iPhone outdoes Instinct, but both are top-notch

Suzanne Choney • E-mail

Is Samsung’s Instinct, a phone carried by Sprint, the “iPhone killer” it has been billed to be by both companies?

No. Both touchscreen-only phones are excellent devices. Both phones run on faster wireless networks, called 3G, for third-generation wireless. That means data, such as e-mail and Web surfing, moves more quickly than on many current phones which are 2 or 2.5G. Both phones have their plusses and minuses.

In the end, neither may be right for you. But between the two, the new iPhone, released Friday, is superb largely because it’s relatively simple to use and because of the vivid visual experience and multi-touch screen it offers. That makes it a pleasure to maneuver around the screen, especially for Web-browsing and e-mail. The iPhone really is like carrying a computer in your pocket or pocketbook.

The Instinct, released last month, is by far one of the most intuitive touchscreen phones to surface since the first iPhone came out in June 2007. And, from an exterior design standpoint, it is beautifully crafted, as is the iPhone. But the Instinct just takes more getting used to and practice, and definitely has a phone feel to it.

I tested both the new iPhone 3G and Instinct over recent days, and did almost all of it without looking at manuals or documentation for either phone. I just powered them on and saw what happened as I pressed buttons, arrows and icons.

I’m not saying that’s the way to go, but it is what a lot of people do when they get a new piece of technology, especially a phone. Part of my interest was how intuitive each device was to use.

Considering the number of features each phone has, they both did well in that department, although the Instinct requires a bit more icon-pressing and changing menus than the iPhone to get to various features.

Navigation easier on iPhone
The Instinct has three physical buttons underneath the screen. One is for the phone, the other is a “home” button and the third is a back arrow for navigation.

When you press the Instinct’s home button, there are four icons at the bottom of the screen: favorites, main, fun and Web. Press on an icon, and it brings up a screen showing up to nine programs.

The main menu, for example, shows e-mail, messaging, voicemail (which is odd; seems like it should be part of the phone’s screen), navigation, calculator, notes, calendar, clock and settings.

When you turn the iPhone on, you always see four buttons at the bottom of the screen, one for the phone, one for e-mail, one for the Web and the fourth for the iPod, which is part of the device. There are up to 16 other programs on the main screen, including the camera, maps (navigation), text messaging, photos, calendar, weather and settings.

Suzanne Choney The same e-mail is displayed on the Instinct, left, and the iPhone.

To get in and out of any iPhone program at any time, you can always hit the indented, round “home” button underneath the phone’s screen to get back to the main menu. The Instinct just isn’t quite as fluid.

I was not an iPhone user before this experience. I have a Treo 700p, and like it quite a bit. I also like having a physical QWERTY keyboard, which neither the iPhone or Instinct have.

That said, getting used to the on-screen keyboards of each phone was a bit of a challenge, but do-able. With the iPhone keyboard, fingertips are used to tap on the screen to select letters. The Instinct lets you use fingertips, fingernails and even a stylus (which comes with it).

It’s good to have those options, because I found the Instinct’s onscreen keyboard, while acceptable, not as facile or easy to read as the iPhone’s.

Better Web-browsing on iPhone
Web-browsing and e-mail are easy to do on both phones, but the iPhone’s 3.5-inch screen, with a resolution of 480-by-320 pixels, is much better than the Instinct’s 3.1-inch screen, which has a resolution of 240-by-432 pixels. Also, some of the Instinct’s visual real estate gets eaten into by the on-screen icons that sit on each side of the screen.

As phones, both work well. How well they work for you will depend on where you live and the kind of reception you get from Sprint or from AT&T Wireless, the exclusive carrier of the iPhone.

You might also want to check whether you will benefit from 3G coverage where you need it. Sprint boasts it has “five times more mobile broadband coverage” than AT&T’s network, “based on square miles.” To check your area, visit Sprint’s Web site and click on “coverage,” and AT&T’s site and click on “coverage viewer.”

In my own area, 3G coverage was spotty, which meant I did testing on the faster network in places where I could find 3G signals from both carriers.

The iPhone, unlike the Instinct, also has Wi-Fi for Internet and e-mail access, which it can easily find anywhere a signal is available. Wi-Fi is speedier than 3G, which has generally has data transmission rates of between 144 kilobits and 2 megabits per second.

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