Last year, Samsung unveiled a Samsung Galaxy S variant for each major U.S. carrier, with the Epic 4G being Sprint’s specific model. It was definitely different from its brethren, featuring the same Super AMOLED screen, but also including a slide out physical keyboard. How well does the Epic 4G fare, even in today’s competitive environment?
The Epic 4G is the only Samsung Galaxy S phone with a keyboard, therefore it is bulkier than its siblings, the Captivate, Vibrant and Fascinate. Though the phone is thick, it feels well built and solid in the hand. The Epic 4G retains the 4 inch Super AMOLED display found on the other Galaxy S smartphones, which is a definite plus. The display is vibrant and colorful and works very well, even in direct sunlight.
The Samsung Epic 4G comes preloaded with Android 2.1 an update to 2.2 is available, though it has taken quite a while for the update to release. The 1 GHz Hummingbird processor runs Android smoothly on the Epic 4G, with slight points of lag, most likely caused by Samsung’s third party overlay, TouchWiz UI. The Epic 4G also has decent call quality, both incoming and outgoing. The 4G speeds are also above average and it is among one of the first 4G smartphones to be released in the United States.
The Epic 4G is extremely easy to use and master. There are seven home screens that can be filled with widgets and applications that can be found on the Android Market. Android is becoming more common place, and as it is a touchscreen operating system, it is extremely easy to pick up. The physical keyboard on the Epic 4G is also a big plus, as it is well built, sturdy and responsive.
The Epic 4G comes loaded with great features such as the 5 megapixel camera with LED flash. The pictures come out decent and the video is of high quality, with little to no choppiness. The Epic 4G is the only Samsung Galaxy S smartphone with a front facing camera in the U.S. Thanks to the fact that it uses the 4G network, the Epic 4G is able to use the front facing camera for video chatting.
Overall the Epic 4G was an amazing smartphone for its time, and even now, it has the features and abilities to take on the current competition in the market. The Epic 4G was among the first 4G smartphones to be released in the U.S. and is able to use this advantage as it takes on new challengers.
Scoring
Design – 4/5
Performance – 4/5
User Interface – 5/5
Features – 4/5
Overall Score – 17/20 – Buy this smartphone!