@grumbles It is *slightly* faster yes but certainly not enough to justify being $50 more than the EVO. And this thing better have a $10/mo unavoidable fee like the EVO or someone is going down.
@Dession I agree man. Plus that instant rebate is BS put in there to make it seem like you're getting a deal, and the mail in rebate is just another way to try and screw you...
Agree with you 100%. I was really leaning towards this. In my mind they are about even. Epic has a slightly better (but smaller) screen with a slightly better processor and more memory. The Evo has the bigger screen, HDMI out, and most importantly, XDA hacking the crap out of it.
At $199 it would have been a really tough decision. Given that there is a $50 difference the Evo is the winner.
@yankdez it was aug 20th when i saw it first on the page and after sometime when i went to the page again, it was showing 31st. something hapnd in those 30min that it got changed. this was way before engadget posted it here.
@grumbles I haven't chosen an Android phone yet, but I would pay to not use that horrid Samsung skin. I am sorry Samsung, I like android and the Galaxy S hardware, but stop screwing up the software!
@grumbles ok what is weird and messed up is that to walk out the door witht this phone your going to have to spend $350 most smartphones price point is $400 so in other words spend 50 more and not get looked into a contract on most carriers... this is a no brainier for me.. i will not be buying this phone
@benthe1 Yah, but it doesn't have any particularly better features, it's all basically standard, 1 ghz, 4 inch, amoled is high quality, but it's not the type of the thing that adds $50, every other phone is $199 (because apple did it first) and this makes no sense
@bjsguess This Epic device must be better than the EVO for it to be $50 more. For me it comes down to HDMI vs S-AMOLED screen. I'm glad my upgrade date is in November so I have time to decide between the two Android giants.
The Epic 4G is the best consumer smartphone available. Coupled with the best processor, storage, features and Samsung's build quality, this claim is hard to refute.
Shame that Epic 4G will easily be killed due: 1 no GSM (great you've just locked out 80% of the world) 2 no HDMI (great now that you've lost that too) ... something fishy is going on at Samsung, I mean they also removed LED-flashlight and the front-facing camera from the Galaxy S, seems like a waste of S-AMOLED reserves to me.
You only pay $350 if you buy it from Sprint directly. Most other places like Best Buy, Radio Shack, etc offer instant rebates so you'd only pay the $250.
@The Dark Knight First it was a simple iOS vs Android fanwars, now android is dividing and now there will be Moto/HTC/Sammy/other manu's. Root for the underdog and go moto!
@Dession Use wirefly or cellulardeals.com, cellulardeals.com sells the droid x for $150 and the incredible for $100, i bet they'll have this for $150-200 when it launches, and they never ran out when everyone else did for the droid X, cant say the same thing for the evo though those things are scarce.
@Jukah Well its certainly not sammy i went through at least 10 glydes ;( ughhh just the name brings back painful dreadful horrible memories of torture and pain.
That price and rebates is EPIC FAIL more like it. rofl, EVO owners day 1 are still waiting on their mail in rebates, Verizon takes like a week to send you a Visa with the credit.
@Kangal If the Epic 4G is the same as the rest of the Galaxy S line, it'll have HDMI out through the Micro-USB port. That said, while this is essentially my dream phone, for $350 in the door I might reconsider the Droid 2's flaws.
It's the keyboard and I completely understand. I feel comfortable only using physical keyboards since I have such massive thumbs and my hands do shake a bit so I don't always hit the key I want. I've used swype but it gets my fingers sore after a while and it still doesn't take as quick as typing on a virtual keyboard for me. What I'm most disappointed about is TouchWiz, which is commonly known to be inferior to HTC's Sense. If this had Sense then I'd get it, but we got Samsung's crap :-/
Are you joking? The Evo spec wise doesn't even hold a candle to the Epic 4g. The Super Amoled screen alone is worth the extra price of admission.
The only reason one would even purchase a Evo over the Epic 4g would be if you wanted a slightly larger screen, a magnificent kickstand (sarcasm) to prop up the phone for viewing purposes or you don't want a slide out keyboard.
See: Super AMOLED display, faster Hummingbird processor, QWERTY keyboard, 4G WiMAX, 8GB internal flash, Bluetooth 3.0, gyroscope, DLNA, & FM radio.
It's a superior phone to the Evo in many ways. $250/$500 on/off contract for a phone of this magnitude is a non issue in my books. What I do have a problem with is this bullshit $100 rebate, which quite honestly shouldn't be there. At all.
@The Dark Knight november is a long time away. by then there will probably 2 more awesome android smartphones released. then you'll have an even harder time choosing. its best to go with an impulse buy i think. if you have to think about it you'll get nowhere cuz android phones keep one upping themselves.
@EagleyeSmith Buyers remorse my ass the Evo still out shines the epic 4G, the speed difference is not by much, and Samsung's phones are crappy, ugly, and the touch screens are still as unresponsive as the original instinct lol so um need more? Ok, I'd rather have a bigger screen than super amoled displays real estate is that important
of course it matters! Why put up your own money and wait 8-12 weeks to get a rebate instead of dealing with a retailer that makes the rebate process unnecessary but provides the same price.
The one thing that people forget about is TAXES. These $150 MIR, you are paying additional taxes up front on the whole price and then you'll get a check in the mail after several months. So not only do you get ding by your state/federal government, these carriers are also holding your $100-$150 in a high-interest accounts so that they can make further money on you.
I wished that they would forget about these MIR and simply let me walk away without doing more work on my end, including stamps and trips to the post office. But I'm sure both the carrier and uncle sam would like you all to pay more up front... just because it's the capitalistic thing to do.
And just to add my venting: WTF is with the full ~$500 "off contract" pricing? Is there a discounted (unsubsidized) monthly plan that I can choose with Sprint like I can with T-Mobile? No... so what am I saving? Can I take my CDMA Spring Epic 4G and put it on Verizon's plan, let alone AT&T or T-Mobile? No... which is why we need to have some changes from the carrier that gouge you from both your left and right pockets. First the phone... then their plans.
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So why does this cost more than my Evo did? You blew it.
@Dession
It's much faster, has a better display, and a keyboard. All for $50 more. I think someone's jealous.
@grumbles It is *slightly* faster yes but certainly not enough to justify being $50 more than the EVO. And this thing better have a $10/mo unavoidable fee like the EVO or someone is going down.
@grumbles
LOL. Not jealous at all, sliders aren't my thang. $250 seems a bit odd. Everything else is $199.
@Dession I agree man. Plus that instant rebate is BS put in there to make it seem like you're getting a deal, and the mail in rebate is just another way to try and screw you...
@Dession
Agree with you 100%. I was really leaning towards this. In my mind they are about even. Epic has a slightly better (but smaller) screen with a slightly better processor and more memory. The Evo has the bigger screen, HDMI out, and most importantly, XDA hacking the crap out of it.
At $199 it would have been a really tough decision. Given that there is a $50 difference the Evo is the winner.
@yankdez
it was aug 20th when i saw it first on the page and after sometime when i went to the page again, it was showing 31st. something hapnd in those 30min that it got changed. this was way before engadget posted it here.
@Dession
Yea, sounds like someone has Buyers Remorse...
@Dession
$250 because it costs more to make than the EVO. Simple.
@yankdez
EPIC !
@grumbles I haven't chosen an Android phone yet, but I would pay to not use that horrid Samsung skin. I am sorry Samsung, I like android and the Galaxy S hardware, but stop screwing up the software!
@grumbles ok what is weird and messed up is that to walk out the door witht this phone your going to have to spend $350 most smartphones price point is $400 so in other words spend 50 more and not get looked into a contract on most carriers... this is a no brainier for me.. i will not be buying this phone
@benthe1 Yah, but it doesn't have any particularly better features, it's all basically standard, 1 ghz, 4 inch, amoled is high quality, but it's not the type of the thing that adds $50, every other phone is $199 (because apple did it first) and this makes no sense
@bjsguess
This Epic device must be better than the EVO for it to be $50 more. For me it comes down to HDMI vs S-AMOLED screen. I'm glad my upgrade date is in November so I have time to decide between the two Android giants.
@yankdez
well what can I say, I should have taken a screeshot to please you. anyways it does not matter now, does it? :)
@yankdez
check few other comments, the new ones. few others have seen it as 20th.
@The Dark Knight
The Epic 4G is the best consumer smartphone available.
Coupled with the best processor, storage, features and Samsung's build quality, this claim is hard to refute.
Shame that Epic 4G will easily be killed due:
1 no GSM (great you've just locked out 80% of the world)
2 no HDMI (great now that you've lost that too)
... something fishy is going on at Samsung, I mean they also removed LED-flashlight and the front-facing camera from the Galaxy S, seems like a waste of S-AMOLED reserves to me.
@trojangod
You only pay $350 if you buy it from Sprint directly. Most other places like Best Buy, Radio Shack, etc offer instant rebates so you'd only pay the $250.
@DizWhiz it also has a front facing camera which the other line up doesn't. That justifies it
@The Dark Knight
First it was a simple iOS vs Android fanwars, now android is dividing and now there will be Moto/HTC/Sammy/other manu's. Root for the underdog and go moto!
@Dession Use wirefly or cellulardeals.com, cellulardeals.com sells the droid x for $150 and the incredible for $100, i bet they'll have this for $150-200 when it launches, and they never ran out when everyone else did for the droid X, cant say the same thing for the evo though those things are scarce.
@Dession but then again, if they dont offer it for a lower price i might buy it without a contract seeing its not that much of a price jump
@Kangal
Really? Samsung has always let me down build quality wise.
@grumbles
This is EPIC!!!!
@Kangal
Moto defiantly has the best android build quality.
@iWebDroidBerry
That title would most def go to the HTC Legend.
@Dession
Looks pretty damn nice though.
@Jukah
Well its certainly not sammy i went through at least 10 glydes ;( ughhh just the name brings back painful dreadful horrible memories of torture and pain.
ILL NEVER GO BACK DAMN IT!!!
@DizWhiz Run a 3D game on it and try to tell me if it's just slightly faster.
That price and rebates is EPIC FAIL more like it. rofl, EVO owners day 1 are still waiting on their mail in rebates, Verizon takes like a week to send you a Visa with the credit.
Sprint and T-Mobile are both small time fail.
@Kangal If the Epic 4G is the same as the rest of the Galaxy S line, it'll have HDMI out through the Micro-USB port. That said, while this is essentially my dream phone, for $350 in the door I might reconsider the Droid 2's flaws.
@treats
thats gonna cost you a downrank mr
@Scrubs
yea I was gonna say.. I always thought samsung phones were pretty bad build quality and very cheap looking.
@treats
Let's see. As long as you get the money back, does it matter?
@treats
Not everyone got their Evo from a Sprint store. Some got it from retailers that offer instant rebates.
@Dession
It's the keyboard and I completely understand. I feel comfortable only using physical keyboards since I have such massive thumbs and my hands do shake a bit so I don't always hit the key I want. I've used swype but it gets my fingers sore after a while and it still doesn't take as quick as typing on a virtual keyboard for me. What I'm most disappointed about is TouchWiz, which is commonly known to be inferior to HTC's Sense. If this had Sense then I'd get it, but we got Samsung's crap :-/
@DizWhiz
Are you joking? The Evo spec wise doesn't even hold a candle to the Epic 4g. The Super Amoled screen alone is worth the extra price of admission.
The only reason one would even purchase a Evo over the Epic 4g would be if you wanted a slightly larger screen, a magnificent kickstand (sarcasm) to prop up the phone for viewing purposes or you don't want a slide out keyboard.
@Murphys Law
Best Buy Mobile FTW
@Dession expect some major 4G updates at launch.
@Dession
See: Super AMOLED display, faster Hummingbird processor, QWERTY keyboard, 4G WiMAX, 8GB internal flash, Bluetooth 3.0, gyroscope, DLNA, & FM radio.
It's a superior phone to the Evo in many ways. $250/$500 on/off contract for a phone of this magnitude is a non issue in my books. What I do have a problem with is this bullshit $100 rebate, which quite honestly shouldn't be there. At all.
And it can do it TV-out with 3.5mm jack, and that means TV-out for the whole OS, not just video and photo gallery.
@The Dark Knight november is a long time away. by then there will probably 2 more awesome android smartphones released. then you'll have an even harder time choosing. its best to go with an impulse buy i think. if you have to think about it you'll get nowhere cuz android phones keep one upping themselves.
@Dession Haha, I would have thought the other way around. That it's odd everything else is exactly $199...
Anywhoo.... the EVO has a LCD display, MUCH slower CPU+GPU combination and among other things not the ingenious USB/HDMI combination Samsung use.
Apart from that a physical keyboard will always make a device more expensive than a keyboard-less equivalent....
@EagleyeSmith Buyers remorse my ass the Evo still out shines the epic 4G, the speed difference is not by much, and Samsung's phones are crappy, ugly, and the touch screens are still as unresponsive as the original instinct lol so um need more? Ok, I'd rather have a bigger screen than super amoled displays real estate is that important
@bob1000
U DNT HAVE TO USE THE TOUCHWIZ UI, JUS INSTALL ADW LAUNCHER OR LAUNCHER PRO!
of course it matters! Why put up your own money and wait 8-12 weeks to get a rebate instead of dealing with a retailer that makes the rebate process unnecessary but provides the same price.
@MysticLeviathan
U DONT HAVE TO USE THE TOUCHWIZ UI IF YOU INSTALL ADW LAUNCHER OR LAUNCHER PRO!
@Dession Not the aged Palm Pre: still $249.99 just like last year.
@estarkey7
Indeed.
The one thing that people forget about is TAXES. These $150 MIR, you are paying additional taxes up front on the whole price and then you'll get a check in the mail after several months. So not only do you get ding by your state/federal government, these carriers are also holding your $100-$150 in a high-interest accounts so that they can make further money on you.
I wished that they would forget about these MIR and simply let me walk away without doing more work on my end, including stamps and trips to the post office. But I'm sure both the carrier and uncle sam would like you all to pay more up front... just because it's the capitalistic thing to do.
@PiCASSO
And just to add my venting: WTF is with the full ~$500 "off contract" pricing? Is there a discounted (unsubsidized) monthly plan that I can choose with Sprint like I can with T-Mobile? No... so what am I saving? Can I take my CDMA Spring Epic 4G and put it on Verizon's plan, let alone AT&T or T-Mobile? No... which is why we need to have some changes from the carrier that gouge you from both your left and right pockets. First the phone... then their plans.