Samsung Epic 4G Review: The Fastest Android Phone
by Anand Lal Shimpi on September 6, 2010 5:28 PM EST- Posted in
- Smartphones
- Samsung
- Epic 4G
- Gadgets
- Mobile
Cellular & WiFi Performance
The Epic 4G is the second smartphone we’ve reviewed that has a WiMAX radio for use on Sprint’s 4G network. This is actually why I’m reviewing the phone and not Brian, Raleigh, NC happens to be one of the 40 US cities with Sprint WiMAX coverage.
Those of you who read my EVO 4G review will remember that I did’t have the best experience with WiMAX in Raleigh back then. I’m sorry to say that the situation hasn’t really improved much since.
The best download speeds I’ve seen are still in the low 3Mbps range, and upload is usually stuck around 1Mbps while on 4G. On a good day, AT&T’s 3G network is anywhere from 1 - 2Mbps down and 1 - 1.5Mbps up in my area. As with the EVO 4G, Sprint charges a mandatory $10 per month Premium Data fee for 4G support regardless of whether or not you use it.
The other issue is consistency. I usually don’t get those 3/1 numbers, often times I’ll see speeds more like 1/1 or 1/0.5Mbps. I’m always seeing screenshots of users in other WiMAX areas with speeds 2 - 3x my best case in Raleigh, so this may just be a problem with coverage in Raleigh. Either way I’d suggest looking into what to expect in your area before making a decision based on 4G alone.
Speedtest Results for the Epic 4G, all results on 4G except for the topmost result
I will say that I no longer have the problem where 4G performance is worse than Sprint’s 3G in my area. I usually get around 0.5/0.5Mbps on 3G, so there’s a noticeable performance increase when WiMAX is enabled.
And just as was the case with the EVO 4G, 4G isn’t actually more of a battery drain as long as you’re stationary. If you have it enabled while you’re moving around (rather than just turning it on once you’ve gotten to a location) you’ll see a drop in battery life.
Whether or not Sprint itself is a good network for you depends entirely on coverage in your area. In my experience, AT&T is usually either great or absolutely horrible - there’s very little in between. While Sprint (and Verizon) are consistently good. Compared to areas with great AT&T coverage, Sprint can’t compete in performance - but where AT&T’s coverage is weak, Sprint’s average performance is usually better. Awesome occasionally or consistently reliable - those are the two choices it seems.
WiFi performance was better than the Motorola Droid X and the Nexus One, but behind the iPhone 4.
Like all other smartphones we’ve reviewed, the Epic 4G’s cellular signal does attenuate based on how you hold the phone. Given the sheer thickness of the device it’s harder to get the large signal drops by holding the phone that we see on thinner devices.
| Signal Attenuation Comparison in dB - Lower is Better | |||||||
| Cupping Tightly | Holding Naturally | On an Open Palm | |||||
| Samsung Epic 4G | 10.0 | 5.0 | 0.0 | ||||
| Droid X | 15.0 | 5.1 | 4.5 | ||||
| iPhone 4 | 24.6 | 19.8 | 9.2 | ||||
| iPhone 3GS | 14.3 | 1.9 | 0.2 | ||||
| HTC Nexus One | 17.7 | 10.7 | 6.7 | ||||
The biggest drop I noticed was 5 dB when I held the phone normally, and 10 dB when I held it tightly trying to cover as much of the antenna as possible with my hands. This is in line with other Android smartphones (actually a bit better), and obviously better than the iPhone 4.
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dk99 - Tuesday, September 7, 2010 - link
Why is it so easy to see the pixels on the epic's screen? It seems annoying.Look at the first picture on the display page on Anand's article.
http://images.anandtech.com/reviews/gadgets/Samsun...
Anand Lal Shimpi - Tuesday, September 7, 2010 - link
The camera/lighting plus running the screen at full brightness exaggerates pixel pitch a bit but remember this device has the same resolution as the Nexus One but with a larger screen.Take care,
Anand
dk99 - Tuesday, September 7, 2010 - link
I had a chance to check out an Epic 4g at the local sprint store and compared it to the Evo screen. The pixels were more easily seen on the Epic and it did bother me, but I guess it may not bother others as much.Here is a picture from another review site demonstrating the pixels:
http://www.mobilecrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/201...
Anand, Thank you for a great website.
Aigoo - Tuesday, September 7, 2010 - link
Pentile RGBGhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PenTile_matrix_family
:(
pvdw - Tuesday, September 7, 2010 - link
You mention the problem with jerkiness on Android phones, but I find my Desire is wonderfully smooth. It's almost exactly the same hardware as the Incredible, but with better build quality, and I've found no SMS scrolling problems.My Desire is unbranded, so there's no junk from operators like Sprint, etc. installed. Maybe this makes a difference?
And I manage to easily get a days worth of business use out of it - remote access, phone calls, web, etc. 30 hrs on lighter use.
I sure would love to have a better gpu, like the Galaxy S, and, more importantly, a screen that I can see in daylight without squinting.
joncat - Tuesday, September 7, 2010 - link
I wouldn't say that the SGX 540 is a waste of hardware today. While there are nowhere near the amount of 3d games that IOS has, there are several high quality titles that run great on the galaxy s. Need for Speed Shift and the Sims 3 HD by EA, NOVA, Sandstorm, Assasin's Creed, Hero of Sparta, Asphalt5, to name a few by Gameloft all run great at native resolution, which can't be said for phones like the EVO and Incredible that run on the Snapdragon SOC.Mumrik - Tuesday, September 7, 2010 - link
I absolutely love that we're back to using Quake 3 as a GPU performance benchmark.It stuck around for a long ass time in the first place and now it's back :-D
Mumrik - Tuesday, September 7, 2010 - link
Anand, is there a reason you don't test standby battery life?It's a pretty essential number...
Even if it prevents you from getting the review up fast, you could always just post the review and add the data later after averaging out 2-3 tests.
SomeAudioGuy - Tuesday, September 7, 2010 - link
Ok, so I've had an Epic 4G for about three weeks now. Battery life is completely on par for any other smartphone in this segment.I did switch my background to a darker one (the tent with star trails), but other than that I've done very little to mod the device. I don't even use ATK or juicedefender, and I use the built in auto backlight setting to manage brightness. I did not use any 4G today.
I pulled the phone off my charger at 7am, it's 4pm now. I streamed two hours of Pandora, made one 30 minute phone call and three 5 minute phone calls. Took three pictures and uploaded them to twitpic, have been using Tuiteur, facebook, and checking email on 4 different gmail accounts (with background sync enabled). Spent five minutes yelping a spot for lunch. Played about 15 minutes worth of games (GalCon Flight Control, and Simple Dice), helped debug a wireless router (which required about 20 minutes of wi-fi use), and just spent the last 5 minutes looking up geocaches in my area.
My battery is at 35%.
I would term my use as "moderate".
There's absolutely nothing wrong with the battery life on the Epic 4G. Nothing at all for a phone this powerful and with a screen this large.
GPS is a pain, but I find if I turn off GPS throughout the day, and turn it back on before I start an app that requires GPS, i get locks fast enough, and I'm usually down to about 3 meters accurate.
Maybe it's just the signal in Anand's area, but I've gotten better battery life with both EVO and Epic, and even though we TECHNICALLY don't get 4G in LA, when you find pockets of 4G access we're currently getting 4+Mbps down.
Lastly if you're going to review a keyboard slider phone, maybe give the phone to someone who isn't quite so lit on iPhones, and likes to use a hardware keyboard? Just a thought? Exactly TWO sentences are spent on what is quite possibly one of the best keyboards on the market today. No small feat considering this is NOT an HTC phone. No mention of the dedicated number row (who really likes pushing a function key)? No comparison to any other hardware keyboards? Really? Nothing?
Dane74 - Wednesday, September 8, 2010 - link
not ot call BS, on your GPS findings butt eh are out of wahck with all the testing using testing applicaitons. There are several serious problems with Epics GPS. And actually a number of them show up becasue of switching the GPS off. Go to XDA, or androidforums and you will see discussions.'
Your 3 meters accurate is Epic fooling you since it has already been shown the Epic is cooking those numbers..
Look at the pictures published by anantech, or others. Pictures of side by side comparisons showing nubmer of satellites used by the Epic show the serious problem.