Instinct has second battery
3G does draw down both phones’ batteries more quickly. I found myself getting about four hours’ of heavy use time from each phone. The iPhone is supposed to have up to five hours’ talk time and Internet use; the Instinct, up to 5.75 hours. Those numbers will vary for each person.

Heavy Web surfing, for example, will drain the battery more quickly. You can help battery life last longer on both devices by minimizing certain features, such as screen brightness or turning off Bluetooth.

When it comes to battery life, the Instinct has a double advantage. Not only does it come with a removable battery — something the iPhone does not have — but it also comes with a second battery.

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Sliding the battery cover off the back of the Instinct is difficult to do — it seems cemented in — and I don’t know if it’s something that gets easier over time with repeated use.

I do know that after a half-hour of trying to get the cover off, I decided to check the Web to see if there were others who were struggling like I was. I quickly found I wasn’t alone.

There was at least one You Tube video posted, showing the kind of relative force that’s necessary to get the cover off (the phone is quite durable). At one user site, there were several Instinct owners commiserating about the problem. “I have tried for over 2 hours to open the back cover and have had no luck,” lamented one.

Instinct has video recorder, TV
The Instinct does have features that the iPhone does not, including voice dialing, a video recorder and Sprint TV. The latter includes short bites of programming with offerings from Comedy Central to Nickelodeon. I found the video quality to be choppy. Some of that might have been tied to my location and whether I was receiving the video at 3G speed.

GPS is one of the features consumers want most on new phones. The Instinct’s built-in GPS provides turn-by-turn audio navigation, which seemed to work quite well. The new iPhone has a GPS receiver, and gives you directions, but they’re not voice-guided.

Third-party programs will be available to make the iPhone’s GPS receiver more useful. Having such a program means an additional cost, not only for the program, but likely for a monthly service fee.

Such programs will be sold through Apple’s App (applications) Store, which went online Friday. It’s a treasure trove of both free and for-purchase programs, and as of Monday, had more than 800 of them available.

The iPhone also has an advantage in that it comes with either 8 or 16 gigabytes of storage. The Instinct has 32 megabytes built-in, but does come with a 2-gigabyte microSD card, and can use a card up to 8 gigabytes.

Measuring cost
Strictly in terms of cost, the Instinct is a better deal than the iPhone. The Instinct is $129.99 (with a two-year contract); the iPhone is $199 for the 8-gigabyte model, and $299 for the 16-gigabyte version.

Sprint’s “Simply Everything” service plan starts at $69.99 a month for 450 voice minutes, and unlimited text messaging, e-mail, Web, GPS navigation, and Sprint TV and Sprint Music Premier. An unlimited voice plan is $99.99 a month.

AT&T’s lowest-cost iPhone plan is $69.99 a month for 450 voice minutes and unlimited e-mail and Web use. With an unlimited voice plan, it’s $129.99 a month. Texting is extra; an additional $5 a month for up to 200 text messages.

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Both phones are great choices if you’re looking to expand your mobile world. While the iPhone’s cost is higher, I feel some of that cost is offset by its ease of use.

That’s no small thing in a world filled with daily tech frustrations from all the computers and gadgets we have to deal with that are nowhere near as smooth and enjoyable as the iPhone.

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iPhone outdoes Instinct, but both are top-notch