Samsung Epic 4G Galaxy S Android smartphone review

If you've been holding out on Sprint's HTC EVO 4G while waiting for an Android smartphone with WiMAX capabilities that also offers a full QWERTY keyboard, your mobile prayers have been answered. Samsung's Epic 4G has arrived, and it's a top-notch device that seems to offer it all: a 1GHz Samsung Hummingbird processor, a large 4-inch Super AMOLED display, a 5 megapixel camera with HD video recording and an LED flash, and a keyboard that's very comfortable to use.

While there are some setbacks, namely battery life, the Epic 4G is a premium smartphone that's sure to knock more than just a few socks off. In this review I'll discuss the device's features, as well as what makes it stand out amongst the other Galaxy S devices, which have already launched on AT&T and T-Mobile.

Hardware

The Epic 4G is the only Galaxy S device so far to offer a full hardware QWERTY keyboard, and for that reason, it's the chunky kid in the family. The Epic 4G measures 124.4 x 66 x 15.2mm (4.9 x 2.6 x 0.6in) and weighs 155.9g (5.5oz). The Epic 4G offers the same large 4-inch 800 x 480 resolution Super AMOLED^(INFO) display as the other Galaxy S devices, which takes some squinting to read under direct sunlight, but is still manageable.

The Epic 4G also offers a similar external port and button layout as the other Galaxy S devices, the volume rocker is on the left, 3.5mm headphone jack and micro-USB hatch on the top, and a power button is on the right. However, the Epic 4G also has a dedicated camera shutter button, a feature that I love. There are four touch sensitive buttons along the bottom of the screen for accessing the menu and home, stepping back through a menu, and searching. I love that Samsung added an LED notification light on the Epic 4G, a feature that's missing from the other U.S. Galaxy S phones.

The Galaxy S has a strong built, and its 5-row QWERTY keyboard pops out with a nice sturdy spring. Powered off, the phone looks a bit like an over-sized feature phone, but powered on, the stunning Super AMOLED display screams "premium" from the hilltops.

The back of the Epic 4G isn't as inviting as the battery cover on the Captivate, which is metal with carbon-fiber looking etchings, or the colorful plastic on the back of the Vibrant. The Epic 4G's battery cover is black with small silver speckles on it, and it looks like a feature phone from behind, save for the Galaxy S logo. There's also a 5 megapixel camera with auto-focus, and a welcome LED flash which was missing on the other Galaxy S models. Under the battery compartment cover can be found the microSD memory card slot, which comes pre-loaded with a 16GB card.

I found the keyboard to be very good, and I'll discuss more of its features in this review's Messaging section.

Usability

The Epic 4G is powered by Android 2.1 (Samsung has an Android 2.2 Froyo upgrade planned) and is loaded with Samsung's TouchWiz 3.0 user interface on top. TouchWiz 3.0 builds on Android 2.1 in a number of ways, with a revamped main menu and a host of homescreen widgets. There are even some "Easter egg" surprises hidden in the interface that I've discovered over time. One such trick? You can slide your finger across the notification bar of the screen (where the clock and signal indicator are) to adjust the screen's brightness on the fly.

The Epic 4G provides seven different homescreens that can be customized with both Android and Samsung widgets, and I was also able to rearrange the order of which the homescreens were displayed. The phone has four icons at the bottom of the screen, Phone, Contacts, Messaging, and Applications. Unlike with the Vibrant and the Captivate, these buttons can not be rearranged or customized, which is a bit disappointing.

Android 2.1, by default, offers a main menu of applications in a list form that can't be customized or ordered in any fashion. TouchWiz 3.0 lets you customize this menu. The only catch? Sprint disabled that feature on the Epic 4G. I only had the option to view the options in a list view or in a page fashion. Thankfully, I like my icons listed in alphabetical order, by page, but I imagine there are a number of people that would rather customize their app icon layouts, and think it should have still been an option.

The Epic 4G's address book application supports social network integration from Google, Facebook, and Twitter (and others with added apps). The latter two of which were added by Samsung's TouchWiz user interface. That means it will automatically pull in your Facebook and Twitter contacts, and their respective profile pictures, to populate your address book. If a contact is linked to Facebook, you can view media they've uploaded, as well as any activities or status updates they have posted recently. It's a fun feature that reminds me of HTC's Sense user interface, which offers similar functionality.

As a side note, we reported some sluggishness on both the Captivate and the Vibrant. However, and perhaps due to a different file system setup, I noticed that the Epic 4G felt much faster out of the box than the other two phones did. I don't have as many applications installed on the Epic 4G just yet, but it's still noticeable.

Calling / Data

The Samsung Epic 4G offered excellent call quality during my tests. Calls with a landline sounded very crisp and clear, without any cackling or popping issues, and I didn't experience a single dropped call. The speakerphone also worked well while the device was on my desk.

In my apartment in New York City, I regularly saw a full signal reported, and the phone reported a -65dBm signal strength while sitting at my desk, which fluctuated every so often to -72 at its worst. During our standard DSLReports.com/mspeed data throughput test, I found that the Epic 4G averaged 1,311Kbps on the downlink^(INFO), which is pretty good - for 3G.

The Epic 4G also supports Sprint's 4G WiMAX^(INFO) network for even faster downloads. As of this moment, Sprint's network is available in 48 metropolitan areas. Unfortunately, Sprint still hasn't launched its WiMAX network in one of the largest cities in the world, New York City. Luckily our Michael Oryl was able to test the device in the Philadelphia area and reported 4G download speeds in the 4.8 to 5.2Mbps range when a strong signal was present. Those figures are on par with home internet services.

Like the HTC EVO 4G and a number of other Sprint phones, the Epic 4G is able to serve as a Wi-Fi hotspot using the Sprint Hotspot application. The software allows up to 5 devices to connect and share the Epic 4G's 3G or 4G connection at once. The service worked well for me and I surfed the web without any issues using the WiFi hotspot with my netbook. Naturally Bluetooth and USB connectivity is also provided by the Epic 4G.

Messaging

The Epic 4G takes the Galaxy S family one step further than earlier models by offering a solid four-row QWERTY keyboard on top of touchscreen input. The keyboard's keys are all flat and offer a good amount of travel and pop. There's also a function key for adding symbols, a dedicated emoticon button, four arrow keys, and dedicated buttons for back, menu, search, and home. The space bar is placed conveniently in the middle of the keyboard. While typing, you can tap on the space bar to add a recommended word. The Swype virtual keyboard was just as easy to use as it is on the Vibrant and Captivate, but I found myself preferring the full QWERTY keyboard for most messaging tasks.

The Epic 4G supports IMAP/POP email accounts, and also offers full Exchange support for syncing your calendar, contacts, and email. Gmail is a breeze to setup and I was logged in and firing off emails in just over a minute. I also setup my work IMAP account in just a few minutes without any issues. My biggest gripe with Gmail on Android is that to reply to an email, you have to scroll all the way to the bottom of the message. This isn't the case with POP/IMAP accounts on the phone, and only with the Gmail client, but I've noticed how much it's beginning to bother me when I want to reply to longer messages.

The Epic 4G also supports threaded SMS/MMS texts, and I liked the colorful neon green bubbles on the black background. While I found it hard to select text and move the cursor around on the Samsung Captivate, the keyboard controls alleviated this problem on the Epic 4G. I simply had to push one arrow or another to move the cursor and edit text.

Apps / App Store

As of August 2010, the Android Market is home to over 70,000 applications, which means there's plenty of software to populate the Epic 4G with. Sprint included some bloatware of its own, including its Asphalt 5, Sprint Football, Sprint Navigation, Sprint TV, the NASCAR app, and Sprint Zone. The Epic 4G also comes with ThinkFree Office, which can be used for opening Microsoft Office documents on the phone or stored on ThinkFree.com (account required).

Google Navigation, which offers free voice-guided turn-by-turn directions, isn't installed out of the box, as Sprint Navigation offers similar features that are included in Sprint Simply Everything plans. Should you prefer Google's offering, though, it's available in the Android Market.

Browser

The Epic 4G's browser is identical to the browsers found on the Captivate and Vibrant, save for some additional bookmarks Sprint preloaded. Multi-touch zooming worked effortlessly thanks to the speedy connection paired with the 1GHz processor, and text was easy to read even while fully zoomed out, thanks to the high resolution display. I like that it was easy to add bookmarks to each page by simply tapping a small bookmark icon next to the web address, and each bookmark is displayed with a large thumbnail.

The Epic 4G doesn't support Flash 10.l content just yet, as a test on the South Park website revealed. However, it's expected to become available when Samsung pushes out the promised Android 2.2 Froyo update. Despite lacking Flash, I enjoyed browsing on the Epic 4G and think it's a first-rate device for anyone seeking a robust web browsing experience out of a smartphone.

Camera

The Epic 4G snaps 5 megapixel photos and can record video at a 720p HD resolution. I love some of the camera's features, including its panorama shot, which stitched together photos of entire landscapes while I moved the phone from left to right snapping photos. Its video quality was excellent, both on the screen and on my computer, and the photos were also frame worthy.

Unlike the Vibrant and Captivate, two other U.S. Galaxy S smartphones, the Epic 4G also has a single LED flash. This meant that I was actually able to capture shots in the dark. The flash was too bright for up-close images, and usually blew out the shot with a blinding white mark. However, it did the trick for subjects that were a bit farther away.

Music

The Epic 4G uses Android's stock music player, which is OK, although I preferred Samsung's more robust music player on the other Galaxy S devices. Music is sorted by artist, album, playlist, or song, and you can quickly scroll through an alphabetical list, which includes album art next to each title, to find what you're looking for. The music menu also works in landscape mode, and playlists are a breeze to create. I'm not sure why Samsung removed its custom music player from the Epic 4G, but the stock one worked just fine.

Samsung included an excellent set of ear buds with rubber tips with the Epic 4G that also include a microphone so that you can place calls without having to take off your headphones. With headphones plugged in, you can take advantage of the SRS 5.1 virtual surround sound feature by tapping the small logo at the top right of the music player. I thought music sounded better without this feature on, but some may prefer it.

The built-in speakers were adequate enough for filling a small room with music, but it wasn't loud enough to even replace a set of cheap computer speakers.

Battery

With moderate to heavy usage, the Epic 4G's 1,500mAh battery was able to last from 8am until 5pm, but with heavier usage, I had to charge earlier. The short battery life is one of the biggest downsides to the device, so you'll want to plan on bringing your charger with you even for quick over-night trips. Commuters might even consider a car charger.

Reviewer Spin

The Epic 4G has some tough competition on Sprint. I'm a big fan of HTC's EVO 4G smartphone, which also offers WiMAX. If I were to choose between the two right now, however, I'd probably go with the Samsung Epic 4G. Sure, it doesn't have Android 2.2 yet, but that update is coming. I'm also head over heels for its Super AMOLED touchscreen display. And while I have no problem with touchscreen keyboards, when a good hardware QWERTY comes my way, such as that found on the Epic 4G, I'll use it over a touchscreen any day.

The Epic 4G offers good data speeds, call quality, an excellent camera, and a superb form factor. It may be tied with the HTC EVO 4G as the best smartphone on Sprint in terms of specs and capabilities, but it's my favorite of the two.

Samsung's blazing fast Galaxy S 4G for T-Mobile reviewed

The Samsung Galaxy S 4G for T-Mobile is an update of T-Mobile's popular Samsung Vibrant Android smartphone. It is virtually a clone of the original Vibrant, but comes with Android 2.2 Froyo pre-installed, has a forward-facing camera for video calls, and offers super-fast HSPA+ "4G" data speeds. It even has a larger battery than the original. The Galaxy S 4G does lose the Vibrant's 16GB internal SD card though, replacing it with a 16GB memory card in the microSD expansion slot.

Core features like the very capable 5 megapixel camera, which records wonderful 720 HD video, and the Super AMOLED^(INFO) touchscreen display are still found in the S 4G, and that's a good thing. The TouchWiz 3.0 user interface is also still in place, and its remains my favorite to be found on an Android smartphone.

All of this adds up to a new device that offers mostly big pluses over the original, and very few minuses. If you liked the Vibrant, you're sure to love the Galaxy S 4G.

Hardware

As a Samsung Galaxy S based smartphone, the Galaxy S 4G for T-Mobile features a simple touchscreen slab design. What makes that design special is not its style, of which it has some, but rather the brilliant properties of its 4-inch, 800 x 480 pixel Super AMOLED^(INFO) display. Samsung's Super AMOLED technology puts the capacitive touchscreen^(INFO) layer directly on the display layer, which makes the complete assembly thinner, better performing in direct light, and somewhat more frugal with power.

That big display ensures that the Galaxy S 4G is not a particularly petite phone, though: 123 x 64.5 x 10.0mm (4.8 x 2.5 x .4in). That makes it narrower, shorter, and thinner than a Motorola DROID X, but not much so.

Apart from the display, the design is simple. There are 4 touch sensitive buttons at the base of the phone, and a volume rocker on the left edge that is balanced by a power/lock button on the right edge. The 3.5mm headphone jack is at the top, next to a micro-USB port for power and data that features a sliding cover.

The rear of the phone has silver metallic look to it, and feels slightly warm to the touch - in spite of being made of plastic. The 5 megapixel camera sits on the back, sans flash, and there is little else to the rear cover except for the speaker grille and a slight bulge (an additional 1.5mm) at the bottom of the phone. The rear cover can be easily removed to reveal the microSD memory card slot (16GB card included), but the battery need not be removed to swap cards.

The build quality of the device is good, and I prefer the less glossy look and feel of the new back cover to that found on the original Vibrant. It's still not as nice as the metal back on the Captivate, but it's a step in the right direction.

Usability

In spite of what you have heard about Samsung's TouchWiz in the past (including what we've said on this site), the user interface work that Samsung is doing is good. TouchWiz 3.0, as it appears on Samsung's first generation Galaxy S smartphones, is user friendly, attractive, and sensible. It still lacks the spit and polish of HTC's Sense, but it is desirable none the less.

The new main menu, with its ability to be arranged into panels of the user's choosing, is a great example. The shortcut buttons for Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS, and Silent mode that appear in the notification area are another. Even Samsung's new homescreen is nice: there are plenty of widgets, and users can add, remove, and rearrange home screen panels as they like. There's even an HTC Sense-like pinch gesture to see thumbnails of all the home screen panels at one time.

The Android 2.2 OS still has some issues of its own, though. The back button doesn't always perform as a user might intend. At least Samsung has added a proper task manager to the device.

The Galaxy S 4G's contact system is very nice. It is easy to find a contact, thanks to the list's index letters and easy searching, and shortcuts to frequently accessed contacts can be placed on the home screen. The phone imports contacts from Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter and will make use of their contact photos, as well. Status updates can be viewed from a tab in the Contacts app, where users can do things like reply and retweet. The ring profile support on the phone is minimal, but text input options are well rounded, and include the very nice Swype keyboard system.

While there is much on the phone that can be customized, such as home screen layout and (live) wallpapers, there is no real theme support. I really do appreciate being able to reorganize the main menu, though, and the ability to swap out the Contacts and Messaging icons at the bottom of the screen for those of other functions.

Lag was a common problem on the original Samsung Vibrant. The problem was due to the way the file system was structured. I'm pleased to report that the Galaxy S 4G doesn't have these issues. The 1GHz processor in the S 4G performs just as you would expect: very quickly.

Calling / Data

One thing that the Samsung Galaxy S 4G does really well is find a signal. This is, by far, the best T-Mobile USA handset I've tested when it comes to GSM reception. 4G reception is also way above average for T-Mobile devices. This helps the Galaxy S 4G offer really solid call audio. Even the speakerphone is acceptable. Want even better call audio, though? Just make use of T-Mobile's Wi-Fi calling features, which allows the Galaxy S 4G to make and take calls over a home or office Wi-Fi connection. The Wi-Fi calling feature still uses your contract minutes, but it's great if you have a weak signal at your home or office.

The Galaxy S 4G puts in a stellar performance when it comes to data. While some will argue T-Mobile's use of "4G" is dubious since HSPA+ is a 3G based technology, there's no arguing with the network's performance. Even on weak connections I was able to pull down 2.5 to 3Mbps data speeds, and managed well over 1.5Mbps for uploads. In stronger signal areas the speeds often breached 5Mbps on the downlink. That's blazing fast, and certainly tops what Sprint's WiMAX network offers in my area.

What good is all that data if you can't share it, though? That's why there's a Mobile AP feature on the Galaxy S 4G, which allows others to make use of the S 4G's data over a Wi-Fi connection. You can't use Wi-Fi calling while this feature is enabled, but it's great to have for business trips. There's also Bluetooth wireless support for headsets, stereo headphones, and media sharing, and you can always rely on USB connectivity for drag and drop access to files.

Messaging

Like most Android smartphones, the Samsung Galaxy S 4G has great messaging capabilities. Samsung has added some of its own apps for messaging on the Galaxy S 4G, though, that make it more colorful and even more useful. The brightly colored threaded SMS/MMS system is very nice, for example. It now supports contact photos, and the improved cursor control of Froyo make text editing much simpler a task than it was on the Vibrant.

The Galaxy S 4G has full support for IMAP, POP, and Exchange email through a very pretty application that Samsung has added to the phone. Moving between folders is very easy thanks to the TouchWiz 3.0 sliding tabs at the top of the inbox. Multiple email accounts can be configured, and Contacts and Calendar data can be pulled in from Exchange accounts along with mail. Gmail is handled by a separate Gmail client, and it, too, supports multiple accounts for mail, contacts, and calendar data.

Facebook is the only dedicated social networking app pre-installed, but official (and non-official) apps for Twitter and MySpace are readily available (and free) if the built-in support in the Contacts app proves insufficient. Instant Messaging support is limited to a pre-installed Google Talk client, but apps for other systems are also widely available.

Apps / App Store

Apple may still reign supreme when it comes to the number of applications its app store offers, few are going to be able to argue that the Android Market's roughly 130,000 are insufficient. The updated version of the Market software makes browsing a bit easier, and more visually appealing, too.

For their part, T-Mobile and Samsung loaded the phone with plenty of good stuff. Slacker Radio, Qik Video Chat, ThinkFree Office, and the full length Inception movie are pre-loaded. Samsung's cute Memo, Write and Go, and Mini Diary applications back up a very solid Calendar app that pulls in data from multiple Gmail and Exchange data sources.

Google's Maps, Navigation, and Places applications are pre-installed on the Galaxy S 4G. T-Mobile also offer's its own TeleNav GPS navigation solution, as well as T-Mobile TV and DriveSmart, a system that routs calls to voicemail when it detects that you are driving.

Browser

The web browser that is built into the Samsung Galaxy S 4G is first rate. The large, colorful display and accurate touchscreen provide the perfect foundation for what turns out to be a competent and fast web browsing experience. Pages render the way they are supposed to, and they load up quite quickly.

Zooming can be accomplished multiple ways, including through the use of multi-touch gestures and double tapping on the screen. When the browser zooms in or out, text re-flows to keep everything readable, too. Unlike the original Vibrant, the new Galaxy S 4G comes with Adobe Flash 10.1 pre-installed, and it performs admirably well in most situations (such as YouTube).

Camera

The Samsung Vibrant had a very capable camera, one that I made use of personally for a long time. That why I'm surprised to find that the camera in the Galaxy S 4G seems even better when it comes to photo quality. The focusing might be a bit slower than on the Vibrant, but the quality of the images the camera produces is really great. The user interface is also easy to use and visually appealing.

The lack of a flash, however, means that the phone really needs a good ambient light source before it can snap a photo. You'll have to hold the phone still to have a chance in darker environs. The missing hardware camera shutter button makes that that a bit harder since you need to tap or press-and-hold on the touchscreen to snap a photo. I do like the wide array of features on the camera, though, such as face detection, anti-shake, and blink detection. The stock Android 2.1 gallery application does an acceptable job of presenting the photos to user, too.

Music

The Samsung developed music player on the Galaxy S 4G is a step forward from the stock Android player, in my opinion. I like the the look and layout of the app, and appreciate the quick access to playlist creation, the many equalizer presets, and even the simulated 5.1 channel surround sound. If also features a nifty cover flow like look when the phone is held horizontally (though that feature is off by defauly). The application works with both 3.5mm wired headphones as well as Bluetooth stereo wireless headphones.

I managed to successfully sync the device with a copy of WinAmp on my PC, and all the cover art transferred over as expected using the MTP^(INFO) protocol. But Samsung upped the ante a bit from the days of the Vibrant by adding the doubleTwist synching app to the Galaxy S 4G, which gives the phone not only iTunes synching abilities, but also Wi-Fi wireless "AirSync" support.

Battery

The Samsung Galaxy S 4G comes equipped with a 1650mAh battery, one of the largest on the market and a full 10 percent larger than the battery found in Samsung's Vibrant. In spite of that, T-Mobile and Samsung still list the battery life as being the same: 6.5 hours of talk time or 16.7 days of standby time. Regardless, we all know bigger is better when it comes to power capacities, and the result is that it should be very easy to get through a full day of normal use on the Galaxy S 4G.

If you live in a stronger signal area, and don't have to rely on Wi-Fi for data and voice, you will get an easy day and a half out of this device.

Reviewer Spin

The Samsung Vibrant was my daily phone for quite a few months. I really enjoyed using it, once I dealt with the lag issue, that is. Luckily, the Galaxy S 4G has no such lag issues and does pretty much everything as well or better than the Vibrant. It runs Froyo out of the box, has a new front camera for video chatting, and offers absolutely blazing data speeds. Add Wi-Fi calling and 3G Hotspot support to the mix, and you've got a really nice smartphone.

Even with the advances in display technology that we're seeing, I still find the Super AMOLED display on the Galaxy S 4G to be among the very best available. It's a rock star feature that people notice every single time they pick up the phone, and it's just one more reason to love the Galaxy S 4G. It's a great device.