Review: Sprint’s Samsung Instinct

Sprint has launched a full-frontal assault on Apple with the release of the Samsung Instinct, a touch-screen phone that offers pretty much all the iPhone has. It’s also cheaper, but in a cumbersome and, ultimately, negligible way. Sprint is clearly targeting price. The Samsung Instinct sells for $129 on a two-year contract, compared to an entry-level new iPhone that will cost $199 for a similar two-year contract with AT&T. Sounds good, right? But dig deeper and you’ll see it’s a bunch of marketing mumbo jumbo that gives you a $100 rebate after you pay $229 up front or $30 more than the cheapest iPhone. Over two years, that’s a price difference of $15 a year. A little over a buck a month. Hardly enough to get excited about. I wouldn’t buy the Instinct on price alone. After testing one a few days, I think, in the long term that... [read full story]