Great, but not for long! January 25, 2013

Reviewer:  KLMCats  (United States) -

If your calling plan provides for an annual upgrade, then this is an absolutely fantastic phone. All positive reviews are accurate, I was deeply in love w/ my new phone. After a year it is another matter, one problem after another & in scanning various user sites I find I am not alone in any of them:
- phone (& clock) freezes & can only be reset by removing battery
- phone turns off & on by itself for no reason
- phones turns off by itself (fully charged battery)
- usb connected message keeps flashing after disconnected

Soft reset is virtually impossible as you must press recessed on/off button, volume down & camera all at once. After just over a year the phone eventually turned off & showed indications it no longer recognized charger or battery, just acted like a paper weight. Now back from repairs - has yet to turn off/on by itself, but all off the above have happened just hours after reactivating, including the start of the usb message. User lists seem to indicate the this indicates damage to the "charging port".

2 years of hell December 12, 2012

Reviewer:  Tillman H. Smoot  (Atlanta, GA) -

I have learned to hate everything about this phone over the past two years. It powers down for no reason, can't seem to stay connected to 4g or GPS, over heats and the battery life is atrocious. I am now on my second one of this brand. The first one's circuit board stopped working, effectively bricked. Sprint sent me a refurb that barely works. The best thing about it is the TARDIS skin that I have put on it.

Worst Phones we have ever owned! November 9, 2012

Reviewer:  Schorsch "Constant Shopper"  (Winnetka, IL United States) -

We purchased three of these phones about 18 months ago. I am counting til I can swtich carriers back to Verizon and get a new phone with them. From day 1 my phone would not connect to register it. The other two both did. That was just the start. I have had mine replaced three times and it is the biggest piece of garbage I have ever owned. It constantly locks up. I have watched it while sitting on my desk in a locked mode, unlock itself and open an app or dial a contact at random. No virus's have been found and yes I have checked and checked. It cannot fing GPS even when my husbands identical phone next to me can. My daughters phone started doing the same kind of things. SPrint has been the WORST company ever to deal with this. They refused even in the first few weeks to replace my phone with a new one. So I have gotten two factory refurbished phones. My husbands phone (he uses his very little) is now starting to act strange as well. NEVER buy one of these. Everyone I know who owns this model has had the same problems. Buy another model. Samsung has good quality products but they just dropped the ball on this model completely. I also have almost no coverage with this phone while others on the Sprint network near me work just fine.

It doesn't work with the updates November 6, 2012

Reviewer:  SindhiChino 

Do your homework and stay away from this phone now. Sprint forces you to update to gingerbread but it doesn't work with gingerbread. You will be very unhappy if you buy this phone now, in 2012, and realize too late. Do the research.

Great Idea TERRIBLE implementation July 16, 2012

Reviewer:  Jason Worm "Jason Worm"  (USA) -

I've had this phone for over a year and a half. It has all the features I want and is wonderful concept. However, it is VERY buggy and probably the worse piece of software I have paid for. I have constant problems that change or get fixed then new problems arise.

Currently the Bluetooth skips (not as bad as it was) and the GPS regularly loses it's signal making the nav worthless.

I lose GPS most of the time (I only use if for longer trips but sometime it looses it GPS before I leave my street) and the only way to restore GPS is to turn the phone off and on. This is a pain when I am driving and relying on the GPS. The blue tooth (not head phones or speakers) likes to skip often. It was REALLY bad for a while but now it is less often.

The screen is also unresponsive and I actually had to use the warranty I pay monthly for to have the phone replaced because the entire screen went permanently unresponsive.

Bottom line, this is junk and I will be VERY skeptical about buying anything made by Samsung again. I can't wait till my contract is up so I can buy a smart phone that works.

It's Okay. June 23, 2012

Reviewer:  Meg K 

I rated this phone 4/5 because most of the features about this phone is great. The sound quality/picture quality/quick.

The only few things I dislike about this phone is the front touch screen buttons on the bottom. They don't work sufficiently such as the back button...I always have to push the back on the keyboard. When it falls asleep i always have to slide it open.

Not a fan of the phone not being on the main menu where messaging is anymore. But it's okay

Progressively worsening & Sprint/Samsung know about it!!! June 12, 2012

Reviewer:  Syres20 "Syres20"  (South Florida) -

When first purchased back in the summer of 2011, this phone was phenomenal. The only complaints for the phone was of course that the 4G antenna loved to drain the battery while barely getting more than 2bars of signal, thus providing similar speed to the 3G. After the 5th month the problems began; constant force closes on even phone calls, screen freezing up, battery running super hot, slower response to touch screen.
The phone problems, we later found out, weren't unique. My wife had the same phone (now has Epic 4G Touch, huge improvement, miss the pull out qwerty) and hers was so bad we had to do two resets at the Sprint store where the sales man 1st blamed the apps, then the OS, then technology for making phone function as more than just a phone. We took it to Best Buy where they were originally purchased and found ourselves with a lady that had the identical problems and was told over the phone that it was unique to her! There we were 3 people with the same phone, having the same problems, all being told it was unique to us!
Because early upgrades can be costly, only my wife has the new phone. I'm still going along with the problems, having gotten used to taking the battery out the phone 3-4 times a day to reset it, as recommended by Sprint and Best Buy sales people. Worst part is when it locks up while using the Navigation from Google to get somewhere unknown. Very disappointing experience to say the least (I'm waiting for a viable Windows phone on Sprint to switch to, Android OS is too fragmented to stick around with)

Excellent phone, love the keyboard February 8, 2012

Reviewer:  Ray 

The epic has is great phone with a large very clear screen. The keyboard is extremely handy when you want to send long emails or type extra fast text messages. Battery life is not great but can be managed if you know you won't have access to a charger for awhile.

Fixing keyboard lag, battery life and coverage problems January 19, 2012

Reviewer:  Max  (United States) -

Sprint Samsung Epic 4G.
I am still surprized how much time I spent on fixing Epic 4G!
It seemed like a decent phone, but had several serious problems:
1. Short battery life = upgraded to thick 2x battery with a thick cover.
2. Spring has very poor coverage = after a year of suffering discovered, that roaming and data roaming are free and now always use roaming option no matter what. That solved signal problem but there is no 4G anymore.
3. The physical keyboard skipps keys especially if a key is repeated twice. I was really disappointed about that for 1.5 years.
Gingerbread update, as appears now doesn't solve this problem.
So what I did:
(originally I rooted my Froyo (old android os) and installed a keyboard fix. Rooting is a process that allows modifying the Android system deep inside. The original fix didn't fix the problem. ) Then I discovered that my phone doesn't install the gingerbread update that was feeded by Sprint. After a couple of months, I decided to force it and succeded.
(This set of instructions was great and educational, but didn't work for me - http://goo.gl/Ecn6X
the phone would beep (1+3) vibrations signaling about the system crash after restart.)

Here are the steps that worked:
1. Download "App list backup" from market.
http://goo.gl/zG8Qg
Backup the list of apps to sd card. The program then helps installing the apps from the market one by one. Since there is so many of them it remembers which ones were installed. Not more than that.(Titanium backup is great except it requires rooting which I am not sure I want anymore since rooting prevents automatic upgrades).
2. Followed this instruction to Flash/Restore to Froyo EC05 (Procedure #1)
http://goo.gl/deKjd
3. Manually upgraded Froyo to Gingerbread.
http://goo.gl/vBWat
4. Installed a custom kernel with a keyboard fix.
http://goo.gl/l9Gsy

A quick test shows that the keyboard lag has been fixed. Otherwise it is an official Gingerbread eligible for further automatic updates.

Here are the files I used.
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/83934/epic/index.html

do not buy!!! January 8, 2012

Reviewer:  redneck 

bought this phone last yearworked great for he first 90 days then started to slow down lock up and every time i pluged it in it told me my batt was to cold/hot to charge when it wasnt had to remove batt. then when pluging it in to the charger the batt went from 14% to 70% took it to the store thy gave me a new phone and batt. now this phone is doing the same thing. i took it back to the store they tell me the batt doesnt hold a charge i need to buy a new batt it clearly does it will stay charged all day they refuse to give me a new phone unless i pay 100 bucks i cant wait to get rid of this P.O.S!!! do not buy!!!

Don't bother December 30, 2011

Reviewer:  CU Dinesen Rogers 

To be fair, the phone itself is nice, but after Sprint's Gingerbread update, it broke the phone. GPS does not work at all. The phone randomly freezes and restarts. Sprint is unresponsive to fixing the issue. If you do want to get this phone, do so with another carrier if you can.

Battery life is an issue. I upgraded my battery because of it. The keyboard is nice, a definite plus if you still want a physical keyboard. Be careful before committing to Sprint and this phone. You may do okay or you may be like me--switching to Verizon.

Love this phone - when it works November 23, 2011

Reviewer:  Rhinestone Mom "Rhinestone Mom"  (St. Louis, MO) -

I love this phone and the slide out keyboard - when it is working. Problem is, I'm on my 5th phone plus one replacement keyboard in less than 1 year. This one is acting up now too. Besides the phone shutting off on its own, the biggest problem I've had is with the sensor bar at the top. After having the phone for a while, the keyboard will not go dark when I put it to my ear. So when I speak, my face moves on the screen and I'll end up hanging up on someone, hitting numbers so it beeps in both of our ears or it mutes. It's very embarrassing to have this happen with a client on the other line! It's to the point that I will hunt down the home phone so I don't have to call someone on my cell phone! I've also had at least 1 keyboard that wouldn't type certain letters - the first replacement may have had that too - I've had so many I can't remember. The first replacement was maybe a month after I bought the phone. I'm not hard on phones overall, so the issue is with the phone itself. Oh, and then there are all of the software issues. The last update was ok although my phone is locking up quite a bit now. My husband got the same phone right after it came out and loved it, which is why I bought it too. He is still on his original phone, although it has started shutting itself off maybe 3-4 times a week and just last night it started making a high pitched constant noise until he shut it off. I have 2 different friends with the Epic. They both have had problems with them too - most with them shutting down. But, my kids both have the Evo. We haven't had a problem with either one - and their teenagers! Hopefully Samsung will get this figured out before the next one comes out..

not the usual samsung quality September 18, 2011

Reviewer:  DM_TX 

I am waiting on replacement #3 of this phone. I did my upgrade with Sprint July 6th, and within 30 days was back in the store with a touch screen that did not work. When you went to use the touchscreen dialer it was only showing a horizontal position and would not orientate to the vertical position. Along with that it would not allow the dial pad to show up. The only way you could dial was with the slide out keyboard or if it was connected by Bluetooth to the Sync in my truck. So, I took it in and the girl said,"Hmmm, I've had mine a year and never seen one do that. Did you take the battery out to reset it?" I replied yes and it did not work. I got phone number 2 and went on my way. Then this last week #2's touch screen started this going totally black on me where it wouldn't function it was on but you couldn't use it...except with Sync in my F150(Thank you Ford). As long as the Bluetooth is on it in the truck I could answer or make calls. I could not do anything else. So, I went back again to Sprint. The same girl waits on me after I ask if she remembers me and she says she does. And again I get "Hmmm, I've had mine a year and never seen one do that. Did you take the battery out to reset it?" " Yes, several times," I reply. So she calls the "tech" store across town to see if the can even look at fixing it. They say no, because they don't have parts. At this point she tells me she can order me a new phone. I ask if there are any other phones to choose from and she gives me 3 options which I didn't care for, at which point I tell her just to order #3. I am told it is on back order and will be at least 3-5 bus. days to ship. I have since been in touch with Sprint, two times by phone, and found out that they will not allow me to choose another phone and I am being sent a refurbished phone, even though I paid for a new working phone. I was basically told by Sprint suck it up and take the hosing like a big girl. Other than the touch screen sucking, I really found the ringer volume to be for crap. It is not loud even on the loudest setting. There are also a lot of junk apps loaded that it won't let you remove and it can be slow to load pages, email or post to FB. I usually like Samsung, my 2 previous phones were Samsung, but this one is sub-standard. I personally would not tell anybody to get this phone.

Good But not Great September 13, 2011

Reviewer:  jr66 

Samsung Epic 4g, not only does it offer a great deal of many fantastic features, but just like any device, it has its flaws. After not being able to get my hands on a HTC Evo 4g mobile device, I gave up trying to get one and decided to go with a Samsung Epic 4g. I have to say that I am quite happy with my decision, although there are some things the phone and the software in the phone can be improved on. The Samsung Epic 4g is a good device and I would totally recommend it.I have had the Samsung epic for a year, since the first day it came out to be exact. I was told that the Epic was going to be one of the best phones in the market offering, "A rich 4.0 inch super AMOLED display, a full qwerty keyboard, fast 3G/4G speeds, 1 GHz processor, 1 GB ROM, and 512 MB of RAM." This convinced me to buy the phone. Indeed I did have one of the best phones out there, going from a Palm Pre, which I had to get a new one 5 times due to software problems, being defective, screens cracking, and it just breaking, the Epic was a big step forward. As time went on after having the Samsung Epic for a while things were not going so well.
After about half a year, my phone started to lag, battery life was not lasting me as long as it used to and speeds were not as fast anymore. I did some research, looking up anything that could help, but could not really find any sites or forums to help me with the lag. I do understand that Sprint itself has pretty slow speeds, but when it comes to WI-FI, it is pretty quick. It seemed that even in WIFI it was lagging. I have to agree with other reviews that battery life is not that great, but in my case that was not the problem before. With the help of friends and research I have found ways to keep my battery life last me a little longer by using task killers, turning off GPS and 4G (which is not available everywhere), and turning off your data. I came to the conclusion that maybe after dropping my phone countless times would have caused it to run slower than usual as I might have knocked something out of place. I have to say that after dropping my phone many times, it only has scratches and one a little crack that is barely noticeable. I can honestly say this is a good quality phone that also feels good in the hands.
The Samsung Epic 4g is a good phone, but it has its flaws which might turn some people off. But despite the fact that it tends to lag, the Samsung Epic 4g was a great device for me and as well for others. I am sad to say that I am letting this phone go as I am hopefully upgrading my phone this month to the Samsung Epic 4g Touch, A Samsung galaxy S2 device. I can say that the Epic has satisfied my needs in the way I use my phone, for texting, e-mail and internet browsing. If that is all you need then the Epic would be a good buy for you, despite sprints slow speeds, if there is a Wi-Fi network around, the Epic will not disappoint.

great phone featuring Hotspot functionality August 8, 2011

Reviewer:  D. Briscoe  (Athens, GA USA) -

I have had the phone for about 10 months. It is a great phone. The display is clear and colorful. One thing that does bother me is that it is very bright to look at at night - I wish the brightness could be turned down more. I have used the Hotspot functionality at times, which costs $29 a month. You can turn it on and off any day that you want at no charge, but it is a small hassle to make that change to your account at Sprint's website. The Hotspot's 4G speed seems to be typically 3 or 4 MB/s where I live. Sprint has been slow to deliver Android updates, still waiting for Gingerbread, so that is a minor annoyance.

Hardware that under-performs. August 3, 2011

Reviewer:  David Laufer "Enik Fox"  (Behind you) -

Can someone tell me why my current phone, a Nexus s 4G, which has the same specs as my last phone, epic 4g, yet benchmarks much higher even if rooted and all of sammy's apps are taken out? It just doesn't make sense that the same hardware running the same os could have such different results. Also the battery life is horrendous. I got 6 hours of standby tops without putting it in airplane mode.

Samsung epic 4g July 23, 2011

Reviewer:  mv23 

I have owned this phone for about 2 months and I love it! I really enjoy the keyboard and the big screen. It also takes a lot to scratch this phone but make sure you put on a protective cover on right away. It may feel a bit too big at first but you will get used to it. If you are looking for a simple phone I wouldn't recommend it. It's it bit more complex then a regular flip phone. The battery doesn't last very long though, so make sure you have your charger.

Great Phone but no Evo September 4, 2010

Reviewer:  Rhines44  (Spfld, IL) -

I had been holding out getting an Evo because I knew this phone was coming soon and it was hyped pretty intensely. I'm not going to go over the tecs and specs, but mostly just bring up a few issues that made me return this phone after 2 days and purchase an HTC Evo instead...which I am extremely glad I did.

The first thing I noticed when I received the Epic was its Incredible screen! Beautiful, bright and vibrant colors. The super AMOLED screen certainly was not one of the letdowns on this device. Immediately after I started using this phone and carrying it around it started to remind me of my Palm Pre. It felt a bit cheap and "plasticky" in the hand, and the sliding screen would have the same oreo cookie effect as the Palm Pre did (the top part of the slider phone could slightly twist back and forth). I could also feel that the top part of the phone had some give and would push down against the kekyboard as I would type or scroll on the device screen. The power button being on the side would cause the phone to slide open a bit every time I would turn it on with one hand. Although the charging port has a great cover that conveniently slid open and closed, the port was located on the TOP of the device. When using these phones that require a ton of battery, you will be using it while charging at some point. When doing so, the cord would come out from the top of the phone and rest against my head, or fall back awkwardly behind the phone.

Although the screen was bright and vibrant, it was easy to notice the pixels on the screen and once I saw them, it was hard to ignore. Even though the HTC Evo has less colors and not as saturated, the images are much smoother and almost as brilliant as the Epic. This made the screens basically a tie as to which one was the nicest.

I also was not overly impressed with the "iphone" style app layout and the inability to change out the 4 apps at the bottom of the screen. Maybe the 2.2 update to Froyo will change this.

Overall I really found myself using swype on the Epic and never opened up the slide out keypad. Once I found out I could get Swype on the HTC Evo, I was convinced that without a need for a physical keyboard and not overly impressed with the (Epic) screens pixelation, the Evo was the better choice for me.

I would say that if you absolutely must have a physical keyboard (even after using Swype) than the Epic will be a great phone for you. Aside from the keyboard, the Evo (in my opinion) beats it in every way.

great interface bad hardware November 14, 2010

Reviewer:  WILHELMORTIZRODRIGUEZ 

Phone interface is great and very user friendly with great keyboard. Disappointed at the quality of the phone hardware. Speaker went bad after the first week . Still waiting on replacement. It's disappointing that you have to return a phone and wait especially after you get addicted to the technology in less that a couple of days. Smartphones should be name crackphones.

Good try. Sprint ruins this phone. May 31, 2012

Reviewer:  C. Marriott 

I have owned a Samsung Epic that I did not purchase on Amazon for 6 months now. The design of the product is great. I love the phone in theory. However there are several problems that one will have to address to make this phone workable.

The battery is underpowered. The 1500 mA battery does not last a full day if you truly use this phone's fuctionality. You will HAVE to buy an extended battery and that will make it wider. Also with every extended battery, expect the cover to eventually start to fall off all the time. It is VERY irritating.

The Sprint bloatware on your phone, the apps that you cannot uninstall such as Qik video, Sprint Nascar, Sprint TV, Samsung Media hub, Facebook, are on YOUR phone for good. You cannot uninstall these. They will ask you to update them constantly and ask for new permissions to track your life. If you dont update them they will constantly ask for update. This alone is annoying enough to make me want to leave Sprint. These apps that you may not want run in the background, use up system memory and CPU power and drain your battery.

Do not expect your Epic to connect to your Windows 7 computer. I have tried and tried, changed cables and installed drivers, it connects maybe once for every 10 attempts. It is rediculous.

Expect Sprint "updates" to your phone to be rammed down your throat. Updates such as Sprint data optimizer which will connect your phone automatically to any Wifi you have remembered in your phone. The update installed itself and started doing this WITHOUT my permission. Welcome to Sprints corporate control over your phone.

All in all I believe this phone would have been great if Sprint was not involved in it. They have no business writing software for Samsung's hardware when they don't even keep their website updated to allow smartphones to access it. Sprint's network is great. How they treat the average customer in regards to the customer's hardware sucks very bad (one star).