By Not the most surprising press release to come out of Overland Park, Kansas today, but Sprint’s announcing that the Samsung Epic 4G – released on August 31st – is one of their best-selling devices on day one. The Samsung Instinct and the Palm Pre once held those crowns, and while the HTC EVO 4G broke the barrier with ease, it was a given that the Samsung Epic 4G would do just as well throughout the prime of Sprint’s massive 4G campaign.
That’s not taking away from the device at all, though. It shares the same standard (and great) set of accolades seen on other Galaxy S devices with the added cherries of a slide-out QWERTY keyboard, 4G radios, and it’s also the only Galaxy S phone in the United States (of the four major carriers, anyway) to have a front-facing camera. I’d like to see some official numbers to validate its supposed success, of course, but there really is no reason to doubt that it’s a hot item. Read on for full press details.
Second 3G/4G Phone, Samsung Epic 4G, Launches with One of the Best First-Day Sales for Any Sprint Device
The Only 4G Samsung Galaxy S Smartphone is a Hit, Receiving High Praise from Media and Excited Customers
OVERLAND PARK, Kan., Sep 03, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE) —Sprint (NYSE: S) retail stores celebrated the arrival of America’s second 3G/4G phone Tuesday by opening their doors early to accommodate anxious customers interested in getting their hands on the acclaimed Samsung Epic(TM) 4G, the only Galaxy S(TM) smartphone with a full QWERTY keyboard and front-facing camera along with a brilliant Super AMOLED touch-screen. Samsung Epic 4G didn’t disappoint as it became one of Sprint’s best-selling devices for first-day sales.
Tuesday marked another historic milestone as Sprint continues to lead the 4G revolution. In addition to two award-winning Android(TM) phones, Sprint offers Overdrive(TM) 3G/4G Mobile Hotspot, enabling 4G connectivity for up to five Wi-Fi-enabled devices, as well as five Sprint mobile broadband devices that can access Sprint 4G data speeds.
“We’re very excited by the customer response to Samsung Epic 4G and the capabilities of our 4G network,” said Fared Adib, vice president of product development for Sprint. “With its beautiful Super AMOLED touch-screen, full QWERTY keyboard and two cameras, Samsung Epic 4G is a terrific smartphone that delivers the promise of the Sprint 4G network. As we continue to build out our 4G network, more and more of our customers will realize the benefits of these amazing devices and the realities of life at these blazing-fast speeds.”
Samsung Epic 4G is available in all Sprint retail channels, including Sprint.com, Telesales (1-800-SPRINT1) and national retail partners, RadioShack, Best Buy and Walmart. It costs $249.99 (taxes excluded) with a new line or eligible upgrade after a $100 mail-in rebate with a new service agreement on select plan with Premium Data add-on. Customers can use the Reserve Now process if their local company-owned retail store temporarily runs out of inventory. Reserve Now allows them to purchase a $50 gift card to hold a Samsung Epic 4G when the smartphones arrive back in stock.
Samsung Epic 4G works on Sprint’s 3G and 4G networks. This flexibility allows customers to enjoy 4G performance in any Sprint 4G market or to use Sprint’s reliable 3G mobile broadband network when outside a 4G area. Sprint 4G is already available in 51 markets and continues to expand to new cities, bringing wireless speeds up to 10 times faster than 3G1.
Customers also praised Samsung Epic 4G:
“I’ve been an Android user since the very beginning and I’m switching to Sprint because I want 4G. I can’t wait to have a phone with a flash for one thing, definitely the Hummingbird processor, the super AMOLED screen, 4G.”-Mike Huntington
“The main thing is just that full slide-out QWERTY keyboard. It’s going to give me a bigger keyboard, and it’s going to give me faster processing speeds.” – Jason Von Moss
“I just heard a lot about the Google Android system and the operating system so I’m excited to try something new. I think the integration with social networking sites, e-mail, just the transition taking video, pictures and post them directly to your networking sites is probably the biggest feature I’m looking forward to using.” – Sean Powell
“I really like the slide-out keyboard, the fact that it seems to be a really fast, bright LED screen.” – Keith Gray
Accolades Continue to Roll InSamsung Epic 4G received Editor’s Choice awards from Laptop and PCMag. Respected technology and telecommunications media and analysts lauded Samsung Epic 4G:
Epic 4G’s 4-inch Super AMOLED display absolutely mesmerized us. – CNET
Like the EVO 4G before it, the Epic 4G sort of blows everything out of the water on paper: 4-inch Super AMOLED display, 5 megapixel primary camera with LED flash and 720p video recording paired with a VGA front-facing cam for video calls, 802.11b/g/n WiFi, six-axis accelerometer, and a 1GHz Hummingbird core. – Engadget
Overall it’s Samsung’s best Galaxy S series phone and yet another compelling reason to switch to Sprint. – Laptop
The one stand-out feature that the Epic will offer you that the Vibrant, Fascinate or Captivate won’t is the front-facing camera that will allow videoconferencing. – IntoMobile
Blazing trails with Sprint 4GSamsung Epic 4G joins a powerful list of 4G-capable devices from the only national wireless carrier to offer 4G service today. Sprint 4G offers a faster wireless experience than any other U.S. national wireless carrier.
Sprint is the only national carrier offering wireless 4G service today in 51 markets: California – Merced, Modesto, Stockton, Visalia; Delaware – Wilmington; Florida – Daytona Beach, Jacksonville; Georgia – Atlanta, Milledgeville; Hawaii – Honolulu, Maui; Idaho – Boise; Illinois – Chicago; Maryland – Baltimore; Massachusetts – Boston; Michigan – Grand Rapids; Missouri – Kansas City, St. Louis; New York – Rochester, Syracuse; Nevada – Las Vegas; North Carolina – Charlotte, Greensboro (includes High Point and Winston-Salem), Raleigh (includes Cary, Chapel Hill and Durham); Oregon – Eugene, Portland, Salem; Pennsylvania – Harrisburg, Lancaster, Philadelphia, Reading, York; Rhode Island – Providence; Texas – Abilene, Amarillo, Austin, Corpus Christi, Dallas/Fort Worth, Houston, Killeen/Temple, Lubbock, Midland/Odessa, San Antonio, Waco, Wichita Falls; Utah – Salt Lake City; Virginia – Richmond; and Washington – Bellingham, Seattle, Tri-Cities, Yakima.
Sprint is delivering the power of 4G as the majority shareholder of Clearwire, the independent company that is building the WiMAX network. For more information, visit www.sprint.com/4G.
About Sprint Nextel
Sprint Nextel offers a comprehensive range of wireless and wireline communications services bringing the freedom of mobility to consumers, businesses and government users. Sprint Nextel served more than 48.1 million customers at the end of the second quarter of 2010 and is widely recognized for developing, engineering and deploying innovative technologies, including the first wireless 4G service from a national carrier in the United States; offering industry-leading mobile data services, leading prepaid brands including Virgin Mobile USA, Boost Mobile, Common Cents Mobile and Assurance Wireless; instant national and international push-to-talk capabilities; and a global Tier 1 Internet backbone. With its customer-focused strategy, you can learn more and visit Sprint at www.sprint.com or www.facebook.com/sprint and www.twitter.com/sprint.
1Up to 10x Faster claim: Based on download speed comparison of 3G’s 600 kbps vs. 4G’s 6 Mbps. Indu
No kidding.
See how many people want an actual hardware keyboard?
Wish this had come to T-Mobile instead.
@DavidR, so do i. i hate sliding keyboards. wish sprint got the FFC and left the moving parts to someone else.
Agreed about the keyboard. Shame on HTC for forgetting their Android with keyboard roots!
John, it does have a Front Facing Camera.
Don’t like Samsung, and would prefer this to be on T-Mobile. It is probably better for T-Mobile if Sprint can take customers from AT+T and Verizon. T-Mobile has already seem some really good keyboard Android phones. G1, G2, Slide, Cliq….
I got one, Totally loving my Epic 4G! it is Awesome..
yes, it has a front face camera too.
@Mike i am aware of this, hence using an inclusive declarative. i didn’t say got the FFC AND/OR, got rid of the keyboard(which handling the phone makes it feel flimsy to me, esp when using the camera button). i said, “and” meaning that unless the FFC remains and the moving, sliding, undesirable keyboard goes away, my wish has not been fulfilled. sadly, it won’t be.
what i would like to see is something not much larger than my hero if any larger at all, add a FFC, update the processor and onboard storage, possibly a 4G radio, and there you go. i don’t want 15 hidden sliding compartments like the epic, nor do i want a 60″ lcd plasma 3d HDTV with built in entertainment console and wall mount like the evo(it’s called hyperbole people get over it, im expressing just how much i dislike these “features” by using exaggeration to describe them.)
what i want in a phone, is something i can hold up to my face and carry easily in my pocket, and of course do everything else android was meant to do, but on a compact screen. when i want a bigger screen, i’ll buy a tablet and go from the 3.4 inches(i wasn’t super impressed with the size of the Epic either but to me it’s better than the Evo.) all the way to 10, but i won’t be using it for making phone calls nor will i be holding it to my face or carrying it around everywhere.
T-Mobile users should be glad they Always get first crack at Android Devices….G1/G2/ Nexus….Thats the price you pay. Stop Bitching.
******
HTC needs to get to work on that Touch Pro 3 ASAP. Otherwise Samsung, LG, And Motorola will steal sales for people that still want Qwerty Keyboards.
Dear christ on a fucking stick. Quit your bloody whining about a phone having a keyboard. You have enough of the damn things without, let those of us with a clue and a need HAVE A GODDAMN PHONE WITH AN ACTUAL KEYBOARD. THANKS VERY MUCH.
That said, I want the epic to be brought out in the UK. Like, now. It’s the only smartphone with a keyboard running Android with a decent spec that actually has the {}[]\| keys accessible on alt keys.
@9 those of you with no clue, how to use the virtual keyboards are welcome to a physical keyboard. i prefer a physically solid phone. i simply think that it sucks that ever other carrier with Galaxy S, has no virtual keyboard, and sprint has one. this seems to be the stance of everyone out there with the simple difference of, im no the sprint side wishing there was no physical keyboard and others wish they DID have it. my solution is simple. release 2 versions. one with, and one without.
@John the Lesser – I think you are making too big of a deal about the size of the EVO. I got the EVO (I also don’t want the keyboard) and my daughter in law got the Epic, the size difference is hardly worth talking about. It still fits in all of my pockets. Anything smaller and it would be hard to see everything that ends up on the smartphone screen. I would hate to have to read email on a 3″ screen. But, to each his own.
Still no help to me on the EVP. Help a guy out Sprint…I mean, I push your phones to everyone now pay me back by letting me in the 4G club. :D
Honestly, this is the best phone out period. But like all phones, nothing is perfect. It has it’s issues but luckily it’s all software. The updates are all coming this month as well.
I bought an Epic on Tuesday and I have a few observations.
It has a front facing cameral as well a back facing camera.
The screen is very nice and I like the keyboard. I will not buy a smart phone without a physical keyboard. For me, I like the full screen while I am typing and I like the feel of a keyboard. I find myself slowing way down when I use the onscreen keyboard. The onscreen keyboard does provide vibrational and visible feedback as you press a key but it is no replacement for a real keyboard.
I do have some frustrations with the device. Maybe they are with Android in general. At this point, I don’t know because this is my first Android based phone.
1) The battery does not last a full day. I unplug it at 7:00 a.m. and it is complaining about the low battery at 8:00 p.m.
2) My nephew has had an HTC Android based phone and told me that you have to manually kill applications that you have previously opened because they suck up your battery if you don’t. Hmmmm. Why are they still running in the background and sucking up power if I have exited them and I have put my phone away? Well, it turns out that you cannot actually EXIT the applications. You can only switch applications. Seems like a bad design principle to not provide a way for people to close their application when they leave it, especially if the application is going to suck down their battery in the background.
So anyway, to do this I needed to download a separate application called an app killer and remember to manually kill all apps frequently. Still sucks the battery too quickly.
3) When I slide the keyboard open, sometimes the ‘W’ and/or the ‘2’ key is pressed automatically by the motion. This might be caused by the plastic protective case that I bought with the phone. So, I have to remember to backspace out the characters that get auto-typed by the sliding keyboard. It is happening less frequently now. Maybe it just needed to relax a bit.
4) I have noticed that I do not get a very strong signal. This really surprised me. 4G is not yet available in my area but the phone is 3G compatible. In 3G mode I am often without a signal or have 1 bar. This is annoying because my Treo never had this poor of a connection in the same locations.
5) Sometimes the phone chimes because … I guess I don’t know why it chimes because it doesn’t tell me why. My Treo would display the reason for the chime, so I would know if I had a new text message, or if my calendar was reminding me of something or if my phone wanted to update something, etc. This phone doesn’t tell me anything. It just chimes. So, I have to hunt for the reason for the chime among the numerous applications thay may or may not have caused the chime.
I have a reminder in my google calendar set up to send my phone an SMS message when it is time to send in my timesheet for work. I was never reminded. The reminder was in my new phone, but it never reminded ME, … the user. Unless the phone is going to fill out the timesheeet for me, it seems intuitively obvious that the application should obey the spirit of the concept of a reminder and remind ME.
As I stated earlier, I am new to Android, so I might just not have the right apps/widgets/shortcuts/whatever installed to fully make this phone usable. But how do I get this device into a usable state without rifling through thousands of apps?
@Scott
I’m sorry mate, but you’re a noob, and so is your nephew. Please do your own original research about Android before writing posts like this one. I don’t know where to begin to respond to you. Just go on the forums and you will learn everything you need.
.
One you learn about android, you will know how awesome it is. Just take your time.
@Scott – there is a battery use indicator, in the settings. Chances are it’s the display that is sucking all the juice. It is on mine, 49%, then again…..I’m using the live screen saver. Going to try the others to see what results I get, I’m sure it will be better…..hopefully. FYI – I hear Verizon is coming out with a better battery for their verizon of the Galaxy S
Agree with @dogsby! Dude need to get a better understanding of android.. its a great os
Thanks Dan and Dogsby for your replies.
Dogsby, I know that I am a noob in regards to Android, and you may also be right about my nephew as well, though he has the jump on me.
This does bring up a classic principle about good user interface design. A good user interface design does not require research to use. It is intuitive and self explanatory. But that’s not your fault. Thank you for your comments. I will do as you have said though and take time to research how to use my phone on the web for myself.
Hopefully I will also learn why my battery is being drained so quickly, why my phone is chiming without a visible reason, and why the latest and greatest phone from Sprint has a week signal.
Does anyone have a favorite site to go to and learn how to optimize Android?
Thanks in advance,
Scott
The chimes could be software updates notification, or switching from 3G to 4G, or new alerts for sms / email / calendar, etc.
Enjoy your phone, take your time to learn Android and love the power of it!
Oh forgot to mention – on my phone it chimes due to the weather warnings for the weather gadget. So that may be another possibility – some app / widget you’re using is alerting or chiming.
I was one the buyers . Got sick and tired of T-Mo’s second hand reject phones . So I switched to Sp[rint withe EPIC.
so far I love the phone . camera is owesome and fast internet and keyboard is great fast internet ( although is 3G ) but for some reason I think it is faster then my G1 tmobiles phone. anyway it works great and It fell from my pocket but thanks God I had a nice heavy case . otherwise my day was going to br ruined .
love to play game , the display is great
Epic has a front face camera . To acess it go to Camera setup and press the self portrait and that is the front camera
Everything is cool except it’s slide. But it’s price is little higher compared to features and brand to IPHONE.
Good for sprint..but what makes me mad is they still claimed they have fastest wireless experiences than any other us carrier…my samsung vibrant runs around 6mbps where I live..wait til the g2 comes out 14.4mbps it ll blew their 4g speeds away… Even the rocket web connect puts them to shame til they have true 4g!!!
Scott has a point.
Android developers are not giving menu options to actually EXIT the applications.
On top of that, the few that do give you the option – 75% of those applications will respawn in the background after you exit them, so the option means little to nothing.
It has nothing to do with not understanding Android. Windows Mobile sucks, but one thing Microsoft and Windows Mobile developers understood is that even on a Multi-Tasking Smartphone OS, exiting application (and the option to do so) is important, and exited applications must stay closed – not pop back up behind your back and continue to leach background data and/or battery power.
And I’m not talking about service applications. I don’t care if those run in the background – it’s what service applications do…
Android needs better 3rd party application guidelines. All 3rd party applications should have an exit option. They also need to make applications default to system-level notification settings when appropriate.
I really wish each carrier gave you the choice of the keyboard or non-keyboard, im on verizon and have the first droid, and would love to upgrade to epic 4g, wish verizon had a galaxy s phone with a phyiscal keyboard. Looks like ill be waiting to 2011 to use my upgrade…
I keep reading reviews where it keeps sayin that the keyboard was not that epic. I have to say that that’s completely wrong. I jus left the Sprint store and I have that keyboard is one of the best on the market. Nicely sized and spaced, I don’t know what’s there to complain about. It’s far better then the mytouch slide and the Droid 2
Scott,
check out sdx-developers.com for all you Epic needs
I have the epic and so far so good.How do i access the front facing camera?im lost.What are some great apps for the epic?
why buy it if you dont like it?!
Best phone I ever had point blank… Follow me @MrYourNotMe I’m also on my space at myspace.com/iamstac and youtube MrYourNotMe
I own the EVO and absolutely love it. The Android platform is phenomenal and, what I believe, is the best on the market. I purchased the Epic for my wife so we can do video chat with the kids while I am at work. Since I been playing with the Epic, I am now jealous of my wife for having it. It is a very fast, responsive and well thought out phone.
@Scott – your comment about a good user interface makes sense, but with today’s devices, you are using a mini computer that makes phone calls. I think these are much more intuitive than something like a Palm or a blackberry as they are fully customizable. If you don’t like the way it look…change it or get an app that does what you need. It’s like buying a new computer…you need to play with it and spend time learning all there is about it.