What's next for Epic users, and when?

[dbpaddler]

Well I really don't put too much faith in leaks, there's no telling when or if they will actually arrive. I've toyed with the idea of putting a ROM onto it, I might have to look in to that more deeply.

The Moto leak was actually a guy posting about his buddy testing the phone for Sprint, so if that's the case, I'm sure fall would be a likely possibility. I still need to call back Sprint. I've bugged my support people and ask dan (I have a $30k account with Sprint, not huge but enough to get some decent support), and have had about 4 calls from them I need to follow up on. I already told them I closed to lines because they switched to Verizon after they told me there were no new sliders on the horizon, and the reps went to the Droid4. So maybe they'll give me some actual info instead of saying nothing is on the horizon like they did back in early May.

All the people that are jumping ship to the gs3 probably didn't have a "need" for the keyboard. I know for me it is a need. I can't do extensive doc work and big work emails on the phone without a keyboard. The only thing holding it back is the office apps. I still can't select multiple cells in a table in a word document. Annoying.

 

[uscpsycho]

Good news for those of you who "gave up" on the idea of a new slider. Have some faith!

Sprint has finally made the Photon Q official! Read it and weep!

http://phandroid.com/2012/07/26/off...otorola-photon-q-4g-lte-with-qwerty-keyboard/

 

[dbpaddler]

Yep. With a whopping 1750mah non removable battery. Better carry a charger with you. After the RAZR and RAZR Maxx, don't you think they'd learn something? How a phone of this size only fits a 1750 makes no sense when this is supposed to be a business class device.

In my signal challenged work environment, I go through 1800mah batteries in 3-4hrs. Was psyched when I saw the original post on engadget, but that quickly died when I saw the battery situation.

Sent from my SPH-D700 using Tapatalk 2

 

[uscpsycho]

I had the same problem before upgrading to this extended battery. Yes, it makes the phone fatter but I swear I can go all day with very heavy use and rarely run out of juice. I liked the first one so much I bought the second one for those rare days when I do need a fresh battery. There are several sellers, make sure you buy from Cellular Factory (link should land on them). For less than $7 shipped they're a great investment. Saves my sanity every day.

Here's the link - http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...ag=hawk-future-20&ascsubtag=UUacUvbUpU2013033

 

[dbpaddler]

Yeah, I don't do extended batteries. I have four 1800 ones that I rotate through. It's just easy to pop a fresh one in. One extra battery and the phone is less bulky than just the phone with the extended battery. If the wifi network I have access too would allow me to check email, I wouldn't be in that predicament. But for some reason phones can't access email on that hospital's public wifi. It's really odd. Keep forgetting to call the help desk. An employee called and asked, and their answer was why are you checking your personal mail during the work day? I would've gone off if that was me.

I'm telling my rep that they'll give me at least 30 days to test it out because I can't judge in two weeks if the battery will be acceptable. I'm also going to follow up with the ask dan people that kept bugging me after my multiple complaints and cancelling of some of our lines (completely coincidental, but they don't know that). A fixed1750mAh battery is just not acceptable for a serious business class smartphone in this day and age, especially the road warrior types.

 

[uscpsycho]

I don't know, but for me having a slightly thicker battery that can get me through most days beats having to carry around several batteries and the hassles of keeping all of them charged up. PITA to come home with five dead batteries and needing them charged by the next day.

I didn't want to make my phone thicker either but it doesn't bother me nearly as much as I thought it would. And I honestly love the convenience and peace of mind it gives me. But to each his own... I say for $7 give it a shot and see how much you might love it. If not I'll trade you the extended battery for an OEM slim battery. Not that I need another extended but I don't use my slims anymore and I'm that confident you'll like it.

 

[dbpaddler]

For $7 I'll bite. picked a seller from NY since I'm in PA. I've had good luck with Hyperion batteries, but theirs is double the price. It's gonna sit heavy in the scrub pocket, and my nightstand cradle will be useless. Slim OEM's are a waste. Mine two hardly get me 3-4 hours in a normal signal area. They're just shot. The OEM Epic Touch ones are nice though.

 

[uscpsycho]

I hope you get one as good as mine. These generic accessories in the Amazon Marketplace can have a lot of variance from one seller to another. Just as with different sellers on eBay. You might get a "3500 mAh Extended Battery" that's from a completely different supplier/factory than the one from the seller I purchased from.

Ironically, I picked my seller because they were in CA so I understand your thought process. If the one you get doesn't perform as expected I'll post up a picture of mine so you can see if you got the same one.

 

[boocephus]

In an effort to stave off another sprint contract extension, I bought my son an Epic on ebay. It came with the $70 Seidio fat battery. I have been using it all week, but today, I just put the regular one back in. I think my battery problems are because of the construction of this building. My phone is always struggling to get a couple bars. Pivoting in my chair can make the signal drop off to nothing.

When I had the small battery in, I kept it plugged in all the time at my desk. I didn't plug it in at all with the fat bat. I updated my resume online and have been getting a bunch of recruiters calling and emailing, so I have been using my phone a good bit - voice and data. With the seidio, I would be around 50% at the end of the day.

It does tend to pull down one's pants.

But when I travel for work and don't have the luxury of plugging in, it will be nice to have a few extra hours with the pregnant version of the epic.

 

[dbpaddler]

I work in hospitals that are just notorious for bad signals. One rebuilt a whole new wing with an OR and had the option to prewire antennas throughout to improve cell reception (especially since pagers have gone by the wayside). It was a few thousand dollar option, and they said no. Now to retrofit, it cost them about $20k, and it's still far from perfect. So much time roaming on 1x.

But the blessing of having a 2yr old phone is accessories are cheap, so for $7, I'll give it a shot when I know I'm in a signal challenged area.

How does moto fit a 3300mAh battery in the skinny little Maxx, yet throws a 1750mAh one in the Q that has a bit of carryover in its target audience, but relies on the keyboard for solid work use? I just don't get the design rationale these people have. To be a fly on the wall when they discuss product design. What's worse is when products don't sell well. They say sliders are a dying breed when their wrong. Poorly designed and spec'd sliders are a dying breed.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using Tapatalk 2

 

[uscpsycho]

I've been waiting and waiting and waiting (as we all have) for a new slider phone. It's finally here and it has a fatal flaw. Under no circumstances am I willing to use a phone that can leave me with a dead battery with no way to change it. I'm wiling to carry a spare battery or two around but I'm not willing to stuff my pocket with an external battery backup that I have to tether to my phone.

The only way I could live with the Q is if someone makes a clip-on extended battery. If that doesn't happen my only option will be a non-slider phone and at that point I think I'll turn in my Android card for the iPhone 5. After all the frustration with my Epic, if the Q doesn't suit me I just might sacrifice the flexibility of Android for the unflappable stability of iOS.

 

[dbpaddler]

Now I would throw a slice type external battery in my bag. form fitting to the back of the phone.

I really don't understand the allure of embedded batteries. These devices are mini computers. We work, we play, we stream content, video, audio, surfing and so on. The whole industry wants us to do more on these devices. All of which sucks up juice. When embedded batteries are dead, the phone is dead unless it's charged. Then you're tethered to something and god forbid it's an ac outlet when you need to be on the go. I really don't see the tradeoff being worth it. I used to buy in to the iphone because they always touted the battery life, but even now all I see are dock cables everywhere, people plugging in to the speaker docks in OR rooms. They seem to be charging just as much as we are, more so because they can't swap batteries.

 

[bmcgarry67]

I've been waiting and waiting and waiting (as we all have) for a new slider phone. It's finally here and it has a fatal flaw. Under no circumstances am I willing to use a phone that can leave me with a dead battery with no way to change it. I'm wiling to carry a spare battery or two around but I'm not willing to stuff my pocket with an external battery backup that I have to tether to my phone.

The only way I could live with the Q is if someone makes a clip-on extended battery. If that doesn't happen my only option will be a non-slider phone and at that point I think I'll turn in my Android card for the iPhone 5. After all the frustration with my Epic, if the Q doesn't suit me I just might sacrifice the flexibility of Android for the unflappable stability of iOS.

So, to paraphrase:
You want a slider
You want a replaceable battery
You may buy an Iphone

I am in the same boat, right up until your conclusion.
You do realize that the Iphone...

I was so excited about the Q, but without a replaceable battery, I either hang on to the Epic (on CM9) or get used to typing without a keyboard

 

[dbpaddler]

I actually just emailed Mophie to see if they had plans to make cases for the new Moto and HTC phones. Would be a ground floor opportunity for them. If they made a slice battery pack for the Q, I would have no qualms living with it. Keep it in the bag and pop it on if I'm in need.

Will post if they actually reply. If anyone wants to encourage them, their email is cs@mophie.com.

 

[uscpsycho]

So, to paraphrase:
You want a slider
You want a replaceable battery
You may buy an Iphone

I am in the same boat, right up until your conclusion.
You do realize that the Iphone...

I was so excited about the Q, but without a replaceable battery, I either hang on to the Epic (on CM9) or get used to typing without a keyboard

Well, what I actually said is I want a slider and I want a replaceable battery but I'd settle for one of those snap-on external batteries that clip onto the back of your phone (not tethered) instead of a truly replaceable battery.

I wouldn't be surprised if Sprint doesn't sell enough of these for someone to manufacture one of those batteries for this phone but there are gobs of these made for the iPhone.

My slider is useless if it's dead so if I don't get the Q (due to possible lack of clip-on battery) my only option is to get a non-slider. And if I'm going to go that route I will consider switching over. Something I never thought I would do but my experience with the Epic has been an epic PITA so the reliability of the iPhone is appealing.

Now, I don't have as many headaches with my Android tablets to maybe it's just the Epic that's a POS. But if you combine all the time I've used my tablets together, that's less than a week's worth of phone usage so I haven't exactly battle tested my tablets. Nor have I really pushed their limits, I use them very casually.

My GF just got an S3 and seems happy with it. But she isn't a very demanding user, my experience might be radically different than hers. Decisions, decisions...

 

[uscpsycho]

I actually just emailed Mophie to see if they had plans to make cases for the new Moto and HTC phones. Would be a ground floor opportunity for them. If they made a slice battery pack for the Q, I would have no qualms living with it. Keep it in the bag and pop it on if I'm in need.

Will post if they actually reply. If anyone wants to encourage them, their email is cs@mophie.com.

Excellent!

 

[bmcgarry67]

Well, what I actually said is I want a slider and I want a replaceable battery but I'd settle for one of those snap-on external batteries that clip onto the back of your phone (not tethered) instead of a truly replaceable battery.

I wouldn't be surprised if Sprint doesn't sell enough of these for someone to manufacture one of those batteries for this phone but there are gobs of these made for the iPhone.

My slider is useless if it's dead so if I don't get the Q (due to possible lack of clip-on battery) my only option is to get a non-slider. And if I'm going to go that route I will consider switching over. Something I never thought I would do but my experience with the Epic has been an epic PITA so the reliability of the iPhone is appealing.

Now, I don't have as many headaches with my Android tablets to maybe it's just the Epic that's a POS. But if you combine all the time I've used my tablets together, that's less than a week's worth of phone usage so I haven't exactly battle tested my tablets. Nor have I really pushed their limits, I use them very casually.

My GF just got an S3 and seems happy with it. But she isn't a very demanding user, my experience might be radically different than hers. Decisions, decisions...

I understand. My point was that the your complaint (and mine) is about the battery and how a phone is no good if it is dead. Out of the hundreds of phones that are on the market, you picked one of the other few phones with the same inherent problem as your replacement. It just seems illogical.

 

[dbpaddler]

I think it's funny. People can b**ch and moan about how this slate is ugly or feels cheap, but the lsates out there in general are just premium. HD screens, horsepower under the hood, some with big batteries. Options galore. The gs3. Is pretty much as good as it gets. The Epic was and is king of the sliders. It was the first and only premium slider to go toe to toe wuth its slate counterparts at the time.

Why is it the last of its kind? It's hung around for 2+ years without the EOL tag. Sammy, a year later, essentially copied it a yr later for Verizon. People knocked it early, but it's a landmark phone for sliders. Why hasn't another company made a slider since that equals it's premium slate counterpart and not have some compromise somewhere?

I'll argue my own point since the RAZR is qHD with a small battery, but they quickly came out with the Maxx. Has anyone confirmed this is qHD and not HD? The Atrix HD has a small battery but HD screen. HTC hasn't made a premium slider in years. The Arrive and MT4GS are both compromises all around. The rumored LG is still WVGA. The Sammy Blaze is going to T-mob with no other carriers being rumored.

I just wish we'd see one mfg make:

4.5-4.8" high end slate
4.3" high end slider
4.0" high end slate
3.7" mid grade slate
3.2-5" budget

The first three have all the same core specs; quad core or high end dual core with 2gb of ram. The 4.5+ and 4.3 slider are 720, the 4 is qHD. 3.7 qHD but lesser processor and 1gb of ram. The budget is 1 or 1.2ghz single core with 512mb of ram and wvga.

And that's it. 5 models. 5 designs across all markets. F**k the carriers and their wants and modifications. This is our product portfolio for the model year. Select the ones you want and the color schemes and we'll slap your name on it. Verizon, you want what? F**k off we'll take it to the regionals and prepaid.


Sent from my SPH-D700 using Tapatalk 2

 

[kenrico]

I think it's funny. People can b**ch and moan about how this slate is ugly or feels cheap, but the lsates out there in general are just premium. HD screens, horsepower under the hood, some with big batteries. Options galore. The gs3. Is pretty much as good as it gets. The Epic was and is king of the sliders. It was the first and only premium slider to go toe to toe wuth its slate counterparts at the time.

Why is it the last of its kind? It's hung around for 2+ years without the EOL tag. Sammy, a year later, essentially copied it a yr later for Verizon. People knocked it early, but it's a landmark phone for sliders. Why hasn't another company made a slider since that equals it's premium slate counterpart and not have some compromise somewhere?

I F**k off we'll take it to the regionals and prepaid.

Sent from my SPH-D700 using Tapatalk 2

a

So true - Epic is still hard to beat for functionality and quality . 2 years old and that hummingbird and 4" amoled still rocking. Every carrier abridged, neutered their S (no flash, bing etc) . The phone mfg know what we know, each new version of android feels like a new phone - which is why they and the carriers draaaag so much on those updates.

Each ROM I have used made me put off a phone purchase. CPU is snappy once the bloat is gone and seems each android kernal gets a bit tighter too, also our phone had exceptional GPU for graphics and has only been bested recently - a 2 YEAR RUN

Also mine the slider is sticky , usb jack sloppy - feels heavy, gets hot BUT never BROKE in 2 YEARS.

The other secret is that 2 years ago the charges were $40ish a month and now $80 is a deal...with those contract prices over 2 years, most informed will not get 'the free phone' so I think that does contribute to the mfg and carriers not having so much selection.

I wanted a Nexus (updates) and could have lived with a camera that rivals the Epic (2 years later) but it is a good phone , not a great phone and still hearing lots of weird , different bugs and such. The S3 is a great phone , but get the hybrid case and the insurance - it is no Epic in the drop test. Also I am a hardware junkie - and finally now see the kick *ss hardware but not sold on the 'consumer' feel - like win 8 all clicks in metro lead to ms and you have to wade through to get to where you want, the S3 feels a bit like that with All share play and samsung media hub and the like .

So still lost, maybe a little afraid to let go and burnt up my upgrade after 4 years (bought epic used in 2010) buying wife a S3 . Originally was waiting til LTE in San Diego and was going to make a commitment then.

Kenny

 

[dbpaddler]

Well I'm going to be a guinea pig and preorder the Q. I have a spare line that is up in a year so worst case is I go back to the Epic, make a few hundred on the Q and wait it out another year. Heck, it'll fund the Surface purchase

I also told my care rep that two weeks isn't going to fly. You've gone to an embedded battery and there is no way of me knowing how it's going to last in real world use in just two weeks. Too many different work scenarios to tackle. She said they would try to work with me, so I might not be on the hook with it for two years if it doesn't work out.

Sent from my SPH-D700 using Tapatalk 2