Samsung Epic 4G (Galaxy S)
Phone Scoop Review
Aug 19, 2010 by Philip Berne
The Samsung Epic 4G brings a slide-out QWERTY keyboard to Sprint's 4G lineup and to Samsung's Galaxy S family. Does this super powered Android live up to its name? read review ›
User Reviews
Average Ratings
THIS SIMPLY ROCKS
I have owned this phone since September 2010. Best phone I have EVER had. It does everything without fail. Long battery life, great connectivity, a mountain of apps, you name it is does it.
The camera on this thing is better that my little pocket camera and it double as a MP3 player!
If they are making a new version of this with more bells in whistles I will be one of the first in line to get one.
I have not had a single bad experience with this phone and HIGHLY Recommend it for any user from basic to advanced.
GET your phone on with GALAXY S EPIC - taking the CORE out of the IPhone and placing it in the trash!
Oh and transferring data well that is a breeze and it integrates with corporate email fine
Excellent Phone
I have been a sprint customer for 7 years, as well as working in the wireless world for just as long.
I have liked most of what samsung has been offering over the last 4 years. This phone goes to show they have it down pact.
The physical keyboard, while not neccessary to me is a great addition. For one scenario in particular, when using it to enter data into a field, you can use the arrow keys on the keyboard instead of reaching up for the touch screen. Seems to me it makes it faster to navigate through fields and resume typing immediately.
Wifi signal picks up from a good distance away. Battery life for the person that uses a lot of data/text and not talking so much is great. I can't really speak for talk time, I use at best maybe a few hundred minutes a month.
The display is as crisp as anything I have seen. Touch screen is very responsive.
The actual hardware on the slide is very solid.
Only complaint I have isn't really with the phone itself, but a lack of good accessories as far as carry cases and snap on cases go.
Great phone all around.
Fun & hopefully productive phone
There were several times that I felt compelled to post the very first review, but felt I owed it to the community to spend more time with the Epic before putting my thoughts down.
Used many mobile phones for many years on diff. providers. Last few were: Palm Treo 600-755p, then BB Curve 8330, and finally BB Tour.
Loved the BB Tour and its robust messaging, for personal & biz comm, & productivity options.
If you're reading this, you've most likely read most of the reviews of this phone here and on other forums, blogs, and sites.
But to quickly address good & not-as-good & remains-2-b-seen:
Good: Screen, Reception, Initial Build Quality, Sound Volume & Quality (Earpiece & Speakerphone for calls & media), KB, No to Little lag System Speed / Performance and Fast & Silky Smooth Touchscreen. (I've already loaded @ least 60+ apps plus home switchers, etc.), Qik works (take that, Facetime!), supports a TON of movie formats, incl. MKV!
Not-as-good: the back soft-key not as responsive as others, bluetooth headset gets dropped repeatedly in calls (hopefully addressed w/ equip. replacement). Biggest quirk is having lots of issues getting individual data tethering working w/ Win7Pro 64-bit, even w/ PDANet (need this for biz)
Remains-2-b-seen: Long-term durability & performance, Updates
My friend has an Evo w/ the Sense UI. It's more usable and better-designed than the Epic's Touchwiz 3.0. But the Touchwiz can hold its own. It ain't bad. I also love the KB font-- reminds me of retro calculators. Overall, a very fun phone which is supposed to help boost my productivity (maybe soon in the future) instead of killing it, like it's doing now.
Epic Win
This phone has everything that is great about an iPhone or an EVO, but improves upon almost everything. First off, the screen is gorgeous with it's SuperAMOLED screen. Also, the physical keyboard is perfect for typing anything longer than a few words. The phone is very fast, especially when panning around the web or maps. The form factor is very nice without being too curvy, or blocky (Like the Droids). Some minor caveats are the fact that it comes without a dedicated @ (they thought a "smiley" key was more important I guess) and that it only came with 16 GB memory (I recently had my iPod stolen so this now has to be my dedicated music player and 16 GB is not enough.), so I bought a 32 GB card. The battery could also be better but that's to be expected for an android smartphone i guess.
Pros:
1. Screen - Big and Beautiful
2. Keyboard
3. Very fast
4. Form factor
5. 16 GB card is a plus for most people
Cons
1. No @ key
2. Battery could be better
Overall, this phone is probably the best on the market and definitely the best on Sprint. The physical keyboard and SuperAMOLED screen is worth the extra cash personally, but may not be worth it for some.
Awesome
I am a tech junky and usually get the newest things that come out on the market. I use to own an iphone 4 until I got tired of paying for the high ATT bills so I decided to go back to sprint. At first I got the EVO 4G and played with that for a couple of weeks. The thing that upset me was it was bulky and the battery life sucked, even after taking advice from other users and using the app killer and other things. To me it was insane just to try to make it through the day of using that phone. I would watch one video and the battery would drain to half way.
The EPIC well the battery life is 10x better. The graphics are pretty awesome, if you like have a physical keyboard and a touch screen keyboard then this phone has it all. I think with every Android phone the internal memory of the phone isn't so great.
This phone does come with a 16 gig sd card.
The bottom keys have been responsive. The camera has a bright flash and the fact that there is a button on the side that is dedicated to the camera is even better.
All in all this is a great phone for people who have small hands like I do, have long days away from a charger, and who like a physical keyboard.
Epic 4g
So far I love this phone. Way better then there previous sprint phones, the Moment and the Intercept.
A few Pros
1. Fast processor, 2. pinch to zoom, 3. Great video quality (except for sprint tv)4. comes with a 16gig micro memory card, 5. live wallpaper compatible, 6. AMOLED display, 3g and 4g compatible improved battery 7. life when compaired to other android phones, 8. screen and response seems to move smoothly so far and 9. Comes with swype, 10. Do not have to remove the battery to remove the sd card, 10. most important of all, Android platform!!! 11. There are a few more which is too many to list in this review.
Cons
1. Should come with Android 2.2 right the box!, 2. Very small internal memory for a high end, android device. Should be 1gig at least, well 8 gig like some of the other newer android devices. I know, it will get 2.2 and will eventually be able to move some apps to the card then but not all apps can be moved so this means that in about 6 months to a year, you will have to get another phone with more memory. (If you are a heavy app downloader) Not cool. 3. Charging on top of the phone and head phone jack on top as well. Not a good spot, trust me, especially if you want to take advantage of the sliding keyboard.
Over all, this is a great phone! I believe you want be disappointed. This and the Evo are neck and neck so you can't go wrong with either one, if you are a sprint customer. Screen size on the epic wasn't too bad. Would love to see this with a 4.3inch like the EVO and a kick stand but the EVo has cons to so, Overall, this is a keeper for now.
DON'T LET ME DOWN SAMSUNG! So far, so good!
Awesome but not for me
Would love to keep this phone but in the end had to return it.
My needs are simple;
1. high call quality (CHECK calls on the phone were good a little distorted at times even in quiet places)
2. good internet browser (CHECK if it's android running 2.1 or 2.2. It's great)
3. true 720p non-jittery video recording (CHECK...awesome awesome video quality)
So why return it?
1. Slide out keyboard - on which every single button feels great and works well...except for....the space key... which requires a real effort to hit to the point where it's so annoying that makes me not want to use the keyboard which is why I wanted the phone and if it worked would be a huge and serious edge over other touchscreens...why Samsung? Why put the extra useless buttons on the bottom row including a smiley face button...even if you took one of those buttons out and lengthened the space bar it would be perfect. I can palm a basketball so my hands are not the issue.
2. Size...I've played with the HTC Evo and it's definitely a big screen but a very manageable sized phone bc of the thickness. The Samsung Epic not so much. The 14mm thickness requires your hand to wrap around the device in a way that makes holding it awkward and makes it feel big. I'm not a fan. Others may disagree it's a personal preference. I have fairly large hands and I thought I was holding a brick hafl the time...not a good user experience.
3. Samsung build quality - maybe it's bc it has a slide out but somehow it feels like the whole thing is going to fall apart very soon. It's light which is ok, but feels plastic-y...the slider moves a tiny bit and you treat it gingerly bc well you're worried it's going to break.
In the end...do I want to spend $250 plus $10/month extra for the biggest advanatage which is 720p video and a super fast processor. Not me. I'd rather wait 3-6 months and get my hands on a phone I love, solid build quality, fast processor, Froyo 2.2 and importantly hig quality 720p HD video and a good camera.
Samsung Epic 4G - A good smart phone
This is my first Smart Phone and I was happy happy to have it! I chose this phone for several reasons. First I was told that I could use it as a wi-fi hot-spot, the slide out keyboard, the Super AMOLED screen, and 3G service which is not supported by AT&T where I live.
THE GOOD:
SCREEN: I love the Super AMOLED screen! This screen is the best. Video is amazing. Games are great. I have seen the iPhone4 and I think that this screen, although lower resolution, is actually superior to that of the iPhone4.
Wi-Fi HOT SPOT: Has the capability of being a hot spot.
KEYBOARD: I have occasionally used the slide out keyboard when I want to type something lengthy and have enjoyed the convenience that it provides.
PROCESSOR: The Epic 4Gâs processor is smooth and fast.
CAMERA: Great 5MB camera with a BRIGHT FLASH.
ANDROID: I love Android. I have tried both Android and iPhone OS.
THE BAD:
SIZE: The slide out keyboard makes the phone much larger than AT&Tâs version of the same phone.
WEIGHT: The larger size means more weight. About one ounce more or 20% more.
Wi-Fi HOT SPOT: I wasnât told that the Hot Spot feature was going to cost an extra $30 per month.
BATTERY: This is the absolute WORST thing about the phone. The phone will not maintain a charge from the time I leave home at 7:30 a.m. until I get back at 5:00 p.m. with average use. It goes dead around 4:00 p.m. if not placed on a charger at the office.
QUALITY CONTROL: The 4G service on my unit did not function out of the box and is therefore defective.
LITTLE THINGS: The charger plugs into the TOP of the phone and the keyboard keys are shiny hard plastic and feel cheap.
SUMMATION:
Iâm a hard guy to please so all in all I like the phone, I donât love it, but I like it. I am still in my 30 day try it time and am considering returning it and going back to AT&T for their version as its smaller, lighter and is reported to have a longer battery life and wait for 3G service.
TWLAUNCHER NIGHTMARE
I purchased this phone less than one year ago
and right from the beginning I have had problems with the twlauncher error where basically the entire phone freezes up. The ONLY thing that Tech Support can do is a hard reset. P.S. I have has 6 hard resets in this short period of time!!! I use this phone for business & every time they do a hard reset I lose all saved Text Messages, all saved Memos & all Email settings. I have been using cell phones for 20 yrs and I have used dozens & dozens of phones. This phone my friends is a DUD! But neither Sprint Cellular nor Samsung will admit it! Obviously, based on positive previous reviews of this phone this twlauncher issue is hit & miss & is not a rampant problem across the board. HOWEVER, who can afford to be the guinea pig like me!?!
Big Disappointment
I got this phone with such excitement when the 4G came out, because it was my first smartphone. Boy was I surprised. My first phone software update was a disaster. I had to reset the phone back to factory settings because it deleted all my apps and my phone list.
PROS: It has a full QWERTY keyboard.
It has 4G speed
CONS: Moves apps off the main screens or
moves them to another screen than
the one it was set on.
Software updates delete apps that I
have purchased.
After I have hung up from making a
call the phone will automatically
redial the last numbered dialed.
When running an app the phone will
lock up and you can't get it to quit
running and the rear cover has to be
pulled off and the battery taken out
to get the phone to power off.
The phone is very bad about moving
apps to different locations and then
having to hunt and find the app.
Overall As you can probably tell I am very dissatisfied with this phone and as soon as possible I will be replacing it with something else. I have had Samsung phones before and not had a problem, but I have had so many issues with this phone that I will never have another Samsung phone again. I will have a flip phone before I have another Samsung smartphone. I have had friends that havev had this phone and had issues and have gotten new phones to replace theirs.
