PhoneNews.com has the full scoop on what to expect from the Instinct HD.
First and foremost, the Instinct HD will expand on Sprint’s Opera Mini-bundling in the Instinct S30. Opera Mobile will become the standard browser, operating inside the Instinct HD’s BREW environment. This is the first time Opera Mobile has been the default browser on a Sprint non-smartphone, and appears to be the rumored widespread integration deal that Opera rumored in July. Instinct HD will be Sprint’s flagship non-smartphone through the end of the year, and Sprint’s hybrid BREW/Java platform is gaining in traction on other devices.
In addition to a powerful BREW-based browser, Instinct HD will get a significant Java upgrade. With a model number of SPH-M850, it will be the first non-smartphone to feature Sprint’s Titan application platform. Titan replaces the aging J2ME CLDC profile with a custom CDC-based platform. CDC is a more powerful version of Java, originally meant for smartphones, but failed to get traction there. Only Symbian UIQ included full support for the CDC profile. Now, Sprint is poised to revive it as an app platform for non-smartphones, which can scale up to both Android and Windows Mobile phones.
Titan, as we first reported, will deliver smartphone-grade application platforms across the entire Sprint phone lineup.
Finally, most interesting, will be the integration between these two advances. Applications using Titan will be able to leverage the Opera Mobile browser as their HTML renderer. This will enable impressive on-device widgets and web-driven applications, similar to how Palm’s webOS offers application interactivity.
The interface will continue to mimic the Instinct (S30) interface, but will have additional media player enhancements to support on-device sync and HD (with HDMI) video output. This is a far cry from the meager Sprint Music Store playback support in the original Instinct, as well as take advantage of Wi-Fi in the device.
This news comes as PhoneNews.com was vindicated by external testers for our previous exclusive report which exposed that iPhone 3GS is capable of up to 1080p HD playback. Many criticized PhoneNews.com for reporting that the iPhone 3GS’s video hardware would support HD playback. Apple is poised to enable such playback upon the launch of forthcoming iPod touch models, which feature the same PowerVR chipset, enabling HD output across both iPhone 3GS and iPod touch. The change will also strike the discontinuation of the 8GB iPhone 3G, as multiple sources have reported will be replaced with a 3GS variant.
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Christopher, is it real Opera Mobile not Mini that’s in the Instinct HD? The operator deal that Opera CEO on von Tetzchner alluded to in a July interview with IDG reporter Elizabeth Montalbano: http://www.networkworld.com/news/2009/070709-opera-ceo-major-us-carrier.html supposedly involved Opera Mini, not Opera Mobile.
If it is Opera Mobile, I wonder if it’s the long in the tooth version 8.60 that was on some RAZR2′s or a brand new Opera Mobile for embedded OSs based on the Opera Mobile 9.5 or 9.7 platform which includes widget support?
Are you sure Titan is included on the HD? According to Sprint’s Titan developer pages, Titan is for Windows Mobile devices.
Yes Dennis, it is the full Opera Mobile browser, not Opera Mini.
We’re aware of what Opera’s CEO said at the time. While it’s possible that an Opera Mini deal with another carrier is imminent, we believe that Opera’s CEO simply misspoke, or intentionally misspoke to shroud that Opera Mobile finally got a U.S. carrier agreement.
Titan is not just for Windows Mobile devices, the Sprint ADP site notes that the Windows Mobile runtime is currently the only version available. And, that is correct… but Instinct HD will change this. Sprint has never said that Titan was intended solely for Windows Mobile, that would be, well, pointless.
And there was a point to introducing the Instinct and S30 with their proprietary mix of non-LCDUI-compliance, closed APIs and closed BREW OS? Yes, if the point was to limit third-party development.
Same seems to apply here – introduce yet another unique programming environment at the same time that developers are flocking to Android, iPhone and WebOS. If Sprint is the only resource behind Titan, it will die just as the Instinct is dying, due to lack of support.
I don’t think you can associate logical actions with Sprint’s actions.
Snidely, the BREW OS on Instinct was only meant for first and second-party apps. Both Instincts included the same Java APIs that a standard Sprint phone includes.
Titan is actually much more open, and allows for most Sprint closed APIs to no longer require Sprint signing or approval to use.
I suspect that Sprint is hopeful that Verizon will go the CDC route, as they have committed to embracing Java on the path to LTE. And, CDC really is their only option, MIDP 3.0 is dead in the water. With AT&T leaning towards Symbian, and T-Mobile lost in the forest, a Sprint/Verizon partnership on Java CDC makes the most sense. Java CDC runs flawlessly on all the smartphone OSes, and scales down to modern ARM dumbphones.
[...] growing, which brings us to the second major piece of mobile browser news today. An unconfirmed story at PhoneNews.com says that Sprint’s forthcoming Samsung Instinct HD, a touch screen based feature phone, will [...]
Any chance that the instinct HD’s software will be ported to the original instincts? I know sprint messed up MR-6 software update and has pushed the release date out for MR-7. Any chance MR-7 will be this new titan platform?
I always thought the Instinct, Omnia, Delve, Behold and Eternity were the perfect opportunity for Samsung’s App store to launch stateside. Those feelings are amplified with news of the HD and Q
Samsung has two app stores. One is for Windows Mobile, and is separate from the Windows Mobile Marketplace. The other is their AU-MIC app store, which runs on the same platform as the Instinct over in South Korea.
Considering Sprint’s continued embrace of Titan, I don’t see AU-MIC taking off on Samsung phones, it’s too splintered in a marketplace where Sprint Samsung phones are such a small minority in the mobile industry. There would be few, if any developers of significance willing to support it.
Granted, it’s unfortunate that Sprint doesn’t offer it, and I wish the option was there… there’s no reason AU-MIC apps couldn’t co-exist with Titan apps. At the same time though, with Titan, I think it’s a good business decision for Sprint to aim for one app platform across all their phones. Probably the best way to take on iPhone’s native code, tell developers they can support every Sprint device (including smartphones) with a single codebase.
[...] Samsung Instinct HD will also herald the debut of Opera Mobile 9.7 while still being bundled with Opera Mini as well as high definition TV [...]