It Only Looks Like an iPhone

This phone also doesn't work as an organizer for your life. Although the crude Windows software Sprint includes can synchronize your Outlook Express or Outlook contacts list (something that required a 14-minute call to tech support in my case), Sprint doesn't let you do the same with your computer's calendar or notes. And there's no to-do list.

The Instinct handles multimedia only slightly better than productivity. It can serve as a decent photo viewer and music and video player, but its Internet TV service suffers from awful picture quality, and the music store sells iPod-incompatible files. And the 2 gigabytes of MicroSD card storage won't last long.

The phone's mapping software can issue driving directions in moments, but those are becoming standard features -- and other phones' navigation services offer walking and biking directions, too.

And because you can't add software of your own, you're out of options to make this would-be smartphone anymore intelligent.

So what makes the Instinct worthy of any fuss? Two things come to mind.

One is Sprint's blessedly simple pricing plans, all of which feature unlimited Internet use, text/picture/video messaging, navigation assistance, and Sprint's online music and video feeds, leaving your only option how many weekday minutes to buy: $69.99 a month gets you 450, $89.99 includes 900, and $99.99 allows unlimited calls.

The other is choice. The iPhone is an amazing machine -- and the iPhone 3G, due next week, looks to match its earlier success. But in the United States, Apple has chosen to handcuff the iPhone to a single provider, AT&T Wireless. What if AT&T's coverage excludes your home or office? What if its prices, policies or service already turned you against it?

A phone like the Instinct can be a fair compromise for people looking to use a smartphone for entertainment, not productivity. It provides some of the things you might have hoped to get in an iPhone and does so with more flair than a BlackBerry, Palm or Windows Mobile phone. That's no ringing endorsement, but it is what can pass for progress in the wireless market.

Living with technology, or trying to? E-mail Rob Pegoraro atrobp@washpost.com. Read more athttp://blog.washingtonpost.com/fasterforward.