By What’s that? RadioShack is taking pre-orders for more phones? This time, they’ve apparently beaten Best Buy to the punch with their own pre-order incentives for the upcoming Samsung Epic 4G for Sprint set to launch August 31st. While they’re unclear on how much they’ll be selling the phone for at the point-of-sale (no word on any instant discounts or rebates, but assuming they follow Sprint’s lead, it may be $249.99), you can just throw down for a $50 gift card that’ll go toward your purchase and ensure you walk out of RadioShack with an Epic 4G that Tuesday morning. Pretty straight forward.
If you prefer to reserve your spot with Sprint, they’re also starting their reservation system today, as they announced yesterday. Head on over to the Epic 4G landing site now to get in on the fun (that was once possible only for select premier customers). Radio Shack’s presser below.
RadioShack Expands its Mobile Universe with the Launch of Samsung Galaxy S Smartphones Across Three Carriers
Compare three smartphones in one stop at The Shack
FORT WORTH, Texas, Aug.12, 2010 — RadioShack® is adding even more options to its broad portfolio of leading-edge wireless products this summer by offering Samsung’s newest devices for mobile entertainment and social networking.
The Android-powered Galaxy S™ series – Samsung Epic™ for Sprint, Vibrant™ for T-Mobile and Captivate™ for AT&T – are equipped with a 4-inch super-AMOLED screen and 1-GHz processor for HD video playback providing a brilliant, on-the-go multimedia experience that rivals in-home entertainment.
With a convenient network of more than 4,000 stores nationwide, The Shack® offers the optimal environment for consumers to experience Samsung’s innovative Galaxy S devices and compare across carriers in one location.
“The Samsung Galaxy S smartphones seamlessly combine leading edge technologies to deliver a stunning entertainment, social networking, and gaming experience,” said Daniel Liberman, senior vice president of mobility for RadioShack. “By offering the Galaxy S smartphones from three national carriers, RadioShack provides both exceptional choice and unbiased advice in selecting the right phone, carrier, and service plan for your lifestyle.”
RadioShack will offer a limited number of pre-orders for Samsung Epic™ 4G from Sprint starting Aug. 13. Sprint is the only national wireless carrier offering 4G service in 48 markets, placing blazing fast content downloads in the customer’s hands. Samsung Epic 4G, the second 4G smartphone from Sprint this year, will have wireless hotspot capability for up to five connected devices, a slideout full QWERTY keyboard, and a front-facing video camera, among other features. Eligible RadioShack customers can reserve Samsung Epic 4G (while supplies last) by purchasing a $50 gift card that is applied to the purchase price when the device arrives in stores starting Aug. 31.
T-Mobile’s recently launched Samsung Vibrant comes with exclusive, pre-loaded content, including “Avatar” and “The Sims 3” game. Samsung Vibrant is available at RadioShack for $149.99 (new or upgrading customers with approved credit and two-year contract). Customers will receive a $50 RadioShack gift card by mail with the purchase and activation of the Samsung Vibrant.
Samsung Captivate for AT&T is available for $199.99 (for eligible customers with approved credit and two-year contract) and in-store customers will receive an immediate $20 accessory credit with activation (for online customers, a $20 accessory credit is available by mail).
DONE.
It seems reception for this phone has cooled considerably, once the outrageous price was announced. The price needs to come down quickly, or this phone will be a niche phone.
Why would the price of the phone need to come down? From a purely business standpoint, the price is reasonable. If you want the latest and greatest gadgets you’re going to pay for it. The Evo was $200 at radioshack and $300 at the sprint store (before mail in rebate) and the crowd waiting in line for the phone was outstanding. Every company needs to make money some how. You, Fred, must be a low end phone user….. why are you on this site? Technology costs money!
@Steph are you really serious or trolling?
Technology in almost all cases have been evoloving rapidly with prices falling astronomically. Look at PC prices – they’re the lowest prices ever with amazing specs.
Why should phones be any different? Just because this is a new “4G” phone with a keyboard, is justification for it to be expensive? Hell no, not when you have to pay a “4G” premium on top of that every month just to use it?
Considering there are so much competition, iPhone4, Droid 2, Droid X, HTC Evo, other Samsung Galaxy S variants that are not as expensive, and not to mention better networks / international operability with the GSM, why should anyone want to pay the extra premium to stick with Sprint for a US only CDMA phone with limited network coverage????
Are you really that dense or just a troll??
One point for Fred…
Personally I don’t mind the “extra” $50 they are charging. Doesn’t deter me at all from buying the Epic. And if it keeps down the hype around launch date so that I’m not waiting in line in the store for hours for the phone to be activated (as was the case with the Evo) then all the better. Sorry if it’s out of your price range but don’t assume that is the case for everyone.
If your complaining over $50 then I hate to tell you; you are pathetic…your paying for that really nice SuperAmoled screen and what it has to offer.. You sure as hell pay alot more for an iphone that is already behind the times…………..not saying that you did but quit your bitching, if you dont like the price shut the fuck up and move on and buy a different phone…enough said…
@RGRocks – quit being a prick and shut the hell up, you 5 year old kid.
@Carmex – good for you. Maybe there are more people with brains than money that won’t be wasting their money on an over-priced phone. At least you can admit that you have more money than brains.
If I buy the epic at radio shack or best buy can I get insurance for it from sprint. If I loose it or if it is stolen, will be replaced after paying a premium?
Just as a point of interest, RadioShack always does instant rebates. So if you are really wanting the phone, pre-order from them and you don’t have to wait for your rebate. Plus you get the gift card to buy stuff you’d want to buy for it anyway
if your worried over 50 bucks then you shouldnt be trying to buy the phone in the first place fred. 4GRocks said it best. hes not the 5 year old kid you are for complaining. ill be paying the extra 50 along with everyone else because it will be the top phone out there.
If anyone is paying attention to this Best Buy is currently taking preorders on their website. $249 out the door with no rebates needed. According to the website the ship date is 08/31 so I’m guessing you might not see it until the 1st or second if you go that route.
Okay so DaInsider Im due for an upgrade the full $150 so if i go to best buy …how much would i pay?
I myself have a Touch Pro 2. I have had it for almost 2 years. Great phone. I paid a lot for the damn phone,and as Fred above said, know they don’t have to cost so damn much. I don’t ever wait in lines to activate anything, because I don’t jump to buy the next new thing the day it comes out. I have Android running on my TP2 with Winmo 6.5 also. I am using the the best of both worlds and love it. My Gf has the Samsung Epic and I’ll agree, it’s a nice phone, but the only thing it has that I don’t on my phone is the AMOLED screen. My TP2 has a slide out keyboard, large screen with good color, WIFI, BT, SD, G sensor, Light sensor, and all the other usual bells and whistles. The difference is, my phone has Winmo which is not a free operating system as with any other Windows distro. Android on the other hand is open source and free and yet the damn Samsung Epic costs just as much as my TP2 did. Now, if your not paying for your OS, then should’t the phone cost less than the ones that you do pay for the OS? These phones probably cost $50 at most to manufacture. Companies get rich on the people who “don’t mind” shelling out “the extra $50” mentioned above. I still don’t even own a PS3 and probably never will until the price comes down to reasonable. I remember when the PS2 came out. It was $300+ and then like a year or two later it was $100. they were practically giving them away. Back when mountain Dew was running the “win an XBox 360 sweepstakes” a long time ago, I won. I had it before you could even buy them in the stores. I played it for like a day and sold it for $300 to a buddy while all those other antsy tards were buying them for $1000+ on Ebay. I did keep the shirts and hats and stuff that Mountain Dew gave me in the package. I like playing Call of Duty type games on my computer anyways, which might I add, has a hard drive and can play music too, so why do I need Micro$oft$ dumb ass Xbox? In fact, I run Linux anyways which is what Android is native to. The Winmo phone has been handy for me to keep up with my business, but now there’s Android. I will make the switch to droid, but I’m not paying way to much for a damn phone that will get scratched, lost or broken within a year or so anyways. I will continue running Android on my TP2 until the Samsung is more affordable. The only reason I even want the Samsung it is for the better screen color, which isn’t really that important.
Oh, and I like the fact I can using anything, including the stylus, on my phone’s touch screen. Comes in handy for detailed pointing as well as using the screen for detailed drawing. On the Epic, you can only use your skin (not even finger nail) to touch the screen. Just FYI
What is the extra $50.00 for that y’all are talking about?