Why did I choose the Instinct over the iPhone? Simply put, I have a Sprint account, and Sprint doesn't sell the iPhone: ATT does. Why did I choose this type of phone? Well, my daughter and I do a lot of communicating through text messaging. She's a graduate student, and the perfect way to stay in touch while she's in class or rehearsal, (she's a cellist), is by text messaging. Along with the Instinct is the Sprint "Everything" plan: unlimited text messaging, unlimited emailing, unlimited web, unlimited GPS navigation, and unlimited TV. Yes, TV. Okay, so you don't get CNN running as smoothly as you get from your TV. But it's a great way to stay in touch with current events. And the iPhone doesn't have TV, (although this will probably change once the iPhone starts feeling the impact of the Instinct's competition. You can subscribe to other channels, but I prefer their free channels. It's all I need. Besides, I love CNN.

THINGS I DON'T LIKE: Before I tell you what I love about this phone, let's get out of the way those things I don't like. First, it's not shaped like a regular phone with a flip-up lid: It's shaped like an iPhone. It's a bit narrower and a bit longer than the iPhone, but it's still a very slick rectangular object that's hard to get a grip on. If you like carrying a phone in your pocket or purse, you'll want to buy a rubber sleeve for this thing so it doesn't slip from your grasp. There is a nice "slip" case you get with the phone that works well if you don't want to invest in a rubber case. But you have to take the phone out of the case to use it. The rubber case is more like a sleeve that leaves the front of the phone open so you can use it without removing the case. Much handier. The rubber will also somewhat protect the phone if you should drop it.

If you like the phone on a pocket clip, like I do, you'll need to buy a clip-on case. The phone is so new that there aren't a whole lot of options yet, but I found a nice "case" that leaves the front of the phone uncovered. The back has a projecting male part that clips into the female part that's clipped to your pocket. Your Sprint store will no doubt have cases like this in stock.

THINGS I LOVE:  What I love about this phone is what I spoke of earlier: It's elegant. It's truly instinctive. In fact I have yet to open the instruction book. Just goofing around with the phone seems to work just fine. And if I go down a blind alley, I just press the home button and start over. Although Steve Jobs, creator of the iPhone and the Mac, would hate to hear me say this, it behaves like a Mac!

Simple Phone Calls: It can't get easier than this. Press the phone icon, then the contacts list icon. Scroll down the list one contact at a time by rubbing your thumb or finger down the LEFT side of the list. Quickly scroll alphabetically down the right side of the list, again with your thumb, where you will see giant letters of the alphabet. Press, hold and drag the half-circle button to do this. When you reach the letter you want, (for example, when you reach "G"), release and you'll see all those names in your contact list that start with "G". Very elegant.

If you want to manually enter a phone number, you press the phone icon, then the dialer icon where you'll be presented with a giant dial pad. No more squinting to see the numbers like on your standard phone. And when you enter the whole phone number, you can Save the number as a new contact. Or you can press the big green Talk button to make the call.

Text Messaging: I wanted an easy entry pad so I could send text messages, and the major reason I was attracted to this phone was the big letter/number entry pad. The keys on a standard cell phone are stupidly small. Worse, if you are texting in low light, the keypad's backlight doesn't evenly illuminate the keys. Curses! The letter images are so huge on the Instinct, using my thumb proves to be very accurate. I've read other reviews where reviewers thought entry was somewhat difficult. I didn't find this to be the case at all. This is especially not the case when entering a simple phone number where it's all numbers and no letters. Admittedly, text messages can be somewhat more complex. Especially if you are embedding numbers or other symbols into the message. If you don't get good accuracy with a thumb or finger, you can use a stylus instead. But I have to say the stylus Instinct includes is an insult. It's stupidly tiny, and you'll lose it in the bottom of wherever you happen to put it  because it's so tiny it doesn't even have room for a pocket clip. But there's a simple, elegant and cheap solution. (Yeah, I love "elegant".) You know those plastic pencils you can load up with lead and then feed more lead to the tip with a button at the top? Use one of those. Just be sure you retract the lead so only the plastic tip comes into contact with the Instinct's surface. And the thing won't get lost: It's as big as, well, a pencil, it clips onto your pocket, and if you do lose it, replacing it is a simple matter. I did find it easier to write a text message with this plastic pencil, but text entry is still fairly accurate with your finger.

By the way, the text pad will initially present itself in landscape mode. This is the QWERTY keyboard that touch typists like myself love. But if you're not a touch typist--that is, if you use the "Columbus" method where you find a key and land on it, HAH! <g>--never fear. You can tap the orientation icon to switch it to portrait mode where you'll see all the letters listed alphabetically.

Email: When I first began messing with the phone I mistakenly went to the Web to check my email. But my daughter quickly pointed out that it was much easier to set up the actual email application than go through the Web. All of my email accounts are web-based, so one would think that going directly to the Web would be the way to access web-based accounts. But the Instinct's email application is much faster. From Home, press Main, (not Web), then press the email icon at the upper left. If you haven't yet set up your email list, you will be presented with just a list of the major email accounts like Gmail and Yahoo. You can set up accounts that aren't on this list, but to instruct you further would be frustrating because it takes a bit of doing. But if you get stuck, the manual has proven to be very clear. What's important is that you set up your web-based email through the email application rather than go through the Web.

You can sync Instinct with your PC which allows you to coordinate Outlook. I don't use Outlook so I don't know if set-up is an easy or difficult task. I suspect it's easy. I just have no need for it.

The Web: Nothing could be easier than getting on the Web. Press Home>Web, then press the Web icon on the icon list that appears. Wait a bit for it to connect. The Web appears in landscape mode. If you see a site in the list that you'd like to go to, press the icon. If you want to go somewhere else, press the "eye" icon at the bottom left. A field to type in the URL appears. Tap the URL field with your fingernail or your stylus. The input keyboard appears. (It sometimes requires two taps.) Type in the URL and press "Done". A busy bar appears at the bottom to indicate it's trying to find the site. After a second or two you're there!

You'll notice there's a magnification button that gives you 1x, 2x and 1/2 x. The half x can only help you preview overall layout. You can't see any detail at this setting. Continually tapping this icon cycles through all three. By the way, if, when typing in a new URL you don't want to continually tap the back button to delete one character at a time, just press and hold until the entire URL disappears. That makes it easy to type in a whole new URL from scratch.

TV:  To access TV just press Home, then Fun. (There is no visible TV icon on the Home screen. You have to press Fun to get at it.) A window opens with the TV/video icon in it. Press it where you'll see a list of the free channels available. There's CNN, FOX, and the Disney channel. Pressing a channel gives you options within that channel. (Disney offers various things, including, of course, Hannah Montana.) Press your choice where it will ask you to make it a favorite. Do it. Then access the favorites by pressing the yellow starred favorites list from Home.

Navigating with GPS: If you own this phone, you will have Sprint's satellites working for you to get you where you want to go. At least, I assume it's their satellites because this thing updates on the fly. We tried to trick it. We'd enter our destination address, follow the path awhile, then deliberately take a wrong road. The path would instantly begin updating. After a few seconds a new path would be in place. It's really quite amazing. Especially to me, who is severely navigationally challenged. <g>

The voice that prompts you to turn at an intersection is female. I suppose that's because women always seem to be better at navigating than men. At least, women are willing to ask questions about direction. ;-)  The voice tells you how many miles there are to each turn point, and "she" begins prompting us as we approach the turn. She doesn't talk to you constantly--only when you approach a turn.

The screen is very clear, with constant updates. The map is in portrait mode. Occasionally the female voice will tell us we're off the track. This happens if we go to a convenience store that probably isn't yet on the satellite's map. But the solution to this is easy: when you get back on the road, the map will re-update. Just be aware that there is nothing wrong with the phone if you get an "off the track" message.

There are a lot more features than there's room to cover here. In fact, there's so much stuff, I'll never use it all. But what I want it for--text messaging, email, the Web, GPS, and TV in my pocket--is well worth the price.

TIPS AND TRICKS:

1> If you have children who are likely to use any of these main services a lot, consider this Sprint "Everything" program. I have no connection with Sprint, other than I have my cell phone account with them, (so I'm not trying to sell you this phone), but younger children will run you into the poor house if you have them on an account that limits the usage of these services before the phone company starts charging for going over their limit. Sprint got very smart: They took off the limits.

2> The Instinct, (like the iPhone), is a delicate device. If your child is young and doesn't take care of things, or if they, (or even you as an adult), is clumsy by nature, make sure you buy a protective case for this phone. Unlike a standard phone that's fairly rugged, as well as easy to grip, the Instinct can slip from your grasp unless you put it into some kind of case.

3> As discussed earlier, forget that cheesy little stylus that comes with this phone. A cheesy little plastic pencil works much better. And it will improve your accuracy when you type.

4> Unless you understand how to delete files, it can be a bit confusing. To delete a file from your contact list, first click on the trash can icon at the upper right. Don't worry; you won't carry out a mass deletion! Once you choose the can, in yellow at the top are the words, "Delete Contacts". Select the contact you want to delete. A window will open, asking you if you want to delete that contact. If you would choose a contact BEFORE choosing the can, you will start the process for making a phone call. We are so used to grabbing a file with our cursor and dragging it to the trash can, (recycle bin for you PC users), that it's counter-intuitive to first choose the can and then delete. Once you know how it goes, it's easy!

5> Practice making and receiving phone calls. Find someone to help you do this. Standard cell phones are fairly universal in how to send and receive calls, but the Instinct is icon-based. There is a specific procedure you'll need to review before you will be comfortable with this most basic operation. So crack open the instruction book and have a friend phone you. It will save you fumbling and frustration when you receive your first real phone call.

6> Most important: this phone is like being on a Mac or a newer version of Windows. It's icon-based. It's terribly intuitive. If you are even remotely comfortable with today's computers, you won't have any trouble using this phone. But with power comes your responsibility to educate yourself with the basic things this phone can do before you tackle those meatier things like setting up your email. If you hate instruction books, chances are you won't be needing it. People like you like to dink around until you get it figured out. But if you want to quickly hit the ground running, review the basics from the book.

This phone is a great device. It's not perfect, but it's powerful and easy to use. There isn't, nor ever will be, that perfect device. But the Instinct is easy to master and great fun to use. And it finally gives us lots of goodies at a flat monthly rate.

Good luck!

Dick Claassen - FluteFlights.com