[Samsung Epic 4G Touch] jrodefeld:
Hello everyone,

Like most of you here I bought the Epic 4g Touch soon after it came out after waiting for quite a while for the Galaxy S2 to be released domestically. I was aware of the Nexus being released but I chose not to wait. I am still happy with my phone, but I want to know if anyone could do an honest assessment of how these phones stack up. I have a few questions. I think on balance, I am still happy with the E4GT, but I am wondering if I am missing out on much.

1. How is the hardware different? From what I have gathered, the chips in both phones are nearly identical. Technically, both phones are very close in terms of capabilities. Is this correct?

The screens are about the same size but the Nexus has a higher resolution screen. Is there a great advantage to a 720p screen on a phone of this size over what our phone has? Is it really noticeable?

I have heard that the camera on the Epic 4g Touch is superior to the Galaxy Nexus. That being said, is the camera on our phones pretty much the best on all smartphones? Do you agree that the camera on our phone is solidly superior to the Nexus?

Overall, which phone would you say has the superior hardware?

2. I think the network is one major reason for getting the Galaxy Nexus. I think we all know that Verizon's internet speeds are great and the coverage is pretty much the best. And we know that LTE speeds are amazing. However, I am wondering if you think that having unlimited data is more important than faster speeds?

Where I live, I don't usually have 4g coverage. Call quality is quite good for me. Where I did get 4g coverage, speeds for me were about 6-7 mbps. That seems very fast to me. Maybe if LTE offers something like 15-20 mbps, I cannot see how one would appreciate this difference relative to normal data requirements.

Do you think that the speed difference between the Epic 4g Touch on Sprint and the Galaxy Nexus on Verizon is dramatic enough to overcome the data cap?

If I had access to consistent Wimax 4g speeds would that be preferable to Verizon LTE with a data cap given that wimax is more than sufficient for all normal cell phone tasks? Maybe I don't understand, but I find it hard to see how the increased speeds for internet on a cell phone is so important to so many people. Isn't speed beyond say 5mbps really overkill for a cell phone? What are people doing on their phones to warrant greater speeds?

I am sure I would appreciate faster 3g and more consistent speeds, but I am not sure whether the Verizon network with a hard data cap would, on balance, be a much better deal than I am getting with Sprint.

What are your thoughts on this?

3. For certain, the greatest selling point for the Galaxy Nexus is Ice Cream Sandwich. I already know that it is far superior to Gingerbread. But if and when we are able to get it running on the E4GT, would that render the two phones mostly identical in all important areas? Do you anticipate Sprint releasing an official update soon?

If not, what will it take to get a talented developer to release it for our phones? What is the current time frame for a release? Judging from past experience, is an unofficial release of a major OS update lacking in any significant way from an official release?

In conclusion, what are your thoughts on our phone, the Epic 4g Touch, and how it compares to the Galaxy Nexus on the issues I laid out here? And, given we have seen a number of impressive phones being released in the past couple of months, are you happy with your phones still? Do you wish you had waited?

And, one final question that is probably bothering me the most:

We all know that LTE is the future for cell phone companies. But will Sprint still continue to expand coverage of Wimax for those of us with Wimax phones? The speeds of Wimax 4g have been quite excellent in my experience and more than sufficient for everything that I would want to do on my phone. The problem is that it is not available enough places. If they have a commitment to continuing to expand coverage even as they roll out LTE coverage, I would be more reassured. Sprint 3g can be spotty. It is perfectly sufficient for internet browsing, but media streaming like youtube can be frustrating.

Thanks. I still love this phone but I wanted to see what you all thought of how it compares to the Galaxy Nexus and other new phones on the issues I mentioned.

I look forward to hearing your responses.