Sprint makes the Samsung Instinct HD official; September 27th, $249.99
This certainly doesn’t come as a surprise to anyone, but Sprint has finally made the Samsung Instinct HD official this morning. Best Buy first spilled the beans back in August and a steady flow of information has been trickling in ever since. When Sprint mentioned the handset in a newsletter to Premier customers two weeks ago however, it became painfully obvious the Instinct HD would get official soon enough. So feast your eyes, Sprint fans — the 3.2-inch touchscreen touting Instinct HD features a 5 megapixel camera, “HD” video playback via a TV-out port, “HD” video recording, the full Opera Mobile 9.7 browser, Wi-Fi, a proximity sensor, haptic feedback, an Ambient Light Sensor and an accelerometer. The handset will become available on September 27th through Best Buy and then on October 11th through Sprint channels. Pricing is set at $249.99 after a $100 mail-in rebate on a 2-year contract (rebate is instant at Best Buy). Anyone planning to dive right in or will you try to hold off until Sammy’s new Instinct sheds the early adopter tax?
@Gspot
FYI – I am a Sprint customer…I am just saying the subsidies aren’t so great if the phone prices aren’t the same…
Whoa. $349.99. Amazing. That’s a bit steep, but in the end, because I agree with some of the comments stating that the contract monthly fee ends up saving you money versus the competition, it might not be that bad of a price. Many people will be looking at this at Best Buy (will this be on display to use like iPhones have been in the past at Best Buy?) and will be expecting it to be able to do more than just play and record in HD. Yeah, no other phone in the US on a carrier can do what this one can in that respect, but there will likely be no real apps for this phone, and in that arena, it may still remain somewhat competitive on the features front but not on the tech front. The original Samsung Instinct had a lot of features for the money, and was a well balanced phone, albeit it needed a lot of performance improvements. Many will see this phone’s $250 price tag and will expect comparable quality and performance similar to its competition like iPhone. However, aside from the 70,000 apps and multi-touch, what else is the iPhone? Not much, really, and this is coming from a iPhone 3G and 3GS user. It’s not a smartphone, either. I don’t know what people say that. I mean, Sidekicks have an OS and have lots of downloadable apps, too. They probably don’t run in the background either. Although it’s not touchscreen, it supports 3G and has a full QWERTY kb. So is it not a smartphone if iPhone is?
“Many people will be looking at this at Best Buy (will this be on display to use like iPhones have been in the past at Best Buy?)”
@ Will
Very doubtful…all the Best Buy’s near me (Central NJ) have working iPhones and a few select Verizon Phones (BB Storm, LG Env Touch)…but none have working models of Sprint phones…(the Pre and/or Instinct S30)…just the plastic models of the phones…
Best Buy only has the iphone as the only working phone then because before they got it all the Mobile stores did dummies for all carriers before it came out
@Joe,
Thanks for replying. I think it wouldn’t beat good business promotion to have a non-working display device at $250 on display when they have exclusivity with the device for about 2 or so weeks before its full nationwide release and debut. In addition, there hasn’t been a major advertising campaign for the device yet, either like the original did. So basically, this device, which just announced formally yesterday for $250, will only be at 1 store chain exclusively for a couple weeks, and will be on display as a non-working display device. Seeing as how this phone is supposed to be Sprint’s premium feature phone flagship, this doesn’t sound like a good strategy.
Posted from BGR Mobile (iPhone) at: Austin United States
We have it for 199.99 at Best Buy and are selling the phone now. We just sold one earlier today.
$200 is still way pricey considering it’s not a smartphone
Is best buy honoring all of Sprint’s rebate deals and upgrade discounts? If I upgrade online with Sprint directly, it looks as thought I will save 100 right off the bat, plus my 150 upgrade off AND the 100 mail in rebate. If they are selling the phone for 250, then I’ll be able to get the phone basically for free, plus I’ll still get the 100 rebate.
Actually, it does have Wi-Fi capability. And if i’m reading articles correctly, the battery from the original Instinct and the S30 will fit the Instinct HD.
you’re reading articles incorrectly because the battery that fits the original instinct doesnt fit the S30 so how could the battery possibly be interchangeable with all 3 phones
Yup…you’re correct. But still, in reply to Roger A, it does have Wi-Fi