Sprint Samsung Galaxy S Epic Review

We were recently given the opportunity to test out the newest member of the Sprint phones, the Samsung Epic 4G.  I have been using a HTC Hero for the last 8 months, and this has been a real treat.

What’s in the box…

1. Samsung Epic 4G
2. Lithium Ion Battery
3. AC Phone Charger
4. USB Cable
5. Headset
6. MicroSD Card (2GB)
7. MicroSD Adapter
8. Manuals

I originally wanted a phone that was touchscreen, and small.  After trying out the Epic for the last 2 weeks I find that it is better to wait for better things when shopping.  This phone has a 4″ AMOLED screen.  One thing that I found amazing was the fact that the phone has “Live Wallpapers.”  These wallpapers interact with the user.  This phone also has a sliding door that covers the charging connector.  This is nice because I hate those rubber connectors that you need to move whenever you are charging.  They seem to get in the way considerable amounts of time.

Currently the Epic only has Android 2.1 installed, but it is well known that this phone will get Android 2.2, and will also be able to get Flash 10.  The Epic features a full QWERTY keyboard that slides out.  The phone also supports TTY devices.  The phone has standard Bluetooth, and WiFi capabilities.  **This is the second phone from Sprint to have a WiFi “Hotspot” built into the phone.  This is also the second 4G phone from Sprint.  The touchscreen isn’t as touchy as other phones that I have tried.  The integration with Google has made life easier, and I can only imagine that it will continue to get easier.  Google is a part of the phone whereas your contacts are stored in a Google contacts listing, and the phone retrieves them as necessary.

The front facing camera makes it possible to have video conferencing.  For those that like to see their phone pictures, and such on a tv there is a capability of streaming your items from your phone to items like the Sony PS3.  I use a Exchange Server for my email.  On other phones the Exchange capabilities are very weak.  The Epic stunned me with the capabilities of using of an Exchange Server.  Packed into the system settings is an option to configure a VPN connection.  This is handy for corporate users.  Another great feature that this phone has is the six-axis controls.  This makes playing games on the go even more fun.  One feature that is not working yet is the Samsung Media Hub.  This is going to be the first on-demand movie, and TV store that works over 3G, and 4G networks as well as WiFi.  One of the last big features that this phone has is the “Swype” keyboarding.  This makes it so that you basically drag your fingers from key to key without lifting your finger.

**An additional $29.99 per month charge for this feature.

The phone retails for $349.99 before any discounts.

I give the Samsung Epic 4G a 10 out of 10.

For more information click HERE to go to the official site for the Sprint Epic 4G.

Keep watching our site, as we may be running a contest to win one of these spectacular phones.

We were given a Epic 4G to review.  Receiving this phone did not have any reaction to our review.  As always this review is our honest opinion.

Tags: Android, Droid, Epic, Galaxy S, phone, Samsung, Sprint
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Sprint HTC Hero Review

Around Christmas my wife allowed me to use her upgrade elegibility to get myself a new cell phone.  I am the type of guy that has to have everything at his fingertips.  Well, we searched through the web, and I found a few that I liked, but I really needed a hands on approach at this.  We went to the local Sprint store, and I tried out the HTC Hero.  I have never liked to have anything that is totally touchscreen, but it was time for me to make my move.

A couple of guys at work wanted me to buy a “Jailbroken” IPhone, but I am not going to ever put my money in Apples hands.  I have been a customer of Nextel since they came out, and I had the Direct Connect since the beginning.  Most of the people I knew were getting off the Direct Connect system because there were a lot of limitations in the phones that were on this system.  I don’t like limitations.

The phone is very stylish, and sleek.  The phone is “Powered By Google.”  This means that there is a direct integration with a Google account for easier use.  Example… Your contacts get associated with your Google account.  Your Google account comes with GMail which can be accessed through the phone.  This phone runs on a 3G network.  It has a 5.0mp camera/camcorder.  There is a virtual QWERTY keyboard.

The phone came packaged with:

Phone, Battery, USB Cable, House Adapter, Book, Micro SD Card, Micro SD Card Adapter.

When you need to have access to a bigger keyboard you can just turn the phone, and everything automatically rotates.  This is nice when watching tv, emailing, or even texting.  The HTC Hero is a very light, and easy to use phone.  Every once, and a while I have difficulties with this feature, but it seems to work itself out in the end.

Being that this phone is an android phone users have access to the Android Market.  The Android Market is very similar to most other “Stores”, but it has a large collection of “Apps” that are FREE as well as purchasable.  You can also try out certain titles before purchasing them.  You can download off your cell connection, or WiFi if you want faster downloads.

I don’t like the life of the battery.  Fully charged I am not getting a whole day out of it.  If I turn on Bluetooth, or WiFi, then I lose even more time.  For the most part I can last 1/2 of a day with everything on.  The only other thing that I get annoyed with is that I need to do a “Battery Pull” @ once a day.  Blackberry phones had the same problem.

I don’t regret this move at all.  The phone will last for me until another phone comes out that outranks the HTC Hero.

Tags: Hero, HTC, phone, review, Sprint
Posted in Reviews & Thoughts | 1 Comment »

Samsung Exclaim Review

I have always been a big Samsung fan.  This dates back to my beginning of being a computer technician.  The Samsung name is very reliable, and the products are well made.  In the past my wife had a standard cell phone, and she had a basic plan, and now she wants a new phone.  Recently we made some major changes to our cellular service.  I am thinking of upgrading her into a Samsung Exclaim because that’s what she says she wants.  We were allowed to do a review on the unit so we accepted.  Wife will then have the capability of texting.  I never thought that she would want to text, but she does.  She surfs the internet a bit, and plays some games.  Out of the box the phone comes packaged with a Li-ion battery, a 512mb micro sd card, micro sd adapter, wall charger, phone, and books.

The Samsung Exclaim has a full slide out QWERTY keyboard which makes texting, and web browsing a lot easier.  The phone has 2 different slide outs… Slide down reveals the phone keyboard, and slide out gives access to the QWERTY keyboard.  The phone comes in 3 colors.  White, Cranberry, and Blueberry.  The phone comes equipped for Facebook, MySpace, and can go on almost any other social networking site that you can imagine.

When it comes to messaging this phone brings everything to the table.  You can text message, video message, and picture message just to name a few.  These can be done with the use of the onboard camera, or photos that are stored in your phone.  The camera is 2MP, and has a 3x zoom.  Video clips can be recorded for up to 10 minutes.  For the times that you can’t find anything to do you can watch SprintTV.  Everything you do is done on the 2.6″ display on the front of the phone.  The Exclaim is fully BlueTooth capable.

The service on the Exclaim is still being evaluated by me, but at this time I haven’t found any major service problems that would cause me to complain.  Internet speeds are about average to what I have experienced on other phones.

Here are some of the features as listed on the site…

What we didn’t like…

The browser on the Exclaim is a bit weak.  You can’t view sites as nicely as you can on other phones.

Video messages can’t be very large in size, and Photo messages need the pictures to be smaller as well.

The headphone jack is not standard size.

The USB port is not standard.  Connecting to a computer will require a special USB cable.

What we did like…

The phone is very stylish in design.

QWERTY keyboard made everything a lot easier.

Texting with photos, and video is very easy.

Final evaluation…

All in all the phone seems pretty capable of handling just about anything that you can throw at it.

Keep checking back for more reviews.  Next thing to do is to get a new cell phone for me.

I will be putting up a video review of the phone in the next day, or two.

Leave your comments here about your thoughts about the Exclaim.  At the end of our review period we will be giving the phone away to (1) lucky commenter.

Tags: cell phone, Exclaim, review, Samsung, Sprint
Posted in Reviews & Thoughts | 2 Comments »