US CDMA carrier, Sprint PCS released its answer to the iPhone on June 20th. It's called the Samsung Instinct (SCH-M800) and while it's no match for the iPhone it's still a nice device in many respects. With a large (but smaller than the iPhone's) 3.1 inch touch screen with haptic feedback, no physical keyboard, threaded voicemail and SMS and a full-web browser, the Instinct matches some of the best known features of Apple's phone and even has a few things the iPhone doesn't including MMS, stereo headphone support, a video camera and Live TV.
The Instinct also has some shortcomings compared to the iPhone; no calendar sync, limited email capabilities, no installable native applications. But the harshest criticism of the Instinct both in reviews and user comments seems to be reserved for the Teleca Obigo Web browser. It's not a terrible browser, the screen shot above shows what it can do, but it's a long way from Safari in terms of speed, rendering quality, ease of use, compatibility with websites and JavaScript support. There are also reports of browser stability issues. In a video comparison with the iPhone and LG Vu, Noah Kravitz at PhoneDog.com rated the Instinct browser below not only Safari on the iPhone but S60WebKit, Opera Mobile and Mini and even Mobile Internet Explorer.
The Instinct does have a Java ME virtual machine so it ought to be able to run Opera Mini. Well - not really. The latest and best version (4.1) of Mini installs and starts up but there is no way to bring up the Instinct's virtual keyboard to enter URLs or fill in web forms. Also Mini 4.1 only works once. If you shut Mini down and try to restart it, it hangs on loading and refuses to run again until un-installed and re-installed.
The hang can probably be fixed by Opera with a little tweaking. The text input issue is going to be harder to deal with. Oualcomm, which supplied the Java Virtual Machine (JVM) for the Instinct, left out support for the Java ME LCDUI package which is the way that Java applications create user interface components like textboxes. This affects not only Opera Mini but any other Java application that requires text input including Google Maps and Mail, IM apps like eBuddy and many more. LCDUI is a standard and mandatory part of the Java MIDP 2.0 specification. I don't understand why Sun allows Qualcomm to call this obviously broken JVM Java ME.
There are a lot of people clamoring for Sprint to fix the Instinct JVM and for Opera to do something to make Mini work on the device.
Opera Mini forum moderator and QA specialist, ManneS has indicated that they are looking at the issues but that they won't create a special version of Opera Mini just for the Instinct. I can't blame them, the same generic (and only) version of Opera Mini runs on hundreds of phone models from all manufacturers. The Instinct JVM is what is broken, it's Qualcomm, Samsung and Sprint's responsibility to fix it not Opera's.
On their developer forum, Sprint has acknowledged the problem and says it will be fixed via an OTA firmware update within two months.
In the meantime Instinct users have found a partial workaround. It turns out that the older 3.1 version of Opera Mini will run on the Instinct with no serious problems other than the text input issue. By using the built in bookmarks in Opera Mini, limited browsing is possible without text input.
A breakthrough came a few days ago when a web developer who goes by the handle, "shucklak" on both MyOpera and the new Sprint Instinct Forum creted a web app with URL and Google search input fields and an onscreen keyboard. That means you can browse to any URL and do Google searches with Mini 3.1 on the Instinct. Shucklak's web app is at proceemo.com/bookmarks. The problem of course is how to get to that URL with no way to type it into Opera Mini on the Instinct. Easy, the link has been posted on MyOpera.com which is one of the built in bookmarks in Opera Mini.
Here's how to get Opera Mini working on the instinct.
- Using the Instinct's built in browser in "mobile mode" go to mini.opera.com/?rel=3. Click on "Download high memory version". The Instinct will download and install Opera Mini 3.1. Run it and click the Bookmarks link, you can use the built in bookmarks on the main screen to get to a few sites including ESPN, The New York Times, USA Today and My Opera.
- Click The My Opera link. When the page loads scroll down to the line reading "+ Home...Blogs... [7]" and click the plus sign at the beginning of the line to expand the collapsed navigation menu.
- Scroll down and click Forums and then scroll down of the next page and click the Opera Mini link.
- Scroll down a couple of screenfulls and click the Opera Mini for Samsung Instinct link. This thread has over 160 posts but what we are interested in is on page 4. so click the "4" link near the top of the page and scroll down about 15 posts until you see the link; http://www.proceemo.com/bookmarks/urlkeyboard.php. Click it and when the page loads bookmark it. Now you can input any url or do a Google search using Proceemo's on screen keyboard.
If you register at proceemo.com/bookmarks you can create a page of personalized bookmarks that you can use in Opera Mini. Of course you can create bookmarks in Opera Mini itself, but using Proceemo lets you set them up on a PC and has the advantage that they will not be lost if you have to hard reset your Instinct and reinstall Opera Mini.
I don't have an Instinct so if you do I'd love to hear about your experiences with browsing on this phone.
Instinct image courtesy of Sprint
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I don't have an Instinct so I can't actually test this but using the web based keyboard should be pretty straight forward.
* Open the zx81 keyboard site in Opera Mini from the link the Opera Mini forum as described in http://wapreview.com/blog/?p=3586
* Then just use the keyboard to type a URL like http://hotmail.com or http://facebook.com and press the "URL" button on the bottom right of the on screen keyboard.
Does that work or am I missing something?
I need more information to be able to help you. Which links don't work? Where you able to download Opera Mini 3.1 or 4.2 to your phone or not? What errors are you getting?
Can Opera Mini be selected to be your default browser? Also, the place on the instinct that holds all your various email addresses, can this be changed to use OM3?
If so, can you please post or email me a how-to.... smithp5 AT hotmail DOT com(preferably).
I'm a NEW instinct owner (March 7) so if you have any other helpful suggestions, fixes or workarounds I would greatly appreciate if you share them with me.
Thanks
The Instinct updates it's firmware over the air. Go to Main, then Settings, then General and choose "Software Update". The update that makes Opera Mini work has only been released by Sprint so far. If you are on another carrier you will to wait until they make it available.
why in the hell would you spend time and download something that could screw up your phone for 3 seconds faster than the built-in browser?
Youtube works fine on my phone. I got few updates for some apps and everyting seems working fine so I guess I wont be complaining about having Oprah on my phone or having to deal with the keyboard issue.
but i am also kind of annoyed at sprint(even tho there is no reason =]) becuz the apps are supposed to be announced today and i've been waiting all day for them and NOTHING YET!! bah.
i'm waiting.........very impatiently.
After navigating to mini.opera.com/?rel=3 and clicking on Download High/Low version I get the following error in the Instinct's built in browser:
403: Forbidden.
Access to text/vnd.sun.j2me.app-descriptor MIME content type(s) denied
I am using the Samsung Instinct through Telus Mobility in Canada.
Has anyone found a way to install Opera Mini 3.1 on the Telus Instinct?
Thanks!
It was only intended to be a quick fix, since Sprint announced a fix coming. It sounds like that fix is coming sometime next week or possibly the week after.
4.1 only running once is a known issue as I mentioned in the article. You have to use Mini 3.1.
Help is on the way, Sprint has announced that an update is coming "soon"