Here are some of the key Epic 4G features. Other phones have some of these features but few have them all. If you are coming from webOS, here are dozens more features you may like.
It's Big
The 4.52" Sprint Epic 4G Touch and T-Mobile SGS2 currently have the biggest displays in the US. The 5.3" Samsung Note will be bigger in 2012. A big screen is great for web browsing, document editing, movies, photos, games, etc.
It's Small
The Epic 4G Touch's narrow bezel and thin design make the overall size just 5.2 in?. That's smaller over-all than many 4.3" phones like the Photon (6.5 in?), Droid Charge (6.3 in?), EVO 3D (6.0 in?), and Droid Bionic (6.8 in?). See the Phone Comparison.
It's Not Bloated
Some may love the preinstalled apps. Others may want to delete them. Carriers often prevent you from removing pre-installed "bloatware" without breaking your warranty. Sprint is allowing users to uninstall bloatware. This Phone Dog video shows deleting the Sprint NASCAR app at 5:28. Tap Home > Menu > Settings> Applications > Manage Applications to delete apps.
It's Bright
In the SAMOLED Plus display, six LED's light each pixel producing vivid colors. Black is truly black because the LED's are off. Typical LCD displays filter out light but the LCD backlight is always on. So blacks may appear dark gray with reduced contrast. To set the Saturation, tap Home > Menu > Settings > Display > Display mode.
It's a Heavyweight
After benchmarking original dual core 1.2GHz Exynos in the original SGS2, Boy Genius Report proclaimed that it "made other phones cry in shame." Also unlike other flagship phones, the SGS2 series has a full 1024MB of RAM.
It's Light
The Samsung SAMOLED Plus display needs no backlight making it not just thinner but lighter. The AT&T Galaxy S II at 4.3 oz weighs less than any of the other 4.3" phones and even less than the 4" Atrix or Nexus S.
It Goes All Day
It Won't Forget
It Won't Lock You In
Here is How to Customize the Epic 4G Touch Lock Screen. You can easily customize the Lock screen wallpaper and clock placement.
All Android phones can cut and paste. But have you ever wished you could paste the thing you copied a minute ago? The Epic 4G Touch lets you choose any of your last several items you have copied, not just the last one. Here's how. (Samsung Website)
Google "...purposely removed the [Facebook Sync] feature from the Nexus S and all future 'googlephones'..." taking away contacts, photos, status, birthdays, notifications, etc. Fortunately Samsung has added these features back in and much more. Also see the Samsung Social Hub. (Samsung Website)
It Syncs Wirelessly
The Samsung Kies Air feature lets you wirelessly sync contacts, music, photos, video, and more. Kies uses your Wi-Fi network to let you use your computer browser to manage you information and multimedia contents on a larger screen. (Samsung Website)
It's All Business
The Epic 4G Touch includes a comprehensive mobile implementation of Exchange ActiveSync. It securely syncs with Microsoft Exchange email, calendar, contacts and tasks. Plus the Epic 4G Touch features Device Encryption, Mobile Device Management, WebEx, and VPN.
It's Makes You Feel at Home
The TouchWiz 4 interface shows your home screen as you customize it. To add an app, swipe left or right until you are on the home screen you want (you have 7). Long-press an empty spot and tap Shortcuts > Applications to pick the app. You can also place a widget (a live icon), Direct dial, Direct message, or Setting shortcut. To remove an item, long-press it and drag it down to the Trash icon. To try a different Wallpaper, tap Home > Menu > Wallpaper. Here's a great video walk-though.
← See that mouse pointer? Most phones connect to a Bluetooth headset or your car. The Galaxy S II takes this a step further and lets you to connect a Bluetooth wireless mouse or keyboard. This along with HDMI mirroring allows easy control while on an monitor or HDTV. See this video showing USB Host, Bluetooth, and HDMI out from xda-developers.
You already use folders on your computer to keep your files organized. Your Epic 4G Touch has folders that are just as easy to use. You have so much app storage space (nearly 2GB) that you could download hundreds of Favorite Applications. App Folders let you quickly organize and find your apps.
It Works
Look at how few issues are reported in the Epic 4G Touch forums. Just as importantly, the Epic 4G Touch has the key tools that are sometimes missing in "pure" Goggle phones. The Epic 4G Touch works right out of the box.
• microSD - Add up to 32GB for under $50 in addition to the internal 16GB.
• Notification LED - There are still phones missing this key feature, not the Epic 4G Touch.
• Speed Dial lets you long-press a number 1-9 to call a person. • Smart Dial lets you type 2 for B, 7 for R for names beginning "Br".
• Contact Groups - Tap Home > Contacts and swipe the top blue ribbon to Groups. See, email, text certain groups you set.
It's Really Hands Free
Many "hands free" phones require you to use your hands to push buttons. The Samsung Voice Talk Feature let's you call, text, play music, or open an app without touching your phone. Look at the third Samsung Galaxy S II commercial here and a how-to video. The Epic 4G Touch really is "hands free." To enable: Tap Home >Menu > Settings > Motion settings > Double tap. (Samsung Website)
It's High Def
The Epic 4G Touch has a full 2MP front camera and a full 1080p 8MP rear camera. The Epic 4G Touch can also play HD movies or recordings through the HDMI adapter or DLNA (AllShare). The SGS2 can play most MP4, H.264, H.263, DIVX, XVID, WMV, VC-1, and streaming video. (Samsung Website)
It's Camera Rocks
The Samsung Galaxy S II series camera features: 4X zoom, Tap to Focus, Panorama, Anti-Shake, and so much more.
The Epic 4G Touch adds USB Host that allows you to plug in a USB memory stick, mouse, or keyboard into a micro USB Host adapter as shown in these videos at xda-developers. (Samsung Website)
It's Up To Date
Some phones are released with old Android versions. The Epic 4G Touch bucks this trend with with Android Gingerbread and the TouchWiz 4 user interface pre-installed.
It's Economical
Flagship phones can cost $250 or $300. The Epic 4G Touch is $200. But the real economy comes with Sprint service plans and the 10%+ EVP discount. (T-Mobile also offers inexpensive plans.) Over a 24-month contract, you can spend $2000 or more. The $200 Epic 4G Touch can end up costing less than a "free" phone.
It's the Gesture that Counts
TouchWiz 4 adds a number of nice gestures and Motion Interaction (video). To enable: Tap Home >Menu > Settings > Motion settings.
• Contacts: Swipe right on a contact to call the contact or swipe left to text the contact.
• Mute: Turn the phone face down to mute an incoming call or sound.
• Homescreen: Tilt the phone left or right to move pages. Pinch in to see all pages. Swipe left or right on the dots to quickly move pages.
• Brightness: Long-press the notification bar and swipe left or right to manually change brightness if not set to Auto. (Setup)
• Scroll: Many apps let you use three finger scrolling to scroll faster or use two fingers to stop instantly without any momentum.
Many widgets can be resized: long-press the widget and the resize tool appears. You don't have to wait for Ice Cream Sandwich! (Samsung website)
It Takes Screenshots!
Even the Palm Pre from 2009 could take a screenshot but this simple feature is still missing in Android. Fortunately Samsung added screenshots to the Epic 4G Touch. To take a screenshot, hold the Home button down and tap the Power button. (Samsung Website)
The Epic 4G Touch gives you control without rooting. In settings: Home > Menu > Settings...
• Choose your font: Display > Screen Display > Fonts (video).
• Touch key light duration: Display > Screen Display > Touch key backlight time out.
• Display saturation: Display > Screen mode > Dynamic/Normal/Movie
• Change the user agent (to pretend you are another type of phone), in the Browser type "about:useragent".
• Increase In Call volume and add application pages and folders without root.
• App Drawer Folders: Tap App Drawer > Menu > Edit > Folder
• Change dock icons (Phone/Contact/Messaging): Tap App Drawer > Menu > Edit > drag an icon up
It's Browser Zooms
The Epic 4G Touch adds some great features in the browser too.
• Reflow: Tap Menu > Setting > Auto-fit pages to have text "re-flow" when you zoom. Double tap to zoom in or out. • New gesture for zooming: Press two fingers on the display and tilt forward or back to zoom in/out. (Video)
• To minimize the browser window, pinch in. Swipe to move between windows (like cards).
• Browser brightness: Browser brightness has it's own brightness setting. Tap Menu > Brightness.
• Browser full zoom out: Tap three fingers at once. • Full zoom in: Double tap with one finger.
It's Like An Ice Cream Sandwich
The next version of Andorid should have a grea toption for Messaging and Email to see split the screen in landscape mode. But you can have it today! You can see the item list and the content at the same time. To set it up, Tap Home > Menu > Settings > Auto-rotate ON. Then in Messages, Tap Menu > Settings Split view ON. In Email (not Gmail), Tap Menu > Settings > Split view mode.
It's Got Sense
Here are a couple of the standard features from HTC Sense that you can add to the Epic 4G Touch.
• Tiny Flashlight + LED puts a button on your screen to turn your LED into a powerful flashlight.
• Stay Awake Widget keeps the display on when charging but lets it still dim. No unlock needed while on charger!
• Screebl (free, $2 upgraded) Senses when you are using your phone and keeps the display on! Spooky! Website
• Fancy Widgets (free trial) cover many of the widgets ($3 unlocked) • Beautiful Widgets ($3) are also amazing.
• Battery Charged Silencer - To silence Samsung phones that beep in the night when they are fully charged.
• SwiftKey has an option for the navigation arrows and much more.
• Micro Clock Widget 1x1 is even better than the one in HTC Sense.
It's Cheap to Accessorize
Here are some sources for inexpensive accessories.
• Monoprice: MHL $14 | micro USB 6'-15' $1-5 | USB Wall Charger $2 | USB Car Charger $1 | 3.5mm cable $1 | HDMI 6' $3, 15' $6
• Amazon: micro USB 6'-10' $3-10 | USB Wall Charger $3 | USB Car Charger $3 | 3.5mm cable $3 | HDMI 6' $3, 15' $10
The Epic 4G Touch has a list of other features and more hidden features. Plus there are over 500 other features shown in the Getting Started. But in the end, phones are like shoes. It's not specs but how it feels to you that matters. Try them out and see what you like.
See Also
• Epic 4G Touch Getting Started: Tips, Tricks, FAQ's & Tutorials - Great resources for getting the most out of your Epic 4G Touch
• 25 Reasons to Consider the Epic 4G Touch
• Connect a Bluetooth Mouse/Keyboard
• 30+ Hours Battery Life
• The Expanded Clipboard is Epic!
• Customize the Lock Screen
• The Magic of App Folders
• Increase Your Data Speeds
• Change "Pure" Android Without Rooting
• Official Samsung page
• Samsung Tips & Tricks: Epic 4G Touch
• How to Upgrade Your Sprint Phone Every Year
• Are you getting your 10-28% Sprint EVP Discount?
• Airave: Get Great Reception in Your Home
• User's Guide
• System dump, ringtones, wallpapers
• Test Mode: Go to the Phone app. Dial *#0*# to test cameras, pixels, etc. Service codes. Easter Egg.
• Getting Started - Shows 500 other features, tips, and tricks.
• Phone Comparison
• 10 Reasons Why iPhone 5 will be Beaten by Samsung Galaxy S2
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