Returning my Nexus S 4g for an Epic 4g - YES OR NO? tell me WHY

[superboy]

This is my first Android coming from an Apple Iphone 3G. I was super duper stoked about it when I first got it. The NExus S is blazing fast compared to my iPhone. I just couldn't tolerate the lag so I switched to the current "best" new phone out there. - Plus Sprint is cheaper vs AT&T.

So after using it for 2.5 weeks, I am somewhat hesitant to commit to 2 years .. I've had featured phones in the past and the Iphone was my first l smart phone so obviously I am mainly comparing it to the old iphone

. There are a few reasons why I dislike the Nexus S:

- Speakers sound like their bleeding out in agony, its not clear like stereo clear, I don't know how to explain it, its like the acoustics is bad or something. Low quality? My friend's Droid INcredible and Droid X sounded pretty crisp, and the iphone sounded pretty damn crisp also. I talk via my speaker often let alone listen to music on it often . Whenever i talk on the phone via speaker, the other person says they hear an echo of themselves!! WTF! I tried playign with taking off the back cover and had the speaker face upwards and it was a little better.. wtf is this ish? I'm not going to remove my case, the back cover to have a speaker convo!

-Vibrate intensity - I can barely feel the Nexus vibrate when someone calls or texts! I only feel it when I sit down and its in my pants pocket because its pressed against my thighs. Other than that if Im walking or standing, I cant feel crap and i've missed texts and calls before ..Didnt have that problem with my old phones. Also when i have it on my table, can hardly feel a vibrate with a case on. - Seriously.. was this weak vibrate there to save battery? Why even bother having it if you can barely feel it? I wish we could adjust the intensity of it.

Battery - I have no complaints because from reading many android threads, it seems like a lot of android phones have horrible battery lives anyways, lol. My 3 year old iphone still kicks the Nexus ass in battery.. and I understand Android has a lot running in the background but come on!! heh.

- The 4g radio seems kind of useless?? I dont really feel its that much faster than the 3G when I load the same webpages.. I dont know if this is a software issue or hardware ..


I've played with the Epic 4G at the Sprnt store and it seems pretty good.. or 2nd best IMO compared to what's available. I'd get the Evo Shift but the screen looks washed out. The vibrate and speakers seem good.. but of course i'd have to deal with bloatware, sucky battery (expected), and slow updates. I am wondering if these slow updates are worth changing for the hardware - speaker, 4g /wifi radio (?), vibrate,

I don't know what to do! Tell me why I should just effing switch it and move on with my life or just stick with it, if i really hate it after a year, sell it and get whatever i can get back and use the money to buy a new phone?

I think what's bothering me the most is Samsung not using quality materials for their goods.. i mean come on.. ive read many complaints about the low quality speakers.. and some complain about the vibration (maybe its Google telling Samsung to tone it down?) I'm not expecting too many bells and whistles other than having a GOOD working smart phone. . I didn't care it not having a SD slot, HDMI output, HD video recording! But you can't give me a phone that has good stereo speakers?

 

[khamvongsa09]

The speakers do seem low quality..

Vibrate intensity I agree with...

For the battery, I recommend that you use an app called "Juice Defender Beta" It improves battery life greatly. Set the app on "Balanced" or "Aggressive" and expect to get a good amount of battery life then you use to. Also do some tweaking and make sure services that you might not need or care about only sync once every hour or so. Oh and of course, turn off 4G, Wifi, Bluetooth when your not using them.

4G has faster speeds but its only really relevant for downloading apps, music, etc. Also when streaming internet radio, cloud music, Pandora, etc. You won't really notice a difference from just browsing the web because most web sites that you might visit might have a limited bandwidth that the 3G can handle fine.

If your thinking about returning this phone, I don't really think you should get the Epic 4G. I think it still has Android 2.1 with no word of updates. Get something like the Evo, Evo Shift, or even wait for the new Evo 3D. But that's just my 2 cents..

 

[gramamoose]

I love listening to music!
That being said, I don't think ANY phone out there has adequate speakers for me!
I hook my phone up to some nice JBLs that I have and that is much better!!!
Maybe it's just me, but speaker quality is very negligible. And I say that having had the "echo" comment made to me as well. The LG HBS 700 bluetooth headset has been the other greatest investment I made! HIGHLY recommended for calls, music, anything!!! . . Biggest and only desire: SWYPE keyboard!!!
BUT. . . 2.3.4 (And all subsequent updates)!!! SuperAMOLED!!! NFC!!! No Sprint bloatware!!! Tethering!!! Everything Google!!!. . . I only use 4G when I watch videos, which even in 3G stream really well. As well as Sprints 3G being really fast in my area (Henderson NV).
That's why I didn't get the EVO when I could have. As well as only 8gigs of storage.
I am very impressed with Samsung's quality. I got the Epic over the EVO, yet after hearing that the NS4G was coming out and reading up on it, I took it back so that I can have it!!!
Not that you won't enjoy the EVO. It's a nice phone. And every one has different needs and wants. But I couldn't go 'backwards' and get it (2.3.3).
Not that you won't be happy with it.

 

[2CupsWithString]

If you bring it back you should swap it for the Evo 3d when it comes out the end of this month (if that option is available) . You might have to go to another phone in the mean time to keep your 30 day window active.

 

[gabbott]

. . Biggest and only desire: SWYPE keyboard!!!

Why aren't you using swype on your nexus? First thing I installed on mine. Just go here and you can get it directly from swype themselves:

Swype | Text Input for Screens

 

[jonesey#AC]

I can totally understand leaving AT&T for Sprint. I can't understand leaving iOS for Android, especially after Monday's announcements. The things you complain about are more about Android than the hardware. I got the Nexus but took it back because of the things you mention and more... like no email search, lousy stock SMS app, problems syncing correctly with Google calender...

HOWEVER, if you're on Sprint and have Android... the Nexus S is currently your best choice. Even when the EVO 3D comes out, its updates will be behind. Nexus will immediately get the Ice Cream Sandwich, for example.

I personally am holding on to my upgrade to see if in the fall Sprint gets the Pre3 or the iPhone5. If not, then I'll go back to the Nexus most advanced at the time... I've heard there will be a new one in the fall as well.

 

[enik]

Lets see... I actually came from the Epic to the Nexus. I only got about 5 hours of battery life with light use, it had terrible music play back, not much dev support (Nexus S has been out for about a month and from what I can tell it already has more support), the keyboard slid out wwwwwway to easy, there was no supported Cyanogemod releases, sub-par interface (touchwiz destroys performance), and no NFC which in the next few years could become very widespread and useful. I could have lived with most of these problems but the battery life was the kicker. At least the NS4G radio issues are most likely software issues. In my opinion the Epic doesn't live up to the name.

 

[dwaynewilliams#WN]

I wouldn't go to the Epic. You will regret it.

 

[nmoreman]

Had the Epic (still have 2 in family) and loved that phone till I got the Nexus. Its basically same phone but without keyboard. And the thinner form is what I wanted since I don't use keyboard.

You can add so many apps, including Swype to the Nexus. It is blazing fast in comparison to Epic.

I had to root and put custom roms on Epic to get it to do just some of the things the Nexus does out of the box. Battery was worse, ring volume mixed, didn't like stock messaging, etc., so everything was customized. And depending on your techie knowledge, this voids warranty, meaning you can't go to Sprint Service Center for help, so you better know how to maintain and fix any issues yourself. Reading these forums and asking worked for me.

So I have the Nexus, and love it. You will enjoy the Epic, it would be my second choice, would never go Evo. And the Pre - had it, loved it, but this is so much better and not sure what HP will do to the phone.

P.S. Just got rid of my Ipad for Asus Transformer (android) and find it faster, easier to manipulate, and on and on. You will learn to like the Android system once you get past the changes from the Iphone.

 

[j_grouchy]

I don't use speakerphone unless I'm on hold for a long time.

Vibrate has always been an issue with every phone I've ever had...maybe my thigh just doesn't sense the vibration very well...?

4G is extremely spotty, but I've actually had very few occasions to even need it. Even Netflix seemed to stream fine over 3G.

I don't use my phone for music. I have an old iPod for that and will likely always use a dedicated player for music and audiobooks because of battery life. Right now my iPod is six years old and I'll likely just downgrade to a shuffle or nano when this one kicks it.

Battery life sort of is an issue for me, but it's not really much worse than my Pixi was. At least with the Nexus, you can change out your battery. Come to think of it, I still need to order a second one so that I can do this...

All in all I am fairly pleased. My 30 days is up on Monday and I'm 99% sure I'll keep it. I'll be good for a yearly upgrade next May anyway since we're Gold Premier members beginning next month and my wife gets her 22 month upgrade in January.

 

[jnl813]

I would avoid the Epic, battery life sucks, and if I HAD to leave the Nexus, I would get the Motorola XPRT, or just wait and see what Moto and Sprint are revealing today here;

We'll be live from Sprint and Motorola's press event at 12PM ET!

 

[s14tat]

The speakers do seem low quality..



If your thinking about returning this phone, I don't really think you should get the Epic 4G. I think it still has Android 2.1 with no word of updates. Get something like the Evo, Evo Shift, or even wait for the new Evo 3D. But that's just my 2 cents..

I don't know if you have been living under a rock, but the epic's had froyo for like 4 months already and people have been running leaked gingerbread roms for at least a month already.

 

[font1975]

Just a visitor to this forum (I have the T-Mo NS). Curious as to how bad is the battery life on the NS 4G? With heavy use, I still make most of the day (that's with the screen showing 56% and Angry Birds showing like 30% of battery use, lol)

Most days, I plug the phone in at night, after about 16 hours on battery, and still have 30%-40% left. I got 2 days recently with 25% life left, but admittedly that was with light use.

For a 1GHz phone, the battery performance I get seem OK to me. Again, I'm just curious how my battery life compares to the 4G, as the OP mentioned he hates the battery life compared to his iPhone. FWIW my co-worker has an iPhone 4, and we seem to get similar battery performance. I would suspect the 3GS has better battery life compared to the iPhone 4 or NS, as it's a less powerful CPU. But I'm just guessing.

To the OP. Sounds like the iPhone worked better for you. However, if you're preferring to stay with Sprint, your choice is limited. Stick with the NS or go to an Evo/Evo 3D. I think I'd skip the Epic.

 

[gramamoose]

Why aren't you using swype on your nexus? First thing I installed on mine. Just go here and you can get it directly from swype themselves:

Swype | Text Input for Screens

DUDE!!! Thank you!!!!
Just installed it!!! WOW! You made my day!!!
Makes such a difference!

 

[superboy]

ok, you guys have convinced me to NOT get the Epic 4G.. that's fine, considering all the stuff i've been digging up about it - them not giving a hoot about customers and brush off the current customers for new ones with their new products (typical for manufacturers, but Samsung does it half ass?) Saw a lot of complaints with the Froyo updates and i noticed Sprint salesmen always say " we haven't heard anything about that issue." I mean honestly, I dont care if i had to downgrade to 2.2, just to have a phone that "works." Its too bad I have until June 16 to return this phone.. i won't make it for the Evo 3D, and who knows when the Photon 4G will come. I can cancel within the 30 days and go with Verizon (Droid Charge and Incredible 2 looks mightly yummy)... but then i'll be paying about $15-20 extra for VZN compared to Sprint. So i'm pretty much left with the older Evo and Evo Shift. I'd hate to get a less vibrant screen since i got kinda use to seeing the Super Amoled on the Nexus.. so I guess i'll just stick to the NEXUS S 4g then.. =|

Today I tried to work around the issue of not being able to feel/hear the weak intensity of the Nexus. I have a desk job so i have to keep the volume off or very low. It being low is useless because I do have music playing so it kinda blends into the music if i'm jamming to some electronica. So that's a no go.
With a case on, i can barely hear it vibrate on the table. Thus i laid out 4-5 paperclips in a small pile and put the phone on top of it OR put a few clips on top of the phone.. if it vibrates, it would jingle the paperclips and it would be more noticeable for me to check. I know it sounds silly but what can i do? lol.

As for when I'm walking or standing - i cant feel crap! Still thinking about what to do.. any ideas? Is there an app that runs in the background that CONSTANTLY vibrates and rings until you check it? Or after it vibrates for a period of time, it stops for X minutes and starts to ring/vibrate again? Or any other ideas? I really wish there were 3rd party batteries that have extra haptic/vibration motors again like the old school Nokias. Like I said before, the hell with the phone sucking power..I accepted the fact that battery sucks so i got 2 spares + original battery...

Lastly this may be my last Google phone unless they start addressing the SAME issues thats been coming up all the time...weak signals, error msgs, ..or weak speakers/ low vibrate from Samsung. Technically we're NOT first adapters because T-Mobo customers had it first, we only got the 4G chip, everything else is pretty much identical besides the SD slot. So now AT&T will have the same phone.. and AT&T customers will again complain the same things we will. Laugh out loud to that people!!

 

[Jalarm]

No no no. You'll be stuck with touchwiz, horrid battery life, and most importantly you don't get instant updates.

 

[DeCourseyyy]

Epic is old...

 

[ragnarokx]

No no no. You'll be stuck with touchwiz, horrid battery life, and most importantly you don't get instant updates.

TouchWiz overall is a pretty minor skin, especially compared with something like Sense. And it actually has its benefits: Samsung built CPU optimizations into TouchWiz to make the Epic run smoother/faster. Some people find the widgets useful, and the drop down notification buttons were so useful that someone actually ported them to the Nexus S. Battery life with stock Froyo is easily a day, much more with a custom kernel. And updates have gotten significantly faster, but of course no other phone will get them as fast as the Nexus line.

Epic is old...

The Epic came out in August 2010, and the Nexus S was released in December 2010. When Sprint released the Nexus S, it was already 5 months old (besides the radio). So overall not too big a difference.

 

[DeCourseyyy]

The Epic came out in August 2010, and the Nexus S was released in December 2010. When Sprint released the Nexus S, it was already 5 months old (besides the radio). So overall not too big a difference.

I realized that right after I posted, sorry about that...