Upgrade from Epic 4G to what??

[kgilbertsen]

I'm now eligible for the upgrade at Sprint and wonder what people might suggest about upgrading from a rooted Epic 4G to something else. I don't care about a physical keyboard (I thought I needed to keep one when buying the Epic 4G). My phone seems pretty solid after rooting, so I don't have any major gripes with the phone. That said, battery life is not so great (I'm using Juice Defender to help on that score, with some success)
I've read here that the Nexus S is a good phone, and that Nexus is first in line for updates, etc. How does the Epic 4G Touch stack up? Basically, a good performing phone with better battery life, and a solid GPS.
Thanks

 

[Paul627g]

Touch choice...

If your looking for a bit longer support, I would say the Epic Touch since its newer and it does perform very well...

I prefer the NS4G but thats just me, but if I had to pick again going from the Epic 4g right now I would really have a hard time deciding to go NS4G or the Epic Touch 4g....

 

[kgilbertsen]

Touch choice...

If your looking for a bit longer support, I would say the Epic Touch since its newer and it does perform very well...

I prefer the NS4G but thats just me, but if I had to pick again going from the Epic 4g right now I would really have a hard time deciding to go NS4G or the Epic Touch 4g....

Thanks Paul. Do either of these need to get rooted to work right, or will they both perform well stock? (I rooted the Epic 4G, but almost bricked it in the process. It works fine now, but I'd have to re-learn rooting...)

 

[Paul627g]

Both are well capable of working fine minus root. The NS4G is more friendly I would say for rooting but I have heard the process used for the Epic Touch is also very simple too.....

 

[Zeinzu]

With quad core phones just starting to emerge I would hold onto your upgrade till they get released. The Epic isn't a bad device and with cm9 I'm sure you could hold out another 2-3 months.

Sent from my SPH-D700 using Tapatalk

 

[jamie]

I would hold out a few months. Sprint is getting ready to have a bunch of new phones.

 

[kgilbertsen]

With quad core phones just starting to emerge I would hold onto your upgrade till they get released. The Epic isn't a bad device and with cm9 I'm sure you could hold out another 2-3 months.

Thanks, I hadn't considered looking at what phones might be in the pipeline. I'm rooted with ACS ICS v5 now, with the GPS Fix. What's cm9 and do you know how it differs from my current setup?

 

[kgilbertsen]

I would hold out a few months. Sprint is getting ready to have a bunch of new phones.

Thanks Jamie, I may wind up doing just that. Any ideas on what phones are on the way?

 

[cheburashka]

Or you may want to consider cleanGB rom... I'm on it and love it. It is very stable, has pretty good battery life, and if you don't like it you can flash cm9.

Here's the thing though, both are MTD, meaning more space for apps and such... but, if you want to go back to stock EL30 or any other BML rom you must ODIN and use the included PIT file to repartition back to original. When I flashed an MTD rom first time I *think* I had to do it twice because the first time CM recovery just repartitioned the phone.

After repartitioning you can flash either CM9(a5 is latest I think) or cleanGB(1.1.2 - which is what I prefer). I also installed TW4.5 launcher using manager, and I love it!

 

[kgilbertsen]

Or you may want to consider cleanGB rom... I'm on it and love it. It is very stable, has pretty good battery life, and if you don't like it you can flash cm9.

Here's the thing though, both are MTD, meaning more space for apps and such... but, if you want to go back to stock EL30 or any other BML rom you must ODIN and use the included PIT file to repartition back to original. When I flashed an MTD rom first time I *think* I had to do it twice because the first time CM recovery just repartitioned the phone.

After repartitioning you can flash either CM9(a5 is latest I think) or cleanGB(1.1.2 - which is what I prefer). I also installed TW4.5 launcher using manager, and I love it!

I've read a bit about going the MTD route, but since I nearly toasted my Epic 4G with a relatively easy root, I don't think that more involved change is in my future.

If I decide to get a new phone now - either the Nexus S or the Epic Touch - how difficult would it be to get all of my apps, images, etc. onto the new phone from the old Epic 4G? Would Titanium be of any use if the new phone is not rooted?

 

[Paul627g]

I've read a bit about going the MTD route, but since I nearly toasted my Epic 4G with a relatively easy root, I don't think that more involved change is in my future.

If I decide to get a new phone now - either the Nexus S or the Epic Touch - how difficult would it be to get all of my apps, images, etc. onto the new phone from the old Epic 4G? Would Titanium be of any use if the new phone is not rooted?

Images, etc.. on your sdacard is an easy transfer... Move them to your computer and then to the new device....

As far as apps... You can restore those from the Market online.... Use the Market from your home computer and it will show you all the apps you had installed on your previous device... Select those you want and have them redownloaded to the new device...

Titanium will be of no use without root.

 

[kgilbertsen]

Images, etc.. on your sdacard is an easy transfer... Move them to your computer and then to the new device....

As far as apps... You can restore those from the Market online.... Use the Market from your home computer and it will show you all the apps you had installed on your previous device... Select those you want and have them redownloaded to the new device...

Titanium will be of no use without root.

Thanks Paul, sounds pretty straightforward.

I've been doing a bit of searching for upcoming phones, and it sounds like there will likely be some incredible improvements vs current phones. I wish I hadn't started looking - now I'll be checking in here way too often...

 

[Paul627g]

Thanks Paul, sounds pretty straightforward.

I've been doing a bit of searching for upcoming phones, and it sounds like there will likely be some incredible improvements vs current phones. I wish I hadn't started looking - now I'll be checking in here way too often...

That's good news for us.. Keep checking AC's main blog page... Always good stuff on there about upcoming devices/rumors. etc....

 

[kgilbertsen]

That's good news for us.. Keep checking AC's main blog page... Always good stuff on there about upcoming devices/rumors. etc....

Thanks? No, I mean thanks! I'll check it out.

 

[Zeinzu]

Cm9 is Android 4.0.3 with tweaks. And it's up and running on the Epic.

Sent from my SPH-D700 using Tapatalk

 

[kgilbertsen]

Cm9 is Android 4.0.3 with tweaks. And it's up and running on the Epic.

I haven't been paying attention for the last couple of months - are there big improvements over GB?

 

[ratsttam]

I haven't been paying attention for the last couple of months - are there big improvements over GB?

I've been running it since Alpha2, they are on Alpha5 of it now. It's as close to what the Galaxy Nexus runs native as you can get

With all its little quirks on the Epic, I will not go back to the factory OS for anything now. It runs so fast, so smooth, and gets better as the CM9 teams (both upstream for all devices, and the CM9 Epic specific) fix bugs and tweak things. A little lacking in battery life, but it's not out of line from the FroYo builds.

Sprint is getting a LOT of new devices in the next few months, the Galaxy Nexus being one of them. They are ramping up LTE deployment in quite a few cities, so that's a reason to NOT get a non-lte based phone at this point.

 

[kgilbertsen]

I've been running it since Alpha2, they are on Alpha5 of it now. It's as close to what the Galaxy Nexus runs native as you can get

With all its little quirks on the Epic, I will not go back to the factory OS for anything now. It runs so fast, so smooth, and gets better as the CM9 teams (both upstream for all devices, and the CM9 Epic specific) fix bugs and tweak things. A little lacking in battery life, but it's not out of line from the FroYo builds.

Sprint is getting a LOT of new devices in the next few months, the Galaxy Nexus being one of them. They are ramping up LTE deployment in quite a few cities, so that's a reason to NOT get a non-lte based phone at this point.

That makes a lot of sense. I think I'll be waiting a bit to see what happens in the next few months. As far as CM9, I don't know much about it. I have ACS ICS v5 now, and it seems stable. I will read what I can about CM9, and it if doesn't sound too difficult, I may try it out. My skills are limited...
Thanks.

 

[ratsttam]

That makes a lot of sense. I think I'll be waiting a bit to see what happens in the next few months. As far as CM9, I don't know much about it. I have ACS ICS v5 now, and it seems stable. I will read what I can about CM9, and it if doesn't sound too difficult, I may try it out. My skills are limited...
Thanks.

Here's a bit more reading on the CM9 (If you were able to install ACS, you're more than 1/2 way there. This is the REAL ICS, You can also find information on CM7 (Gingerbread).

Cyanogenmod Epic 4G: CM9 Status

About the LTE Rollout
Community Blog List - Sprint 4G Rollout Updates

And a bit of reading about the list (about 10 !!) of new Sprint phones. This is for JUST Google Wallet(!) phones. And we know the G-Nexus is coming (Sprint has a giveaway going on. You'll have to find that one yourself )
Sprint reportedly prepping at least 10 Google Wallet-enabled phones for 2012 | The Verge

 

[kgilbertsen]

Thanks! This'll keep me busy reading for a while.