Aug 11th "Official" Release Date?

[mztiklimit]

Yeah, but you can count on Verizon to advertise the hell out of it. They have already established the 'Droid Does' campaign. It just a matter of time before they start it, if they haven't done so already.

Sprint, on the other hand...

 

[cr3amy]

I honestly don't think it matters. Look at the Droid 2. It's pretty much definite that it's coming out on the 12th and there hasn't been ANY mention of it other than online in rumor form.

Doesn't matter. The Droid 1 is still the (best or one of the best) selling phones on Verizon.

 

[Andrew Ruffolo]

vzw needs a new phone bad, which is why the droid 2 makes sense for them right now. The DInc and the DroidX are both on backorder. Sprint needs a new phone bad, too with the Evo being on backorder as well. All I care about in the Epic, is a better slider mechanism than the Pre. Thats what has me worried about going to a keyboard again. Ideally, the Pixi's form factor is great, but I'm through with Palm. I don't really care about the screen size (I'm young, and my eyes are good... for now). I strain my eyes at work, so I don't think they'll last (computer screens and verifying tiny pills in a bottle through a bag and an amber colored vial all day), so I'll gladly take a nice vibrant 4" screen. What I care about most is the performance. I have my poor Hero on 2.2 + JIT + Overclock just to get it to feel bareable.

 

[Andrew Ruffolo]

Doesn't matter. The Droid 1 is still the (best or one of the best) selling phones on Verizon.

Actually, No 1 is still the Blackberry Curve. But yes, its high on the list, and the DroidX, despite selling out, isn't even in the top 10. DInc is in the top 10, but low on the list due to shortages.

 

[bliger241]

looks like its not the 11... from @samsungtweets
@RCNorm still coming in "weeks." When it becomes "days," we will let you know RC! Sorry it's taking a bit. #Epic4Gissoontobeyourbestfriend

 

[sel1965]

I know I have said this before but my gut says it won't be out till September. If it's sooner that great, but I highly doubt it.

 

[caliskimmer]

I come back only to find that instead of a launch on the 11th or the 20th, it could be in September. I really do hope there's a soft launch in 4 days and an official launch on the 20th.

 

[drained_blue]

It could come out on December 31st at this point & I wouldn't care...it would, however, be quite lovely to know some news.

 

[liquidxit2]

Sprint has no high end phones that are available. The evo, while being great and very high end, is not available and therefore sprint has nothing past mid level phones that have been around since 2009. They need this bad and it doesnt seem like they care. Oh well.

 

[Andrew Ruffolo]

Sprint has no high end phones that are available. The evo, while being great and very high end, is not available and therefore sprint has nothing past mid level phones that have been around since 2009. They need this bad and it doesnt seem like they care. Oh well.

Neither does VZW right now. ATT's captivate is crippled beyond belief which leaves its competition to be the unreleased Droid2, the iPhone and the Vibrant... Seems like a great time to drop a game changer, doesn't it? Unfortunately, I'm starting to think Aug 20th isn't likely either.

 

[hotis300boy]

I called my best buy they said no pre orders and it comes out on the 20th. I dont remember sprint ever releasing any other high end phone without doing a pre release event for the date of release and price, why the HELL would they start with this phone? and moreover that makes me think does that mean this is just an OK phone regardless of awesome specs?

 

[Aero]

I called my best buy they said no pre orders and it comes out on the 20th. I dont remember sprint ever releasing any other high end phone without doing a pre release event for the date of release and price, why the HELL would they start with this phone? and moreover that makes me think does that mean this is just an OK phone regardless of awesome specs?

they haven't had an event for 90% of their high ended phones and it is strictly exlucisves.,which their version of the Galaxy isn't entirely.

There are also a couple of compelling possible reasons for a dealt specific to the epic at this time.

1) Waiting to build up stock. Especially given pent up demand for 4g evo. this could mean lots of people buying an epic and swapping out for an evo within 30 day costing sprint huge amounts of money. It is conceivable they are waiting to have a decent stock of both

2) closeness of 2.2. It is possible they are testing 2.2 anyway and having the maker do the installation is easier and involves less support than after sales updates

 

[Aero]

Sprint has no high end phones that are available. The evo, while being great and very high end, is not available and therefore sprint has nothing past mid level phones that have been around since 2009. They need this bad and it doesnt seem like they care. Oh well.

Neither does VZW right now. ATT's captivate is crippled beyond belief which leaves its competition to be the unreleased Droid2, the iPhone and the Vibrant... Seems like a great time to drop a game changer, doesn't it? Unfortunately, I'm starting to think Aug 20th isn't likely either.

ATT has no high end phone? Umm, iPhone? You and I may not think it is the cat's meow, and may not want ATT to bleed us dry, but that doesn't change reality that it is the go to device. ATT can sell 5 or10x as many iphones even if EVO and EPIC were flowing -- and make more for the next two years on each customer.

Scale and status matter. The scale of the iphone means one is learning an UI that is ubiquitous, that apps will flow, etc. Hey I think TP2 running WM6.x is better than iphone, but I also know why huge numbers of people that move the smartphone market place and market share prefer iPhone. It is part of an entire ecosystem:. itunes/ipod/iphone/ipad

Status also gives value to the buyer. It used to be that in business and social meetings that your watch, you class ring, in the case of women their jewelry etc were personal adornment sof status symbols. You may think that is unimportant, and I wish it were os, but Status symbols are important and do give a benefit to those with them. people find those adorned with status symbols more attractive (and I don't mean just sexually, I mean jattractive in all senses including business), more believable, etc. The iPhone still dominates and will convey top status. (I am not saying I like it but simply I know it). Even the fact that ATT costs more conveys status in some ways.

Also Sprint is not ATT or Verizon. Sprint is an also ran. It is troubled. The way its last quarterly numbers were spun as a win doesn't change the fact that they lost in contract customers.

Verizon will be serving 4g LTE to as many customers as Sprint's betamax wimax in a matter of months. Sprint will be in a very bad place when makers of handsets tell them: "no wimax version." Wimax won't be just a smaller but high demographic and robust alternative as CDMA is to GSM, it will be betamax. Some parts of conversion to LTE for sprint will be smooth and others are potentially VERY messy and costly.

In short Sprint's advantages in windows and opportunity are smaller and of shorter duration, transients, and it Sprint that needs its top end phones out there much MUCH more than ATT and Verizon.

 

[sel1965]

ATT has no high end phone? Umm, iPhone? You and I may not think it is the cat's meow, and may not want ATT to bleed us dry, but that doesn't change reality that it is the go to device. ATT can sell 5 or10x as many iphones even if EVO and EPIC were flowing -- and make more for the next two years on each customer.

Scale and status matter. The scale of the iphone means one is learning an UI that is ubiquitous, that apps will flow, etc. Hey I think TP2 running WM6.x is better than iphone, but I also know why huge numbers of people that move the smartphone market place and market share prefer iPhone. It is part of an entire ecosystem:. itunes/ipod/iphone/ipad

Status also gives value to the buyer. It used to be that in business and social meetings that your watch, you class ring, in the case of women their jewelry etc were personal adornment sof status symbols. You may think that is unimportant, and I wish it were os, but Status symbols are important and do give a benefit to those with them. people find those adorned with status symbols more attractive (and I don't mean just sexually, I mean jattractive in all senses including business), more believable, etc. The iPhone still dominates and will convey top status. (I am not saying I like it but simply I know it). Even the fact that ATT costs more conveys status in some ways.

Also Sprint is not ATT or Verizon. Sprint is an also ran. It is troubled. The way its last quarterly numbers were spun as a win doesn't change the fact that they lost in contract customers.

Verizon will be serving 4g LTE to as many customers as Sprint's betamax wimax in a matter of months. Sprint will be in a very bad place when makers of handsets tell them: "no wimax version." Wimax won't be just a smaller but high demographic and robust alternative as CDMA is to GSM, it will be betamax. Some parts of conversion to LTE for sprint will be smooth and others are potentially VERY messy and costly.

In short Sprint's advantages in windows and opportunity are smaller and of shorter duration, transients, and it Sprint that needs its top end phones out there much MUCH more than ATT and Verizon.

Some of your information here is believable, but Sprint and Clearwire are beginning their own test of LTE and will implement a much faster spectrum than ATT and Verizon. Clearwire has already purchased that spectrum. 70mbps download speeds sound pretty damn good to me, faster than Verizon. Clearwire aims for 'real world' downloads of 20 to 70 Mbps | ZDNet this is the link to the article that read. It won't be long before Sprint has LTE maybe by the end of 2011 but for sure sometime in 2012. So I put my faith in Sprint since they have been my preferred carrier since 1997.

 

[sel1965]

ATT has no high end phone? Umm, iPhone? You and I may not think it is the cat's meow, and may not want ATT to bleed us dry, but that doesn't change reality that it is the go to device. ATT can sell 5 or10x as many iphones even if EVO and EPIC were flowing -- and make more for the next two years on each customer.

Scale and status matter. The scale of the iphone means one is learning an UI that is ubiquitous, that apps will flow, etc. Hey I think TP2 running WM6.x is better than iphone, but I also know why huge numbers of people that move the smartphone market place and market share prefer iPhone. It is part of an entire ecosystem:. itunes/ipod/iphone/ipad

Status also gives value to the buyer. It used to be that in business and social meetings that your watch, you class ring, in the case of women their jewelry etc were personal adornment sof status symbols. You may think that is unimportant, and I wish it were os, but Status symbols are important and do give a benefit to those with them. people find those adorned with status symbols more attractive (and I don't mean just sexually, I mean jattractive in all senses including business), more believable, etc. The iPhone still dominates and will convey top status. (I am not saying I like it but simply I know it). Even the fact that ATT costs more conveys status in some ways.

Also Sprint is not ATT or Verizon. Sprint is an also ran. It is troubled. The way its last quarterly numbers were spun as a win doesn't change the fact that they lost in contract customers.

Verizon will be serving 4g LTE to as many customers as Sprint's betamax wimax in a matter of months. Sprint will be in a very bad place when makers of handsets tell them: "no wimax version." Wimax won't be just a smaller but high demographic and robust alternative as CDMA is to GSM, it will be betamax. Some parts of conversion to LTE for sprint will be smooth and others are potentially VERY messy and costly.

In short Sprint's advantages in windows and opportunity are smaller and of shorter duration, transients, and it Sprint that needs its top end phones out there much MUCH more than ATT and Verizon.

I reread your post and to me it sounds more like your bitter towards sprint since you can't have the phone you want right now. Be patient good things are worth waiting for.

 

[Darth Pooh#CB]

I reread your post and to me it sounds more like your bitter towards sprint since you can't have the phone you want right now. Be patient good things are worth waiting for.

Disagree... Everything he said was based in some form of truth. It sounds like you are just trying to start an argument over it since you don't have a rebuttal to make.

 

[Shadnic]

I reread your post and to me it sounds more like your bitter towards sprint since you can't have the phone you want right now. Be patient good things are worth waiting for.

I disagree entirely, his words do not sound bitter but rather a fairly logical observation on the current state of things. I don't see any reason you could see that as bitter unless you yourself did not like what his post contained so you were "bittered" by it.

 

[karnovaran]

Uhm, rufflez did mention iPhone. He said the Epic's competition would be Droid2, iPhone, and Vibrant. I'm not sure how Aero misread that enough to pen a six paragraph diatribe.

I agree with the sentiment that Sprint is broken and needs this phone badly. However, it's quite obvious their inability to get this phone out is indeed just another symptom of the same problem - management is incompetent.

 

[Mattism78]

I come back only to find that instead of a launch on the 11th or the 20th, it could be in September. I really do hope there's a soft launch in 4 days and an official launch on the 20th.

Sorry man. I would have text you if I had good news. It's just been one rumor after the other around here.

 

[rundown87]

Uhm, rufflez did mention iPhone. He said the Epic's competition would be Droid2, iPhone, and Vibrant. I'm not sure how Aero misread that enough to pen a six paragraph diatribe.

I agree with the sentiment that Sprint is broken and needs this phone badly. However, it's quite obvious their inability to get this phone out is indeed just another symptom of the same problem - management is incompetent.

I'm not trying to cover for sprint. I just don't see how it's their fault the phone isn't out. It's not like they are sitting on a million of them, too lazy to put them into stores.