Samsung's Instinct: Smart, if Not an iPhone

It isn’t an iPhone. But, says New York Times technology writer David Pogue, Samsung’s soon-to-be released touchscreen phone, called Instinct—while a little less sleek than the iconic iPhone—isn’t a bad effort. The newest iPhone wannabe debuts June 20 when Sprint Nextel rolls it out at half the price of a $199 iPhone, after the $100 rebate.

The Instinct is a little taller and thicker than its idol, but narrower, which makes the screen less viewable. It offers some goodies not available on the iPhone: a swappable battery and a “back” button to make Internet navigation easier."The Instinct’s most gimmicky enhancement is a so-called haptic touch screen, which means that the whole thing vibrates a little each time you tap it," Pogue writes. "It does not succeed in surpassing the iPhone, especially the new one—but it does succeed as a smartphone." (More Apple stories.)