Apple iPhone 3G vs. Samsung Instinct

Apple's latest iPhone is a winner, adding faster data-network access and GPS-assisted searching and mapping to the slick, innovative platform of its predecessor. Competing phone makers have taken their shots at iPhone's touch-screen design, but haven't made a dent.

That is, until recently.

Samsung's Instinct touch-screen phone, available exclusively from Sprint Nextel, has been flying off store shelves. In fact, Sprint stores have had a hard time keeping up with demand for this cool new phone, which has the unique ability to act on voice commands.

Does the Instinct have the chops to dethrone the iPhone? Watch our video to see how the Instinct and iPhone stack up against each other. (You can also view the video by clicking on the player at right if you have Flash software installed on your computer.)

To see how the iPhone 3G compares with other cell phones, check our Ratings of smart phones (available to subscribers).

—Paul Eng

Comments

[tony]

Any update on when the review of the Verizon LG Dare will be available?

[Michael Gikas]

Dear Bob:

We are testing the LG Dare right now, and it should be in our Ratings in a few weeks. Remember, however, that it's not a smart phone because it lacks advanced e-mail and PDA capabilities. So look for it in our cell-phone Ratings.

Regarding Verizon smart phones, two models, the Moto Q and Moto Q9M, dropped out of out of the market just before we published the current Ratings. But we're testing the Q9c for our next update. As for the current Ratings, in addition to the Blackberry 8830, other Verizon smart phones we cover include: the Palm Treo 700 WX, the Palm Centro 690, and the BlackBerry Curve 8330. You can find this information when you hit the Price "i" at the upper left section of the Ratings table. (You need to be a CRO subscriber to have access to it).

Hope this helps.

--Mike Gikas

[bobby]

Paul,

Can you tell me when CR is going to review LG Dare (verizon)? And how about some smartphone reviews for verizon? You guys only rate one verizon smartphone in your ratings...which seems to be an oversight given how highly you rank verizon. Thanks.

[Jonathan]

I just got an Instinct - so far I'm happy with it. I know everyone is going around comparing these two, but I think the Instinct is a great phone in its own right. For me, the real choice was in the fact that I was already with Bell (I'm in Canada) and I could get a far cheaper plan with Bell than with Rogers & the iPhone. So I guess that's the way the chips fell. Anyways, checkout my review of the Instinct: http://www.jonathanboettcher.com/samsung-instinct-m800-review/

[john chambers]

do these few people work for apple i bet so got my daughter a instinct and she loves it thats all that matters

[rattyuk]

Instinct is very slow and the web browser is dreadful - I spent about an hour at Best Buy playing with it and was so not impressed.

[Emerson]

The big news with the iPhone will turn out to be all the cools Apps being added continuously.

[Hari Seldon]

The 2 features that your reviewer touted for the Samsung, voice dialing/search and turn based GPS will both be on the iPhone soon, this is the beauty of the Apple sdk. turn based GPS apps are waiting for the next iPhone OS update which will enable this kind of functionality plus proper IMS clients etc.

Sorry, the Samsung may look similar, but there is a world of difference.

[John Blackburn]

The Instinct has a long way to be an "iPhone-killer". Read a comparison of their respective Home screens and hardware design at http://watchingapple.com/2008/06/be-careful-what-you-ask-for/.

[Marvin]

Interesting news, but how much is the price? Must i make a contract or can i buy the phone without any monthly fees?
The iphone - with the right program from the appstore can also "act on voice commands"!
I think it's not the iphone killer device, my opinion.