First Impressions of the Epic: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly?

[Entrepreneur724]

I would assume many of you would click on this thread....Well here is my 2 cents about this phone.... How did I get it early? I bought it on eBay -- received it today. Cool huh?



Look. I am not here to talk about the specifications, what minor things it lacks, all that BS that genuinely does NOT matter to normal people. Yes, that's right...to normal people....

Anyways..... On to the Epic 4G

I'm coming from a HTC Touch Pro 2 -- so bear with me here, I ain't very smart phone smart quite yet, however I am in business(obviously), and since I'm in business, one of THEE MOST IMPORTANT THINGS I NEED IS A FREKIN' QWERTY KEYBOARD. I critically will judge the keyboard because I am your average keyboard person. I don't care even if its 2011 -- I still need a QWERTY.

First Impression:
Phone was thin as F***. I don't understand at all how the hell Samsung made this phone so thin...! I thought my TP2 was alright, but it is seriously another generation when it comes to the Samsung Epic. It is simply amazing how much a phone can improve in a year...Not even one year ago I bought my TP2...I bought that damn thing like last Oct...

I slide out the QWERTY....THIN AS F**** keys! Again, wow, I didn't know if it was just me( since I did however come from a TP2), but the keys were really thin, almost like chiclets? I don't know what the hell they are called, but the keys are super thin and have a good "vibe" if you will when pressing on them. I thought the QWERTY was alright actually -- it ain't half bad -- the space bar COULD be a little bigger, but then again, I am coming from a TP2....Essentially, any TP2 user can get used to the EPIC keyboard quite fast I would say...The keys are well spaced, however pressing down takes a bit more pressure than the Touch Pro 2. I think it's a simple matter of "getting used to it."

Turning on the phone was a quite pleasurable experience...I mean seriously...I waited two months...? So the feeling of "awh finally" is always exciting to have...And as expected a gorgeous screen was displayed before my eyes.

I played with a EVO before and I must be honest with you... I think the Epic is a EVO with a better screen and a keyboard. Personally, I hated how bulky the EVO was because the screen is large, whereas on the Epic the screen is not as big(noticeably smaller). Thickness wise...omg you will not believe this -- the Epic is much thinner than my TP2, however just slightly thicker than a EVO....Honestly -- it's not that much of a difference, the EPIC feels great in your hand....it's like meant to be in your hand..... This is all my opinion though...

Since I'm relatively new to Samsung phones I can't comment on TouchWiz... simply because you will forget what Touchwiz is when you look at the backround everytime you turn your phone on, LOL.

I don't have a bad or ugly yet, but damn technology comes a long way in ten months.

I guess that's it. Thanks guys!

[mlin]

Any lag? Ate you able to lock onto GPS satellites? Thanks for sharing!

EVO on Tapatalk

[Entrepreneur724]

Originally Posted by mlin

Any lag? Ate you able to lock onto GPS satellites? Thanks for sharing!

EVO on Tapatalk

I would be the one who would forget to comment on this....

Lag? What's lag? Seriously...This 1GHZ thing is doing very well for the Epic...I genuinely genuinely think that the Epic is twice as fast as the TP2. The TP2 -- thank God I'm done with it...TP2 lagged very often, however the Epic was quick. Hummingbird quick if you will. I haven't mult-tasked ENOUGH yet to notice lag...I read in some articles that if you multi-tasted you got lag? I haven't had that issue...I'm not a hardcore app guy...Shit all I need is a little entertainment, my email, some music from time to time, and of course my sexting and phone....LOL

GPS -- works fine -- can't share comments on this because I haven't "left" anywhere specific. When I do, ya'll have all your Epics -- so it won't really matter.

[smileyface22]

Wirelessly posted (TP2: Opera/9.80 (Windows Mobile; WCE; Opera Mobi/WMD-50433; U; en) Presto/2.4.13 Version/10.00)

Very down to earth review! Thanks for sharing. I definitely will be getting an epic. Had my mind made up for a while now but not sure when. I mean now that I can overclock my tp2 (787 mhz) and with sound working on android, i'm sure I can hold out a bit longer.

But for real tho awesome review.

EDIT: Actually with WP7 right around the corner I think i'm gonna hold off on the epic.

[Entrepreneur724]

Originally Posted by smileyface22

Wirelessly posted (TP2: Opera/9.80 (Windows Mobile; WCE; Opera Mobi/WMD-50433; U; en) Presto/2.4.13 Version/10.00)

Very down to earth review! Thanks for sharing. I definitely will be getting an epic. Had my mind made up for a while now but not sure when. I mean now that I can overclock my tp2 (787 mhz) and with sound working on android, i'm sure I can hold out a bit longer.

But for real tho awesome review.

I appreciate it. I am all about being unbiased. I don't care if you're HTC, Samsung, RIM, or frekin' Sony for all I care...! Give me something I like and I'll like you, right? Lol. That's kinda dirty.

I wanted to add one thing:

I have heard many people do some type of mod to their EVO -- some Nexus One mod -- I don't know the name but it is really cool....The mod makes the EVO a different phone -- literally...I HATE the damn stock HTC Sense and whatever Froyo comes with stock -- I think the Epic, when rooted to a potential, can outdo any phone on the market....BTW, I am loving this SWYPE keyboard on the EPIC! LOL!

OH YEAH~

ALL that BS with the tap buttons on the EPIC....On the front bottom screen....Damn I cannot think right now....Work perfect....Think of them like iPhone "buttons," essentially....

[revaaron]

the tp2 is basically the worst of the phones I had (mogul, tp, tp2). it's basically the same hardware inside from the mogul that was already too slow for winmo5, but they now have it driving a bigger screen and running winmo6.5. Also, I loved SenseUI's condensed mainpage, but the txt caching was the worst... 1K txts and the phone is unusable. I loaded 22K from my phone and forget about it. the phone is dead... so dead that deleting the txt isn't enough. you have to flash it. which I did ever two weeks.
Also SOD sleep of death! it's something with the hardware cause it SOD's on me in android too.
Also, here's every phone call I receive first thing in the am.
*ring ring*
*slide screen*
"hello?"
*ring ring* goes the phone beside my head
now I get a potluck, I either froze the phone so I have to pull the battery or I try to pick up again at which point the phone registers the first pick up as a pick up (10-20 seconds later) and the second pick up as a hang up.

here's me trying to do almost anything on the phone... click... nothing... wait... click... nothing... wait... click... nothing... wait... click... nothing... wait... click... nothing... wait... click... nothing...click... nothing...click... nothing...click... nothing...click... nothing...click... nothing...click... nothing...click... nothing...click... nothing...click... nothing...click... nothing...click... nothing...click... nothing...click... nothing...click... nothing...click... nothing...click... nothing...click... nothing...click... nothing...click... nothing...click... nothing...click... nothing...click... nothing...click... nothing...click... nothing...click... nothing...click... nothing...click... nothing...click... nothing...click... nothing...click... nothing...click... nothing...click... nothing...click... nothing...click... nothing...click... nothing...click... nothing...click... nothing... wait... put in pocket where it starts burning up or pull battery and reboot.
The android port is the only reason I didn't throw that damn thing through the window.
Epic in 6.5hrs.

[revaaron]

I do like the speaker phone on the tp2 A LOt. best feature, but I checked my minutes last month right after a 140 minute long conference call which I used the speaker phone for... now this was about 5 days from the end of my month of minutes and after the 140 long conference call, I had used 147 minutes.

[gTen]

Entrepreneur724..I will have to choke you now...:/

I gotta fly tomorrow out of the country so I can't get my Epic till I get back..if I only knew I would have ordered it on ebay

[Entrepreneur724]

Originally Posted by revaaron

I do like the speaker phone on the tp2 A LOt. best feature, but I checked my minutes last month right after a 140 minute long conference call which I used the speaker phone for... now this was about 5 days from the end of my month of minutes and after the 140 long conference call, I had used 147 minutes.

We absolutely cannot leave the TP2 without any credit. Battery life was DECENT enough to last throughout the day -- well if you don't go too crazy with tethering. For some reason, even because I have not even tested it yet, I think the Epic's battery life isn't going to be so great. Remember the Palm Pre's battery life? It was...well...terribad..... I hope the Epic doesn't end up like that though. I assume since Samsung made a "handy dandy extra battery pouch." -- it could be their excuse for "Oh, yeah, the Epic will have bad battery life so we made an accessory option of having an extra battery pouch on-the-go."

TP2 was great when it came out; speaker phone was quite amazing too. It could have had much more potential....

Froyo: Let's see what you have for the Epic. I want you to blow me away like Hurricane Daniella, which is imminent in NY. LOL!

gTen:

Dude I owe you so much for beguiling me to buy a Epic. LOL -- you were better than google for sure. You're best bet is too really just buy it in stores.... Some users on eBay just give you the "iffy" feeling. I hate that. Personally, I like the feeling of going into the store....Getting that nice "new" smell box...Opening myself....Feeling the awesomeness that comes through a brand new electronic device....It's almost like buying a brand new BMW M3, well not quite.....

[gTen]

Originally Posted by Entrepreneur724

We absolutely cannot leave the TP2 without any credit. Battery life was DECENT enough to last throughout the day -- well if you don't go too crazy with tethering. For some reason, even because I have not even tested it yet, I think the Epic's battery life isn't going to be so great. Remember the Palm Pre's battery life? It was...well...terribad..... I hope the Epic doesn't end up like that though. I assume since Samsung made a "handy dandy extra battery pouch." -- it could be their excuse for "Oh, yeah, the Epic will have bad battery life so we made an accessory option of having an extra battery pouch on-the-go."

TP2 was great when it came out; speaker phone was quite amazing too. It could have had much more potential....

Froyo: Let's see what you have for the Epic. I want you to blow me away like Hurricane Daniella, which is imminent in NY. LOL!

gTen:

Dude I owe you so much for beguiling me to buy a Epic. LOL -- you were better than google for sure. You're best bet is too really just buy it in stores.... Some users on eBay just give you the "iffy" feeling. I hate that. Personally, I like the feeling of going into the store....Getting that nice "new" smell box...Opening myself....Feeling the awesomeness that comes through a brand new electronic device....It's almost like buying a brand new BMW M3, well not quite.....

Battery life may improve as we get to tweak the device more...and there are things on Android that let you underclock the phone while on stanby and etc to gain battery life...overall though Epic should definitely put out a lot less battery life then it is using now..this is same for some other Galaxy S models..some say its the batteries..others say there is something weird..overall though you will have better battery life then say an EVO either way...

Oh and don't worry I'm kidding..just a little upset I can't get it due to my flight..I may be able to quickly pop into a Sprint store and hope they offer one with no reservation..I guess bright side is I'll be out for a Hurricane :/