Late in January we upgraded to the Samsung Epic. Thought I’d share some of my thoughts.
Starting with the very best feature – the screen is nothing short of incredible. It is large at 4″ and whatever “amoled” technology is, it comes through with brilliant colors and has extremely sharp images and text (which allows my aging eyes to read too read some very small fonts). My son-in-law has an HTC EVO and he started to drool when I first showed him the display.
The processor is 1GHz and so it is quite fast. Since I am mostly in 3G areas the net speed is limited by that. I was able to use it for a day in a 4G zone and all I can say is I can’t wait for the expansion of 4G coverage.
Sprint is my carrier and they load up the phone with a bunch of crap (Sprint NASCAR, Sprint Navigator, Sprint this, Sprint that, plus a number of other turds). This phone also came with Android 2.1 installed. Sprint tried to roll out 2.2 with a push and got flooded with complaints for people who didn’t back up their data prior to the upgrade, and apparently others had some issues with their camera. Anyway, Sprint pulled the upgrade back.
The fact that 2.1 does not support Flash 10.1, wireless tethering (without paying Sprint another $30/mo), Sprint pulling 2.2 upgrade, the and the Sprint bloatware I ended up upgrading to Android 2.2 and rooting the phone. Samsung had the upgrade available on their site and it went smoothly. There are one click root methods out there now too, so that also went well. I bought Root Explorer and removed the Sprint installed bloatware. I can’t notice a performance boost, but my battery life seems to have improved (although I think my truck runs better just after I change the oil too). I have had zero negative issues with the 2.2 upgrade.
I am using Wireless tether and dropped my internet provider at home and at the cabin…gotta like that. The net IS slower than the 5MB/1.5MB connection using wireless routers that I had with the cable companies, but I can live with the speed. I use Pandora quite a bit, stream a lot of radio, and subscribe to MLB audio (my Twins game reception at the cabin sucks since they dropped the good neighbor). I listened to the spring training game today while data roaming and there were no drops. Video can be choppy when data roaming, but when on a Sprint tower it is smooth.
The camera is 5MB and takes typically good point and shoot pictures. It takes smooth and crisp video. The front facing camera is nice if you like to show yourself while talking (not my preferred method of communicating).
A note about Root Explorer…that is a dangerous program. It gives you superuser authority to ALL the folders/files on your system. One fat finger fumble could easily put the phone in the dumper. As such, I do not put a shortcut to Root Explorer on the display and am “very attentive” when I use it.
I use Yahoo mail and like their app’s ability to have multiple accounts and really quick method to switch accounts. IMHO it beats their web based app.
Being an old fart, I never thought I’d pay 2 hondo for a phone…and even less did think it would be worth it. My laptop definitely gets a a lot less love since the purchase.
And, if you have read this far I have a question…anyone have a source for “beginning app programming” they’ve found most useful? I retired last year and this phone has given me an itch I just have to scratch.
With all this being said, I am looking forward to my contract fulfillment in 23 months. I can’t imagine what will be available by then.
