The Samsung SPH-M810 Instinct S30, being commonly referred to as the Instinct Mini, is a new version of the very popular Samsung Instinct that includes most all of the same features, but packaged in a far nicer design.
In terms of pure physical design, the new Samsung Instinct S30 has very little in common with the original Instinct except for the large touchscreen display. The S30 features gently rounded corners, sweeping curves, and a new color scheme that makes it look quite different from the plain rectangular slab that was the original Instinct.
The contact system in the Instinct S30 is fairly simple, but does have adequate support for multiple email addresses and phone numbers. The scrolling mechanism in the contacts list is good, but there is no obvious search functionality for those folks with a very large number of contacts. It does support Sprint’s Mobile Sync service, which means contacts can be edited on a PC instead of only on the phone. Individual tones can be set for the various notification types, but there is no real profiles system in the phone.
While the Samsung Instinct S30 is a 3G device, it lacks the faster EV-DO Rev A support of the older Instinct. It does have good Bluetooth capability, and ships with a Samsung USB cable in the box for connecting with a desktop PC. It sports 2.0 megapixel fixed-focus camera with no flash. It took decent photos, but it was already behind the curve as far as then-current day multimedia devices were concerned. The user interface on the Samsung Instinct S30 is the same as that of the original Instinct. Other features bluetooth, GPS Support, 3.5mm stereo headphone, location aware search, traffic, streaming TV and radio, online photo album support and more.
We honestly expected more from the follow-up to the original Samsung Instinct. The fact that the Instinct S30 gets downgraded 3G data speeds and still has the same ultra basic 2 megapixel camera is a real disappointment. But with that said, the new body design is worlds better than the original in both hand feel and style. It is the integrated services that really make the device shine.
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