might smell like an iPhone, but that doesn't make it an iPhone. There's more to a good phone than chrome and advertising.

But who knows, callers? Maybe this will be the true iPhone killer. Samsung makes a nice product. Maybe this will be it and maybe this will be the catalyst that pushes Apple to work even harder than it's working now to stay on top of the mobile phone game.

And as a side note ... isn't it interesting that the name of the phone starts with an I? Coincidence? I think not.

Let me know what you think? Are you more intrigued by the Instinct than the iPhone?

Thanks for calling.

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No way is it more intriguing or likely as good as the iphone but the competition coming from different fronts as a whole is. This just makes it more important than ever for Apple to respond and to be more responsive to customer requests and complaints. A case in point is the ignore vs close text issue you responded to yesterday; that's just not an appropriate response when customers have repeatedly requested for this to be returned to its original set up. If there so sure that this is ok the way it is now, why did they bring it out the way they did and then change to something clearly inferior. They must have though there was something right about it to begin with; my guess is that they don't want to go through the hassle of changing their software to accommodate it. That attitude and lack of timely responsiveness as a whole to other issues we all though would have been addressed by now could get people to more strongly consider the competitive alternatives that are coming out and will continue to come out.

SCOTT'S REPLY: Indeed. Apple is a popular game, but it's not the only game in town. There's a slight bit of snobbery on its part in times like these. The iPhone is great, but it needs to be better and it's competition like this that's going to drive that point home everytime. Although that Samsung Instinct? With the camera that controls the movement of the screen? I am not buying.

To date, Apple is the only company that has ever delivered products that I personally believe exceeded expectations on their products. Is it any wonder that they have the kind of customer adoration and loyalty that they do? As a proud owner of a new iPhone, I love this thing more than I thought I would ... And I came into this purchase with a ton of anticipation and gobs of expectation. No other company has ever come close in gaining my customer satisfaction -- especially cell phone manufacturers AND carriers. So I am very skeptical about this new 'iPhone killer' by Samsung, Sprint, or any other desperado attempting to jump on such an exclusive bandwagon. I almost feel embarassed for them for trying!

SCOTT'S REPLY: As I said in the above comment, I think the competition should try. I think the competition needs to keep Apple on its toes just like Apple needs to keep the competition on their toes. Apple has run away with the cell phone industry with the iPhone. Now we have our "killers" like the Instinct. Soon we'll have the 3G iPhone and the heads of the other companies will go back to putting their heads in their hands and trying to figure out how they can possibly catch up. It's actually a rather entertaining game.

Sprint thinks they have an iPhone killer?

HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That's funny... It should be called the Samsuck Instink.

Seriously though, that thing is really pitiful. These companies should have learned by now that you can't beat Apple by trying to copy them (see iPod); you have to outdo them.

Of course, that means you still can't beat them...

SCOTT'S REPLY: I think it says a lot to try to beat Apple at what it's good at. But Microsoft does that every day and in my opinion, they suck at it too. But it has to be done. In this case, I think a lot of people are getting caught up by the fact that the Instinct looks like an iPhone. And it's as I said in the post -- or at least close -- there's more to an iPhone than what you see on the surface.

Well Im not a sprint lover and Im no longer a 1 generation Iphone owner, but I must say sprint is onto something major here. 1st they just rolled out a plan when At&t and Verizon was battling over unlimited. Where you get EVERYTHING pretty much on the phone for the low cost of 99 dollars. That includes TV, GPS, Internet, Messaging, and Calling. That a pretty big feat in itself. Now here come this phone, It looks pretty darn good and I can honestly say I cant wait till it is released to see how it does against the Iphone. True the Iphone does has it oooo and awwwww factor, but it is Not a great of a product that sets the paths on fire. Now who knows what will come around with the new Iphone, but I must say that this one is actually worth me even thinking about purchasing. And actually the voyager is a darn good phone I played around with it and it does everything. It even reads your text messages back to you if you dont feel like looking at the screen.

SCOTT'S REPLY: Sorry, Mike. I've got nothing to agree with you on here. And that's ok because I don't always have to agree. Have you seen the videos of the Instinct? The camera is what allows the phone to move when you tilt it. Ugh!

ok I checked this thing out on YouTube and a few other things, it's an ok phone, one reason I wouldn't get it is that there is no WiFi feature and that was pointed out specifically on one of the videos's. I would think that would be a key thing to have for this type of phone. Not real crazy about the interface either. and some also pointed out the fact that it is not a "smart phone". I think once you have an iPhone it is tough to find anything that truely compares. Nice step into the market for Samsung though.

SCOTT'S REPLY: Indeed. Nice step. And Sprint thinks it's fast EVDO network will alleviate the need for Wi-Fi. I don't think that a 3G iPhone will come without Wi-Fi, so I don't necessarily buy that logic at all. But it's up to folks to form their own opinions. I remember the day I got my T-Mobile MDA. I said to my lovely iWife ... I'll never need another phone again.

Oh how silly I was.

When the Voyager came out, I thought that the 'haptic' touch would be something that might make a dent, but it did not. It took a while for me to realize that having a tactile reponse might be nice, it is very non-iPhonish because we do not simply touch the phone, which I am not so sure how a haptic touch would feel with pinching, swiping, and the other gestures iPhone users have become more than comfortable using.

Also while web access may be better when Android walks the Earth, right now no one does it better than Safari on your phone. So while Instinct may do well to satisfy people who do not care for iPhone, it will not get one iPhone user to put their iPhone down.

And to make matters worse for competitors 2.0 and SDK are going to make the iPhone some other thing all together. People will be putting down laptops and picking up iPhones, Can you dig that, putting down laptops to pick up iPhones?

And what many competitors do not realize is that iPhone is just a part of a whole biosphere, a platform that is darned near what we have been wanting computers to be for a while. A whole infotainment system designed to fit your needs, both mobile and static.

SCOTT'S REPLY: And think of this ... the carriers? Sprint ... The phone companies? Motorola, Samsung ... they know that. They are totally aware but yet they think that they can make a dent in that biosphere. And while a company has to do what it has to do to survive -- desperate times do call for desperate measures -- I don't think it's shocking to them that they just got beat.

All I can say is this:

We're in America. I think everyone ahould put their best efforts into their products. Apple should be pushed as well as push other companies. But here's where Samsung just shot themselves in the foot: calling their Instinct and "iPhone Killer". How many idiots throughout history have shot their mouths off with big boastful words and actually even come close to delivering on them - let alone going the opposite way and falling on their face?? I don't care how big Samsung is. If nothing else, they've lost my respect. They would have been far better off to have just made the thing and promoted with a competitive respect. Thanks but I'll stick with the iPhone; and the iPhone 3G when that comes out...

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