[Samsung Epic 4G Touch] BCoolBen:
I had the original iPhone, then the 3GS, and my girlfriend has the iPhone 4, all on AT&T. I had been planing to switch to Sprint once the new iPhone came out, but I hadn't determined whether I would stick with an iPhone or not. But I figured that, either way, once Sprint had both Android and iPhone options, it would make sense to switch to the (much) cheaper plan than AT&T. When I heard about the Nexus Prime / Galaxy Nexus announce date, I decided to put off the switch until then. After the Nexus Prime / Galaxy Nexus was announced, it seemed to me that it was not coming to Sprint any time soon, so I was ready to pull the trigger.

On Wednesday, October 19th, I switched to Sprint, and I went with the Epic Touch 4g. As I write this, I am reconsidering that decision for a few reasons.

The signal strength on this phone is horrendous. I am not sure if my particular unit is somehow defective, or if they are all this bad. One of my best friends bought an Epic Touch 4G through the internet (I think Amazon) a couple days before me, and he claims that he has not had any problems. Then again, he has had Sprint for years, so maybe this is just par for the course with their network, I don't know. I want to get our phones side-by-side to see if there is a difference, and if there is I will report back. Frankly, I don't quite understand it, because calls still come through and are clear, but it has literally 0 or 1 bar on 3G almost everywhere I go that is at all indoors, and usually no 4G at all (I live downtown in major-ish metro area, Columbus, Ohio). For example, I was at a bar that I frequent this past Wednesday night, and I couldn't get any internet at all, so I couldn't use the "My Touchtunes" App to play the juke box like I have done for months without a problem on my 3GS. Stuff like that is a big deal to me.

The battery life has been shocking to me. I am guessing that constantly roaming and trying to acquire a signal may have something to do with it, but I get the sense that this thing will run out of battery whether you are using it or not, and even if background data is turned off. For example, this morning, I took it off the charge at 7:35 AM, have sent about 10 text messages, looked at about 5 - 10 webpages, made no phone calls, have had all radios except 3G turned off most of the time, brightness set to automatic, all apps killed in the task manager when not in use, made no phone calls, and done nothing else with the phone. It is down from full charge to 75% at 11:42 AM. My iPhones did not lose battery life like that out-of-the-box when they were not in use. I want to be able to rely on my phone to keep most of its charge if it is not in use. Only after about 2.5 years of use is my 3GS getting to the point that it drains battery that fast, and even then I can count on it to conserve a 20% charge while sitting idle in my pocket except for texting and brief phone calls. In other words, I can still count on its battery to be there for me in a pinch; can I rely on the Epic Touch 4G in the same way?

As for the screen, people who think that the Samsung is a no-contest winner, I think there are pros and cons. I was looking at them side-by-side last night (courtesy of my girlfriend's iPhone 4), both on full brightness, in my living room. The whites are much whiter on the iPhone 4/4s, and the screen is capable of much higher brightness. Images and especially very small text are much crisper on the iPhone 4/4s. I think both have superb color richness and contrast. The Samsung has somewhat blacker blacks. All in all, I think I prefer the Samsung's display because of its size, but when you put them side-by-side (which of course is not something you would do in everyday life), some of the shortcomings of the Samsung are more noticeable.

I hope this doesn't come off as Epic Touch 4G bashing, because I really want to stick with this phone if I can justify it. I don't want to get a 3G phone when I can have 4G. I want to be able to tether other devices to a 4G connection. I am very surprised at how quickly the Android OS has grown on me after getting the hang of it. I am not sure which is better, but I don't like the idea of only being expert at one and not the other. I tried a version of something like Swype on iOS a while back and thought it was a waste of time, but the Epic Touch 4G Swype is amazing. Also, the ability to pick substitute words from a list when typing is very useful. The speech-to-text is at least as good as the iPhone 4s. This is the first android I have used that is smooth-enough that I don't feel like it is a significant step down from the iPhone touch interface. Siri is a joke and a gimmick. I can ask it "What time is it in Timbuktu," but I can't tell it to open an app? Please. Moreover, whenever I have demoed it (quite a few times with friends) it is not very capable of answering the questions I would really ask it.

Bottom line is that I picked the Epic Touch 4G because I wanted 4G rather than slow-ass (at least here in Columbus, Ohio) 3G, I wanted to be able to tether, and I wanted to get away from a 3.5 inch screen. But if I can't get a signal, and I have no battery, what is the point?

P.S., in the course of writing this post, it is now 12:10 PM, I have received 1 text message, sent 1 text message, and my battery is down from 75% to 70%. Ridiculous!