Why would you buy a Samsung Transform instead of an Epic?

[milominderbinde]

I am trying to better understand why someone would buy a Samsung Transform instead of an Epic.

The Transform is 2.4% smaller in overall size and will save you just under 50 cents a day over 24 months.

If you spent the extra 50 cents a day for the Epic you could have:
• Twice the display: 800x480 vs. 320x480
• 25% Faster: 1000 MHz vs. 800 MHz
• Twice the camera: 5 MP vs. 3.2 MP
• Triple the download speed: 5 Mbps 4G vs. 1.5 Mbps 3G
• HD Output: 720p HD wireless vs. none
• microSD card: 16GB vs. 2GB
Other than the 50 cents a day, why would you choose the Transform?

Note that the 16 GB micoSD Card is included with the Epic but will cost you $100 for the Transform at the Sprint store.

Also note that Amazon has the Epic and EVO for $99 each making the savings over 24 months 25 cents a day.

If you are interested, here are the details behind the numbers...

Say you are a typical smartphone owner and want Unlimited Data and Unlimited Text. The one thing you never do on your phone is talk so you want as few minutes as possible.

Cost:
The $249 Epic with the 400 Minute Everything Data at $69.99 plus $10.00 4G per month will total:
= $79.99 x 24 = $1919,76 + $249 initial = $2,168.76 Total cost for Epic

The $149 Transform on the same plan totals:
= $69.99 x 24 = $1679.76 + $149 initial = $1,828.76 Total cost for Transform

Size:
Transform: 4.61 x 2.42 x 0.61 (6.80 cubic inches)
Epic: 4.90 x 2.54 x 0.56 (6.97 cubic inches)

Details:
Side-by Side Comparison: Transform-Epic-EVO

 

[andrew734]

its that 4g cost i cant afford another 10$ a month im already a broke college student

 

[milominderbinde]

its that 4g cost i cant afford another 10$ a month im already a broke college student

Good reason. Plus many don't have 4G yet. (Check Sensorly to see if you really have 4G.)

 

[Balzak]

Initally my wife was going to enter the world of smart phones with the Transform but I pushed her to look at the Epic also. She liked the larger fixtures and unlike me is content on holding on to a phone for years. So I think for her it was wise to buy what is the best now so its adequate later. Personally I think the Transform is great for SP newbies that won't be power users in an area that isn't slated for 4G for some time.

 

[andrew734]

Good reason. Plus many don't have 4G yet. (Check Sensorly to see if you really have 4G.)

yea unfortunately Ohio is not far up on the list either so really not likely to get a 4g phone

 

[acegolfer]

50 cents a day is big. Honda accord only costs 50 cents a day more than civic. using the same logic, no body should get civic.

Having said that I am so glad that I got the epic. My wife is pretty happy with her transform. She is not willing to pay extra 50 cents a day.

Sent from my SPH-D700 using Tapatalk

 

[berger1980]

I am trying to better understand why someone would buy a Samsung Transform instead of an Epic.

The Transform is 2.4% smaller in overall size and will save you just under 50 cents a day over 24 months.

If you spent the extra 50 cents a day for the Epic you could have:
? Twice the display: 800x480 vs. 320x480
? 25% Faster: 1000 MHz vs. 800 MHz
? Twice the camera: 5 MP vs. 3.2 MP
? Triple the download speed: 5 Mbps 4G vs. 1.5 Mbps 3G
? HD Output: 720p HD wireless vs. none
? microSD card: 16GB vs. none

Other than the 50 cents a day, why would you choose the Transform?

Note that the 16 GB micoSD Card is included with the Epic but will cost you $100 for the Transform at the Sprint store.

Also note that Amazon has the Epic and EVO for $99 each making the savings over 24 months less than 25 cents a day.

If you are interested, here are the details behind the numbers...

Say you are a typical smartphone owner and want Unlimited Data and Unlimited Text. The one thing you never do on your phone is talk so you want as few minutes as possible.

Cost:
The $249 Epic with the 400 Minute Everything Data at $69.99 plus $10.00 4G per month will total:
= $79.99 x 24 = $1919,76 + $249 initial = $2,168.76 Total cost for Epic

The $149 Transform on the same plan totals:
= $69.99 x 24 = $1679.76 + $149 initial = $1,828.76 Total cost for Transform

Size:
Transform: 4.61 x 2.42 x 0.61 (6.80 cubic inches)
Epic: 4.90 x 2.54 x 0.56 (6.97 cubic inches)

Details:
Side-by Side Comparison: Transform-Epic-EVO

BTW- Transform comes w/a 2GB

 

[lafountain]

My friend who wants to move into the smartphone world currently has a Samsung Juke on Verizon. He doesn't want to move into the high end and is looking for a lower priced smartphone. I figure one of the 3 new Sprint phones may be what he is looking for. Cost can be a factor for some. That $100 difference up front can be quite a decision maker for quite a few. While it isn't much of a savings over time, the up front cost is what I have to pay now.

 

[milominderbinde]

BTW- Transform comes w/a 2GB

Thanks! Fixed.

It was a Freudian slip. 2GB to me means that you need a real card before you leave the store. My Palm Treo 650 5 years ago had 2 GB and it was not enough for music and photos...

 

[milominderbinde]

yea unfortunately Ohio is not far up on the list either so really not likely to get a 4g phone

Download the Sensorly app or look at their website. They show what the 4G coverage really is that other owners are getting, not what the carriers claim.

There is 4G all around Cleveland, Columbus, and Cincinnati so far. We drove I70 last summer and saw the 4G around Columbus ourselves.

There really is 4G in Ohio. The Speedtests were between 4 and 5 Mbps.

Sprint is working to get as much 4G out for their battle with Verizon's LTE.

 

[mk3]

#1 I don't have to pay extra $10 per month for 4g service not in my area, and #2 it fits better in my pocket.

 

[cckgz4]

I just personally don't need that much for a phone. IMO, I want to use the phone to it's fullest extent. I hardly have free time to watch full length movies, not interested in a lot of mobile gaming, I don't know enough people to video call constantly, 4g is appealing but I only web browse on my phone really when I need to look up something (work doesn't give me time to use my phone), and the extra 10 dollars is a cost I could do without at this time. The Transform works for me and I get the most out of it

 

[PoundSand]

I am trying to better understand why someone would buy a Samsung Transform instead of an Epic.

The Transform is 2.4% smaller in overall size and will save you just under 50 cents a day over 24 months.

50c a day here, a dollar a day there, a $4 cup of starbucks every couple days there, adds up to a lot of money and is how many americans end up broke.

 

[gb2010]

It depends

Since I'm a newbie in the android world, I would consider buying the transform instead of the epic besides I don't have 4G in my area -.- However, I know that that transform is more suited to android new-comers and for people who don't use their phone heavily. If you fit into one of those categories you should definitely consider the samsung transform but if your a power user you should definitely get the epic 4g but like i said it all depends on what you prefer to spend and what features and specs you prefer to use.

 

[deraildoax]

IF THIS IS TLDR, AT LEAST READ THE LAST PARAGRAPH.

Funny that you have this question up. Cus I just encountered the same situation. Me and my wife have Sprint for our personal lines, and I have T-mobile for my work line. We both had Pres which she was getting tired of the build quality issues so in October when one of our upgrades came up she wanted to get something else. One deal breaker was, it needs a physical keyboard, and she wanted to try Android being I've had multiple Android handsets on T-mobile. Currently I have a Vibrant and one of my friends has an Epic. So she was able to try them out before being confronted with this decision. First thing I pitched her on was the 4" screen size and vibrancy of the Galaxy S phones SAMOLED Display. She said, "I don't like the brightness it hurts my eyes and the screen is too big." She seriously runs her smart phones at lowest brightness setting and shes happy with that, while I run my Vibrant at full retina searing brightness to see the pretty colors. I also told her about the Processor difference, 800mhz vs 1000mhz. She didn't care, it wasn't worth more money. Also the one BIG kicker for me which you didn't even compare is the Transform just like its platform sister phones the Moment and Intercept doesn't have any OpenGL hardware acceleration. So Angry Birds doesn't render properly and has some issues skinning the environment and sometimes loses its background all together. So essentially the Transform has NO graphical hardware acceleration where the Epic has GOBS. Another issue with your specs in comparison is that I've run multiple Speedtest.net tests with her Transform, it never gets over 800Kbps down. Never even with full bars, we live in Seattle Washington about 10 mins from downtown, here my Vibrant gets 5850Kbps down on the T-mobile HSDPA 7.2Mbps network. So loading up web pages on her phone feels like watching paint dry, I never noticed this slowness on my Pre till I got my Vibrant. My friends Epic gets 7650Kbps here in Seattle, so really its 7650Kbps vs 800Kbps here.

In the end she has a Transform, she has some complaints with bugginess. But I've pressured her repeatedly, "Do you want to return it and get an Epic?" She asked "How much more is that?" I said "It would be $240 more for the data plan, and $100 more for the phone. So $340 difference overall, $150 for your Transform vs $490 for the Epic." Her reply was "Hell no." So once again, its not the superior specs that win for a non-techie, its peoples frugality. Essentially she'd be paying $340 more for nothing in her eyes. Its hardware specs that don't matter. She text messages, checks email, manages her calendar, and plays with a few apps. She rarely surfs the internet so screen size and connection speed don't matter. Another thing she does is take pictures which she is happy with the Transforms 3.2mp camera and flash, the Epics 5.0mp with flash would probably be better, but she doesn't care. Another thing I told her was a big deal was the storage size, 16gb vs 2gb. She didn't care again. All she carries around with her are her pictures, she doesn't watch movies or carry around music. So where in my head the biggest best one is the one I'd go after she couldn't care less. Especially since we've taken a financial class that taught us to be more frugal with our money she really viewed it as just wasted money. To me I'd pay the $.50 per day for the better one.

Shes so frugal that when I told my friends about the Virgin Mobile Intercept being $25 a month for 300 minutes, unlimited data, unlimited messaging she was pushing me to break our contracts to make that move. The Virgin Mobile Intercept is $250 for the phone, $25 a month for 24 months comes up to $850 for 2 years of service vs the Transforms $1828.76 and the Epics $2168.76 you have listed. So the difference is $976.76 from Intercept vs Transform. OR $1318.76 for the Epic. Most people would go....WOW....The Epic isn't worth $1318 more to me. Plus Virgin Mobile is owned by Sprint and uses Sprints EVDO network so its the same thing. The only real difference I've seen is Virgin doesn't have the roaming agreement with Verizon to provide coverage where Sprint doesn't have towers. So all my friends that were up for upgrade and didn't have a contract have bailed on their smart phones and switched to the Virgin Mobile Intercept even tho its a low end smart phone. A lot of them were with Sprint because it was the cheapest postpaid service around. Now they've all switched to Virgin Mobile Prepaid. Not because they're poor people who cant afford it. They've all become frugal because we've all taken financial classes as well and we're all working to get out of debt. I'm still a tech obsessed guy though and paying more is just fine to me. Obviously the financial class didn't work well on my selfish consumerist mentality.

 

[bohiti]

To be clear - The epic is probably more than 25% faster depending on what you use to compare. There is much more to the raw horsepower of a system than just mhz.

If you look at today's desktop processors, newer generation CPUs at lower clock speeds outperform older CPUs at higher clock speeds, even at the same core count. Things such as memory bandwidth and CPU operation efficiencies are more valuable than raw mhz.

I had an opportunity to play with a Transform just a few hours ago, and it was sluggish like my year-old Hero. I think there's a world of difference between the Epic and Transform.

 

[rinkeedink]

The Transform Is for Lightweights

Seriously. I have owned and returned the Epic and Transform, but for very different reasons.

The transform is practically a feature phone and its buggy. Here's why I returned it:
-The phone doesn't have the processing power to run one of the most popular games available...ANGRY BIRDS!! Need I go on?
-The bluetooth would not work with my 2009 Dodge Journey. Even my old Palm Centro works masterfully with that car.
-Random resets
-Can't run live wallpapers!!
-The Sprint ID profiles is another dumb carrier gimmick for the mindless, lazy, or newbies who accept whatever is offered them. Thank god it can be turned off or use launcher pro.

If that's what someone wants to settle for, then live it up. Nice not paying the 4G tariff, but this is not in the same league as the Epic.

The best thing I can say for the transform is it has a better keyboard than the Epic! It's cheaper because it's cheap. You get what you pay for. Just seem like the ability to play games like angry birds, working bluetooth and fewer resets should be attainable at the $149 price point. Call me crazy, I guess. But it's not just me. The review on Engadget crushed it.


Here's why I returned my Epic
-I just didn't like the keyboard. It was too wide and the keys were too small with very little feedback. I made many mistakes while typing, it was frustrating. I think they tried to cram too many keys on it. I wear large men's gloves it's not like I didn't fit the phone. The spacebar was tiny.
-4G tax was irking me b/c the network is not up to snuff here in Washington DC area.

Otherwise, great device. Beautiful screen and powerful. Bluetooth worked perfectly.

After returning to my Pre for a few weeks, I grabbed an EVO. Yeah, I'll deal with the 4G tax for a device with real power.

 

[KMfiremedic111]

What is everyones obsession with Angry Birds and the tons of complaints that it won't play on the Transform. Who friggn'n cares? That should not be a negative point towards this phone. Everyone keeps comparing this phone to the Epic and giving it bad reviews. It is a simple android phone. It is not supposed to be on the same level as the Epic, hence some of the lesser features and lower price. Everyone complains of the lag after playing with it at the store and such. Most ones at the store don't have the updated software which takes care of the lag. Sheesh!!!

 

[Averix]

What is everyones obsession with Angry Birds and the tons of complaints that it won't play on the Transform. Who friggn'n cares? That should not be a negative point towards this phone. Everyone keeps comparing this phone to the Epic and giving it bad reviews. It is a simple android phone. It is not supposed to be on the same level as the Epic, hence some of the lesser features and lower price. Everyone complains of the lag after playing with it at the store and such. Most ones at the store don't have the updated software which takes care of the lag. Sheesh!!!

Because the game is one of the most popular iOS apps and now it is also one of the most popular games on Android. Being able to play it has become an artificial benchmark of a "good" device. If you can't play the most popular game, you can't play with the big boys. So, yes, it is a negative towards this phone. I'm not knocking the Transform, but it is a valid benchmark based on current applications.

 

[Addie_Goodvibes]

Seriously. I have owned and returned the Epic and Transform, but for very different reasons.

The transform is practically a feature phone and its buggy. Here's why I returned it:
-The phone doesn't have the processing power to run one of the most popular games available...ANGRY BIRDS!! Need I go on?

Update: Angry Birds runs on the Transform as of 10/15/2010.

For those who have painfully stayed with the moment the Transform will be a refreshing change without the higer price tag of The Epic.

What I like on the Transform is the dedicated @ symbol on the keyboard I think Samsung should have included this on the epic as well.