Even Batman played by Christian Bale (which other Batman was that good, anyway?) might not be able to thwart whatever mischief has lead to Best Buy retailing the Samsung Instinct for $129. If you’re a Sprint customer and you haven’t been able to land an Instinct, I would highly recommend bumming a ride in the Batcopter to get to your closest Best Buy retail location before all the Samsung Insticts disappear.

If you haven’t checked your local Best Buy’s weekly advertisement flyer, you probably wouldn’t know about this new deal, but Best Buy is, in fact, retailing the Instinct for $129. As for my local flyer, it reads that the Samsung Instinct for Sprint will be available for a flat fee of $129 (no mail-in rebates) with a 2-year contract activation.

That is $70 less than the standard going rate for a 2-year new contract activation through Sprint for the Samsung Instinct, and that is with a mail-in rebate. But then, many of you have been having a hard time getting your hands on an Instinct, haven’t you? The Instinct has been flying off shelves since it debuted and is the most sought after handset with the cellular carrier.

That isn’t without good reason, either. The Instinct has been toted as an iPhone slayer; though it might not quite be on par with the iPhone in many regards, the Instinct does have video recording capabilities, streaming video playback, and GPS (a feature still not quite available to AT&T customers). Beyond that, the Instinct adds some unique functionality to visual voicemail, functionality the iPhone 3G could learn a thing or two from.

Though I’m waiting as patiently as possible for T-Mobile to roll out the HTC Touch Diamond later this fall, or the HTC Dream with its 3G launch later this year, even I am tempted to go and join Sprint, simply for the Samsung Instinct. $129 is probably the best price you’ll see on this handset for a very long time, so if you’re in the market for a touchscreen handset and are ready for a new contract, I would highly recommend getting to Best Buy before the handsets sell out. The offer runs until July 14th.

This is one of the first examples of cellular manufacturers and carriers working in conjunction to deliver better deals on touchscreen handsets so as to compete with the forthcoming roll-out of the iPhone 3G. Though Blackberry, HTC and others haven’t made bold moves to lower handset prices drastically to compete with the iPhone 3G as of yet, Samsung and Sprint are definitely leading the pack and boosting demand through the roof with a discount like this.

Expect to see more discounts like this popping up, but don’t miss out if you’re a fan of CDMA networks and touchscreen handsets. Sprint might not be leading the pack in service, but sometimes you can make an exception for a fantastic handset at a ridiculously low price.

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Entry was posted on Tuesday, July 8th, 2008 at 4:09 pm under Uncategorized.

Read more entries by Triston McIntyre.
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