|
| |
|
|
|
Review Summary
Samsung Epic
8/10
+Pros
+Recent
Price Drop
+Great
Camera
+Slide-out
Keyboard
-Cons
-Buggy
UI
-No
Pre-Installed News or Weather App
-Keyboard
does not keep up with fast typing
-Bad Call Quality
|
The Samsung Epic is one
of the most high-end smart phones currently on the market with Sprint,
with a 5 megapixel camera, a 1.0 GHz Hummingbird processor, one of the
best resolutions of all phones, and much more. Is the phone worth the
money? Find out in the review!
Design
The Samsung Epic has one
of the sleekest form factors of all time, with only three buttons,
physical buttons on the sides of the device: the volume rocker, a
dedicated camera button, and the power button. All of these are
conveniently located where your hand can reach them, especially the
power button. The phone features 2 capacitive buttons at the bottom of
the screen, including (in order from left to right) the menu button, a
home button, a back button, and a Google search button. The design also
includes a slide out 5 row QWERTY keyboard, with a dedicated number row
and punctuation/space bar row. Also included on the keyboard are 4
navigation arrows, however out of the time that I have used this device,
I only use the arrows when editing such as when sending a text message
or email. The Samsung Epic is also in the Galaxy S line, which means it
comes with a screen featuring a 4.1 inch capacitive touch screen with a
WVGA resolution of 480 x 800 Super AMOLED Display, the #1 competitor to the Retina
Display on the iPhone. |
Click here to view the photo
gallery!
|
Software
The Samsung Epic comes
with Android 2.2 out of the box, a minor disappointment considering many
other phone manufacturers are producing phones with Android 2.3 already
installed, including the HTC Evo 3D. The phone features 7 completely
customizable home screens, where you can add widgets, application or
contact shortcuts, and much more. As compared to the iPhone, the Epic
comes with a dock glued to the bottom of the screen, where you can add 4
shortcuts that you use the most (e.g., Phone, Messaging, Email, &
applications). The phone comes with several widgets pre-installed,
including an AccuWeather clock, a shortcut for AP Mobile, Buddies Now, a
shortcut for Contacts, a Calendar widget, a Calendar Clock, Feeds and
Updates (a widget which combines your Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace
feeds all in one place), the Google Search bar widget, Google Latitude,
Android Market, a News & Weather widget, Picture Frame, Power Control,
Program Monitor, Rate Places, Sprint ID, Sprint Tutorials 1-5, Sprint
TV, Traffic, Voicemail, Yahoo Finance Clock (which combines stocks and a
clock into 1 widget), and finally a YouTube widget. |
 |
 |
Once a Gmail account was
linked to the phone, the Samsung Epic automatically began downloading
contacts, calendar appointments, emails, and applications that had been
purchased on other phones from the Android Market, one of the great
things about Android.
However, one of the bad
things about this phone is that the capacitive buttons are not
highlighted on the front screen, as compared to the HTC Evo, making
things a bit hard when you are using the phone in low or no light.
However, they are backlit, but are set to turn off after a certain time
to conserve battery power (Update: I found out that you can configure
how long the buttons stay lit in settings). It does make the device look
that much sleeker when the device is in standby mode though. |
The Samsung Epic can also become
a Wi-Fi hotspot for up to 5 different devices, which comes with an extra fee of
$29.99 a month, which is optional. It can give 3 or 4G speeds, depending on your
signal strength and if you are in a 4G enable city. Unfortunately, I am in one
of the few cities left that does not have 4G, so I was unable to test this
feature and speeds.
The Android system itself on
this phone was rather buggy, running Samsung’s TouchWiz UI. I encountered
several times where the phone would freeze, and the phone would get stuck on the
lock screen, not allowing me to unlock it. The Twitter client has also crashed
many times, leaving me to wonder, is this phone worth it if it freezes a lot?
Apps!
Apps are one of the great things
about Android, with over 200,000 to choose from the Android Market. Samsung and
Sprint have both pre-installed applications, including an All-Share app, Amazon
MP3, AP Mobile, Asphalt 5 (a racing game), Calculator, Calendar, Camera, Clock,
Contacts, Gallery, Gmail, Google Search, Internet, Latitude, maps, Market, Media
hub, Memo, Music Player, My Files, NASCAR, Navigation, News & Weather, Places,
Settings, Sprint Football, Sprint Hotspot, Sprint ID, Sprint Navigation, Sprint
TV, Sprint Zone, Google Talk, Task manager, Video Player, Voice Dialer, Voice
Recorder, Voice Search, Voicemail, and finally, YouTube, so you get quite a few
applications out of the box. The phone also comes with a 16GB micro SD card,
giving you enough room for your music, videos, photos, apps, and more.
|
Keyboard
The Samsung Epic comes
with a 5 row slide out QWERTY backlit keyboard, a major plus for big
typists when sending texts or emails. However, with the way Samsung
incorporated the keyboard input with the Android operating system,
somewhere the coding was fragmented. If you try to type as fast as you
can with the keyboard, it skips a few beats, leaving you with several
misspelled words. Because of this, you have to type slower, which makes
sending texts and emails a pain.
|
 |
 |
Camera
Samsung has incorporated a 5
megapixel camera with 1 LED flash, and I must say, it is one of the best cameras
I have tested on a phone before! (But don’t try to replace your D-SLR camera
with this phone simply because I said so, see for yourself!) Pictures come out
crystal clear, and the LED flash eliminated any and all grain that may come up
in a low light picture. The camera can also film 720p video, with a front facing
VGA camera for video calling as well. And if you’re in the market for a new
phone, just remember, the megapixel size doesn’t always count. Be sure to test
the camera in store before you buy to see if it impresses you!
|
Call Quality
The main
point of buying a phone is to make calls, isn't it? Sadly, this phone does not
have the best call quality in the world. When the speaker is turned all of the
way up, the sound becomes distorted and fuzzy. Making calls on this phone is
definitely terrible, but you'll be fine if you prefer to use a Bluetooth headset
instead. Also, when you make a 10 minute phone call, it takes away over 20% of
the battery.
Battery Life
This phone features a 1500 mAh
battery which is located on the back of the device via back cover removal. This
battery is enough to get you through the day with a little over 30% battery
left. That includes the basics: downloading apps, sending text messages and
emails, making phone calls, and browsing the internet. However, Samsung does not
offer an extended battery for the phone, but you can buy a 3rd party
one from the Internet. For power users, you’re pretty much out of luck with this
battery, so you may want to buy a couple of extra chargers; one for the car, one
for the office, and one for home. Of course, if you work near a computer often,
the phone will charge when connected to the computer via USB.
Conclusion
The Samsung Epic is a phone with
up-to-date specs, a great camera for the average Joe, and an operating system
that is made to fit you, with a 1 GHz Hummingbird processor, this phone does
what some others can’t.
|
|
|
|
|
|
