Samsung Epic 4G (Sprint)

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.