So we're a few weeks out... what do you guys think?

[chenDawg]

So the phones been out and about for a few weeks now, and I'm just wondering how people are liking their phones so far.

I had a post a while back about choosing between the Evo and Epic...
(My Evo was stolen and now have to pay full price for a replacement.)

I'm actually about to guy the aforementioned replacement next week and was wondering:

Now that you guys have actually had to chance to play with the phone, would you still take it over an Evo?


Few points I'm more curious about:
Is the 'screen-door' effect on the display noticeable?
Is the GPU as awesome as reviewers advertise?
Is the keyboard epic?


Thanks a bunch!

 

[egeorge1]

Is the 'screen-door' effect on the display noticeable?
It is a non-issue, unless you are looking at it extremely close. No complaints here. Some here disagree. Go see it for yourself.

Is the GPU as awesome as reviewers advertise?
I haven't played a lot of games, but I did just download an air hockey game that had numerous complaints about lag. The problem just did not exist when I played it on the Epic. If you need hard proof you can search the net for numbers that show the Epic has a really good GPU.

Is the keyboard epic?
Yes. I love it.


Everyone who sees my phone is impressed. My only complaint is the short battery life, but what can you expect for such a powerful phone this small? Although now that the brand new toy phase is over, it is lasting longer.

 

[heavy1metal]

Well, I believe it's only been out for 10 days so far lol. Maybe there's a few out there who got it before the 31st launch date /shrug.

I debated long and hard over the epic and evo, between nobody having the evo in stock and the epic having a slidy keyboard, badarse screen, and a great camera (opinion based on what I've seen, not hard numbers that requires a degree), not to mention that perfect not too big not too small of a screen, I went with an epic.

I don't understand what you mean by "screen door" effect, if you mean like what you see clearly on normal LCDs (upclose, you can see the tiny cubes/pixels), then absolutely not. I honestly prefer the quality of my phone over my 52" plasma sadly. Colors and smoothness are insane.

It plays Quake 3, and comes pre-installed with a racing game, blows your mind away. Uploaded a blue-ray movie that I down sized to 2gb, makes me hope I can to own a TV one day using super-amoled.

The keyboard for me is taking a little getting used to, but overall comfortable and the Samsung keys on the keyboard are a great bonus. The swype technology is quite awesome, takes a little adjusting to, but you can practically miss a letter as you swipe, and it still knows what you meant.



**I might be biased as I'm coming from an iPhone 3g, and this phone seems like a hayabusa compared to a bicycle.

 

[liquidxit2]

Had mine since ~815am release day and I love it! The only issue is no tv out and the battery life is mediocre at best, but then again thats to be expected on a smartphone of this caliber using a 1500Mah battery.

Is the 'screen-door' effect on the display noticeable?
For me no. I dont notice it unless I use the phone in the weirdest most unusable way and even then its very negligible at best.

Is the GPU as awesome as reviewers advertise?
My GPS locks pretty instantly. I use sprint nav and google maps and they work very well. Havent had to truly rely on them yet but I would be willing to be they pull through like previous phones.

Is the keyboard epic?
Yes. As far as keyboards go it is the best if not tied with another phone. I LOVE the original lg lotus keyboard and each day that goes by Im starting to like this one better then the LG. Time will only tell though.

 

[ywenz]

keyboard is fine.. Phone definitely slides easier with a two-piece case (makes thicker for hand holding). Without it, it feels slippery.

screen-door not noticeable - you'd have to be real anal about displays.. Screen is out of this world when compared side to side with an LCD display like the EVO.

 

[CozBoogie]

Is the 'screen-door' effect on the display noticeable?

I have noticed it all. And as others have pointed out the screen is simply amazing. Everything is crisp, clean, and easy on the eyes (e.g., no eye strain).

Is the GPU as awesome as reviewers advertise?

Again, I've had zero issues...have downloaded and played a few games and everything runs smooth.

Is the keyboard epic?

For me the keyboard has been the hardest aspect of this phone to get used to. While it's rock solid, the way the keys line up I often end up hitting the wrong button. I toss it off though to a learning curve. Swype on the virtual keyboard is great for texting and entering info on the browser. For emails though I do rely on the hard keyboard.

late,
Coz

 

[coolqf]

Is the 'screen-door' effect on the display noticeable?

No. The sample we saw on video must have been a pre-release of a defective phone. I used polarized sunglasses and the screen on this phone is crystal clear. If you owned a Pre and had polarized sunglasses you'd know what I mean. It always looked like the Pre was beat up and bruised when I had the sunglasses on.

Is the GPU as awesome as reviewers advertise?

Few video games on android need good GPUs.... webOS has more graphic intensive video games that are worth playing....

Is the keyboard epic?

It's good. You'll like it. Me, coming from a Pre it still feels a bit big, but it's extremely easy to type on it.

I love the phone and it's a huge upgrade over the Palm Pre
Things that suck about the EPIC 4G:
- GPS sucks. It has to be the worse GPS on a smartphone in the market right now. It doesn't work indoors, but if outdoors and you wait 1min it works like a charm.
- Adding contacts/calendar it defaults to the phone when saving unless you choose a different source. It's very easy to save to another account, but just don't forget to make that change on the new schedule/calendar before saving. This is VERY annoying.
- Android is a little disorganized. If you're coming from a Palm Pre/Pixi or iPhone you'd understand. You get use to it. The plethora of apps, customizability, and fantastic multitasking make up for for it.

All in all. I'm sticking with Android OS for some time. If you give me WebOS on a phone like the EPIC 4G and the android market, then i'd switch, but this phone rocks!

 

[KoukiFC3S]

Had the EVO, and now the gf has one too; and I can say that I totally love my Epic!

 

[symplistik]

I came from the Evo and I love my Epic to death! I just wish they would fix this "cell signal" problem. It's a huge battery drainer.

 

[ConceptVBS]

Is the GPU as awesome as reviewers advertise?
My GPS locks pretty instantly. I use sprint nav and google maps and they work very well. Havent had to truly rely on them yet but I would be willing to be they pull through like previous phones.

He was asking about GPU, not GPS.

 

[Atomic Playboy]

Android semi-convert crossover from webOS and Palm Pre. Got mine two days after release on my company's dollar (for work use, but hey, I'm paying $10/mo for it, I'm gonna use it for other stuff too).

Is the 'screen-door' effect on the display noticeable?

Not at all. Pixellation on the Epic at average viewing distance is negligible at worst, smooth and clean at best. Images are sharp and crisp without being jagged or having noticeable artifacts.

Is the GPU as awesome as reviewers advertise?

Yes. I don't really play games much, but Asphalt ran beautifully (all 5 minutes of it), and video playback is smooth as silk even with high-quality conversions. The EVO YouTube "upgrade" even makes YouTube videos look good.

Is the keyboard epic?

Having been used to the Pre's keyboard, I can say it's a bit of a challenge using the physical keyboard because my thumbs are tuned to close, tiny buttons. I find myself using the on-screen keyboard (with Swype, awesome) more often than the physical keyboard, unless I'm typing up a long email response or Facebook post, etc. They keyboard feels nice to the touch and is really easy to adjust to. The fact that it's HUGE helps, in my opinion.

My pros:

• Display - unlike anything I've seen before, even after handling an EVO for a few minutes.
• Interface - being a webOS convert, I actually LIKE the stripped-down Samsung launcher because of its resemblance to the webOS (1.x) launcher. The webOS 2.x launcher looks even more similar to the Epic's.
• Music - sound quality is amazing, between my $15 Walgreen's headphones and my $100 studio monitors. I haven't tried the Bluetooth headphones yet.
• 4G - I'm lucky to live in one of Sprint's/Clearwire's WiMAX markets (Chicago); having used 4G for about a year now, having it on my phone is a huge convenience boost, especially with applications like Pandora and YouTube. Waiting (patiently) for MediaHub to open so I can take advantage of that.
• Slide cover - trivial I know, but frankly, this is a very understated and overlooked design element which does wonders for the life of the microUSB port. I'm SO happy to not have to fumble with picking open a little hinged door (on the Pre) or worrying about dust or damage from it being exposed.

My cons:

• Battery - yeah, that. Just over a day if I don't touch it at all; ~5 hours with even light usage, simply because the Super AMOLED screen consumes so much power.
• GPS - yeah, that too. While I have no reason to use it indoors, it would be nice if I could get a more accurate fix when I'm near a window or even out on the street; the drawback to living in the Big City is the signal-scattering skyscrapers that loom overhead. Out in the open or on the lake, it works fine.
• Touchscreen - minor, probably trivial, but every once in a while the capacitive touchscreen just stops responding to touch. It eventually corrects itself, but it's a little frustrating to be trying to unlock my phone and wondering why the pattern-coder isn't recognizing my finger.

Overall, I think the Epic lives up to its hype. It is the most "epic" phone I've ever owned. The Pre still has a place in my heart though, simply because of the potential of webOS. The fact that the interfaces are similar, while probably coincidence, is a big plus for me.

 

[punzada]

I'm loving it so far.

The "screen door" effect - I notice it but if you're viewing the phone from any reasonable distance the fluidity of the motions and overall readability of the text make it a total non-issue. (Let's not even mention video playback quality).

Haven't played much with the GPU but the overall fluid motions of the browser and home screens, menus, all flows very well.

As far as the keyboard - well I'm typing this entire post on it so it can't be that bad. It's a little big coming from a Pre when I was used to one handed blind typing but for that I am getting much better with swype. Overall especially for long bits of typing it is very solid, the menu/back/home/search keys are a great touch. (I will never in my life need an emoticon key, sort of wish it was @ instead but that's very minor)

Things I've absolutely come to love about the phone and platform:

The speed. Everything pops. If I want to swap batteries it reboots under a minute (6+ mins on my Pre was murder).

Applications for basically everything, happily purchased around $40 worth of software already and been happy with everything.

The vibration is strong enough to have any girlfriend I get leave me for my phone, which I'm not sure is positive or not.

Swype is not only intuitive, responsive and works well, but its actually kind of fun.

Panaramic mode on the camera has gotten me some very unique shots.

Things that need improvement:

I appear to be one of many with GPS issues, as someone who uses his GPS every day for work it is quite a bother but I'm praying a fix in froyo will come.

I'm disappointed in lack of tv-out over 3.5mm it was one of the reasons I was interested in the galaxy s line from the get go.

Battery life could always be better but I have the extra charger thingy and a 1 minute reboot doesn't bother me.


Overall - I still love this thing.

 

[MissG#AC]

I have no idea what GPU means BUT I don't have any problems w/ GPS. My office area is in the middle of a building w/ no windows ANYWHERE (it sucks) and I just got a lock in less than 10 secs. My capacitive buttons, however aren't very responsive. Battery life isn't that great, but I've noticed it getting better. I like the keyboard too. I LOVE the apps, love the customization. I just discovered Vlingo which is way better than google voice actions. I've been playing w/ it all day. It's weird having one device for everything. I'm a gadget person. I have a Kindle, Ipod Touch, and haven't touched either since I got the phone launch day. I'm pretty much addicted.

 

[caliskimmer]

Android semi-convert crossover from webOS and Palm Pre. Got mine two days after release on my company's dollar (for work use, but hey, I'm paying $10/mo for it, I'm gonna use it for other stuff too).

Not at all. Pixellation on the Epic at average viewing distance is negligible at worst, smooth and clean at best. Images are sharp and crisp without being jagged or having noticeable artifacts.

Yes. I don't really play games much, but Asphalt ran beautifully (all 5 minutes of it), and video playback is smooth as silk even with high-quality conversions. The EVO YouTube "upgrade" even makes YouTube videos look good.

Having been used to the Pre's keyboard, I can say it's a bit of a challenge using the physical keyboard because my thumbs are tuned to close, tiny buttons. I find myself using the on-screen keyboard (with Swype, awesome) more often than the physical keyboard, unless I'm typing up a long email response or Facebook post, etc. They keyboard feels nice to the touch and is really easy to adjust to. The fact that it's HUGE helps, in my opinion.

My pros:

• Display - unlike anything I've seen before, even after handling an EVO for a few minutes.
• Interface - being a webOS convert, I actually LIKE the stripped-down Samsung launcher because of its resemblance to the webOS (1.x) launcher. The webOS 2.x launcher looks even more similar to the Epic's.
• Music - sound quality is amazing, between my $15 Walgreen's headphones and my $100 studio monitors. I haven't tried the Bluetooth headphones yet.
• 4G - I'm lucky to live in one of Sprint's/Clearwire's WiMAX markets (Chicago); having used 4G for about a year now, having it on my phone is a huge convenience boost, especially with applications like Pandora and YouTube. Waiting (patiently) for MediaHub to open so I can take advantage of that.
• Slide cover - trivial I know, but frankly, this is a very understated and overlooked design element which does wonders for the life of the microUSB port. I'm SO happy to not have to fumble with picking open a little hinged door (on the Pre) or worrying about dust or damage from it being exposed.

My cons:

• Battery - yeah, that. Just over a day if I don't touch it at all; ~5 hours with even light usage, simply because the Super AMOLED screen consumes so much power.
• GPS - yeah, that too. While I have no reason to use it indoors, it would be nice if I could get a more accurate fix when I'm near a window or even out on the street; the drawback to living in the Big City is the signal-scattering skyscrapers that loom overhead. Out in the open or on the lake, it works fine.
• Touchscreen - minor, probably trivial, but every once in a while the capacitive touchscreen just stops responding to touch. It eventually corrects itself, but it's a little frustrating to be trying to unlock my phone and wondering why the pattern-coder isn't recognizing my finger.

Overall, I think the Epic lives up to its hype. It is the most "epic" phone I've ever owned. The Pre still has a place in my heart though, simply because of the potential of webOS. The fact that the interfaces are similar, while probably coincidence, is a big plus for me.

I had 8 hours with absolutely destructive usage. Yes, this means Snesoid for an hour, music for 5 hours, texting, email, AndroidCentral at a heavy rate.

Sent from my awesome Samsung Epic 4g

 

[caliskimmer]

I'm loving it so far.

The "screen door" effect - I notice it but if you're viewing the phone from any reasonable distance the fluidity of the motions and overall readability of the text make it a total non-issue. (Let's not even mention video playback quality).

Haven't played much with the GPU but the overall fluid motions of the browser and home screens, menus, all flows very well.

As far as the keyboard - well I'm typing this entire post on it so it can't be that bad. It's a little big coming from a Pre when I was used to one handed blind typing but for that I am getting much better with swype. Overall especially for long bits of typing it is very solid, the menu/back/home/search keys are a great touch. (I will never in my life need an emoticon key, sort of wish it was @ instead but that's very minor)

Things I've absolutely come to love about the phone and platform:

The speed. Everything pops. If I want to swap batteries it reboots under a minute (6+ mins on my Pre was murder).

Applications for basically everything, happily purchased around $40 worth of software already and been happy with everything.

The vibration is strong enough to have any girlfriend I get leave me for my phone, which I'm not sure is positive or not.

Swype is not only intuitive, responsive and works well, but its actually kind of fun.

Panaramic mode on the camera has gotten me some very unique shots.

Things that need improvement:

I appear to be one of many with GPS issues, as someone who uses his GPS every day for work it is quite a bother but I'm praying a fix in froyo will come.

I'm disappointed in lack of tv-out over 3.5mm it was one of the reasons I was interested in the galaxy s line from the get go.

Battery life could always be better but I have the extra charger thingy and a 1 minute reboot doesn't bother me.


Overall - I still love this thing.

Tv output's there, just not activated yet.

Sent from my awesome Samsung Epic 4g

 

[punzada]

Tv output's there, just not activated yet.

Sent from my awesome Samsung Epic 4g

Has this been confirmed? Last I remember reading was slightly different hardware spec on that area of the phone which may of pointed towards it being different hardware. The idea of that being a possibility of being unlocked in froyo or a custom rom is nice

 

[allhailcale]

I'm absolutely in love with this thing. I have a laptop cleverly disguised as a desktop sitting on my coffee table and for the past two weeks I've found myself just sitting in the armchair in the corner doing everything on my Epic and getting slightly pissed when I actually have to move to do something on the actual computer.

Coming from a Blackberry Tour (and a Pearl before than, and a 7130 before that), there are some things I miss. Mostly, the alarm clock. On my BB I was able to set the alarm, turn the phone off, and go to bed. I don't like having to keep my phone on all night just so my alarm will go off in the morning. Maybe I'll just stick my BB in the cradle by my bed and use it as an alarm from now on, lol.

The battery life was my biggest complaint, but (like many others), I'm seeing improved battery performance now that I'm out of the I-must-play-with-my-new-toy-all-the-time phase. And thanks to the zippy boot process and the extra battery I just got, I just doubled my battery life. That five+ minute boot screen on BB was just awful.

I had a serious IM problem until I discovered that the AIM app in the Android Market allows you to log into facebook chat, which is where 95% of my conversations took place anyways. I do wish that it would send push notifications for facebook similar to what my iTouch does.

The native email client was a big problem until I started using K-9. Still not as fast as BIS email, but at least I can send work emails when I'm not directly connected to my school's wifi. I'd still like to see a little snappier performance when sending emails, however.

The keyboard is fantastic, if a little far for my thumbs to be traveling (coming from the outstanding BB keyboard), but I find myself using swype about 90% of the time. I use it almost exclusively for texting/IMing, and only find myself using the slide out keyboard when composing longer emails.

And speaking of the keyboard, for some reason, when I slide the keyboard out, the whole device feels less like a phone and more like a tablet. The usable screen is bigger, the surface area is larger, and it just has that kind of feel to it. Not sure if anyone else has noticed that, but I think it's pretty sweet.

I LOVE the notifications bar. That thing is amazing. Not having to open up Gmail, K-9, AIM, google reader, etc. for each individual notification is fantastic. Switching between programs was a bit of a hassle at first until I discovered the long-press-home-button function, akin to holding the BB menu key.

Sound out is fantastic as well. Being a musician, I practice several hours a day, and most of those with a metronome. The best metronome app in the apple app store cost me 10 bucks and I have to plug it into my computer speakers if I want to hear it across my office while I'm practicing. The metronome app in the Android Market performs spectacularly, is plenty audible, and is FREE! Oh, and the free tuner app works just fine as well. Big plus.

Shooting video is incredibly easy and (even better) incredibly simple to get on your computer or uploaded into facebook or whatever video hosting website you choose. Great teaching tool for me as I can video my group, post it to our facebook fan page, and everyone can see what's going on before the next rehearsal.

OK, enough love stories for now. Back to work for this happy Epic owner!!!

 

[mcp6530]

I'm enjoying my Epic so far - but one thing annoys the crap out of me!

The LED notification light is lame! Sometimes it blinks when I miss a text, sometimes it doesn't. And, if it's plugged in, it's lit in red indicating it's charging but no blinking if I miss a text!

I like to look over at my phone to see if I've missed a text, but I can't with this phone. Tried using handcent which is a great free app for messaging, but that doesn't help either. Frustrated!!!

Everything else works nicely...gps is lame, good thing I have it in my car and of course battery is poor, so I bought a second battery.

Do you guys get your led to blink when you miss a text!??!?!

 

[liquidxit2]

He was asking about GPU, not GPS.

Lol reading fail on my part. Well then I cannot comment on the gpu other then movie watching (low end useage) as I dont game, nor do I have time to game on my epic. I have seen my brother play an airplane game that seemed very fluid and showed that the rotation of the unit was VERY accurate.