By When the Samsung InstinctQ was first seen getting its Wi-Fi certification, there was immediate Android speculation. With the Instinct brand the phone is obviously Sprint-bound but beyond separate release date rumors of October 11th and early November, almost nothing is known about the mysterious device… until today.
An anonymous tipster performed a heroic act by hitting up our inbox with 4 beautifully delicious photos of the Samsung InstinctQ – the first pictures of the device seen publicly:
We finally think we know why the InstinctQ has that “Q” tacked onto the end of it… QWERTY anyone? This would be the first phone in the Instinct line with a hard keyboard and only the 2nd overall Android Phone with a hardware keyboard:
Clearly running Android with all the hardware buttons (home, menu, back, call, end, Dpad) that you would expect on an Android device. That white rubbery “bumper” of sorts on the top looks a bit odd, but beyond that, I’m really liking what I see here!
Wowzers… if both the Samsung InstinctQ and HTC Hero launch on Sprint October 11th, that will be an AWESOME day for Sprint, their customers and Android alike. Based on what we see above it appears the InstinctQ is a Google Experience phone and we already know that the Hero is rockin’ HTC Sense. One has a hardware keyboard and the other is full touchscreen.
Sprint will have two very different Android Phones to please two different kinds of consumers… but can we have one of each, Santa? I can’t wait for the specs on this bad boy to be unearthed because I think a LOT of people are going to be feeling this phone… are you?
If you sign up for the Samsung InstinctQ newsletter on the Samsung InstinctQ Review Page, we’ll make sure to Email you the moment it is available for purchase. And if you’re interested in talking to other phandroids more in depth, hit up the Samsung InstinctQ Forum!
It does look nice, and I do like that it is (might be) a Google Experience phone. I just hope they don’t mess it up like in the Galaxy with its 128 MB of RAM… it needs at least twice as much. But I’m excited as well about this.
Im done with samsung after the first instinct. I was very dissapointed that they never did anything with the phone. It just fizzled out and they forgot about it. Plus im not down with a hard keyboard after going fully touch. I pray that sprint gets the HTC Hero!
Hey Rob, thanks for updating the phone section of your site. Your style organizing Android Phone info is certainly one feature your site excels at above all other Android blogs. I’m excited to have a resource for comparing phone specs when it comes time to shop for my 1st Android (Q4-Q1?). Awesome!!!
As for the InstinctQ, I can only say that I’m sad for any phone that lands on Sprint (Poor customer service and no friends/family/faves plans) & AT&T (poor 3G service due to iPhone in most major cities including NYC).
Still, I’m happy that Android is creeping its way into the market. Unlike WebOs, iPhone OS, & Blackberry OS, Android has an advantage that those other Phone Platforms will never have. What do you guys think? World domination this time next year? Probably not, but perhaps well underway by then.
Well, to be completely honest, I’m just happy to see innovation, competition and options.
@martin: repeating an lie doesn’t make it more true. A long time ago rumors started saying that the Samsung Galaxy only had 128 MB RAM. These rumors have been shot down and buried. It’s been proven that it has ~96 MB free for apps, just as the HTC G1 (Dream) and some versions of Magic (Sapphire). This proves that it most likely has 192 MB RAM. While this isn’t as much as HTC Hero and “the other versions” of Magic’s 288 MB, it is still more than 128 MB.
128 MB is and old rumor, please let it die already!
This is definitely just a copy of the Samsung Impression that has been the poor B grade actor on ATT.
Goto any store and youll all the reps touting the Iphone and totally disregarding this one.
Theyve just added android on to the dismal hardware, so if its Android you want then any hardware should suffice for you.
Now reports are coming out about HTC Hero’s lag as well, so all in all , ALL the android phones that are expected are going to be eventual failures.
I kind of like it. I just hope it’s good enough (on specs) to replace my old G1. What I didn’t like at all is the bumper.
full qwerty keyboard?
android os?
Well, I’ll wait a bit before I’ll grab the hero, I’d prefer something with a keyboard, that doesn’t look like a brick(G1). This little fellow could be what I’ve been waiting for.
Well now that we have confirmation of this handset with Sprint markings, does that confirm by default that the HTC Hero is coming as well? I wish Sprint would just come out and annouce it already, they don’t have to give a date but at least say your doing it or not. I don’t understand all the secrecy in the cell phone business at all.
/spit on Sprint.
I’ll get it.
It’s time to move from my iPhone.
@macj…ur a d-bag sir
PLEASE let this phone’s hardware be awesome. This is just what I have been waiting for. I’ll even put up with the little bumper dealy.
@macj
I have the Hero, it doesn’t lag bad at all. It doesn’t have instantaneous response time, but it is certainly VERY smooth and not annoying in the slightest bit. Please stop spreading rumors and go back to your single tasking hypePhone.
Hero forever! (Until Samsung releases this hard keyboarded jewel)
This is the phone for which I’ve been waiting. If Sprint gets this thing to market before any other provider with 3g support in St. Louis, MO I’ll definitely be getting one. I’ve had service with sprint for 11 years straight. I’m gunna drop em if they don’t deliver an android phone ASAP.
I’d probably look at dropping my G1 for this if it were on T-Mo.
@macj When you wrong, not IF, When your wrong Ima make you eat your words!
This phone looks nice, but I’ve got my G1 for another 2 years or more… So I’m gonna try not to get too excited
Unlike the G1 or Nokia’s N97, this device seems to have a tab button for jumping between fields at a web page, and you can also just type in your numbers like with any pc keyboard.
This would make it the first smartphone I could be interested in. Let’s wait and see… Maybe it also has a gigahertz processor?
@Hanger; @Nate; @MacJ; @Jasonlee……
I’d like to start by saying that I don’t think MacJ is 100% wrong, nor do I think he’s 100% correct. I don’t know if he intended to start a flame war (that’s certainly not what I want to do). However, I think many of the phones launching w/ Android in the immediate future are late responses to the iPhone 3G. I think we should all fear that in a year from now we’re going to start seeing responses to iPhone 3GS, while there would have been another iPhone launched that hardware manufacturers will evidently have to play catch up to……
As far as the OS is concerned, I do believe Android developers are working hard to innovate instead of playing catch up. I think the platform has already demonstrated abilities that exceed the iPhone OS. I think its the HARDWARE manufactureres who still kinda have this old school phone industry mindset & need to go more creative and less gimmicky…..
Now to get a little patriotic (and perhaps blasphemous), its an American company (Apple) that revolutionized the phone game as of late. It is largely American/North American companies (Google w/ Android; Palm w/ Pre & WebOS; RIM w/ Blackberries) near the top, upsetting what would have been a new status quo in the industry (iPhone). They are providing competition, innovation, creativity and a variety of options……
If I sounded Xenophobic, thats not my intent. I just feel there is a trend. Surprisingly and ironically, it is the international competition (the old new guys on the scene, hailing from formerly developing industrial countries) who are now at risk of becoming stale and have perhaps gotten too comfortable w/ business as usual. I think their world’s are being rocked. Sony lost over a Billion in the past year (look it up). Nokia’s lead is rapidly shrinking. Last year iPhones were being given away in Japan w/ new plans and in July of this year they are the top selling. Seriously, look it up……
But I don’t think this trend will hold. It’s probably going to prove to be a cycle. The rest of the world will learn how respond to Apple. The question is, how long will it take? Decades? A few years? Months? Android has an advantage in that hardware makers get to rapidly learn from the mistakes of other hardware makers. Sony Ericsson has a new president and a Monster phone in the Xperia X3 (Rachel), w/ a 1GHz processor, which w/ Android, SHOULD completely blow the iPhone 3GS out of the water. Acer has very similar prospects w/ its A1. Rob reported earlier that the Hero, a strong runner up, is being given a serum for its lag………
So yea, most of the very next batch of phones may very well fall short in the public’s eye. Reviews will very likely support the public view. But the future is bright for Android, given superior hardware. While the Apple picking season only comes once a year, the learning machine that is the Android style of licensing the OS to competing OEMs may inevitably rule the game, under a skynet like steal fist… err… sorry, i took a wrong turn there somewhere.
Any word on if there will be a GSM version of it?
If there is, I’d love it. Might even make me forget about the cancellation of the Lancaster…
Dpad, dedicated number row on the keyboard … could be _dreamy_. How big is that screen? and what resolution? If it’s at least as big as the G1’s (and they board is at least as comfortable as the G1’s), then I’d love that thing … on AT&T or T-Mobile.
It sucks. It has CPU of 400 MHz and only 128 of RAM. Sucks…
Grr I have a first gen iPhone.. So desperately trying to get rid of it. I am sure I’ll be getting a android phone. And I can get the g1 tomorrow. But after seeing this I’m really unsure now.
As a current Instinct customer, I’m very leary of any product with the Instinct label on it. Sprint customers using the Instinct got screwed royally, even to this very day. We’re still waiting on MR-7 to fix issues created by MR-6 and other issues from the past. Whole applications from Handmark are rendered inoperative thanks to MR-6. An update that was not thoroughly tested on working hardware. While having Simply Everything is very nice on the pocketbook, its somewhat rendered less than stellar without the apps, web browsing features, and useful
Unless Android is much leaner than the Brew OS on the Instinct and fully optimised to run efficiently on the hardware its a non starter. InstinctQ needs to have a faster CPU, more memory, a much larger screen, a better camera with flash, photo editing tools, screen lock during calls, A WEB BROWSER THAT WORKS, and useful apps on day one to be better than the Instinct (M800) and the S-30(M810). Unless it meets that bar of quality, its definitely a no go.
Android is definitely a promising and amazing OS to shake up the phone market, but lets not get crazy here. Samsung has to meet certain improvement bar from the first two Instincts for anyone to just go get the new one. Also, the support has to be much stronger, the apps need to be there. Until we see that, lets reserve judgement until some reviewers confirm or deny how good the phone really is.
FWIT- I was at a Radio Shack in Colorado a couple days ago looking at a Pre, (looking to ditch att&iphone) and the sales person hinted that if I switched to Sprint- not only do they have the Pre, but they will also “have Android phones coming out in October”.
Apropos my earlier post, it was not my intention to flame Android but just to point out what ive been reading on other forums abt the horrible lag in the Hero, it would appear Android natively performs well, but the Sense UI with the older hardware causes the lag.
Anyways i hope Android succeeds but the market forces are on Apple’s side.
Android rocks only if it has a QWERTY keyboard, for better texing and my favororite gaming emulators – NeS,Snes…etc Apple needs to make a QWERTY, to win me over.
the company of samsung is very good
@StephenSaurusRex…do your homework.
Sprint has announced that on their Everything plans you can now call any wireless phone on any network. So your “no friends/family/faves plans” can suck it!
I’m sorry but that phone is butt ugly.
i want this so bad it looks so cool i hav the origanal 1 its cute to for 600 dollas my mom said she would get it4 me
Thats the samsung moment…