I have been playing around with both phones and because I belong to Sprint for the rest of my life's tenure, I shall let you know that these are the two best phones available in the market but let's compare which is better at what.
Appearance - The Evo 4G does not have a slide-out QWERTY keypad like the Epic. The Epic despite the keyboard is about an ounce lighter in weight and that says a lot about the AMOLED screen and the absolutely flawless design on this phone. The charging port is located on the TOP of the phone and also has a little slide you need to drag open before accessing the MICRO USB/Charger. The phone looks a terrific black (like the best looking iPhone, oh yeah we care, no sarcasm) when the screen is not on. UNLIKE THE EVO, the standby key is on the right hand side of the phone and does the same thing. On first appearance, the design of the Epic is mouth watering. I've always found Sidekick like phones cheesy and even that DROID from VERIZON looks very plastic to me but I shall diss no more, the Epic might just win on this account (but I know plenty of Evo users who would disagree but this is my opinion). Because of size, weight, 4-inch screen (Evo's 4.3), design of the slide out, the Epic wins this round.
Call Reception / Loud Speaker -> While playing music, I noticed the Epic was a little louder than the Evo is but at full volume, it can be a tad too loud too which is obviously such a WELCOME FEATURE. The Evo has a loud speaker alright and also a dedicated home page where you can easily play your music but what matters is the sound because both phones offer excellent customization.
Battery Life - This is one of the primary reasons the Epic is likely to do good. I fume when I hear people say the DROID X has a better battery life than the Evo. On Epic, the AMOLED screen ensures you don't need to charge this phone more than once a day. I managed to make this last for atleast a day but I did find the battery readings to be inaccurate from time to time. Maybe this happened because I was trying the phone on Airplane mode and then switching to CDMA so that could be it. There was a difference in the battery life, sometimes the bar would be short and sometimes substantially longer. Maybe it is just a software update that is required but at the end of the day, You can have all the features on a phone but what matters a lot is battery life and the Epic takes this round too. By getting the Evo you will need to buy an extra battery unless you like carrying your wires everywhere you go. If you're getting the Evo make sure you get an extra battery charger and oh save yourself some money and NEVER INVEST ON EXTENDED BATTERIES. You wouuld think Samsung and HTC are more clever than not to have come out with the extended battery in the first place. Feel free to discuss, throw things at me on the comments column.
Screen Brightness - HTC Evo is about AS BRIGHT AS THE SUN, absolutely incredible brightness, it's like watching the most expensive HDTV sometimes. The phone even on low brightness is surprisingly bright and I always appreciate brightness. While the Epic is not dull, I'll be lying if I say the screen is as bright as the Evo or even comes close to taking this round. The Epic has a jaw dropping display but the brightness and screen quality while you're on a webpage makes Evo the winner here. The brightness may come at the price of battery life but when you drive a HUMMER, you worry not about the battery life but about the drive.
Build Quality of Plastic on the BACK - The Evo certain feels a little more solid and smooth. The back on the EVO is better than the INCREDIBLE. Evo's kickstand is an added feature but the quality of the plastic on the Evo is 15% better than the Epic when you're holding the back though Epic is quite good as it is. **Caution** Do not remove Epic's back size by the SPEAKER, you may damage the phone cause you're such a strong individual, locate a small opening at the end and then LIFT UP the back plastic covering the battery. The back is obviously not RED like the HTC EVO.
Bundled Accessories - Epic comes with a 16gb card, in ear earphones, a thicker BASIC manual I haven't opened and read yet. The Evo comes with an 8gb card and no earphones. They both come with a Micro USb Cord which coverts into a wall charger. I have tried and used almost all earphones bundled with phones and have never seen any Sprint phone with such good quality "in-ear" earphones which provide NOISE CANCELLATION. An excellent extra for the fifty bucks you pay depending on where you're buying the phones from. 16gb is like having 2 x 8gb cards.
Mobile Hotspot - DRAW
Task Killer App - If you hold the home button down on the Epic, an excellent task killer pops up. It is so easy and fun to use that this alone was a big big big deal for me. I've used it on the Evo before but it's just so much hassle free and cleaner on the Samsung, it tells you the percentage of the CPU being used for variety of apps in REAL TIME! Deal-MAKER for me. EVO owners, please correct me if I'm wrong.
CAMERA *BIG DEAL FOR ME* - Epic. Epic. Epic. Epic. The customization is Godly. Samsung is slowly becoming very clever. The camera quality is that of a digital camera, I dare say. Also if people are moving and pause for a second, the phone still takes an absolutely astounding photograph. The Evo makes things yellow and although it's 8megapixel, the camera doesn't quite seal the deal. The other thing is that the Evo doesn't have that many customizations for the camera. Samsung has pulled a magic trick with this one. Some envious Evo users tell me that because the screen looks better on the Epic, the images look better but if I were to upload these to my computer, there'd be a difference. This is my response to people who say something like that. How often will I be uploading these pictures? Maybe once in four days, I will be mostly viewing them on the phone so I don't care about that. Mind you, though I haven't uploaded anything yet, I shall upload them and send you a sample picture if you request one. PLEASE BARE IN MIND, while the SAMSUNG has more options, it will take a real techoholic to want to figure out each and every feature, I'm still getting WARMED up to it.
Google Sync - The google sync on both phones immediately got all my contacts into the phone, there are a ton of applications so if you have a gmail account even with a blackberry, all your contacts are gonna be SYNCED with either the EVO or the EPIC. Google has a very funny deal-sealing way of having the google sync on the BLACKBERRY. If you're dumping your blackberry, make sure you do google sync and sync all your contacts before activating the EPIC. Ask a store rep to do it for you before buying it BLINDLY from them.
BROWSING - Browsing on the Evo is the best browsing I have ever seen. It still wins over the Epic by just a single point. Epic still gets a 9/10 while Evo because of it's multi-touch gets a perfect 10. There is no lag while browsing or using the touchscreen at all. This is a dream come true for people who've ever had the Samsung Instinct from two years ago. These two phones make my Blackberry look so bad and that's one thing to love and admire about Androids, the fact that they have such capable awesomse fast, intelligent browsers. I have no complaints whatsoever. I have an iPod touch and its half as good at best and I'll tell you the iPod touch is amazing. EVO wins by a life because it's the best at it. Epic is still about two and a half times as good as my Sprint BOLD.
On-Screen Typing : On screen typing on the Evo is way better because of HTC's on screen Qwerty. Swype comes built in with the EPIC. I've never used it, I don't believe in it, just looks too cheesy. Evo has a great typing mechanism but EPIC assumes that unless you're typing casually, you will use the physical keyboard to type. The Evo's typing is better than the iPhone's or the iPods. I haven't played with the iPhone 4 yet.
SLIDE OUT / PHYSICAL KEYBOARD : I will go for the Epic over the Evo because it has a wonderful, non-cheesy, idiot proof keyboard slide out. This is the best addition possible besides the camera and the bundled accessries. I despise the Moment's keyboard in comparison though Moment isn't a bad phone. The EVO is supposed to be Sprint and Samsung's replacement for the SAMSUNG MOMENT.
I've been away from my 2 day old Epic. I will discover more things and shall let you know. Any cons? The capacitive keys on the front could've been a touch more responsive. On the Evo they seem more responsive. I'm in no hurry for the Samsung Epic to get 2.2 and I'm sure they won't disappoint.
Wallpapers look brighter, more alive, sleeker, sexier, more sophisticated on the Epic. When you're in your menu on the Evo you go from top to bottom while on the Epic, if you click Applications you go left right right right. So it's horizontal menu browsing on the Epic and vertical on the Evo.
There is so much more for me to discover. I told someone earlier this year that no phone will ever match the iPhone but technology has an astounding way of shocking me. I'm an absolute geek and am glad that the Epic exists. It's like action sequences on the Lord of the Rings : Twin Towers while Evo is like the Matrix chase scenes from Reloaded. Both are feature packed phones but I love to type and the additional keyboard is fantastic for typing.
Wi-Fi Browsing : If both phones were used on the Wifi, the Epic is blazingly fast and obviously an easy hands down winner. I didn't try browsing on both using the 3G signal in Manhattan though it loaded a youtube video and downloaded an mp3 rather fast.
MISCELLANEOUS THINGS: Epic comes with a game, it also a Samsung HUB, it doesn't have an HDMI port but has something called DLNA which enables you to wireless connect the phone with compatible televisions and monitors. The AMOLED screen is Samsung's proprietary format I read somewhere, Samsung will invest $2 Billion in the next year or two for making screen for all touchscreens.
I'm sorry about how random this review might seem but I really wanna go back to playing with the Epic so see you later. My conclusion is obvious from the subject.
**UPDATES**
Samsung Epic has four buttons when you slide out the keyboard. One is for the Home, one is the back key, one is the menu, one is the features Key. These behave just like the FOUR buttons on the front beneath the screen when viewed vertically.
I'm falling in love with the wallpaper options. The HTC Evo has something called scenes and the profile customization is exciting, I wonder how ANDROID 2.2 will look on the EPIC.
Please buy an invisible shield when you buy this phone, I'm looking for an Anti-Glare one for $10. Any suggestions?
I saw a lady with the Samsung Epic today, she had a cheesy black plastic case on her EPIC. POOR CASES can make the Epic look like the Samsung MOMENT (Sorry, Moment owners, no offense, just honesty). I am not going to use any case for this phone, what a waste of a gorgeous phone.
I also thought I should add a note that I have never bothered investing in a SAMSUNG phone for myself but the EPIC really made it an easy decision. The Galaxy S series is remarkable. I live in New York and get no 4G but I do get unlimited data downloads, video calling and that's all. I don't mind the $10 extra fee but it may hurt the price conscious user but SPRINT is still a better deal than the other carriers so don't OVER THINK it.
**11/01/2010 Update**
4G has been launched in NEW YORK and I can download a 3mb song from gmail in 13 seconds.
Shazam takes a second to tell you the name of the song that's playing.
Does consume a lot of battery though.
UPDATE 05/06/2011 - To people who are thinking about getting the Epic, there is soon going to be a new 4G phone so please RE-CONSIDER because there is the NEXUS S out. It doesn't have a keyboard mind you and yes it is based on Sprint's WIMAX 4G. Samsung Epic 4G Android Phone (Sprint)'
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