Samsung Epic 4G Touch (black, Sprint)

Pros: + Large Screen, great color and is very responsive
+ Call quality is great on the sprint network
+ Fast 1.2GHz dual-core processor
+ Camera takes nice pictures and has flash
+ GPS and Google Map, works perfectly
+ SD card expansion up to 16G

Cons: - Charging cable is very short
- 4G Wimax instead of 4G LTE

Summary: I've had 7 smartphones - 3 Apple & 3 Android & 1 windows - switched to the SII because of a very good deal with Sprint. First time with Sprint - after 1 month very happy.

Screen size: great and not so great. Screen size is important to me because I browse on the web a lot and read on it quite a bit. A phone is not my first choice for reading, but the size is very good here. The screen has great color and is very responsive. The funny part about the size? Makes one handed dialing on the phone tricky. I have average hands and using one hand to dial and then call can get tricky.

I've dropped my share of phones, so I hold my phones very carefully but because of the size of the SII, it can still get out of my hands (dropped it twice in the first week alone). I have adjusted and can manage well with one hand now. Final word on the size - it's not just how big the screen is - it's also how thin the device is - that's what makes it hard to hold. Conclusion: the screen is a huge winner for me despite early misgivings.

Speed: 1 or 2 of my apps do not load quickly, so I'm not gonna brag about the speed. For a phone that's supposed to be fast, ANY app that takes a while makes me question just how fast it it.

Battery: best I've ever had in a smartphone. Period. Just yesterday I ran into my first low battery on it. Why? Because it had been unplugged for a day and a half - and I generally use the phone pretty moderately. Of course, if you turn on 4g it can eat up battery life pretty quick, but you can easily turn it off. 4g is great when it works.

Touchwiz: not a fan. HTC's sense is better and while Touchwiz does have a few cool things to it once I got used to it, HTC definitely wins here. But I've adapted and things are okay.

Music: real downer here. Playing music through the device is not as good as the HTC phones (I've had 3). Just sounds real tinny. Very very surprised by that. However . . .

Call sound: very surprised to write this. This phone has easily the best sound I've ever had in a smartphone from a call sound perspective. It just seems like it goes a little louder than other handsets. Certainly one of the factors that led me to give this 5 stars. I've read where others are not impressed with the call sound, maybe I got lucky, but I'm not kidding when I say it's the best I've ever experienced. That alone probably made me a huge fan of this phone.

Another point? I use a cord in my car to connect the phone to the car's sound system. On every smartphone I've ever used, when I answer a call with the phone hooked up to the car's sound system, there is feedback. Not here. I am very happy when I answer a call and it goes through my car's speakers. And callers can here me clearly with no feedback or echo. Again - first smartphone that's done that well.

Build quality: could not disagree more with some people's take. While it has a plasticy feel to it, it seems very intelligently designed. My observation has been that powerful phones that seem a little underwhelming when you first get them, as you adjust, you see how intelligently they are designed. My HTC Incredible was like that - seem too light and fragile. But once you see how strong they are built, you turn a corner and realize they are very tough - which makes the phone even more impressive. Again, light and seemingly fragile but very tough.

Initially, I really didn't like the overall size and Touchwiz, but once I got used to the phone I realized it passed the only important test: is there any phone out there right now I'd rather have? No. If there was a 4" iPhone I'd switch to that but there isn't. And I use my screen a lot.

P.S. Before you're will buy ths Epic Touch 4G, I suggest you have check for best deal at: ******************.wordpress.com/2012/02/22/epic-touch-4g/

Very happy with the phone and sprint.