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Samsung Epic 4G bringing competition to HTC EVO August 31st

By | August 11, 2010, 9:50pm PDT

Summary: Second 4G Android phone to hit Sprint end of this month

Today Sprint announced that the Samsung Epic 4G will be available Tuesday, August 31st for $249.99, with pre-orders starting Friday August 13th.

The Samsung Epic 4G is Sprint’s version of the Galaxy S smartphone, and comes with 4G, a 4-inch Super AMOLED touchscreen display, sliding keyboard, Android 2.1, 5 MP camera / camcorder with autofocus and 720p recording, front facing VGA camera, and more.

If you want to reserve your Samsung EPIC 4G now, go to sprint.com/epic4g.

The Samsung EPIC 4G is a great looking phone. With its Super AMOLED screen, it’s sure to please, and it seems to be priced competitively enough. What troubles me, though, is that it’s going to ship with Android 2.1. These days everyone is getting the Froyo (2.2) update, with the latest recipient, the HTC EVO, being the EPIC’s only 4G competitor. Hopefully Samsung can push an update out soon to level the playing field.

As for the purchase process at sprint.com/epic4g, it sounds like you can purchase the EPIC 4G for $249.99, but that price requires a new line or eligible line, two-year service agreement, and $100 mail-in rebate. You are then reserved and can complete your order beginning August 31st, and then pick up your phone in the store.

It’s interesting that Sprint is touting this as a new purchase process, and in a favorable light. If I were to start my process online, I’d probably want it shipped to me. Then again, this pre-order is probably setup this way to avoid the 30-60 minute processing that I experienced when I went to purchase the HTC EVO on launch day. It will be interesting to see if this new process works better than previous ones.

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Topics

4G, HTC Corp., Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., Samsung Epic 4G, Cellular Phones, Wireless And Mobility, Consumer Electronics, Personal Technology, Joel Evans

With more than a decade of mobile, Internet and wireless experience, Joel specializes in taking existing brands and technologies into the mobile and wireless space.

Disclosure

Joel Evans

Joel is a serial entrepreneur with his most recent business, CronkSoftware (cronksoftware.com), focusing on consulting and building games and applications for mobile devices. Joel has consulted for Microsoft’s Windows Mobile division and advises other companies on how to incorporate mobile into their existing brands and products. Joel purchases many of his devices and others are sent for review on a 30-day loaner basis and then returned to the supplier. If any devices are provided as “keeper” Joel will clearly disclose this in his reviews.

Biography

Joel Evans

With more than a decade of mobile, Internet and wireless experience, Joel specializes in taking existing brands, technologies and services into the mobile and wireless space. Joel is currently serving as the Managing Director of Cronk Software, Inc., a company he founded to offer full-service, end-to-end mobile strategy, design and development services.

Joel is the former founder and "Chief Geek" of Geek.com, a website praised by The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Economist, and others as one of world's best sources of information for technology professionals and enthusiasts.

Joel also serves as a technology expert for a number of well-known publications and regularly advises corporations, analysts, journalists and bloggers on what the future of technology will bring. He brings decades of relationships with leading game publishers, online communities and publishers, along with both hardware and software product management and delivery expertise. Joel can be found online as "JoelGeek" and you can follow him on Twitter @JoelGeek.

Talkback Most Recent of 34 Talkback(s)

  • Pricey
    The epic looks better than the evo but it is kind of pricey. I mean when you look at mail in rebates, they really don't help when purchasing the phone and you have to wait 30 days before submitting and then up to 12 weeks to receive it. That means you have to pay $349 up front to get the epic. That is just too pricey for me.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    tommcd64
    12th Aug 2010
  • a bit late to the game
    Sprint phones are always pricey, but you then realize that their Data plans are much cheaper than any other service. But the EVO is the ground breaking phone similar to the Droid and G1 phones.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    Maarek
    12th Aug 2010
  • RE: Samsung Epic 4G bringing competition to HTC EVO August 31st
    What exactly is "4g" ? I know that it stands for "fourth generation" but I've not seen a single article explaining exactly what constitutes 4th gen. So far as I can see, it's simply a bogus marketing tactic used by Sprint since they can't seemingly compete against ATT & Verizon on other merits.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    Tivolier
    12th Aug 2010
  • RE: Samsung Epic 4G bringing competition to HTC EVO August 31st
    @Tivolier Sprint's 4G network has an average speed for 6 Mbit/second. Verizon has a top speed (sitting under a tower) of 1.9 Mbit. Verizon's service is a lot better as you go away as Sprint does not have good coverage outside of major cities. AT&T is similar to sprint in coverage outside of major cities but are still capped to a max of just under 2 Mbit. Verizon's 4G network is supposed to be out next year with AT&T to follow. Verizon is saying that theirs will be 15 Mbit. AT&T has yet to speculate.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    patrickcook
    12th Aug 2010
  • RE: Samsung Epic 4G bringing competition to HTC EVO August 31st
    @patrickcook WiMax 4G towers for Spint are going in at an incredible rate. Because they've been busy building up their fiber optic Backhaul networks. The towers are placed farther apart by miles being that they broadcast at a radius of 25miles per tower. as compared to one every 5 or less miles. This is the main advantage and Sprint has been working on this longer than Verizon has LTE which still requires the same number of towers to cover the same area as 3G does now.

    It will be many years before Verizon has LTE optimized out to 15Mbit nation wide. With Sprint they are starting at 6 to 7Mbit and some are getting even now. Where as in Europe where they already have LTE they are getting about the same as Sprint is with WiMax!

    Granted they are piggybacking LTE on their 3G Network Towers. But Sprint is piggybacking WiMax and on some 3G towers too. No doubt Sprint will have WiMax built out before LTE. Because they only have test towers up right now in limited areas. So what are you going to do? Wait for 5yrs getting the same speed as WiMax at twice the price or be smart and go with Sprint until Verizon and AT&T have something better at TWICE THE PRICE! ...neither of the others will ever have unlimited data plans to match Sprint. So why kid yourselves!!!
    ZDNet Gravatar
    i2fun@...
    12th Aug 2010
  • RE: Samsung Epic 4G bringing competition to HTC EVO August 31st
    @patrickcook, get your facts straight. The G's stand generation. The first G stood for Analog, the second G stood for digital, the third G stands for IP and the 4G stands for streaming Video.

    Sprint has been the first to foray into 4G and can earnestly say they have 4G service in approximatley 50 markets and should have 120 million people covered before the year is over. On the other hand, Verizon's mgmt. has indicated they will not have their 4G network up and running until the summer of 2011. ATT won't have theirs until 2012.

    Currently Verizon has the most 3G coverage in the nation with Sprint being second. Sprint in fact has twice ATT's 3G coverage and 14 times TMobile's. However, Sprint is the only Telco with 4G.

    What most of us are unaware of is Spectrum holdings. Sprint with its affiliate Clearwire have 150 Mhz of Spectrum in the 100 most populated cities in the US, giving them a distinct advantage over their two main rivals that have much less. Remember, Spectrum is a finite resource and allocating more won't be easy. Owing to this Sprint has no Data Caps on Data usage. As demand for data increases, ATT and Verizon are going to have difficulty catering to their consumers, especially when it comes to downloading data efficiently.

    Verizon limited Spectrum allocated for their 4G LTE network are expected to have speeds in the range of 5 to 12 Mbs, that is if you believe their management. On the other hand Sprint's affiliate, Clearwire, has indicated their current experiments with 4G LTE in Arizona are manifesting 20 to 70 Mbs average data throughput. The reason for this is Spectrum holdings.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    William Wallace
    14th Aug 2010
  • RE: Samsung Epic 4G bringing competition to HTC EVO August 31st
    @Tivolier 4g = Wimax for Sprint. new tech, so new generation. Is it better than the best GSM? I am sure there are plenty of opinions... It is theoretically faster than EVDO Rev.A, the latest CDMA tech used by both Verizon and Sprint.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    travelfeet@...
    12th Aug 2010
  • RE: Samsung Epic 4G bringing competition to HTC EVO August 31st
    @travelfeet@...
    4g is WiMax, downloads of 3 to 6 meg. I have it in Grand Rapids MI and the one time I tested it I was getting 4 meg download speeds.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    HiRisk@...
    12th Aug 2010
  • RE: Samsung Epic 4G bringing competition to HTC EVO August 31st
    @Tivolier 4g is Clear's WiMax wireless data service. Speeds on this network can go as high as 10Mbps currently, though they average between 3 and 6Mbps.

    I'm a very happy Clear customer and Sprint customer, and skipped the EVO waiting for the Epic to bring the services together in a single device.

    One thing to remember is that 4g is not available everywhere yet, so think about where you use your phone and where you might want to use it's tethering capabilities. Tethering (or enabling the WiFi hotspot feature) allows you to connect your netbook, laptop, desktop to the Internet using your phone as an access point.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    88Fan
    12th Aug 2010
  • RE: Samsung Epic 4G bringing competition to HTC EVO August 31st
    I disagree with tommcd64 above. This phone does not look better than the EVO. But of course, this is a matter of personal taste.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    asg749d@...
    12th Aug 2010
  • RE: Samsung Epic 4G bringing competition to HTC EVO August 31st
    @asg749d@... I agree
    ZDNet Gravatar
    HiRisk@...
    12th Aug 2010
  • RE: Samsung Epic 4G bringing competition to HTC EVO August 31st
    I have seen the galaxy series phones showing video and eventhough the EVO has a larger screen, I thought the video looked much crisper on the galaxy which is what the epic is.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    tommcd64
    12th Aug 2010
  • RE: Samsung Epic 4G bringing competition to HTC EVO August 31st
    @tommy64
    Too pricey is an understatement. Any smart phone worth its salt is pricey. The days of the free flip phones are over, simply because no one wants one anymore. Apple set the price at $199 with the 3g a few year ago and thus $200 is the base price these days. $249 for the Epic is fair because no one else at this time can match its hardware capabilities. Bestbuy and The Shack will save you the rebate. Amazon and wirefly may also save you a few bucks.

    @Tivolier
    Get your head out of the sand and Google 4g! From there you should see articles galore related to LTE, WiMaxx and other new and related technology!!
    ZDNet Gravatar
    worldbfree4me
    12th Aug 2010
  • RE: Samsung Epic 4G bringing competition to HTC EVO August 31st
    @worldbfree4me

    I like my flip phone. The audio quality is excellent.

    I have texting turned off. The inability for people to bother me except when they truly need to talk to me - priceless.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    Regulator1956
    12th Aug 2010
  • RE:RE: Samsung Epic 4G bringing competition to HTC EVO August 31st
    @Regulator1956 A phone is a phone. Texting? Internet? Email? Music player? Movies? Social network? On a cell phone? Has the world gone nuts?
    ZDNet Gravatar
    richdave
    12th Aug 2010
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