Samsung Instinct gets its first firmware update: too little, too late
Quite a few Instinct owners were giving Samsung / Sprint one option: crank out a firmware update to show that they cared before the 30-day test period expired, or deal with all that messy RMA paperwork. Unfortunately for the aforesaid firms, the handset's first update is coming ten days after that date (at least for the earliest of adopters), and initial reports suggest that glaring problems still exist. Some users are suggesting that Sprint TV is less pixelated than before and that overall snappiness is improved, but the patently awful browser still remains at 1.0 (and thus just as awful). Look, when the change that gets most people jazzed is the battery meter's newfound ability to hit 100% (and not just 90% as in the past), something is seriously wrong. Anyone else find any nuggets of goodness in the new update?[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Update: A bigger, more life-changing update looks to be planned -- hang tight, Instinct owners!
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
American Pinko @ Jul 30th 2008 2:53PM
Browser is said to be coming via separate push.
SteveGlansburg @ Jul 30th 2008 3:17PM
here is a good update for Instinct users, return it and get an iphone
periks19 @ Jul 30th 2008 3:25PM
Yeah so then the phone could start cracking up. Software issues can be resolved, I doubt 2.1, 2.2, etc would fix the cracking on the Iphone issue lol
Fernando Rubio @ Jul 30th 2008 4:03PM
You could always wait for 3.0 to fix the cracking. lol
CDMADude @ Jul 30th 2008 5:02PM
iPhone sucks.......
Be Happy with what you have......
dpbida @ Jul 30th 2008 10:52PM
Yea, but atleast people with the iPhone get to deal with Apple's amazing customer service. Have a crack in your iPhone? Walk into an Apple Store and they'll hand you a brand new one (as long as they're in stock, thats a different story considering they've sold millions) as opposed to dealing with a problem with Sprint. God, I can't stand Sprints customer service. God forbid I had a problem with my Instinct. I'd have to call, try and persuade them I had a problem, hope they RMA it, wait for another Instinct to be shipped. I've owned both. While the Instinct obviously has more features than the iPhone, overall it's just not as good. I'd happily get rid of the features the Instinct has (that the iPhone doesn't) just to get it to be as reliable as the iPhone.
Why do people feel the need to bring up the iPhone whenever the Instinct is mentioned? The iPhone's sold millions of units, the Instinct... Not so much. The iPhone is more of a smartphone (a beautiful integration of a feature phone and smartphone) as opposed to the Instinct being a feature phone.
Basically what they have in common is they're both touchscreens and the only thing the Instinct has over the iPhones touchscreen is the fact that it can be used with a stylus. Other than that, the iPhones touchscreen is still unmatched by any phone.
Brian @ Aug 9th 2008 3:26PM
Yeah, and get Apple to delete apps they don't like from YOUR phone, all while paying twice as much per month to run on the nation's worst national cellular network, with average data speeds 1/10th that of Sprint.
Oh, but you'll have a pretty phone!
Jackson @ Jul 30th 2008 3:50PM
could they be any more negative about sprint? i love my instinct like thousands of others, i loved it before and after the update.
BT @ Jul 30th 2008 4:15PM
moral of the story? no phone is perfect.........
AdamVIP @ Jul 30th 2008 4:38PM
Yeah I was really hoping they would fix the pop up keyboard code to work with opera mini but they didnt. Other than the browser its a great phone.
Roger Alford @ Jul 30th 2008 5:00PM
Updated -
My data speeds are still 300kbps, not the 2300kbps most people report.
My TV is STILL just as pixelated, takes forever to load, and stalls just as before.
My email - what feature did this have in the update?
Navigation - NEVER did anything in the background when I hit home - so apparently ya'll had a bad version.
My battery 100% is the only real update.
Nal @ Jul 30th 2008 5:08PM
Come on Engadget, let's do a little research before making assumptions. The update today wasn't meant to fix anything externally. The update today just fixed things within the phone and shouldn't have had any impact on how the phone worked for the most part. Basically this update was meant to prep the phone for the upcoming updates. One update today and another in two weeks according to a Sprint rep.
Roger Alford @ Jul 30th 2008 9:56PM
You believe a Sprint rep?
Nal @ Jul 31st 2008 12:56AM
Actually, that was a fault of mine. I didn't mean to say Sprint rep, I meant to say Sprint dev. They made an actual announcement about the status of updates. And just incase you're wondering, yes, I believe them. They also mentioned that the updates are ready, just being tested for bugs. An actual update that would involve external changes will first come in about two weeks.
I think the people that have the most problem with this phone are the closet Apple fanboys who try to find an alternative to the iPhone, and eventually they walk out disappointed because it can't live up to their expectations. There's really not much wrong with the phone, it is what it is, but I guess compared to the iPhone, it's bad. Whatever though, it's a bargain for it's phone and plan price (as it should be since it's JUST a phone), compared to AT&T's money grubbing prices.
C.J. Allebach @ Jul 30th 2008 9:53PM
As you mentioned too little too late...mine went back over a week ago and now I pray each day that I actually see that $449 credit and don't have to call all over God's green earth to get a credit.
mikey @ Jul 31st 2008 1:35AM
as an instinct user i am glad to see this step in the right direction...in any relationship communication is the key! Sprint should be upfront and let people know what is going on. Then a lot of people would calm down. Just let people know what is coming, what is going to fix what, and everybody will stop being so irritated. but i guess inch by inch, huh.
rich @ Jul 31st 2008 4:59AM
what happened to all the comments?
rich @ Jul 31st 2008 5:09AM
searching Darren Murph's previous post it seems like anything related to the instinct or sprint he has a bad tone but when talking about the non existence turn by turn gps the iphone lacks hes very positive on his outlook. engadget isnt what it used to be.
Nal @ Jul 31st 2008 1:22PM
Mikey: They sort of do do that right now. They actually had a Q&A session with the dev team via a live broadcast. They answered customer's questions and listened to people's requests. It wasn't as widely publicized as much as it should have been, but they in a way they do inform us of what's coming. If you poke around Instinctbookmarks (you gotta find the blog) and the Instinct-Samsung.com forum, you'll find some answers and you will be updated with the latest news for the Instinct. I do agree though, they should make the updates more known.
Rich: I agree with that. For some reason every post about the Instinct that I've seen was something negative. Then again, tech blogs will be biased when it comes to competition, no matter how delusional. The Instinct is a good phone, and no matter how much people try to compare it to the iPhone, it's still not as good as an iPhone, so let's just drop the competing thing and defaming the Instinct because it's not fair for those interested in the Instinct and when they research it here all they find is that it's bad.
Rho Gii @ Aug 5th 2008 11:42AM
I'm thinking about calling customer service, asking for customer retention and asking them to "refund" or "credit" back a portion of the plan's monthly cost on account of that the web browser is broke and the TV is crap and that maybe if Sprint starts having to give money back on their plans, that it might "encourage" the developers to get off high center and start delivering REAL updates. For crying out loud, my old phone w/ sprint vision (and TV) was the m900 (blade), and it delivered better web browsing (via opera mini) and just as good of TV as opposed to instinct. I think Sprint should pay us back for functionality that is NOT in the phone that was promised to us. I can't browse most basic web pages for Pete's sake.
Maybe we the people should start insisting a refund of partial billing to send a message to sprint. I will see what customer retention says and report back.
I know that this is petty and so whiney compared to real life problems, but I'm tired of companys "selling" half-baked products with no real recourse. I have till next week to opt out of the phone. maybe I should go to AT&T...
Nik @ Aug 6th 2008 1:12PM
I got the software update and think that my phone is now running slower as a whole. I'm not happy. At least in my case, the screen freezes 5x more than it did before. Whenever I use the browser, the status bar goes about 1/8 the way and stays there. The phone is cool, I like it... I just hate the way the browser is so slow and that the screen freezes so often
TheDean @ Aug 9th 2008 11:55AM
You guys are babies. My phone has worked nearly perfect since I have had it. The only thing that it's lacking is a good web browser. Which I am sure will be coming in a future update. This phone had to be rushed out to compete with the iphone, I can put up with a few minor bugs until they get it sorted. This phone is amazing. Maybe not Iphone amazing, but the same features with the iphone is over $150 a moth, where as I pay $110 after taxes for EVERYTHING.
BigPerm @ Aug 13th 2008 1:27PM
what about this mornings update?