Sprint sure is on the connectivity war path, offering its second 4G capable smartphone in less than 3 months. The first, EVO 4G, was manufactured by HTC, and received rave reviews but also suffered from some hardware and software bugs. It released on June 4th. The latest, Epic 4G (also known as Galaxy S Pro), is manufactured by Samsung, and will release on August 31st for $249.99 (2-year contract plus $100 mail-in rebate).
The Epic 4G is part of Samsung’s Galaxy S family of phones, which recently gave rise to numerous not too dissimilar models in the American market, each for a different carrier, including the Captivate (AT&T), Vibrant (T-Mobile), and Fascinate (Verizon Wireless –not yet released). While the form of each phone is slightly different, the underlying specifications remain the same, such as the 1GHz Hummingbird processor, the SuperAMOLED screen, and the Android 2.1 OS with the latest Samsung TouchWiz 3.0 UI. The Epic 4G is the only one with a hardware QWERTY keypad and a LED flash in the family though. Though the Samsung Vibrant was known to have an AGPS issue, it seems to have been carried on to the Epic 4G as well. Maybe they could have waited to fix it before releasing it?
Samsung is definitely enjoying much success with its Android-based Galaxy S line-up of phones, which includes notable worldwide sales for the original Galaxy S phone itself. Reviews of the Epic 4G are already in, and the inevitable comparisons with Sprint’s other 4G smartphone, the HTC EVO 4G, all seem place them roughly on the same level.
Both are CDMA based phones, with WiMAX 4G (1xEV-DO) connectivity. The Samsung Epic 4G was noted for its superior build quality, and slightly better battery-life, while HTC’s Sense UI was roundly said to be a better customization than Samsung’s TouchWiz 3.0 UI. The EVO 4G was also noted for its superior 720p HD video recording. Possibly the biggest difference is the presence of the hardware QWERTY keypad on the Epic 4G; though the 8MP camera on the EVO 4G will surely give the HTC device a heads up against the 5MP camera on the Epic 4G. The EVO 4G is also notably cheaper by $50, and now sports a Android 2.2 upgrade, while the Epic 4G, releasing nearly three months later, still comes with Android 2.1 out of the box. Here are the specifications of the device:
|
2G Network |
CDMA 800 / 1900 |
|
3G Network |
CDMA2000 1xEV-DO |
|
Dimensions |
124 x 65 x 14 mm |
|
Weight |
155 g |
|
Display |
4-inch Super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen with 480×800 pixel resolution at 16M colours, HTC TouchWiz 3.0 UI |
|
Sensors |
Accelerometer sensor for UI auto-rotate, proximity sensor for auto turn-off, touch-sensitive controls and multi-touch input, Swype text input, digital compass |
|
Camera |
5 MP, 2592 x 1944 pixels, autofocus, LED flash, geo-tagging, touch focus, face and smile detection; video at 720p@30fps |
|
CPU |
ARM Cortex A8 1GHz processor |
|
OS |
Android OS, v2.1 (Eclair) |
|
Memory |
512 MB RAM, 512 MB ROM |
|
Storage |
400MB internal, microSD expandability up to 32GB |
|
Audio support |
3.5 mm audio jack, MP3/WAV/eAAC /AC3/FLAC formats |
|
Video support |
MP4/DivX/WMV/H.264/H.263 formats |
|
GPRS |
No |
|
EDGE |
No |
|
3G |
Rev. A, up to 3.1 Mbps |
|
Connectivity |
Bluetooth v2.1 with A2DP, WiFi 802.11 b/g, WiMAX, microUSB v2.0 |
|
Radio |
Stereo FM radio with RDS |
|
GPS |
Yes, with A-GPS support |
|
Java |
Via third party application |
|
Colours |
Black |
|
|
Standard battery, Li-Ion 1500 mAh |