Sprint EPIC 4G: First Impressions

By on Aug 17, 2010 at 3:50 PM
General August 17, 2010

The Samsung EPIC 4G is Sprint’s second 3G/4G dual-mode Android handset. The full-QWERTY slider device is a member of Samsung’s Galaxy S line of phones, and packs the standard set of equipment expected of a high-end smartphone, 1 GHz Hummingbird processor, 4-inch Super AMOLED display, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, 5 megapixel camera with 720p video recording… you know, all the good stuff.

As some of you have been kind enough to point out, we have yet to publish our full review of Sprint’s Samsung EPIC 4G. We’ll admit, we have been a little delinquent in getting around to testing the device, but we’re on the case now. We recently opened up our shiny new EPIC, and have been tinkering with it very diligently in order to put together some first impressions for you. Hit the jump and let’s get started.

The natural point of comparison for this device would seem to be AT&T’s Captivate or T-Mobile’s Vibrant. All three handsets belong to the Galaxy S family, have the same processor, run Android 2.1 with TouchWiz 3.0, and sport that gorgeous Super AMOLED screen. The EPIC takes a sharp right-hand turn away from its brethren with the addition of a full slide-out QWERTY keypad and a 4G cellular radio. Some of you may have read our review of the AT&T Captivate, and noticed how we really weren’t all that in love with it… for whatever reason the EPIC 4G is a whole different kettle of fish.

Size/Keyboard

The phone’s hardware is really nice. The size is good, several millimeters thicker than the Captivate/Vibrant, has solid feeling keyboard (with full number pad!), and smooth mechanical hinge. The device feels a little heavy to us, but it is something that we (and you’ll) get used to after a few days.

The keyboard is really nice and we love, love, love the fact that it has a full number pad. The arrow keys make text correction and text-box selection convenient and the height and stiffness of the keys all feel very natural. This is a phone you could pick up and start typing accurately with instantly.

There is also a dedicated “emote” key included two keys to the left of the space bar. Not a huge deal, but if you find yourself expressing your inner monologue with emotes, you’ll appreciate it :-)

Native visual voicemail is included on this device for those of you that haven’t made the leap to Google Voice just yet.

The only thing on the keyboard that seemed a little off to us was the placement of the function (Fn) key and the Shift key. Perhaps it is because we are used to the DROID and DROID 2 keyboard layout, but getting adjusted to the function key being above the shift is going to take a little bit of time. Again, as with the weight of the device, it is obviously something you will just get used to… but we thought we would mention it.

Software

If you read the Captivate review you’ll know we strongly dislike TouchWiz 3.0. We actually thought it sort of ruined the whole Captivate experience. Ironically, it is completely tolerable on the EPIC 4G. The device seems faster, doesn’t hang up or balk when navigating around quickly, and is much, much more fun to use. When we first started to use the EPIC we had to go back to the Captivate to make sure we weren’t losing it –seriously — because the 4G device felt so much quicker. Surprisingly, it’s true. Even the on-screen keyboard on the EPIC feels more responsive. We tried and failed to get the EPIC to stutter like we could (almost effortlessly) with the Captivate; the EPIC even boots faster.

The device comes with some Sprint pre-loaded programs. We’re football (that’s American football) fans so the “Sprint Football” app is appreciated, although we can’t say we have much use for the NASCAR app (your mileage will vary). It also comes pre-loaded with “Sprint Navigation” (Google Navigation is on there as well so you now have two built-in navigational options at your disposal). Speaking of GPS, the EPIC doesn’t appear to be suffering from the GPS bug that its touch-screen brethren are. Oh, and Sprint Mobile Hotspot is also included.

The software is identical to that of the Captivate and Vibrant, it just seems to run better and have a few small optimizations for the QWERTY keyboard.

Battery/4G

Since this is an initial impressions post we haven’t been able to fully exercise the battery or 4G prowess of the device. We’ll go over this more in-depth in our full review.

Camera

We find both the camera and video camera in the device very usable. The shutter is controlled with a dedicated camera button, half-press to focus full press to shoot, and it can also be controlled from touch-screen buttons on the display. The 5 megapixel sensor with LED flash has good macro zooming and color accuracy, but it seems like you are going to have to be a little bit more involved with the picture taking process than in say the iPhone 4 (we know, we know, another iPhone 4 reference). If you leave the camera on full-auto and shoot a picture close-up, in moderate light, you may get something that looks like the image on the left (below). However if you tell the EPIC to not use the flash you can see last night’s sushi order in perfect clarity. Again, the camera is good, you just have to be a little more hands-on than you might want to be. The iPhone 4′s sensor is extremely good at this; the EPIC’s sensor… not so much.

Quick Wrap Up

Again, these are our initial impressions of the device and they are — for the most part — very positive. We’ve been impressed by both the hardware and software in the EPIC 4G and look forward to putting this puppy through its paces. We’ll use, and more importantly abuse, the device more over the next several weeks and craft a proper review for you ASAP. If there is anything specific you would like us to cover don’t hesitate to let us know about it in the comments.

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  • Hal

    I spent 20 minutes with the Sprint advocate at my local store. we spent most of the time on the GPS, In parking lot with excellent views of the say we were able to get a rough fix of two blocks away. He told me he had applied a fix of turning on wireless location. We could not get an actual GPS fix the entire time, just the old rough one, jumping from two to three blocks away. This was with three application that use GPS location. One five minute attempt, battery pull reset and a ten minute attempt.
    I would like to know on what basis and from what tests you are saying GPS is “fixed”? Are you sure you did not just get the tower estimate? Did you get and maintain a precise fix and if so how long did it take, or just a rough fix?

  • 3 Phones Jugglin

    I think i was one of those that were “Kind” enough to point this out.

    Good job BGR…..

  • Keene

    How does it feel in the hand vs the Evo? I don’t like the size of the Evo and therefore won’t purchase it and was hoping that this phone would be a but easier to handle because of the smaller screen but the am nervous that the slide out keyboard may make it a bit too cumbersome. I held t-mobile’s version of the galaxy S and thought its size was about perfect…. Its tough coming from a Pre!

    • http://www.clientsfirst-us.com Mark

      I have a Pre, and I sure won’t miss the tiny screen and cramped keyboard.

    • Nomad0321

      If you look at the dimensions of the Epic vs the Evo, they are almost exactly the same size. If you look at the Evo, the screen takes up almost the entirety of the face of the phone whereas the Epic has much more black space. If you think the Evo is too big, you’ll probably think the same about the Epic.

  • D.J.

    Very nice to hear. I’m hoping this phone is quickly rooted and a nice stock Android ROM is made for this.

    These skins are freaking stupid, and really unnecessary. Especially this iPhone ripoff looking skin that Samsung does. Only Samsung software I’m really interested in is the media player because it supposedly has better codec support than stock Android.

    • Derek

      It should be already rooted. The Captivate and Vibrant were already rooted before they even came out. It was just a matter of making a small mod to the i9000 root update.zip file. Should be the same for this phone.

      I would not hold my breath waiting for a “stock” ROM to come out for any samsung galaxy s phones. Although samsung has released the “source code” for the phone, some important bits are only released as binaries. The i9000 has been out for months and months and there still is no “stock” rom for it. It’s just not going to happen.

  • SS4Rob

    Did they kill the FM radio on the Epic like on the Captivate & Vibrant? Haven’t seen it referenced anywhere or in snapshots of the applications… :-/

  • jason

    Why is Sprint getting all the bad ass phones? Verizon getting all ugly moto phones. I wanna see Epic vs Droid 2.

    • Brad

      Couldn’t agree more. I do NOT care for any of the current Motorola designs. The Droid X may have a nice big screen, but it feels clunky for some reason, and the sliver-sized buttons for home/menu/etc. are hard to press, due to being so small. No thanks, I prefer nice, fat capacitive buttons.

      Oh, and btw, Verizon will be getting a Galaxy S phone too, called the Fascinate, which will basically be the Epic minus 4G and physical keyboard. BGR, can you PLEASE scare up some news about that phone, and soon? I’m eligible for contract renewal on 9/9, and I REALLY want to see some news about the Fascinate by then, as my Droid Eris is really dragging me down. Since Motorola’s designs (both hardware and software) don’t interest me in the least, and I’m tired of Sense UI (which the Droid Incredible has), I can’t wait to get my hands on the Samsung for something different. Plus, I can’t wait to get my hands on some 1GHz Hummingbird and Super AMOLED epic-ness.

    • Cha_pimp

      The droid 2 is beautiful..I have and iPhone 4 and my roomate just got D2… its tight as hell … not gonna lie..

    • Travis

      go to samsung they have a galaxy s phone going to verizon shortly

  • Android newbie

    Looking for my first Android phone. Was going to get the EVO, at the last minute I decided to go with EPIC.

  • Ran

    Can you confirm that the Epic has the same home page and app page customization as the Captivate and Vibrant? Functions such as adding, removing, moving home panels, same with the app list pages. Thank you!!

    • Mr.orange

      All android phones can do that. Every single one.

      • Mr.orange

        App store has programs for most anything.

    • Travis

      as far as I know it is customizable, but the four icons are always at the bottom of the screen. That would be the apps, contacts, phone, and messaging

      • AshvilleArtists

        You can change the customizations, Travis, to whatever app you choose. I find it quite handy.

  • 4GFan82

    2 questions: 1) Does the Epic 4G have a notification light?
    2) FM radio?

    • Mikey

      1) yes it has a notification light. its red.
      2) no fm tuner :(

      • SS4Rob

        No FM tuner is really irritating, especially since it’s already in the hardware, and Sprint is already charging an extra fifty bucks – why remove features unnecessarily??

      • Jake

        The only extra thing sprint charges for is for the 4G service and that is only 10 dollars

      • shaun dizzle

        actually jake, the epic is $250 with 2 yr after rebate, while most smartphones are only $200 after rebate. so thats the extra 50 bucks he was implying.

        but does the notification light change colors for different things(text, emails etc)
        when i think about it this really doesnt matter but the nexus one does it and i think its a cool feature to have

      • stephii

        if u buy if off radioshack you can save 50 dollars bring the price dwn to $200 same price as evo ;; i was going to buy the Evo but decided against it. I jus hope this new phone isnt a waste of $200 ;; why is sprint trying to charge us 10 for the 4g when they state that it isnt avaible everywhere? ;; n will thye be coming out with new cases for the Epic ? cuz if this fone is durable n it brakes i think anyone would be pissed

  • John

    Same question as Ron above about the possibility to customize the order/number of home screens and app pages in app drawer + possibility to change the apps in the bottom dock on TW home screens. Can you please post if it is around in the Epic or did samsung killed it.

    Please do post your opinions about the lock screen as well. It looks way less functional than what captivate and vibrant have. Does it show missed call/msg notifications and has it still got the music player widget on lock screen. These things were really useful on other GS phones but seems like samsung removed these too for Epic. It will be too bad if it really did..

    Thank you!!

    • Mikey

      you can’t move and reorder homescreens like the other galaxy s phones. and it will let you know on the lockscreen when you have a message.

      • Mr.orange

        That sux. I’m writing this from a vibrant. I love my phone. For those looking for a more stock experience download launcher pro.
        Wow they even removed the delete a page from the captivate?
        And yes the bottom 2 middle icons im the b oi ttom tray can be changed. Jusy hit the apps button) menu)edit)

      • Mr.orange

        Sorry for errors maybe I need to use swype more often.

      • AshvilleArtists

        No, Orange, they have not moved the delete a page from the Captivate.

      • Travis

        where did you get that info? I thought I saw on another review that you could reorder home screens

  • josh

    i may be stupid but does this awesome phone have a front facing camera

    • michael

      Yes it does.

  • Joey

    With Samsung’s history of not supporting phones I hope that Sprint gets a HTC or Moto keyboard phone by next year. Yes the specs are great but having the Moment and gettting a vanilla 2.1 update and no future for 2.2 is not good. Just look at the Behold owners on T-Mobile. Stuck with 1.6. Motorola and HTC have done a great job of keeping there old phones up to date. Expect to get 2.2 when 3.0 comes out…and nothing else.

    • GB

      You have a point when it comes to Samsung updating its phones. Do anyone know it Samsung will update the Epic to 2.2 and 3.0?

      • Travis

        yes watch the sprint release video and it talks all about these questions. It has 3. already and is going to 2.2 almost right away based on what sprint and samsung

  • Jack H

    Know these postings are mainly for the Epic on TMOB. To the guy who traveled thru most of the eastern 1/3 of the US and had TMOB coverage all the way. From Bama here, get 20 miles off the major roads and see what happens. NADA. Have used VZ even in the remote boonies of Maine, NM and Colorado, and had great coverage. Coverage does matter.

    • Jack H

      Correction…EPIC on Sprint.

  • Sphinx

    I would love to know about the durability of the phone after being abused. I am currently a Palm pre user and even with gentle use the phone is literally falling apart.

  • GoBucks

    Sphinx, Per the durability question, check this YouTube video out. They drop it, scratch, etc… It seems to be a very tough phone. Note, the one in the video doesn’t have the slide out keyboard though.

    I’m switching from AT&T to Sprint, I was going to Verizon, but they keep pushing Motorola and delaying the Fascinate. I really don’t want the keyboard, but I’ll try it for 30 days at least. I believe Motorola is giving Verizon kick backs, which is why they are so buddy buddy.

    • Travis

      that video was insane. I hope it was all real and my new shinny epic will be that durable. I don’t know which phone that was supposed to be, but it was nothing like the epic. Maybe the fascinate or whatever the one on At&t is.

  • michael

    The TouchWiz is actually 2.5 not 3.0.

    It’s missing some features like home panel customization, dock icon rearrangement, samsung music layer UI and others.

    However, it’s speed increases more than makes up for the lack of these features. The boot up time for the Epic is, well, Epic.

  • mariroha

    I just got a Samsung Moment as a replacement for my Palm Treo 755P as I was told it would synchronize with my home computer using Microsoft Outlook on Microsoft Office 2003. I haven’t been able to get help to make that happen, and have only been able to use google calendar and contacts, which I’m not at all happy with Any idea whether the EPIC will be able to sync with Microsoft Outlook?

  • wowlfie

    In comparison between the Droid, Droid II, sidekick (danger’s tmobile), and Epic the keyboards of the droid is about about like this:

    Droid: 2.6″ wide
    Sidekick: 2.9″ wide
    Droid II: 3.0″ wide
    Epic: 3.4″ wide

    The Epic has be far the widest keyboard of any keyboard device that I have seen ever including the venerable sidekick which the Droid II just about matches. Finally a keyboard for those who have fingers that are flat ended instead of pointy ended (or guys with big hands). I suspect this is going to be the over whelming favorite keyboard for those using their phones primarily for messaging. It should be great once you get comfortable with the new spacing and arrangement. I will be getting 3 of these phones for my family which is deaf so you can bet that tmobile will lose a lot of business to Sprint Relay when they begin selling this phone!

  • GB

    I would like to see if the Epic would connect with the IPad’s for internet capabilities using Sprints data plan. Truly, I do not want to subscribe to AT&T just to connect to the internet remotely use the IPad. If the IPad will interface with the Epic data side, and to the internet; there is no need to have an AT&T account to use the IPad for network capability. Please test and post.

  • Wildhawk

    Ok, question from a novice, folks: I currently have an iPhone 3G and am looking to switch. My iPhone has caused numerous problems with my 5 year old Mac at home and I hate AT&T. Am looking to switch to Sprint, which I had before the iPhone and loved.

    My problem? I need a phone that I can sync without having to physically plug it into my 5 year old, pre-intel chip Mac. I am a total podcast addict and literally sync my iPhone daily to get my updated podcasts through iTunes. I’m not aware of any other phone that will sync with iTunes, and every phone spec and media service I’ve looked at isn’t compatible with old Mac OS’s (I need to be on a Windows OS or a more recent Mac OS, which I’ve been told by Apple doesn’t function on my machine because it’s a pre-Intel chip design).

    I’m willing to switch to a different medium to get my podcasts every day, but how do I sync them to my phone? Is there a way for me to sync my podcast (and preferably music) library to an Epic if I pick one up?

    HELP!

  • Jeff

    I have been very happy with Sprint. I use 4-6,000 minutes and great coverage. If you think about it, you are roaming on Verizon so why pay Verizon rates which are really high in comparison. I have 4 phones with unlimited everything (except landlines 1,500 minutes anytime) for $170/mo. This phone looks to be about as perfect as there is as we speak. No, I don’t work for Sprint either… BTW, Google sync is really cool for contacts and calendar.

  • http://peterkellner.net Peter Kellner

    Well, I don’t get these two weeks early to test, but here are my impressions from getting it today.
    http://peterkellner.net/2010/08/31/sprint-samsung-epic-4g-first-impression/

  • AshvilleArtists

    Perhaps you should take a second look at the Captivate. Since you like the specific features mentioned on the Epic, you should like the features on the Captivate since they are the same.

    I have a Captivate and it has no lag issues. In fact, it’s amazingly fast.

  • mz hawk

    I recently purchased the Epic 4G from Sprint, actually like it a lot however, my main concern is I am having issues with the camera. I keep getting “camera failed” error message.
    Anyone experienced that? I havent had the phone but about 1 week. I think I may have to take it back…..unless I can get any assistance…

    • cns

      Mz. Hawk, I am also getting the “Camera Failed” message every time I use the camera. Very frustrating!. Thank goodness the picture still takes though.

    • Canace

      Im having the same issue when i try to use self shot mode. when i try it, i get a camera failed message and the app forecloses. I only got my phone about a month ago so i dont know what it could be. Ive been searching online for any answers, but no luck. i think the only option might be to take it back to sprint :/.

  • Knoxscorpio17

    I’m coming from a blackberry curve phone, it is taking me awhile to adjust, but I realy like it

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