Epic 4G Forum Members Initial Thoughts & Reviews

**Cory Streater** · 07-14-2010, 12:54 PM

Howdy everyone,

Happy launch day! I know many of you have been waiting patiently for this day to arrive, and are anxious to share your thought and opinions about your brand new Epic.

The purpose of this thread, is to hear members thoughts & opinions on how the Epic 4G stacks up amongst a suggested list of attributes:

Aesthetics
Screen
Hardware
Phone - including bluetooth & speakerphone usage
Overall User Interface & Samsung TouchWiz
Signal quality (Compared to other devices)
GPS
Social Networking
Email/Calendar
Battery Life
Performance
Media (music, movies, DLNA)
Samsung Widgets reviews
Swype vs. Samsung onscreen vs. physical keyboards.
Camera (both still & video)
How the Epic compares to your previous smartphone (if applicable)
Disappointments (if any)

Feel free to provide as little or as much detail as possible, while trying to make it as useful as possible. Hopefully this will help others who are considering the Epic, but would like to hear some user feedback first. Also, please do not review the Epic prior to having one

And if you read a review that you found helpful, please use the Thanks button to show that person your appreciation!

**jfenton** · 08-31-2010, 07:35 AM

Very quick impressions...

Capacative buttons work absolutely FINE.
Going through the menu setting up various things the phone flies.

Email setup is much more of a pain the BB but I expected that and went through the same thing with the EVO

The phone has less of a 3G signal in my office thatn the EVO did but at least it's a solid one bar whereas my 9650 Bold would drop every call. Sprint sent me an Airwave yesterday to use in the office so once I get that up and running I'll be good to go. I have a strong 4g signal at home so I'll try that out this evening.

Absolutely love the screen. If you don't have an EVO sitting next to it for comparison, the screen is plenty big enough.

Keyboard is excellent

I'm guessing it's tyhe rounded corners...the phone is much more comfortable in the hand than the EVO was and for perhaps the same reason, fits much better in the pocket.

Looks great...I sense no "cheapness" factor to it at all.

I'll have more input after I get a chance to really work with it as the day progresses but I'm very happy with the desicion to go with this device.

**wphend00** · 08-31-2010, 08:13 AM

My impressions...
I had been using a Samsung Intercept... which was a pretty nice, but pretty slow Android phone in its own name...
Well... the EPIC, after using the 3.2 inch screen and "janky" capacitive buttons, is SUPER, SUPAH, SUPERLICIOUS fast...

but... here is my

I think my camera button might be "Jankified" its like there is no spring in it, at all... which makes me wonder... so I am going to take it back, at lunch time tommorrow to see if that is the case...

That little part worries me...

No 4g in Lexington or Louisville Ky, but I will sho-nuff put 3g to the test...

Screen is BEAUTIFUL...

One thing NONE of the reviewers I know, mentioned, is that there is a connection for an antennae, right inside of the back cover... so apparently, there will be the ability to attach either a Wi-fi, or FM antennae to the device, in the near future...

**jfenton** · 08-31-2010, 09:04 AM

Having spent the morning on the phone now, I have to say...for someone who wears hearing aids (me), the call quality both on the earpiece in the front and the rear speaker is simply the best I've ever experienced with wither BB or my previous EVO.

Totally impressed and that alone makes this phone worth it to me.

Interestingly, while the EPIC shows only one bar whereas the EVO used to show 2-3 here in my office, the EVO would drop about every third call and the connection was obviously poor. At one bar, the EPIC sounds darn solid.

**paulh13** · 08-31-2010, 09:16 AM

Have you had a chance to check out the GPS functions on the Epic?
Any feedback?
Thank you!

**jfenton** · 08-31-2010, 09:32 AM

GPS inside my office locked on within 12 seconds and had me located perfectly...keep in mind that this was a static lock and I wasn't hiking around or anything.

I do sit near a window and did have it open so that may have helped since I was inside.

I fired up Sprint NAV and put my house in for a location and it went through the motions and would have had me on the way very quickly...much quicker than my BB Bold which used to search for GPS connections for some time inside.

**aweswalker** · 08-31-2010, 10:00 AM

I'm so excited about the epic. We just had our first child, (now 15 mos) and the first geek out item I've been able to afford in about 6 years was the evo, and I love it. I want to purchase the epic for my wife, but not sure when or if that will be possible. but if it is, I'll be the first in line.

**liquidxit2** · 08-31-2010, 10:38 AM

First off I would like to say this phone is everything I have been wanting for a looong time. I was worried that I would be dissapointed after all the hyping up but so far 3 hours in and LOVING it!

* Aesthetics: Great! feels light and durable as well as the rubberized grip is a nice touch (makes me miss my thinkpad a little).
* Screen: BEAUTIFUL! My moments screen almost hurt my eyes after looking at my epic.
* Hardware: FAST but I havent realy put it through its paces yet.
* Phone - including bluetooth & speakerphone usage: Phone works well. Havent tested bluetooth yet, but the phone does its primary job of calling well.
* Overall User Interface & Samsung TouchWiz: I like it. Would I go out of my way for touchwiz? No. Its a nice change of pace after the moment (even though I only had it for a few days). Honestly I might toy around and see what I can change UI wise and see how I feel then.
* Signal quality (Compared to other devices): On par with good devices. Again only 3 hours in, but I can say it has not had signal issues or anything effecting data.
* GPS:
* Social Networking
* Email/Calendar
* Battery Life
* Performance: Great! Fast and smooth. From my limited experience with an evo and this phone as well I can say the 1ghz CPU phones are VERY zippy! Def a huge difference between the epic 2.1 and the moment 2.1 speed.
* Media (music, movies, DLNA)
* Samsung Widgets reviews I like the clock and weather widget havent messed with any settings yet. I also love the task and battery monitor widget that comes with the phone. No more task killer!
* Swype vs. Samsung onscreen vs. physical keyboards.
* Camera (both still & video)
* How the Epic compares to your previous smartphone (if applicable): Whats a pre? whats a moment? Thats about how I feel now. It does everything they did but faster and more elegantly. Sure I miss webos and certain features with it, but android and this hardware make me very happy.
* Disappointments (if any): At this time the only thing I can say is I told it to make me coffee and it just sat there.

More to come later.

**Cory Streater** · 08-31-2010, 11:30 AM

From my perspective....

Pro's:

Gorgeous screen.
Strong signal
Great speaker volume
Account setup was a piece of cake
Zippy!
Decent widgets
Killer keyboard
Nice email, calendar, and contacts app. I like the tabs at the top of the email inbox, for the various folders.
Great accessories available on launch day!

Cons (keep in mind my primary phone is a Droid X):

A little plasticky & thick compared to my Droid X which is all metal with a soft touch coating.
GPS took forever to lock - it had me in the middle of a lake for about 5 minutes. Maybe that's where I belong, but it wasn't where I was at.
Quite a bit of Sprint bloatware
Personally I think the charging port is in an awkward position if you want to use the phone while it charges.
Battery cover is difficult to remove. It feels like it could break. I'm sure it's fine though.

**baltimoreevo** · 08-31-2010, 11:32 AM

Well, I was already an Evo owner. And I had tried out a Vibrant for two weeks just to see how I would like the samsung phones. I don't really need a keyboard and if the vibrant had a front facing camera I would have kept it. It included so much more as far as content. Well after a few minutes with the epic now, I must say I'm glad I returned the vibrant. Its much faster than my Evo and the touch screen seems instantly responsive. The scrren just has to be seen in person to be appreciated.

Some initial impressions:
The keyboard is actually nice to use and very clicky.
There is no spell check (or I haven't seen it) using the keyboard.
I was hoping the landscape homescreens would work with the keyboard closed.
This is something I've noticed with the 4g. If its not actually active it has zzzz's by it like its asleep. As soon as you go to surf the web or use it the bars pop back up. I hope this is to save the battery when not actually using the signal.

**liquidxit2** · 08-31-2010, 11:40 AM

Originally Posted by Cory Streater

From my perspective....

Pro's:

Gorgeous screen.
Strong signal
Great speaker volume
Account setup was a piece of cake
Zippy!
Decent widgets
Killer keyboard
Nice email, calendar, and contacts app. I like the tabs at the top of the email inbox, for the various folders.
Great accessories available on launch day!

Cons (keep in mind my primary phone is a Droid X):

A little plasticky & thick compared to my Droid X which is all metal with a soft touch coating.
GPS took forever to lock - it had me in the middle of a lake for about 5 minutes. Maybe that's where I belong, but it wasn't where I was at.
Quite a bit of Sprint bloatware
Personally I think the charging port is in an awkward position if you want to use the phone while it charges.
Battery cover is difficult to remove. It feels like it could break. I'm sure it's fine though.

The plastic part is surprisingly not too bad. I do however wish it was made out of metal as I dont care about weight. The bloatware is one of the first things Ill be doing when I get thew adb shell up and running

**Addie_Goodvibes** · 08-31-2010, 12:36 PM

Out of the box feels rock solid.
Initially the network was bogged dxue to the new launch.

The 1st thing I notice is the screen.
It is bright and clear
Very responsive.

It shut off and new to samsung phones wasn't sure how to wake it.

The rest of the OS is more intuitive than I expected. I am a Human Factors Engineer by profession. So I will go more in depth on a later post.

One note on the size of the phone and keyboard. One handed use it a challenge.

Once I get everything set I will add more.

Coming from a pre I. Feel no regrets for switching. This phone is solid and has a stock feature
Set that rocks.

Sent from my EPIC. More to come

**aquaboy1976** · 08-31-2010, 01:43 PM

Thanks for the first impressions!

**thatguitarguy** · 08-31-2010, 01:48 PM

I think that's why I like TouchWiz, it's actually quite intuitive. I'm not sure what else is missing from TouchWiz 3 though, so there may be more goodies in store for us when they get it working well on the Epic.

**Cory Streater** · 08-31-2010, 01:57 PM

Merged with the sticky.

**Good_Apollo** · 08-31-2010, 02:23 PM

Picked mine up this morning and actually already had 2 major issues.

First, the SD card that came with the phone was a dud and would not format, so the sprint store gave me a 16gb SanDisk as a replacement. seems to be working fine.

Second, the vibration on the phone did not work at all, nothing. After I hard booted the phone, it started working. Hopefully it doesn't give me any more issues.

So, besides those 2 issues, i'm loving the phone. Taking some getting used to the large size, but the screen is amazing. Battery life has been decent but I have gmail set for every 15min and Exchange for every 15min, and already installed advanced task killer to kill apps every 30min. I'm not a real heavy web user during the day since I'm at my desk most of the time, so time will tell. I'm pretty happy with it so far, but I have 30 days to put it through it's paces!

**drizek** · 08-31-2010, 02:34 PM

Originally Posted by sphinxx

The plastic part is surprisingly not too bad. I do however wish it was made out of metal as I dont care about weight. The bloatware is one of the first things Ill be doing when I get thew adb shell up and running

If you don't want to root it, just use launcherpro and you can hide all the sprint apps you don't want from the launcher. Not as good as deleting them but it does the job without voiding your warranty.

**ectoren** · 08-31-2010, 02:36 PM

Originally Posted by jfenton

Very quick impressions...

Capacative buttons work absolutely FINE.
Going through the menu setting up various things the phone flies.

Agree!

I went to my local Sprint store to check it and nooooo problem at all. I am guessing folks having issues either had a bad phone or too much grease in the fingers from eating nachos.

**Tungsten_5927** · 08-31-2010, 03:32 PM

Can't wait to get rid of my Palm Pre and get the Epic

**Addie_Goodvibes** · 08-31-2010, 03:50 PM

Originally Posted by Cory Streater

From my perspective....

Pro's:

Great accessories available on launch day!

Where are the "great accessories? BB had none

**crinsd** · 08-31-2010, 05:50 PM

I had a Palm Pre, then EVO now switched to Epic 4G. Love it, though I had a problem connecting the USB drive to my Windows 7 laptop. Samsung talked me through some settings. Great support. Here is the number if anyone needs it 888-987-4357. (Sprint didn't have a clue on how to fix the problem.)

**alexnaoumi** · 08-31-2010, 08:29 PM

my brother got his today and im impressed, but i swear if he says "my phone is better than ur gay hero" one more time, that Epic will become Epically DESTROYED!

(funny little story) the guy at the sprint store opened the door for me and my bro and asked "how is ur day?" and my bro was like "good" and i was like "my day is EPIC!" lol

**MrNoDay5Off** · 08-31-2010, 08:48 PM

everything is fine here only issue im having is with getting my facebook contacts to sync up, anyone else having this problem?

**tpony** · 08-31-2010, 09:00 PM

My wife just got this phone today and I am very impressed. the whole UI of the phone is awesome. The only one issue I have is the back button on the screen is very hard to use. I have to press it multiple times and sometimes pretty hard. Has anyone else had this problem? I was thinking it might specific to her phone and that we might need to exchange it.

**drfrank** · 08-31-2010, 09:01 PM

GPS took 60 seconds to lock to six satelites in Google Maps.

The screen is very bright, but the pixel structure is very obvious: Everything looks dithered. All text on the device is noticeably aliased, as a result.

Coming from a G1, the responsiveness is thrilling. Switching between apps is instantaneous.

Email doesn't work with Exchange if your company has timeout and pin lock policies on the Exchange server; you'll still need Touchdown.

Touchwiz is utterly unremarkable, either way.

If I turn on the screen with my right thumb, to reach the menu button I need to either strain uncomfortably with my right thumb, shuffle my right hand down, or use my other hand. My hands are average in size.

Have had no problems finding the sensitive zones for the capacitave buttons.