Gten and all the EPIC 4g owners

[masetas]

Originally Posted by mookiemoo

i just switched over from the TP2 myself last week, and the first thing i noticed is the amazing speed of which the processor works. It is refreshing not to sit and wait on the device. Of course the apps are wonderful options as well. It was a great move. I needed a phone with speed, versatility but most importantly, A KEYBOARD!

Welcome to Epicland which is aka Happy land ....LOL

[masetas]

Originally Posted by tsowen

so @gTen will be tickled pink, I just made the switch from the EVO to the Epic 4G.

Your phone info still says EVO....LOL

Originally Posted by shane6374

Ummm.... Masetas (the OP) has had the Epic for months already. FYI

TexasAggie ive had it since early December. Odin,Rooted,Custom Rom (ACS), OC, Custom Theme installed so its been a while since that post.

Originally Posted by shane6374

This thread just got dug up from the dead. Thanks Tso!

Its AAALLIIIVVVVEEEE like my homie Frankenstein

[rallynavvie]

I must have missed this post as I was looking for TP2 owners who had switched to the Epic. I have my phone through work and we were offered upgrades to the Evo, Shift, Epic, and Arrive last month. I went with the Epic as I didn't want to risk WM7 and I liked the OLED display on the Samsung over the HTC LCDs. Here is my somewhat (overly) analytical review:

My biggest complaint about the Epic right now is the charge complete notifications, namely the pop-up and the sunlight-bright blue LED. I charge my phone in the dock next to my bed and use Night Clock as an alarm clock interface. The amber charging light is dim enough that it doesn't bother me but the blue one lights up my bedroom and is even enough to wake me up if I roll over and face it. The pop-up and the associated alert sound are also silly, and they keep the screen on for quite a while and override Night Clock when the alarm eventually goes off. I don't understand why Samsung would have a notification like this when most people charge their phones while they're sleeping and often keep their phone near their bed.

The Outlook integration is lacking on Android. Since this is a work phone I need a lot of Outlook functionality that my TP2 had. For instance the ability to view AD account details (Outlook Contact details) for everyone on an email, update/notify others on changes to meetings, and the ability to dismiss/snooze meeting notifications/alarms. I also miss the stock calendar view that WM6.5 had. I'd be willing to pay plenty for a rich Outlook client that offers all of these features.

For some reason I have two Facebook clients listed under "Accounts and Sync" settings. Neither of which seem to update their respective contacts. I imported my contacts from my TP2 through export to CSV, import to Gmail, then synch to phone. The contacts have all been "joined" to merge their Gmail and FB and their FB photos appear in my Contacts list but when they call or text they don't show their profile photos.

I am one of the few that find PenTile annoying, but I can tolerate it. I'm really liking the black-heavy themes to show off the blacks of the OLED and save on battery.

I'm not sold yet on capacitive touch. Multi-touch is wonderful, don't get me wrong, but I can still butt-dial people which I didn't think was possible with capacitive touchscreens. I also miss the days of taking handwritten notes with a stylus, it was a nice backup when I forgot to bring a notepad to a meeting.

The Galaxy S hardware seems flimsier than the HTC stuff. I actually liked the Arrive's hardware. While the Epic is lighter due to its build there are some minor annoyances like my phone has a slightly greater gap between the two halves on the upper left.

Stock ROM on the Epic from Sprint doesn't have two volume settings for vibrate and silent. It's either one or the other or both at the same time. TP2 volume rocker had each setting separately. I use vibrate when I'm carrying the phone around but silent when I'm sitting in a meeting with it on the table in front of me.

The dual-stage camera button is a nice touch. It's sometimes easier to use it than tapping the screen. Camera is also much better than the TP2.

I miss the speakerphone function of the TP2 immensely. It's probably the biggest thing I miss about it. Putting a phone call face down on a surface and having it automatically kick in the speakerphone was very handy, made even more so by having a mute button (with status light!) on the backside. I'm sure there's an app for the speakerphone when face down but we don't have the hardware button with light on the back.

I've heard some complaints about the backlit hard keys on the bottom (menu, home, back, search) where you can't see them when the backlight turns off. Really? It's four buttons. I already have them memorized and know where they are on the phone without even being able to see them.

I've been able to get BT DUN working on the Epic with PDANet but I don't think it works with 4G? I don't use WiFi sharing as the battery drain for that is far greater than a single BT link for internet sharing. I used to have this set up perfectly on my Mogul, and the crap BT stack on the TP2 prevented it entirely, but I was hoping the Epic would have a hack for it all.

[gTen]

Originally Posted by rallynavvie

My biggest complaint about the Epic right now is the charge complete notifications, namely the pop-up and the sunlight-bright blue LED.

We have mods to kill the popup notification..not sure abotu the blue color though :/

The Outlook integration is lacking on Android. Since this is a work phone I need a lot of Outlook functionality that my TP2 had. For instance the ability to view AD account details (Outlook Contact details) for everyone on an email, update/notify others on changes to meetings, and the ability to dismiss/snooze meeting notifications/alarms. I also miss the stock calendar view that WM6.5 had. I'd be willing to pay plenty for a rich Outlook client that offers all of these features.

If your on 2.2.1 and it doesnt have what you need..try TouchDown app

TouchDown™ Features

I've been able to get BT DUN working on the Epic with PDANet but I don't think it works with 4G? I don't use WiFi sharing as the battery drain for that is far greater than a single BT link for internet sharing. I used to have this set up perfectly on my Mogul, and the crap BT stack on the TP2 prevented it entirely, but I was hoping the Epic would have a hack for it all.

once we get cm7, it will include a lot of BT features.

[rallynavvie]

Originally Posted by gTen

We have mods to kill the popup notification..not sure abotu the blue color though :/

I had come across a mod but someone said it caused more issues than it resolved. Do you have a clean one?

And isn't CM7 already out for the Epic?

[shane6374]

Originally Posted by rallynavvie

I had come across a mod but someone said it caused more issues than it resolved. Do you have a clean one?

And isn't CM7 already out for the Epic?

Cm7 is only in beta on the epic. Wait till we get the nexus s, that should help cm development.

Sent from my Epic 4G running the midNIGHT rom via Tapatalk

[gTen]

Originally Posted by rallynavvie

I had come across a mod but someone said it caused more issues than it resolved. Do you have a clean one?

What are you rom are you running now?

Also I used ACS 1.1 rom and it has it removed by default..same for midnight rom I hear..

And isn't CM7 already out for the Epic?

IT is but its not final yet..so I wouldnt suggest it for every day use.

[rallynavvie]

Originally Posted by gTen

What are you rom are you running now?

Also I used ACS 1.1 rom and it has it removed by default..same for midnight rom I hear..

I am just using the stock Sprint 2.2.1 build. One of the reasons I was hesitant to jump into a new ROM right away was losing a couple of the Sprint-ware apps (Nav and NFL). However it looks like rooting with ClockwordMod allows you to swap ROMs pretty easily?

[gTen]

Originally Posted by rallynavvie

I am just using the stock Sprint 2.2.1 build. One of the reasons I was hesitant to jump into a new ROM right away was losing a couple of the Sprint-ware apps (Nav and NFL). However it looks like rooting with ClockwordMod allows you to swap ROMs pretty easily?

yes its fairly easy..and in worst case you got odin to back you up..

One thing to note though is if you go with an EXT4 rom make sure to enable Journaling.

And Sprintware apps can be loaded back in on custom roms.

[masetas]

Originally Posted by rallynavvie

The Galaxy S hardware seems flimsier than the HTC stuff. I actually liked the Arrive's hardware. While the Epic is lighter due to its build there are some minor annoyances like my phone has a slightly greater gap between the two halves on the upper left.




I miss the speakerphone function of the TP2 immensely. It's probably the biggest thing I miss about it. Putting a phone call face down on a surface and having it automatically kick in the speakerphone was very handy, made even more so by having a mute button (with status light!) on the backside. I'm sure there's an app for the speakerphone when face down but we don't have the hardware button with light on the back.

I Can already see a post from Eric123 regarding the part where he mentions the Arrive

Is there such an app that can make the call go directly to speakerphone when you put the phone face down