Just got the Samsung Epic... initial impressions and warnings.

[fuzzybabybunny]

Ok, first some warnings:

1. Do not buy the screen protectors from Sprint. They offer a discount on them when you buy the phone. they make the screen look grainy and they do not cover the entire face of the phone, just the rectangular screen area.

2. The official case for the Epic is too fat. There are two halves, one for protecting the bottom half and the other for the top half. When you have the top half on, the thickness of the plastic makes hitting the number row on the slide out keyboard difficult.

3. The browser has its own independent brightness settings.

With that over with, I'm overall pleased with the phone. The location of the function key on the keyboard is super screwed up and you'll be hitting it all the time when you want to hit Shift. The location of the power plug is super fucked up. It is on top of the phone!!! Really?! WTF are you thinking Samsung?

That's all I have to report for now.

Update:

Ok, I've gotten around to playing with it some more.

1. As a photographer, I can tell you without a doubt that the screen is over-saturated, so from a technical standpoint it is not color-accurate. However, the screen does make things look very good because punchy saturation tends to wow the eyes.

2. Touch is more responsive and more smooth than the Evo or the Touch Pro 2.

3. Keyboard is good, but I've already run into a few instances where key presses didn't register. This is compared to the Touch Pro 2, whose keyboard was excellent. Definitely a useable keyboard, but could be better. Still better than an on screen keyboard IMO.

4. Very snappy. Good UI.

5. Visual Voicemail is awesome.

6. Coming from Windows Mobile and a Touch Pro 2, I wish I would have gotten an Android sooner. It is literally orders of magnitude better than WM in its UI, its smoothness, and it's ability to do things. I was absolutely astounded. I knew that WM was far behind, but I had no idea that it was THIS far behind. Getting off of SERO and paying an extra $10 a month will *easily* be worth it for me. To anyone who wants to dump Windows Mobile - do it now. You could have done it months ago and still been blow away by how good of a decision it was.

 

[dougp]

Ok, first some warnings:

1. Do not buy the screen protectors from Sprint. They offer a discount on them when you buy the phone. they make the screen look grainy and they do not cover the entire face of the phone, just the rectangular screen area.

2. The official case for the Epic is too fat. There are two halves, one for protecting the bottom half and the other for the top half. When you have the top half on, the thickness of the plastic makes hitting the number row on the slide out keyboard difficult.

3. The browser has its own independent brightness settings.

With that over with, I'm overall pleased with the phone. The location of the function key on the keyboard is super screwed up and you'll be hitting it all the time when you want to hit Shift. The location of the power plug is super fucked up. It is on top of the phone!!! Really?! WTF are you thinking Samsung?

That's all I have to report for now.

You know, at first I thought this was stupid (on my Captivate.) Then, as I continued to use my phone more often when it was plugged in, or while I was on my computer, I realized how genius it was. Works perfectly, and I don't have to deal with it when moving around on my lap or making sure it's in position properly. Only thing that sucks is configuring a dock.

 

[kaerflog]

Ok, first some warnings:

1. Do not buy the screen protectors from Sprint. They offer a discount on them when you buy the phone. they make the screen look grainy and they do not cover the entire face of the phone, just the rectangular screen area.

2. The official case for the Epic is too fat. There are two halves, one for protecting the bottom half and the other for the top half. When you have the top half on, the thickness of the plastic makes hitting the number row on the slide out keyboard difficult.

3. The browser has its own independent brightness settings.

With that over with, I'm overall pleased with the phone. The location of the function key on the keyboard is super screwed up and you'll be hitting it all the time when you want to hit Shift. The location of the power plug is super fucked up. It is on top of the phone!!! Really?! WTF are you thinking Samsung?

That's all I have to report for now.

Great initial impressions.
A couple of lines about the function key and the power plug

 

[dguy6789]

Great initial impressions.
A couple of lines about the function key and the power plug

What else is there really to report about? It's the Sprint version of a phone that's been very heavily covered already.

 

[kaerflog]

What else is there really to report about? It's the Sprint version of a phone that's been very heavily covered already.

Hardly .
- Its a slideout keyboard phone. So hows the keyboard compared to others ?
- The 4G is supposeably much better than the EVO.
- Hows the physical size compare to other phones.
- Having a flash on the phone.
- Front facing camera.
- Is the GPS better.
- Are the software(touchwiz) idential to the Vibrant and Captivate ?

I'm not looking for a review but an initial impression talking about 1) function key in the wrong place 2) power plug up top where its the same on all Galaxy S ??

 

[ew915]

You know, at first I thought this was stupid (on my Captivate.) Then, as I continued to use my phone more often when it was plugged in, or while I was on my computer, I realized how genius it was. Works perfectly, and I don't have to deal with it when moving around on my lap or making sure it's in position properly. Only thing that sucks is configuring a dock.

good luck using it with a car charger

 

[Deeko]

good luck using it with a car charger

It works fine with my car charger, you shouldn't be doing things on the phone while you're driving anyway. In fact, it works better with my universal car dock than any other phone I've had.

 

[dougp]

good luck using it with a car charger

What do you mean? Instead of having to put my phone upside down like I did with my iPhone, it's the right side up.

Unless you're talking about a cradle - which yes, in portrait mode, it sucks. But I'd rather use my phone in landscape anyways for GPS.

 

[snikt]

good luck using it with a car charger

I don't have any problems using it with my car charger. In fact since the connection is at the top, I can prop my phone to a portrait orientation and see the screen easily. Although this might just be because of where I have my phone located in my truck.

 

[Deeko]

I posted this in the other thread, but I guess its more appropriate here -

I have the Epic. Initial impressions:

-The screen is very good
-Much more responsive than other Android phones I've used (albeit before I load it down with apps)
-Keyboard is very good
-A-GPS found my rough location instantly, full GPS lock acquired in about 10 seconds, so no issues there
-Wimax does not penetrate buildings well

As far as the software goes, I don't know why everyone is so hard on TouchWiz. Its really not that bad. The widgits aren't as good as Sense, but its still better than the widgits included with stock Android, and it has some really nice touches - a task manager built in, the power bar built into the notification shade, etc.

 

[ponyo]

I dont understand Touchwiz hate either. It has some nice features over other skins I've used. I have a question about application storage space on the Epic. Does it have 2 gigs available like the Vibrant and Captivate? Or is it less?

 

[kaerflog]

I dont understand Touchwiz hate either. It has some nice features over other skins I've used. I have a question about application storage space on the Epic. Does it have 2 gigs available like the Vibrant and Captivate? Or is it less?

I don't think its a matter of hate but it doesn't add anything to the original UI.
To me, it just seems like Samsung added a a few widgets and thats about it. And the widgets are kinda ugly.
I like prolauncher because of 2 things, 1) the 5 icon dock that can be scolled back and forth to give you 10 more icons, 2) pinch to see all the screens ala HTC sense.

 

[MrX8503]

I don't understand why phone companies need their own damn UI. The UI does nothing and all it does is delay updates, quite frustrating really.

The power being on top is a bit odd. How would docks work with it?

Are there any GPS issues with this device? As for screen protectors I always buy them third party.

 

[Deeko]

I don't think its a matter of hate but it doesn't add anything to the original UI.
To me, it just seems like Samsung added a a few widgets and thats about it. And the widgets are kinda ugly.
I like prolauncher because of 2 things, 1) the 5 icon dock that can be scolled back and forth to give you 10 more icons, 2) pinch to see all the screens ala HTC sense.

The widgets aren't great, but they're still widgets that add functionality not in default Android, plus they did add some features, as I mentioned above (task manager/power bar/etc).

I don't understand why phone companies need their own damn UI. The UI does nothing and all it does is delay updates, quite frustrating really.

The power being on top is a bit odd. How would docks work with it?

Are there any GPS issues with this device? As for screen protectors I always buy them third party.

Because they want to make their own mark. They don't want to be just-another-android-phone, they want to give the customer a reason to get, say, the Epic over the Droid 2, or the Evo over the Droid X. Whether you think TouchWhiz/Sense/Blur are worth it or not is up to the individual.

Also, remember that when they started making these things in the early days of Android, the stock Android system was woefully incomplete. The carrier UI added additional functionality that Android lacked - sometimes very important functionality, like Exchange. They have scaled it back a good amount now - see the differences between today's Blur and TouchWhiz vs 2009's.

Supposedly the Galaxy S phones will be getting 2.2 in September, which isn't a bad turnaround for updates.

I have not had any GPS issues. Like I said above, I got a rough estimate from A-GPS immediately, and a full GPS lock in about 10 seconds.

 

[ponyo]

So it seems Epic is running Touchwiz 2.5 instead of 3.0 found in other galaxy s. But samsung seemed to have fixed the lag and the gps issues.

 

[MrX8503]

IMO I think the hardware is different enough that we don't need custom UI.

 

[ew915]

Don't know about you all, but i talk on the phone while driving, the cable on the bottom is a must since i can take calls without disconnecting the charger cable.

 

[jpeyton]

Don't know about you all, but i talk on the phone while driving, the cable on the bottom is a must since i can take calls without disconnecting the charger cable.

I can take calls while driving without ever touching my phone, since I have this new-fangled doo-hickey called a "bloo toof hed set".

 

[kaerflog]

Don't know about you all, but i talk on the phone while driving, the cable on the bottom is a must since i can take calls without disconnecting the charger cable.

So disconnect from your charger when you're talking.
You're going to reduce the charging time by what ?? 5 mins ??

 

[snikt]

I can take calls while driving without ever touching my phone, since I have this new-fangled doo-hickey called a "bloo toof hed set".

Hell, if you wanna go old-school, wired headsets. Still handsfree and just as effective as "bloo toof."

If you wanna go even older-school, speakerphone works in a pinch. I tend to use speakerphone a lot because I don't think about connecting bluetooth or wired headsets before I get in my truck. Plus I live in Cali so I try to obey the "no cellphones use while driving" law. (shyeah right, lol)

 

[Deeko]

I did a speed test with half strength Wimax in Redmond and got 6.9Mb down, 1.1Mb up. Not too shabby.

 

[AznAnarchy99]

Hell, if you wanna go old-school, wired headsets. Still handsfree and just as effective as "bloo toof."

If you wanna go even older-school, speakerphone works in a pinch. I tend to use speakerphone a lot because I don't think about connecting bluetooth or wired headsets before I get in my truck. Plus I live in Cali so I try to obey the "no cellphones use while driving" law. (shyeah right, lol)

Not allowed to hold your phone while its on speaker in Cali. I got a bluetooth headunit so it goes straight to my speakers. Only thing I dont like is if I have passengers that I dont want them to hear what Im saying.

 

[Fingolfin269]

Only thing I dont like is if I have passengers that I dont want them to hear what Im saying.

I'm sure you can speak at the same volume whether you have passengers or not. They will hear you anyway.

 

[DivideBYZero]

Don't know about you all, but i talk on the phone while driving, the cable on the bottom is a must since i can take calls without disconnecting the charger cable.

A bluetooth car kit, installed, will cost less than a new handset. Get one.

 

[MrX8503]

So disconnect from your charger when you're talking.
You're going to reduce the charging time by what ?? 5 mins ??

What if your phone is dead or is dying? In this case I had to talk on the phone while plugged in.