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
Battery Life
The first 4G phone we reviewed, the EVO 4G, didn’t do so well in our battery life tests. I’m sorry to say that the Epic 4G is even worse.
Other than our WiFi web browsing test, I wasn’t able to get more than 4.5 hours out of the Epic 4G. Adding insult to injury, our web browsing battery life test showed worse battery life while operating on a 3G network vs. a 4G network (while stationary). I double and triple checked the numbers, and each time I got better battery life on 4G than I did on 3G.
The Epic 4G has a beefy 1500 mAh battery and thankfully it’s removable, but battery life just isn’t a strong point of this phone. I’m not sure whether it’s Samsung dropping the ball on the software optimization side or if the power management on Hummingbird is just that bad.
Perhaps it’s Sprint related? After all, the EVO 4G had terrible battery life as well.
There are just too many variables to narrow it down. The bottom line? While the Epic 4G performs better than any other Android phone I’ve used, its battery life is among the worst.
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Alexo - Thursday, September 9, 2010 - link
I agree with gvally, this discrepancy between the results should be explained.jasperjones - Monday, September 6, 2010 - link
Ultimately if you’re trying to give someone a more iOS-like experience on an Android phone, Samsung gets the job done.more iOS-like experience? do not want
dvinnen - Tuesday, September 7, 2010 - link
Luckly because it is Android and you can do what you like with it there are home screen replacements on the market. I use the open source ADW replacement and got rid of the iOS knock off crapspathotan - Monday, September 6, 2010 - link
TouchWiz is the sole reason im avoiding these phones. HTC still has the best UI and their devices run good without having to root and use bootloaders.The device is a total failure if you have to root it and use hacks/bootloaders to get it to perform "good".
StealthX32 - Monday, September 6, 2010 - link
Hey, at least it's easy to root... ;)It's 2 steps versus 30 or so that you need to on the EVO 4G.
That said, I do agree with you; the product should be judged as released.
Dane74 - Monday, September 6, 2010 - link
Sprint has excellent warranty. they handle it in store themselves for warrantable problems for free for one year even if you purchase NO protection plan. So rooting it, which voids warranty if detected, carreis some risk of a lost substantial benefit.sprockkets - Monday, September 6, 2010 - link
That's the problem with Samsung. Motorola's CEO (or someone high up) called them Samesung. They are like the KIA of smartphones, copying Honda.That being said, I might check up on the Vibrant. Then again, a more vanilla G2 is just around the corner.
afkrotch - Monday, September 6, 2010 - link
Actually, phones like these have been out a while now. Just not in the US. The Galaxy S looks the same most of the other Samsung phones that have been on the Korean market for the past 1-2 years.I would have much preferred the Samsung Haptic Pop, than the Galaxy S. Sadly, we'll never see the Haptic Pop in the states. I have the T-Mobile Galaxy S. It feels too much like an iPhone. Only thing I like, the AMOLED screen.
bearxor - Monday, September 6, 2010 - link
Sure you haven't been watching too much 30 Rock? In the beginning of Season 3, Will Arnett's character claims that he 'sold the E (in GE) to Samsung. They're Samesung now."That's the only place I've heard anything like that.
bigboxes - Monday, September 6, 2010 - link
As a Palm Pre user I know the pain of poor battery life. I thought the Super AMOLED display was suppose to improve batter life by almost double over the EVO. What happened? As far as the Pre goes I have mine o/c to 800Mhz and it's very snappy. Add the almost cooperative nature of Palm to the homebrew community means that I can customize my phone to make up for the OS shortcomings. The GPS on the Pre is craptastic as well. Hopefully, Palm will improve on these when they release new models this fall.