Sprint Launches the Samsung Instinct s30

The Samsung Instinct s30 has just debuted from Sprint. This consumer-oriented smartphone offers a touchscreen, GPS, and wireless broadband.

The original Samsung Instinct was launched last year to be Sprint's answer to  the iPhone, but its marginal web browser hurt its ability to compete against Apple's smartphone.  The new s30 offers an improved web-browsing experience thanks to Opera Mini 4.2.

Sprint has tried to strike a balance between consumer and business functions. This model is able to synchronize with a Microsoft Exchange server for corporate email and calendar data, but also includes the popular games "Guitar Hero - World Tour" and "Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader," access to Sprint TV and Sprint Music, and connections to social networking sites like Facebook, MySpace, and YouTube.

It offers turn-by-turn directions thanks to its GPS, and location-based services too. 

Samsung built multimedia support into this device, including an MP3 and video player and a microSD card slot for storing up to 16 GB of songs and movies. A 2.0 MPx camera with video support is also included.

More about the Instinct s30
The Instinct s30 runs a proprietary operating system and support third-party Java applications.

This model is more open than its predecessor, giving developers access to core Java APIs (application programming interface), including messaging, multimedia and Bluetooth, which allows third-party developers to take better advantage of the phone's features. The original model will get the more open APIs in the near future, but not the upgraded web browser.

The s30 is a CDMA phone with EV-DO Rev. A and Stereo Bluetooth but no Wi-Fi.

It is almost the same size as its predecessor, but slimmer. Overall, it is 4.6 inches by 2.1 inches by 0.5 inches, and weighs 3.88 oz.

Sprint says its 1000 mAh battery is good for  4.6 hours of talk time.

Pricing and Availability
Sprint is now selling this model through its retail stores and sprint.com. The base price is $450, but that drops to $130 with a two-year agreement and $100 mail-in rebate.

However,  a sales flier from Best Buy Mobile indicates that this retailer intends to charge just $50 with a two-year contract for the Instinct s30. This price will only be available to those who are either new Sprint customers or those who renew a $100 per month Everything Plan.