Samsung Instinct HD SPH-M850 Review
Introduction
Sprint Nextel CTIA stole the spotlight last year when it introduced the Samsung Instinct. There was much to like about the phone screen, so we were hoping that Samsung should build on its success with the following models. To our delight the original, the Samsung Instinct S30 toured at CTIA this year, but we were quickly disappointed that offered only a slimmer design. Worse still, Samsung has actually removed features found on the first model. Could it be that the S30 is all Sammy had to offer?
Fortunately, the answer is no. As summer rolled in the fall, Sprint has a head start on the holiday season by unveiling the much awaited successor Instinct. The HD Instinct, aka the SPH-M850, is both an upgrade and improvement. It offers a smarter, brighter screen and more features. We’re a little ambivalent about the very famous “high definition” support, but it remains a compelling multimedia phone that does many things well. The price, however, is a bit irritating: at $ 249 with Sprint two-year plan, and all of a $ 100 mail-in rebate, the HD Instinct will cost more than the hero HTC’s excellent Google Android smartphone. Of course, the HD camera is good, but we prefer to pay to actual productivity as flashy multimedia.
Design
The HD Instinct has a trim candy bar shape that is larger than both the original instinct and S30 Instinct. The curves and smooth angles give an attractive and we like the simple silver and black colors. In addition, we welcome the additional Heft (4.63 inches by 2.29 inches by 0.5 inches, 4.01 ounces) because it gives the phone a solid feel and comfortable in the hand. The HD Instinct also travels well in a pocket or bag.
The 3.2 inches is not any bigger than the S30, but it supports more colors (16 million colors) and has a richer resolution (480×320 pixels). You immediately notice the upgrade, the colors are bright, vibrant graphics and local right of the screen. Although 3.2 inches is just about what we consider the minimum size for a touchscreen display HD Instinct is very easy on the eyes. You can adjust the brightness and backlighting time, but the size small text size can not be changed.
The touch interface is fast and responsive when selecting items. Scanning large lists and using scroll bars were a little slow, but nothing too embarrassing. You can adjust the sensitivity to touch and switch between a right and a left direction. Comments vibrating should be useful for most users, you can change its intensity or turn it off completely. The screen also features a proximity sensor.
The menu interface is similar to previous models Instinct. At last level, there are three pages of menu ( “Main”, “Fun” and “My Stuff”) where the icons are arranged in a list or tile format according to their themes. The tile design is more attractive, but the design list offers more controls for each individual characteristic. For example, you can see thumbnails of your photos without having to open the photo gallery. There is also a fourth page called “Faves” that you can fill with your selected features. For more personalization, you can delete menu items and rearrange
The “Web” menu offers options for the browser, Microsoft Live Search, and various widgets (we’ll list them in the Features section). Games, GPS, and customization options can be found in the “My Stuff” menu, multimedia and social media applications like Facebook and Twitter are in the “Fun” menu and options as standard for messaging and l organizer are in the “Main” menu page. This arrangement intuitive once you give it a go.
Just below the screen are three touch controls: a back button, a Home button and call button. The Home button takes you back to the main screen and the call key opens yet another menu with your directory, your speed dial list, recent calls menu, the function of visual voicemail, and phone dialer. The latter is characterized by large orders alphanumeric keys and the ability to activate the loudspeaker right to access and contacts on the screen.
The HD Instinct offers a full QWERTY keyboard with large buttons. The vertical keyboard is roomier than you might think, but we recommend that you do not use it since the keys are not arranged in the standard QWERTY format. You can switch between keyboards by tilting the phone (HD Instinct has an accelerometer) or by pressing a touch control. You will need to switch to a separate keyboard for symbols and numbers, but the basic punctuation appeared with checks listing. You will also find the back and touch controls and a giant bar area. If you wish, you can hide the keyboard to see more of the writing area.
The power control based on the top of the Instinct HD side of the 3.5 mm headphone jack (nice!). On the left spine, you will find the microSD port for the charger / USB cable, TV out jack and a camera shutter. The volume rocker and a voice dialing button are on the left spine. Although you can find the switch when a call, we prefer it to be just a bit bigger. The single speaker is located on the back of the camera in the camera lens, flash and self portrait mirror. While most controls in a convenient location on the handset memory card slot is inconveniently located behind the battery cover.
Features
The HD 600 Instinct phone book contact is small enough, as far as Touch-screen handsets GO. Each name has five types of phone numbers, e-mail, instant message handle, address, URL, and notes. You can organize calls into groups and paired with a photo and one of the 26 128-note polyphonic ringtones. Essentials include a vibrate mode, text and multimedia messaging, a calendar, calculator, alarm clock, timer, stopwatch, world clock, a speakerphone, full duplex, and a notepad. Fortunately, calendar and world clock are easier to use than on instinct.
The HD Instinct is not a smartphone, but you will find lots of options beyond the basics. The handset offers full Bluetooth with a stereo profile, Sprint Navigation with Microsoft Live Search, PC synchronization, Sprint Visual Voice Mail, USB mass storage, speaker independent voice commands, and instant messaging. And as the Jet Samsung, it also includes the terms “controls” gesture: you can mute an incoming call and snooze the alarm by placing the phone face down. We were also pleased to see that Samsung has added Wi-Fi for HD Instinct.
Like its predecessor, the HD Instinct offers many options e-mail. You can synchronize with the POP3 accounts from AOL, AIM, Yahoo and Gmail, and you can synchronize with the working company mail accounts using Outlook Web Access. The experience is very similar to that on the first two models Instinct (our Instinct review gives a complete description). As he did not support the full Exchange Server, it has its quirks, but it works well for basic communications. If you have configured your work e-mail, you will also synchronize your Outlook calendar and contacts. The same is not true for Outlook Notes, however.
The Opera 9.7 browser lets you view web pages in their full glory HTML, but it will default to a mobile site if one is available. Compared with a WAP browser, Opera 9.7 is smooth and pretty, but it is not without its flaws. Of course, we get that Opera tries to make navigation easier for mobile use, but the whole experience is quite cluttered and redundant. For example, you can save web pages as bookmarks and “Speed pages” Dial. ” Although the two functions do the same thing - you get quick access to your favorite sites - they differ in how they do. We are ready to admit that the web page thumbnails in the Speed Dial menu is visually more attractive than a simple list of URL bookmarks, but we do not see why you need both.
Opera 9.7 allows tabbed browsing, you can keep multiple pages open at once. It is a nice feature, but the exchange interface between the pages is visually overwhelming on a screen of 3.2 inches. You get used to, but it needs some practice to understand how to intelligently use the browser. This is the first time we’ve had to read the relevant section of the phone user manual. The browser does not support Flash Lite or Opera Turbo feature.
The HD Instinct does not the browser that we view on his original predecessor, but the touch interface is mostly smooth and responsive when you scroll the pages. Exploiting the links were not always accurate, however. You can zoom in by double tapping the screen, and we love that you can adjust the zoom percentage in the Settings menu. To zoom out, however, you must use the key below the screen (we prefer to be able to double tap). Other features of navigation are respectable. You can set up home pages and launch, customize privacy settings (cookies, referrer logging, etc.), send this page to a friend, a search page and analyze your browsing history. You also get a list of saved pages, but it seems to be just another method for the Safeguarding of selected pages.
The HD Instinct’s 5-megapixel camera is unique in the world of U.S. mobile phone, Sprint and Samsung, and grow as the star attraction of the device. In addition to standard camera features, you can record videos in high definition (1280 x720). Like most cell phone cameras are not worth their weight in plastic, we do not know at first if a cell phone was the best place for an HD camcorder. Upon reflection, we thought that if Samsung could make it work convincingly, then there is no reason why the phone should not offer him.
If you want to view the video in high definition, you will need to transfer video to an HD-capable monitor. This is understandable, but we wish that Samsung included cable required in the area, rather than making it an option ($ 29 accessory). On the upside, it took a few seconds to connect the phone to an HDTV in the CNET Labs and play a test video. The quality was quite impressive, with a crisp and vivid colors. Editing options are not exhaustive and clips can be blown into the direct sunlight, but the HD Instinct done an outstanding job for what it offers. It may not rival the best HD camcorders out there, but it does not.
Keep in mind that HD video will take much memory, Samsung bet she is about 30 MB for each minute. Since the HD Instinct offers only 512 MB of internal shared memory, videographers often require a microSD card. You get a 4GB card in the box, but the phone can accommodate cards up to 32GB.
You can also record videos in VGA (640×480) and QVGA (320×240) resolutions. Naturally, a lower resolution will take less memory. When registering, you can activate the flash like a light, change exposure, and adjust options such as color tone, contrast, sharpness, white balance, saturation and video quality. You can also set a timer. Videos for multimedia messages are capped at 6 MB, which is between 40 seconds and 2 minutes, depending on the resolution (HD video can not be sent over the air). In normal mode, you can record as long as available memory allows.
The camera shoots still photos in four resolutions (2,592 x1, 944 to 640×480). After the stripped-down Instinct S30, we welcome all plenty of editing options. You will find a self-timer, six color tones, three quality settings, spot metering, seven “scene” modes (night, portrait, etc.), five adjustable white balance settings, 4x zoom, autofocus, face detection, and a macro mode. And like the camcorder, you can change ISO, color saturation, brightness, contrast and sharpness. The flash is very bright, you can choose between an automatic and an “always on” setting.
Photo quality was very good. The colors were vivid details and the faces were bright and there was no image noise. Non-HD video was better than we have seen on many camera phones. Very fast movements are still somewhat unclear, but our clips were remarkably clear and free of distortion or pixelation. When you have finished your shots and standard clips, you can send to a friend in an MMS or e-mail and save them to an online album. With photos, you can also assign a contact or transfer them off the phone via Bluetooth, memory card or a USB cable. The photo / video gallery is intuitive. You can move between plans with a swipe of the finger or you can play a slideshow.
As the HD Instinct is a 3G phone, you can connect to Sprint TV, which includes live and on-demand programming from a wide range of channels. You can also access the NFL Network and Sprint Movie. In all, there is an exhaustive selection of programming with much of it exclusive to Sprint. The touch screen interface works well, but, as with the instinct of origin, it was disconcerting to use the Back button of your phone to navigate through the video menus. As you use the phone in horizontal mode, the button is down.
The MP3 music player is relatively similar to the previous Instinct phones. You can access the Sprint Music Store for simultaneous downloads both to your PC and wirelessly to your phone. The player interface is nothing fancy. Even if you get album art, features are limited to repeat and shuffle modes and you can not use MP3 files as ringtones. The airplane mode turns off the call features of the phone to listen to music while in flight, and you can send the music player to the background while using other phone functions. When a call comes in, the music will automatically pause and resume after you hang up. Unfortunately, the HD Instinct does not an FM radio, but you can not listen to the channels of Sprint Exclusive Entertainment (SEE) and Sprint Music Radio.
The HD Instinct also offers a number of widgets for MySpace, Twitter, YouTube and Facebook. We used the last two and found them to be quick and easy to use. Facebook application does not offer all the features of the iPhone Facebook app, but it’sa step in the right direction. Similarly, the YouTube widget was not as clean as it could be, but it does the trick for raids short video. You’ll find three demo games (Monopoly, Uno, and Brain Exercise) and widgets for Google Maps, Weather.com, CNN, ESPN, Fandango, Bloomberg, NASCAR Sprint Mobile and NFL Mobile Live. A widget business offers access to more applications for the purchase. You can personalize the Instinct HD with a variety of color themes, screensavers and wallpaper. New customization options and ring tones are available for download from Sprint.
Performance
We tested the dual-band (CDMA 800/1900) Samsung Instinct HD in San Francisco. Call quality was respectable, but we were not overwhelmed. Volume was fine and the signal is strong, but there were occasional audio interference. Most of the time there was a slight background hiss, and we also encountered low static. We also noticed that the voice sounded hoarse the slightest bit.
Of those who call end said we sounded good. They could tell we were using a cell phone, but they do not share the problems we encountered. Some of our friends have said that the HD Instinct picked up a lot of background noise, and some had trouble hearing us when we were talking in a noisy place. But even with these complaints, most visitors are satisfied with the audio quality.
Hands-free calls were fine but not exceptional. The volume not stronger, but the sound on our end is a bit grainy. We had to sit near the unit if we wanted to be heard at the other end. Bluetooth headset calls were satisfactory, but your experience will vary depending on the headset. The handset is compatible with the M4 and hearing aids T3.
Fortunately, the shares of the Instinct Instinct HD original EV-DO Rev. Support (we still can not understand why the S30 is dropped to Rev 0). Data speeds have been Zippy. We walked quickly pages and graphics applications took only seconds to download. Of course, Wi-Fi will experience even better, but Sprint’s 3G network is very good. It could even strengthen the EV-DO service in some buildings and when underground.
Continuous quality is one of the best we’ve seen on a cell phone. Clips downloaded quickly and play without interruption. Moreover, we are very pleased that the image size using the entire screen. The quality was also good, there was little pixelation and the sound matched the photo. Only a couple of times have we seen a certain distortion between scenes. Music downloads were very fast, it takes just 20 seconds for a 3.7MB song. Music quality was fine on the external speaker, but nothing special. The volume is sufficiently high, but our tunes lacked warmth. Look for a headset to deliver the best experience.
Our biggest concern is that performance of the phone is quite slow. Browsing through the menus and opening of certain functions, such as the browser, the menu on the TV, and Sprint’s music player could take up to a few seconds. The handset also froze for a few seconds to several occasions and he took time out for Media and functionality.
The HD Instinct has a design life of the battery 5.8 hours of talk time. We got a talk time of 6 hours and 15 minutes in our tests. According to radiation tests the FCC, the HD has an instinct digital SAR of 1.16 watts per kilogram.
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