Killer Instinct: Samsung unveils sequel to popular touchphone

Samsung's Instinct was not only Sprint's fastest selling EV-DO handset, but it also ranked as Best Buy's best selling handset since 2006. And though Samsung followed it up with the Windows Mobile "TouchWiz"-equipped Omnia, the splash made by the Instinct was too big to avoid a sequel.

At CTIA Wireless in Las Vegas, Sprint and Samsung announced the Instinct s30 will be available on April 19 through Sprint's stores and Web site for $129.99 with a two-year contract and applicable rebates.

And what does it get you? A thinner, lighter, and more rounded Instinct with a 2 megapixel video camera, Opera Mini 4.2, Microsoft Live Search for Sprint, Telenav-powered GPS navigation, stereo Bluetooth, Sprint TV, and the Sprint Music Store.

There is a dedicated "Speech to Action" button, which allows voice commands to drive the standard features, such as call, text, picture message, and so forth. It also extends into the Telenav app and Windows Live search, letting the user call up movie times, news, or traffic updates by voice command.

To encourage app development, the s30 also has open Java APIs for multimedia, messaging, Bluetooth, contact and calendar data, and file access. Sprint says it will extend access to these Java APIs to the original Instinct and then on all future Java-enabled Sprint devices.