Samsung EPIC 4G :: Mini Review - Comparison To Evo

First let me disclaim: I am not a phone expert, reviewer expert, or anything. I work in the IT industry so I have a natural built-in ability to "deal" with buggy stuff more than a typical end-user. Some folks have posted their experiences here, I thought I would too. Let's roll.

First things first, the shipping/packaging. The warehouse had tons of Epics in stock on day 1 and there was 0 problem getting it shipped to me (I use a corporate account). So we can put to rest the concerns of a shortage like the Evo, at least for now. The packaging is slightly more wasteful (full rectangle vs the Evo's sardine-tin look) but is very nice and pretty typical of a cell phone from Sprint. The phone comes with a charging cable (micro-usb), a plug adapter for the cable, earbuds, and manuals. There is a ton of safety-tape all over the phone. I actually like this, it ensures you have a crystal clear exterior out of the box.

Putting it up to the Evo, I noticed a few things. It looks a LOT nicer when turned off. The phone is just sexy. It's very sleek and full black, rather than the Gray-ish Evo. At first I loved the lack of buttons, just makes it much more sleek, but this came back to bite me later. I saw a reviewer say that taking away the Sprint and Samsung labels would make the sex appeal of the turned-off Epic go through the roof and I couldn't agree more. It is lighter in the hands than the Evo, and the shape feels more comfortable in my hand. When using the Evo, I found myself constantly setting off the soft buttons on the front. On the Epic, I find myself constantly setting off the hard buttons, mostly the camera button on the lower right side. Not a major issue.

The other hardware items are a nice upgrade: the charger being on top presents a much more preferable configuration, when holding/using the device plugged in, but also when using it in the car or at a desk; there is less cord bending needed. The volume rocker on the left isnt as nice as the Evo�s in my opinion, but that�s such a minor issue for me I didnt even care. Some folks complained about the battery cover; it is seriously no more hassle than the Evos and it feels identical in the pressure needed to pry it off.

Turning on the phone is BLAZING fast. I always hated how cellphones took longer than PCs to boot, but the Epic squashes this -- it's unbelievable. So nice to boot in under 20 seconds...

The camera�holy cow. I never thought I�d care but the back facing still and video camera is amazing compared to the Evo in quality. Now, the Evo has a slight advantage (at least mine) in color quality, but in sharpness, field of view, and options, the Epic blows it away. This was suspected, since Samsung makes camera products. The earbuds are nicer than some that come with the Blackberries my office uses, but to be honest I hardly ever use stock accessories, so I dont think Ill use them. Having a few sizes of rubber covers is nice.

Lets turn it on. Right away a former Sense UI user might be bummed. Touchwiz 2.5 is nothing close to Sense. Yes, I do realize apps can fake the clock and other widgets. But this review is about the PHONE not what apps can make modifications to it. The UI is a major disappointment and the Evo blows it away. That being said, USING the UI well that checkered flag goes to the Epic. Despite the lack of useful bits and pieces in TW 2.5 moving to the desired location is easy and fast on the Epic, more so than the Evo. With the screens, I compare the Epic and the Evo to butter and ice, respectively. The Epic screen is smooth, always, even after 100 swipes. The Evo is smooth at first, but if you repeatedly swipe back and forth, you get more friction as time goes on. I really think the Epic glass is superior in that regard. I have not been able to test strength of glass, because this is not a free phone. =P

I went to lunch today with both phones, and while the Epic is miles past the Evo indoors, the outdoors is a different story. The Evo seemed to alter its brightness to counteract the glare. The Epic did not change at all. It was near impossible to make out emails and video on the Epic. I have not played with or tweaked settings, so this chapter isnt finished by any means, we may be able to adjust this.

The GPS�.hoo boy. This has been a long contended item in this community. Obviously the previous Galaxy S phones reported a lot of issues, and I think the Epic is just another in the line of problem children in this arena. My GPS did not work out of the box with any apps. Only after downloading a free app called GPS Status did it actually connect to satellites. Then, the other apps like Maps worked. The Evo, on the other hand, simply worked. Out of the box, with no nudging or coercing. The epic was a huge disappointment for me in this realm because a big portion of the usefulness and fun of the phone for me deals with GPS, and to have it be so buggy.yuck. Ill hold up a glass and toast the Samsung guys the minute this is fixed, and I have every hope that it can be, with software.

Another thing that bugged me was the paltry selection of apps. Oh dont worry, we got Sprint Zone, Sprint TV, Sprint Football, Sprint Curling, Sprint Foxhunting, and Sprint Midget Wrestling, but painfully absent are App Sharing, separate apps for Camera and Camcorder, Navigation (I cant find this on the market either so any help getting this on my Epic would be appreciated), Google Search (duh, shouldnt this be mandatory? Sometimes I dont want to use the widget!), and many others. It REALLY felt like HTC went the extra mile to give us tons of stuff we can use out of the box, and Samsung left it to us to go get. To me, no problem, but to an end-user that can be a real pain. Especially my problem children. =)

For settings, it felt like the Evo just kinda worked like Id expect. The fact that the screen stays on longer before it shuts off is nice. The Epic is literally something like 10 seconds which is horrible. Yes, you can change it. Yes, I like the fact that HTC seemed to take more time thinking about how a normal user would use their phone.

Now, the keyboard. I love the keyboard, Ive been using it for e-mails over 2 sentences long, but to be honest, 95% of my time I use the Swype keyboard. Before Swype was out, I would have loved having a hardware keyboard but now I am thinking that it is less of a need and more of a want. The buttons are a nice size, and I disagree with complaints Ive seen in the past regarding the space button its juuust fine.

The last major nitpick I have is the soft buttons. They suck. They have bizarre timing for being lit or off, and even if you know the order of the buttons: menu, home, back, search, tapping near them doesn�t work, you have to remember EXACTLY where they are. So muscle memory from using the phone for a few weeks will help with this but I hope this is another software fix that we might see, or a settings adjustment somewhere.

All in all I LOVE the phone. Its sexy, it fits into my pants so much nicer than the Evo, and I haven�t even dipped into the real advantage: the graphics processor. Maybe Ill do a follow up review on that side of things. I will be sending my Evo back and keeping the Epic. It has some great potential and I like the improvements over the Evo.

I know this review has seemed a bit like Im a bit of a downer, but I thought it was important to go through each component and I tend to be a bit harder on gadgets, since I work with them daily and need them to be top notch.

Overall, Epic gets 4 out of 5 Squiggs.