Product: Epic 4G
Manufacturer: Samsung
Wired Rating: 8
Got big pockets? And we mean that in both the physical size and money-carrying capacity sense of the word.
At $250, it ain’t cheap — and you’ll pay extra each month for anything beyond basic service. But more to the point, Samsung’s new Epic 4G is a big phone: nearly 5 inches tall and over 2½ inches wide and ½ an inch thick. Its 5.4 ounce heft is light considering the overall size of the handset, but there’s no getting around its girth: The Epic 4G makes itself known in your pocket, assuming you can wedge it in there at all.
And maybe that’s because this Android phone (version 2.1) has so much to cram into it. Giant, gorgeous 4-inch WVGA-resolution Super AMOLED screen (800 x 480 pixels), 5-megapixel camera with flash. Big-ass slide-out QWERTY keyboard. Sprint Hotspot, which lets you use the Epic as a Wi-Fi access point for up to five other devices ($30 extra per month, by the by). Front-facing camera with video chat support (Qik is required on both ends). And, of course, 4G WiMax data networking (where it’s supported), courtesy of carrier Sprint.
Once you swallow its size, there’s very little to complain about with the Epic. The screen looks great with games, media, or even just browsing the menus. Audio, both with calls and media playback, is loud and crisp. Photos look good. Webpages load quickly and cleanly. And managing extra services like the porta-hotspot system couldn’t be easier (though the speeds we got on our connected PC were sub-megabit downloads).
On the downside: The Epic turned in just 4½ hours talk time, which is pretty sad for a phone with such vast amounts of room for a battery. And we weren’t big fans of the slide-out keyboard, which features keys that don’t stick up enough and are hard to hit with anything except a fingernail. At the same time, on-screen typing was jarring thanks to the overly-active rumbler beneath the display.
Those are relatively minor complaints, though. If big’s your bag, this is one of the best Sprint smartphones you can get.
WIRED Glorious display — extremely bright and crisp. Feature-laden; literally lacking nothing that a state-of-the-art handset ought to have.
TIRED Battery life is substandard. Keyboard is too flat for easy typing.