Samsung Epic 4G user reviews (Sprint)

5.0 stars

"Costly data plan?" on August 19, 2010 by vansmackCA

Pros: Obviously, if you need/want a full keyboard and a 4 inch screen, this phone has the market cornered.

Cons: TouchWiz UI is not a slick as other UI's, but it's not awful. The GPS error is a little unforgivable in 2010, but they promise a fix soon.

Summary: I have some concerns about the use of "costly data plans" as a con for the phone in the CNET review. It's only "costly" if you're a current Sprint subscriber, and by "costly" Nicole means $10 more a month. Compare Unlimited plans of Verizon, T-Mobile and at&t, even with the additional $10 charge, and Sprint is still cheaper than the other three. That's a bit unfair, especially as we have yet to see what the others will do with their 4G networks when/if they have them up and running.

5.0 stars

"Best Android Phone to Date!" on November 19, 2010 by WoodHammer

Pros: 720p Video Capture
Adobe Flash Capable Out-of-the-box
5mp Camera with LED Flash
16gig SD card Stock
Full Keyboard
AMOLED
Great Screen Resolution
Lightweight
Responsive OS2.1
4G!
Google Earth
Hummingbird Processor
Fast boot time (15-20 Seconds)**

Cons: A bit bulky
A little pricey
Average battery life for a 1Gz processor Smart Phone

Summary: This is the most solid phone I have ever owned.

Firstly, if you are looking at these reviews completely disregard the 0-2 stars. It seems that those people have no idea how to fully utilize this great phone and just complain on things that they do not understand.

I'll start with the negative, this phone is a bit pricey, and a little bulky. But if you're not willing to shell out some cash for this state-of-the-art phone, then you just don't understand smartphones. I do not like the bottom touch panel with the lighted back, home, search, and properties buttons. It is just something I have to get used to. I would rather have actual buttons.

One thing I just didn't enjoy was the "Back" key located on the left side of the manual keyboard. Maybe I have big thumbs and I just keep accidentally hitting it, but I feel that the button itself is out-of-place.

On to the Positives.

**Before I begin, what I do and recommend everyone with experience do with these types of smartphones is to get rid of the bloatware. To do that you must root the phone, I am not going to explain how that is done, you can search for that on the internet. Be warned that obtaining root and super user access to the Phone's operating system may void your warranty.

After I got rid of all the sprint garbage, SprintTV, NASCAR, SprintNavigation, SprintZone, and anyhting I saw fit. The phone's average boot time was 15 to 20 seconds from a cold start. That blew my mind.

2.1 (Eclair) vs 2.2 (Froyo) This is a huge subject. I see a lot of people complaining and wanting 2.2. Why this device is listed as 2.2 on the Sprint Homepage is beyond me. It still ships with 2.1. Most people do not realize that 2.2 is really unstable as of late. There are a lot of bugs associated with 2.2 and the Epic, such as stock browsing, GPS locking issues (poor navigation). Sure, 2.2 is rated 200% faster than 2.1 with the JIT compiler and other additions in functionality, but in my opinion, I believe that you will benefit greatly by leaving it at 2.1 and waiting for a better, more stable release of 2.2, or just wait for 2.3 altogether. Battery life in 2.2 is also a major issue.

720p Video capture. - This is mind-blowing. A cellphone that can take standard quality video? I feel like that is enough said.

Adobe Flash. - This is a huge for mobile web browsing. Not only is it flash capable out-of-the-box, but it runs Google Earth out-of-the-box as well.

5mp Camera. This is just icing on the cake. It has great quality and great resolution for a phone. But it's no DSLR, don't get picky.

4G- If you don't have 4G coverage in your area, then you're missing out. The browsing speeds, and download speeds are unfathomable with this phone.
Did I mention it came with 16Gigs of memory, stock!? It does!


Some miscellaneous positive things:
I like the slide cover for the USB port. It really prevents all the earcrust and stuff that might get in there from average use. I didn't like the Samsung Moment's USB port cover. I DO NOT like the fact that the USB port is on the top of the phone, sometimes I talk when it's plugged in and it just gets in the way. It really belongs on the bottom. I like the fact that Samsung opted again for a full-sized earphone jack. When you pick up this phone you'll be surprised at it's weight. It looks big, but its not all that heavy. My Samsung Moment and HTC TouchPro were both heavier.

The keyboard is really solid, and responsive. The layout took some getting used to from my Moment, but it really seems to get the job done. I like the directional pad, I missed that from my HTC TouchPro and I like having actual number buttons instead of being forced to use the Function Key.

I've owned this phone for about 2 weeks. I have gotten only 1 OS freeze that forced a battery pull, 0 force closes, 0 dropped calls, 0 Data Freezes, 0 GPS Signal Losts.

To anyone who would like to have an experience similar to mine:
1. Root the Phone
2. Delete all unwanted bloatware (only possible after rooting phone). Here's a list of what I removed using a file manager. I deleted the APKs located in /system/app:
-SprintTV
-Sprint Navigation
-SprintZone
-SprintNASCAR
-Pretty much anything that says "Sprint" is safe to remove.
3. Download the following Apps:
-Google Earth
-Opera Mini - for Quick Web Browsing
-Dolphin HD Browser - for full Flash-Rich Browsing
-Spare Parts - Increases battery life and speeds up performance
-Remote RDP, Remote VNC, allows logging on to remote computers (Difficult Setup Required)
-Titanium Backup - For consistent backups of all your apps and data
-Tikl - Push-To-Talk program for anyone with an Android phone
-Beautiful Widgets - Brings back memories for any former HTC TouchPro users
4. Enjoy
5. Tell your friends

This is a solid phone, and to anyone who disagrees: I would love to hear your response, and I will retort accordingly. Enjoy this phone!!!

Updated on Nov 19, 2010

I forgot to address the battery life for this phone.

The battery life is average and is what I would expect from a 1GHZ Android phone. Smartphones with GHZ processors and large GPUs will use battery. It's just the nature of the beats. This thing has the processing power that most laptops in 2004 had. Think about that for a minute. If a laptop lasts 12 hours on a charge, would you be satisfied? This phone is basically a small computer. It has RAM and Processing power just like a computer.

4.5 stars

"Sick of waiting for an Evo? The Epic, it'll do! :)" on September 1, 2010 by PennyScrapbooks

Pros: VERY crystal clear screen! Very usable outside! Touch response just right. "Real" keyboard, yet not the bulk. User interface VERY user friendly! Battery life MUCH improved over Evo and my previous phone, the Moment...

Cons: $50... but really, since when was that a problem to techies?
$100 rebate (from $350) is instant at Radio Shack (and I am assuming other places).
$29.99 for hotspotting? Huh?? Not that I have been told or seen!

Summary: My friend has the Evo, I had a Moment... the battery life so far is already knocking the socks off both WITH high functioning going on! The initial charge (that the battery came with-less than half) lasted several pictures and an hour of navigation! My Moment would not have made that on a full charge! Neither would an Evo, from what I am told! The screen is brilliant. I am told the Super AMOLED screens can over saturate color. Maybe-but so far all I have noticed is brilliance and clarity! The touch response is awesome (loving the "pinching" and "double taps" feature) and it is TRULY locked out on calls... I always had issues with my face doing things (including hanging up) on calls with my Moment!
I got the Epic because I was on the waiting list for an Evo for THREE WEEKS, with none coming in-so I thought I would take a chance and get the Epic. I needed to go to Radio Shack, because to get a new phone, I needed to add a line and to switch users/phones, I needed to go to Radio Shack. (Sprint's fraud policies restrict you from changing phones/numbers within a plan for 60 days). They were getting Evo's in regularly, until it stopped abruptly, and after three weeks of being on the top of the waiting list, I gave up when the Epic came out. I am not disappointed! I see a HUGE difference between this and the Moment-which was the "it" phone on Sprints 3G just 4 months ago... ah, the memories. :) 4 months later, and though the Moment is a nice phone, the Epic is thinner, even though it is bigger, but not bulky. The Evo, with both in my hand, only seems a fraction thinner, and not that much lighter feeling. The Epic will slide into a pocket a tad easier... but the 0.3 smaller screen is hardly "smallish" as reviewed earlier. The previous norm of 3.2, now THAT'S "smallish"!
I am sure something MUCH better will be coming out in 4 more months... but for now, I am MORE than happy with my "smallish" "bulky" Epic! {snort}

2.5 stars

"Great Potential, but falls short of expectations" on September 17, 2010 by Toddman

Pros: Realistic color, Bright display, Lightweight (weight could either be a pro or con)

Cons: Back Arrow unresponsive at times, LED notifications are dull, touch wiz will be your first change, Still waiting for GPS software fix, Battery drains quickly, No Bluetooth Voice command for outgoing calls

Summary: This is my 6th Smartphone, 1st Android. I love Android, it's a great phone o/s. But I want to focus on just the device so I won't mention android too much. I had huge expectations for this phone, so much that my wife and I both got one. We got it on opening day with our "invitation tickets" as if they were going to sell out. (I love marketing ploys).
Phone works great most of the time. It's really snappy and fast at times but other times it can be sluggish and unresponsive. Overall, it works fine though, besides one crucial flaw:

On the bottom of the phone. There is a Cloaking back arrow touch button that almost always requires 2 - 3 presses to register. I've already swapped out one phone at the sprint store. My new one worked great for 2 weeks, now I have the same problem again. My wife too has this same issue. Sprint has had us both hard reset our phones to "fix" it. Still waiting for a solution. This is a big deal as I am relying that the back button works one time. When it doesn't and requires multiple presses -it really screws up my thought process. Each time pressing back 2-3 times gets old fast. Sprint Tech Support is still "looking" into this issue. Just google "Samsung Epic Back Button Problem" You'll find lots of people talking about this issue.

Other thoughts about the Epic:

Phone Quality is good, however speaker phone has a tin or echo sound at times, also caller on other side notices the mic degradation while on Speaker phone.

Camera takes good pictures with correct lighting. LED Flash almost always over exposes the picture. Not recommended for low light situations.

Keyboard is quite nice, I love it a lot. Power button is on right side toward the top, this has been hard to get used to. Battery life is not all that great, -buy additional chargers, and maybe buy the app Juice Defender. (It works) No Bluetooth dial out feature. Bluetooth will only work with incoming calls So it's not really roadwarrior friendly.

Overall, it's a nice phone. The screen is gorgeous, but it's been hard to focus and enjoy the screen with the back button issue. I hope it's just a software glitch. 2nd New Phone just started doing it (worked fine for 2 weeks), so it's really unpredictable. In conclusion: I would highly recommend the phone ONLY if bottom touch "back arrow" button gets fixed.

Updated on Sep 18, 2010

@MrGadgetman & @nomad0321 Thanks for the notification. It's good to know that BT voice dialing works with this phone.