Sprint, will spend more than $100 million to market
the touch-screen Instinct, made by Samsung Electronics , in hopes the cellphone can help turn around its
fortunes. This was about three times the marketing budget for the
biggest phone launch in 2007 by Sprint,
In order for customers to experience the full capabilities of the
device, Instinct must be activated on a pricing plan offering unlimited
data. Customers can choose from Everything plans for individuals
starting at just $69.99 per month for 450 voice minutes or
Talk/Message/Data Share plans for families starting at $129.99 per
month for 1500 voice minutes to share between two lines. Instinct
complements Sprint's signature Simply Everything Plan offering both
unlimited nationwide voice and data services for just $99.99 per month.
The Simply Everything Plan offers premium services, including GPS
navigation, email, web surfing, Sprint Music Premier and Sprint TV
Premier, while letting customers easily budget for phone expenses.
Instinct was recently named “Best in Show” in the third annual
Emerging Technology (E-Tech) Award competition in April at CTIA
Wireless 2008. Instinct was also honored as “Most Innovative Product at
CTIA Wireless 2008” by the editors of LAPTOP, a leading mobile
technology magazine. CNET also recognized Instinct as the “Best Cell
Phone” in its annual Cream of the Crop CTIA 2008 awards.
The innovative device speeds up the user experience like no other
touch-screen phone and brings the customer’s most-used applications and
contacts within a single finger tap. Instinct has a high-tech look with
large, vibrant touch-screen featuring localized tactile feedback,
called haptics, which transform the virtual QWERTY keypad and other
screen interactions into a sensory experience. The device also offers a
Speech to Action button providing many functions using speech
activation for calling, texting, picture messaging, traffic, movie,
sports, news, weather and search.
As Sprint’s first EV-DO Rev A consumer-centric device, Instinct
provides the ability to quickly browse the Web, access business or
personal e-mail, share pictures, listen to commercial-free radio and
more at broadband speeds. Instinct also provides smooth access to GPS
applications including Sprint Navigation, with GPS-enabled audio and
visual turn-by-turn driving directions and one-click traffic rerouting
as well as Live Search for Sprint, powered by Microsoft, providing easy
access to directory information on-the-go, interactive maps and
one-touch click to call access.
Instinct boasts many advanced features including Visual Voicemail,
allowing users to listen to messages in their order of preference and
manage them with a simple tap of the screen. This device also provides
support for corporate and consumer (POP3 and IMAP) email, multitasking
capabilities that allow the user to play music in background mode while
surfing the Internet, texting or playing games, a 2.0 megapixel camera
with camcorder and expandable microSD memory of up to 8GB. Additional
features include advanced stereo Bluetooth® 2.0, SMS voice and text
messaging with threaded text, picture caller ID and Sprint Mobile Sync.
Instinct comes with everything the user needs to enjoy the device’s
full capabilities right out of the box. Contents include a 2GB microSD™
card that can hold approximately 2,000 songs from Sprint Music Store,
two standard 1,000 mAh batteries offering up to 5.75 hours of
continuous talk time each, battery-charging sleeve, travel charger, USB
cable, 3.5mm headphones with built-in microphone, and carry case with
stylus. Customers can access the latest information on Instinct at
www.instinctthephone.com.
About Sprint Nextel
Sprint Nextel offers a comprehensive range of wireless and wireline
communications services bringing the freedom of mobility to consumers,
businesses and government users. Sprint Nextel is widely recognized for
developing, engineering and deploying innovative technologies,
including two wireless networks serving nearly 53 million customers at
the end of the first quarter 2008; industry-leading mobile data
services; instant national and international push-to-talk capabilities;
and a global Tier 1 Internet backbone. For more information, visit
www.sprint.com.