Samsung Instinct PDA Phone

Perhaps to compensate, Samsung includes not only a spare battery but also a small charging case for it, so you can be charging the spare all of the time while you're using the phone. This is one of the best features of the package.

Web browsing is fast, thanks to the Instinct's support for Sprint's zippy EvDO network. But the browser itself lacks the iPhone's elegance. It runs in landscape mode only, made narrower by sets of icons on either side. The icons on the left perform display-related tasks such as zooming in and out, toggling between mobile and standard mode, and letting you select (with a picture-frame-like square) the areas of a page you want to magnify--which is helpful but nowhere near as cool as the pinch capability on the iPhone. On the right are icons for search, bookmarks, history, and the like.

The Instinct is equipped with good GPS features, too. Since it uses the Sprint network as well as GPS satellites, its assisted GPS can more or less locate you even when you're indoors. The swift EvDO network makes location and point-of-interest searches go very quickly, a real plus.

The Instinct makes an above-average music player, in part owing to Sprint's helpful media-management software, which not only locates tracks on your PC but also tells you whether DRM protection will make playing them on the device problematic. This feature kept me from attempting to load tunes that I fruitlessly tried to play on other handsets. The included stereo earbud headset, while not the most comfortable I've ever worn, delivered good-quality sound.

But TV wasn't as good as I hoped it would be on the high-quality display and the EvDO network. Though CNN news and Hannah Montana had okay audio, pixelation and pauses plagued the video.

The 2-megapixel camera captured decent images in good light, but was prone to fuzzy-picture alerts in low-light conditions. The device has no flash. You can capture video, too, as much of it as your storage card can hold--but you can upload only as much as 2MB over the air. The phone can upload directly to a MySpace or Photobucket account.

I have a couple of additional observations. First, opening the back of the phone to switch batteries was very difficult. The rubbery plastic back of my unit did not want to slide off no matter how hard I tried to follow the manual's instructions and push with my thumbs. A couple of stronger friends had similar problems before it finally gave way. I hoped the issue would go away after the initial experience, but it didn't--I still can't get the darned thing open myself.

Also, in considering the price ($130 after rebates, with a two-year contract), it's worth noting that--unlike the iPhone--the Instinct is not based on internal flash memory. You need a microSD Card to store photos, music, games, and video. And though you can equip the handset with high-capacity cards if you wish, Samsung bundles only a 2GB microSD Card (along with an adapter so you can use it with readers that support the full-size SD format exclusively). In contrast, the $199 3G iPhone will come with 8GB of internal flash, so its premium price will cover at least some of the savings.

Another financial consideration: Sprint's $100 Simply Everything plan gives you all-you-can-eat data as well as unlimited voice calling (unless you're roaming). You'll be able to get a 3G iPhone bundle for less, but you'll pay more if you want unlimited voice calling, too. You'll enjoy international roaming and Wi-Fi for the extra money, however.

Samsung did a solid job on the Instinct; you have to admire the extensive feature list you get for the price. But with iPhone prices about to tumble even as Apple's hardware improves, the Instinct doesn't shape up as an iPhone killer.