Another 'Should I get an Epic?' Thread

chenDawg

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Hey everyone,

My Evo 4G was stolen the other day leaving in quite the pickle.

I was conned into getting the Best Buy insurance instead of the Sprint so I'm out a phone now and have to purchase a new one at full price.

I was about to just up and buy a new Evo when I stumbled upon the Epic and now I find myself torn between waiting on the Epic or just getting a new Evo.

I've read a handful of reviews that bounce between one being better than the other, but with no definitive answer...

One thing that makes me hesitate is the Samsung brand... the only Samsung phone I've ever used was a cheap AT&T Go Phone, and I've heard some discouraging things about Samsung and software updates.
I've gotten pretty comfortable with HTC as they have been making pretty quality Android phones for a while now as well as pushing out updates.

I loved my Evo's giant screen, but it did have a few things that bugged me like the 30FPS lock.

A few things that are attracting me to the Epic are stuff like its better gaming performance, physical keyboard, and overall look.


A few things that are edging me back to my Evo are the Epic's lack of YouTube HD, the TouchWiz UI, and worry over updates.


I guess I'm just looking for someone to convince me that Samsung isn't as bad as I think they are.

Any and all comment would be mucho appreciated.

OH and does anyone know how much the Epic will run without a contract?
 

cr3amy

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I was conned into getting the Best Buy insurance instead of the Sprint so I'm out a phone now and have to purchase a new one at full price.
Sucks bro, sorry

I loved my Evo's giant screen, but it did have a few things that bugged me like the 30FPS lock.

A few things that are attracting me to the Epic are stuff like its better gaming performance, physical keyboard, and overall look.
If gaming, a physical keyboard, and high fps are important to you, then there is no question in my mind you should go with the Epic. There is simply no way the Evo will satisfy you if these are important to you.

A few things that are edging me back to my Evo are the Epic's lack of YouTube HD, the TouchWiz UI, and worry over updates.
- It does have YouTube HD, just not the simple little button. You gotta go through "Menu".
- TouchWiz UI isn't going to be as bad as the alarmists keep saying... and either way you can get Launcher Pro if you need to. To be honest, the basic UI isn't really *that* much different. Just get Beautiful Widgets if you want some widgets, and you'll get used to the buttons on the bottom in no time. People are overly stressing this point... sure it's not as good as Sense, but Sense isn't as good as Vanilla Android. Either way, what's under the hood is all the same, it's just a different paint job slapped on.
- They'll be pushing out updates, don't worry. The only reason they're getting this bad rap of not updating phones is because of the Behold II, which was an awful phone anyways. This phone is worldwide, on tons of carriers, and if they ignore it, they'll have done irreparable damage to their reputation. They won't get caught up in not updating this phone, I guarantee you (unless they want the mobile division to go under).


OH and does anyone know how much the Epic will run without a contract?
$500 I believe
 

HAAS599

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I was conned into getting the Best Buy insurance instead of the Sprint so I'm out a phone now and have to purchase a new one at full price.


I plan on buying the phone at Best Buy for the instant rebate. Can I get Sprint insurane if I buy the phone at Best Buy? I really dont want to be in your shoes a month from now.

What are the big differences in Best Buy and Sprint insurance?
 

cr3amy

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I plan on buying the phone at Best Buy for the instant rebate. Can I get Sprint insurane if I buy the phone at Best Buy? I really dont want to be in your shoes a month from now.

What are the big differences in Best Buy and Sprint insurance?

Yes

And Sprint's insurance covers theft and loss. I think there's differences between accidental damage coverage, maybe someone else can shine some light on this.
 

chenDawg

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Thanks a lot for the reply cr3amy!

That helps a lot~ =]

I plan on buying the phone at Best Buy for the instant rebate. Can I get Sprint insurane if I buy the phone at Best Buy? I really dont want to be in your shoes a month from now.

What are the big differences in Best Buy and Sprint insurance?

The big difference is that Best Buy is better for accidental damage where Sprint is more for your phone getting lost or stolen.
 

lorcha

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I guess I'm just looking for someone to convince me that Samsung isn't as bad as I think they are.
Well, you're in the same boat as everybody else here. Samsung doesn't have a great track record in smartphones.

By way of example:
Instinct: Supposed to be "Sprint's iPhone". It was an unmitigated piece of poop. It was slow. The resistive touchscreen was awful. The browser was badly broken. Probably one of the worst smartphones ever made.

Instinct S30: Successor to the Instinct. Many considered it to be a downgrade due to the lack of EV-DO Rev A.

Moment: This is actually a great phone if you hack it. Surprisingly active developer community when you consider how many more HTC and Moto Android devices have been sold. The stock ROM extremely buggy and slow. Samsung refuses to fix the GPS issues or release FroYo for it despite the device being only 9 months old.

Intercept: Successor to the Moment. What's with Samsung gimping the radio on device "upgrades"? Again, lacks EV-DO Rev A. It's only been out a month. Most people on this forum would prefer a hacked Moment to an Intercept (hacked or not).

So what can I say? Samsung's track record in smartphones is extremely questionable. I'd highly recommend that you evaluate the device on its current merits and ignore any promises made by Samsung to fix anything.

Fortunately, with Android, it's pretty easy to jump from one manufacturer to another. If the Galaxy S successor is truly a downgrade, I'm sure HTC or Moto will have something for you.

All this being said, I will most likely upgrade my Palm Pre to the Epic, but not on launch day. There is no way in heck I will spend even one penny on a Samsung smartphone before I read all of the early adopters' experiences.
OH and does anyone know how much the Epic will run without a contract?
I believe it's $500.
 

BetterMost#AC

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Hey everyone,

My Evo 4G was stolen the other day leaving in quite the pickle.

I was conned into getting the Best Buy insurance instead of the Sprint so I'm out a phone now and have to purchase a new one at full price.

I was about to just up and buy a new Evo when I stumbled upon the Epic and now I find myself torn between waiting on the Epic or just getting a new Evo.

I've read a handful of reviews that bounce between one being better than the other, but with no definitive answer...

One thing that makes me hesitate is the Samsung brand... the only Samsung phone I've ever used was a cheap AT&T Go Phone, and I've heard some discouraging things about Samsung and software updates.
I've gotten pretty comfortable with HTC as they have been making pretty quality Android phones for a while now as well as pushing out updates.

I loved my Evo's giant screen, but it did have a few things that bugged me like the 30FPS lock.

A few things that are attracting me to the Epic are stuff like its better gaming performance, physical keyboard, and overall look.


A few things that are edging me back to my Evo are the Epic's lack of YouTube HD, the TouchWiz UI, and worry over updates.


I guess I'm just looking for someone to convince me that Samsung isn't as bad as I think they are.

Any and all comment would be mucho appreciated.

OH and does anyone know how much the Epic will run without a contract?

Here is what you do. Call sprint as I did, and tell them your situation. Tell them you tried and tried to get another EVO but you just can't they are all sold out. Now tell them you really really would like to stay with sprint but because of the "no evo" situation its now almost impossible to do so EXCEPT! If Sprint offers you an early upgrade on the Epic that you can pre order now at Best Buy for $249. TA DA!!! Done they agreed and I am getting a new Epic on the 31st. NOW I will have an almost new Evo For sale in PERFECT CONDITION if anyone is interested. Still have the box papers even the chargers are still wrapped.

PS $479 sans contract.
 

whippingboy

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Instinct is NOT a smartphone. It's a proprietary OS relegated to THAT line of handsets which is typical of feature phones. It's a very robust feature phone. Not sure about the later models- but the original could only accept 600 contacts. Limits on data that has an EXTREMELY small size (I've easily over 1000 contacts and the list isn't 1MB) is your 1st hint at what is or isn't a full featured smartphone.

Moment and Intercept are valid examples- but Samsung's approach to Galaxy seems to be more in line with a broader overall effort- I AM however concerned about this touchwiz 2.5 approach to Epic and concerned if this one will be singled out vs. the other Galaxy phones- only time will tell for sure... time the original poster unfortunately doesn't have due to not having a phone.
 

chenDawg

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Lol that is a pretty good idea, BetterMost, but I've only had my own Sprint contract for like 3 months... I doubt they would be so willing to help me. :p
 

lorcha

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Instinct is NOT a smartphone. It's a proprietary OS relegated to THAT line of handsets which is typical of feature phones.
WebOS is only available on Palm Pre and Palm Pixi. Does that make the Pre a "very robust feature phone"? ;)

At the time, Samsung and Sprint were convinced it was a smartphone. It was marketed as such. It was marketed as "The iPhone Killer". The fact that you look at it and don't even consider it to be a smartphone only further supports my point. :)

Take a look at this article. Smartphone, it's called. iPhone killer, it's called.

I think it's valid to include the Instinct as an example of what type of mobile device Samsung is capable of releasing as their top-of-the-line. They may very well salvage their smartphone reputation with the Galaxy S, but for right now, I'm proceeding with caution.

P.S. I have nothing against Samsung, as a whole. My TV and Blu Ray players are both Samsungs, and I'm perfectly happy with them. It's really only in smartphones where they have demonstrated time and time again that they just don't get it.
 

whippingboy

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WebOS is only available on Palm Pre and Palm Pixi. Does that make the Pre a "very robust feature phone"?

Actually, the fact that they did not provide a 1st party means to get your contact/calendar into the phone (ditching the Palm Desktop and did not have native M$ Outlook sync) actually made me feel as if I bought a feature phone!

Their focus on cloud computing made me feel the phone was aimed at non business consumers and was really targeting similar demographics as Tmobile's Sidekick users- and NO I did not consider the sidekick a smartphone either- but a very slick feature phone. The only thing missing from Pre was LIMITING your content - which they wisely did not do. (Sidekick was limited to 1000, and later upped to 2000. Instinct limited to 600 contacts)

Also, the article you quoted is NOT Samsung or Sprint's marketing...it's a publication. How they interpret a product does not make it what it is. He mentions not its limits on contact data or the fact when 1st launched, it had NO synchronization support of any kind for contacts, calendar or email. If memory serves, they later patched the instinct with "support for business email" No idea what that was- perhaps settings for accessing true push mail?

Sorry if you compared it to iphone- I used my stepmom's for 30 minutes and immediately recognized it was not anywhere in the same league despite having some very slick features. (Voice search for one)
 
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lorcha

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Also, the article you quoted is NOT Samsung or Sprint's marketing...it's a publication.
Ok, watch the commercial, then. It specifically says "iPhone Killer". Straight from the horse's mouth.
Sorry if you compared it to iphone- I used my stepmom's for 30 minutes and immediately recognized it was not anywhere in the same league despite having some very slick features. (Voice search for one)
The employees at the Sprint store were very clear with my mother that the Instinct was way better than the iPhone when they sold it to her. I played with it for about 10 minutes before informing her that it was a complete and utter piece of garbage. She agreed with me completely.
 

duallydave

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I was also sucked into the "iPhone killer" hype on the Instinct. I liked the large screen, one of the larger screens at that time. I grew to dislike it pretty quickly, and traded in on a Pre at the first opportunity. The Pre is a better phone by far than the Instinct IMO, but the Epic seems like it will be better still. All of the anti-Samsung rhetoric concerns me, I hope the Epic does not disappoint. I considered the EVO but a keyboard and AMOLED would be nice.
 

CapsLockKey

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I still have an original Instinct. At the time I bought it I can't complain. Was the first "feature" phone I owned. Before that it was typical clamshell type things. I was actually impressed with what it could do. Then after a while I realized how much it wasn't an "iPhone killer". The browser was absolute garbage, navigation is sketchy at best, the music player crashes to this day along with various other things. The hardware itself was pretty top notch at the time, but the OS and software they put on it was such crap. Fortunately I was able to get a second life out of it because of two things, unlocked the tethering (wired/bluetooth, using it as bluetooth modem with my laptop rocks) and Opera Mini. Those two things changed my buyers remorse to satisfaction. What really killed the thing was lack of support though. Quit making updates after the first 9 months and the promise of future apps for it never amounted to squat.

The only things that is bringing me back to Samsung for the Epic is I like Sprint, it has a keyboard unlike the EVO, and hardware wise it's top notch. At least this time around it's running an open OS like Android instead of that crap they put on the instinct so if Samsung decides drop support again, there will at least be the likelihood of individual developers keeping the phone fresh and alive. Plus it's a little more comforting knowing the Galaxy S line has been released across several carriers so Samsung has a vested interest in continuing to support this phone unless they want to destroy whatever reputation they have left in the smartphone market.
 

caliskimmer

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Well, you're in the same boat as everybody else here. Samsung doesn't have a great track record in smartphones.

By way of example:
Instinct: Supposed to be "Sprint's iPhone". It was an unmitigated piece of poop. It was slow. The resistive touchscreen was awful. The browser was badly broken. Probably one of the worst smartphones ever made.

Instinct S30: Successor to the Instinct. Many considered it to be a downgrade due to the lack of EV-DO Rev A.

Moment: This is actually a great phone if you hack it. Surprisingly active developer community when you consider how many more HTC and Moto Android devices have been sold. The stock ROM extremely buggy and slow. Samsung refuses to fix the GPS issues or release FroYo for it despite the device being only 9 months old.

Intercept: Successor to the Moment. What's with Samsung gimping the radio on device "upgrades"? Again, lacks EV-DO Rev A. It's only been out a month. Most people on this forum would prefer a hacked Moment to an Intercept (hacked or not).

So what can I say? Samsung's track record in smartphones is extremely questionable. I'd highly recommend that you evaluate the device on its current merits and ignore any promises made by Samsung to fix anything.

Fortunately, with Android, it's pretty easy to jump from one manufacturer to another. If the Galaxy S successor is truly a downgrade, I'm sure HTC or Moto will have something for you.

All this being said, I will most likely upgrade my Palm Pre to the Epic, but not on launch day. There is no way in heck I will spend even one penny on a Samsung smartphone before I read all of the early adopters' experiences.
I believe it's $500.

These are low-end smartphones, not high-end. Samsung chose not to make real competition for the other companies' smartphones like the Droid X or the Evo until the Galaxy S series. Remember, Sprint hyped up the phones, Samsung didn't do too much. If you were a company and got a phone you thought might suck, but might appeal to potential customers and you were in a far third place for a carrier, wouldn't you try and stretch the truth to the limit to try and hype of the phone?
 

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