Initially believed to be released only in the US and only via Sprint, Samsung Instinct (model name SPH-M800) will in fact be available in Canada too, as the Canadian website of Samsung has added the elegant touchscreen phone to its "coming soon" section. This is major news for Canadian mobile users, just like the one regarding the iPhone 3G availability, as the Instinct is a device that can easily compete with Apple's new iPhone.

The upcoming availability of Instinct in Canada could also be considered great news by all the users unhappy with the plans Rogers announced for the iPhone 3G. Samsung Instinct is surely a good alternative to what the new iPhone can offer and it seems that the handset will be released by both Telus and Bell, the two major CDMA carriers in Canada.

First announced back in April, in the US, Samsung Instinct is offered by Sprint as of June 20, being released with an anti-iPhone campaign that stated the Instinct was superior to Apple's handset. The new Samsung has received several awards and, after only one week of availability, it was presented by Sprint as its best-selling EV-DO device ever.

Weighing 127 grams (4.5 ounces) and measuring 116 x 55 x 12.4 millimeters (4.57 x 2.17 x 0.49 inches), the Instinct comes with a simple but attractive look. Its highlights include: a 3.1 inch TFT touchscreen display with 240 x 432 pixels and haptic feedback, EV-DO Rev A. connectivity for data transfer speeds of up to 3 Mbps, built-in GPS, full HTML browser, email, virtual full QWERTY keyboard (in landscape mode), Music and Video players, a 3.5mm headset jack, live TV streaming capabilities, Bluetooth 2.0, a 2 Megapixel camera (which, unlike the iPhone 3G camera, can record video) and expandable memory for up to 8GB.

There's no word yet on when exactly the Instinct will be released in Canada, or for what price, but Samsung said the new handset is surely coming "this summer", hence Canadian users don't have too much to wait.