Samsung Epic 4G vs HTC EVO 4G
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Samsung Epic 4G next to HTC EVO 4G |
Not content to rest on its laurels, Sprint has released its second 4G device, the Samsung Epic 4G. This follows the immensely popular HTC EVO 4G, which the carrier still cannot keep in stock more than three months after launch. Both next generation devices offer large displays, dual cameras, Android and several other high-end features. The most obvious difference between the two is the Epic's hardware keyboard versus the full touchscreen EVO, but what else separates the two? Read on to find out.
Design:
With its slide-out QWERTY keyboard the Samsung Epic 4G measures in at a few millimeters thicker than the HTC EVO, but is also a bit narrower which translate to a more comfortable feel in portrait mode. The skinnier EVO is more comfortable in the pocket and when held in landscape mode. The size difference is much less than we expected though, and no dimension varies by more than 2mm.
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Both feature a large touchscreen; the EVO has a 4.3" TFT LCD while the Epic sports a smaller 4" Super AMOLED panel. The EVO has a very good screen, one of the best on the market, but the Super AMOLED displays on the Galaxy S phones are the standard right now. Colors are so much more vibrant and the blacks are much deeper than on any display we've seen before. Watching the same video side by side, the EVO's TFT display is obviously inferior.
HTC gets the edge on build quality, but that is not to say that the Samsung is cheap. The EVO measures in at 6oz- quite a hefty phone- but as a larger device the weight is well distributed. It feels quite comfortable and the weight gives the HTC EVO 4G a premium feel. The Samsung Epic is 5.46oz, and while on paper that may not seem significantly different than the EVO it is immediately apparent when you hold the two devices. The Epic 4G feels light and airy; the EVO 4G is noticeably weighted like a good shift knob. With no moving parts the EVO 4G feels a bit more solid, but the spring-loaded slider on the Samsung Epic is quite nice. It offers a good amount of initial resistance but then snaps open or closed.
We like the kickstand, we’ll be honest. It may seem like a little touch, and it is, but it just makes things easier. We found ourselves missing it on the Epic 4G more than one would think. There is an optional media dock available for the Epic which puts it at the proper viewing angle, but the kickstand on the EVO 4G is so much more convenient.
Overall we prefer the feel and materials HTC uses on the EVO. Despite a Gorilla Glass screen on the Epic 4G the phone feels a bit plasticy all around whereas the EVO 4G just feels solid. This is our personal preference however, and not an indictment of the Epic 4G. Both are very well constructed phones, and keep in mind that we are comparing a Ferrari and an Aston Martin, not a Ferrari and a Ford.
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29 Comments
1. ninjafox posted on 20 Oct 2010, 01:55 0 0
you should mention, that the epic4g supports microusb to hdmi output. via cable (~50$), but still... I also hope that there will be cheap alternatives on ebay soon... also it looks like the pal/ntsc tv-out support of the 3,5mm jack has been disabled by software...
2. scorpio85 posted on 09 Sep 2010, 13:54 0 0
The Epic is nice but I'll stick to a company that has made amazing smartphones for some time now, HTC ftw!
3. sprintlover (unregistered) posted on 09 Sep 2010, 14:29 0 0
I don't like listening to this guys reviews. He breathes SO hard into the mic after every word he says. Its annoying. I was looking forward to watching this comparison but i seriously can't get through a full minute with him breathing like that. It might not be so bad if I didn't use headphones to hear but i do which makes his voice loud and clear. Just some advice... stop giving a speech and just talk normal. Every single one of your reviews are like this. I'm sure im not the only one to mention this so listen to your readers and at least attempt to make a move for the better. You don't have to write a speech to sound professional.
6. samedia posted on 10 Sep 2010, 01:50 0 0
I totally agree...everytime I play a review and find out its this guy I just stop the video and read the review instead or I'll look for another video review
15. Evolution4G (unregistered) posted on 16 Sep 2010, 14:21 0 0
I agree. A conversational, comfortable tone would be great. Instead we get a poorly rehearsed, slightly faltering speech. The breathing is minuscule, perhaps the aftereffect of a poorly placed mic. The real issue is the momentary, yet abrupt, pauses. They instill a burning impatience and are really, really frustrating. I made it to 50 seconds. Additionally, I'm left with the image of an overweight man, maybe with asthma? I don't mean to be rude, but it seems that one would be able to speak more than 7 or 8 words without taking a lung throttling breath. And yes, I'm retracting. I hit play again and three breaths later I was on board with Sprint lovers hyperbole "SO hard."
20. mr. droid posted on 25 Sep 2010, 13:48 0 0
who cares. you remind me of grade school girls. its free information and a great comparison. it is indepth and everything. HTC is a better phone. period. samsung phones are complete JUNK. they have never made a good one. ever. the galaxy S series is pointing in the tight direction.. but they are better than any blackberry.
4. DonkeyPunched posted on 09 Sep 2010, 15:28 0 0
I don't know if it's just me, but I have the Epic 4g and I'm extremely disappointed with the battery life. Every day I've owned it so far, it dies within 5 hours if I'm using it, but without even touching it, on standby, it lasts for only 8 hours. I've been forced to shut the phone off to save my battery, something I haven't had to do since I had my first flip phone. I've googled this as well and seen many other people run into the same problem as I have. I've used their task manager to kill apps I don't use, but even so, these apps worked perfectly fine running simultaneously on my Nexus One and didn't kill my battery life.
5. gdubb03 (unregistered) posted on 10 Sep 2010, 00:11 0 0
did u try turning down the brightness of the screen? i too am seeing this same problem and I have turned off the brightness of the screen and continually making sure I shut down apps if I'm not using them. Kind of annoying but hell I just switched from wm and this is way better.
7. Pimpi Ken (unregistered) posted on 10 Sep 2010, 03:48 0 0
Donkey Punched, Battery life is one of the biggest differences between cdma & gsm phones... Cdma phones are battery hogs
9. paynekiller posted on 10 Sep 2010, 14:16 0 0
I haven't noticed much if any difference in the battery life between my sprint phones and other phones like the G1 and a few Blackberries. Yes, in that I mean that none of them gave me impressive battery life like what I'm used to with my other SE and Nokia phones, but I think battery life is more dependent on the maker than the service provider
8. paynekiller posted on 10 Sep 2010, 14:13 0 0
If I wasn't still upset with my past samsung phones (including "Blade") I probably would be looking on the Epic more positively, even tho Samsung phones in my opinion were still better options that whatever else was available. But then after those samsung phones I switched to a HTC Mogul 6800 and that was pretty much it for me and Samsung and I am now a proud HTC loyalist. Great quality in most all of their phones, slick design and for however long I've owned them they didn't one day just decide to go crazy on me and start malfunctioning.
10. SenseFTW (unregistered) posted on 10 Sep 2010, 18:18 0 0
Both the phones are incredible, but I would have to go with the EVO just because i LOVE SENSE!!
11. kopiejr (unregistered) posted on 11 Sep 2010, 18:35 0 0
Why is the bar at the bottom of Sense flat, not curved and a little bit translucent? Mine's not like that...
12. 313 (unregistered) posted on 12 Sep 2010, 13:47 0 0
SenseFTW, he is either showing a rooted EVO with a custom interface, or running a third-party launcher program such as LauncherPro or SweeterHome. Without rooting or downloading additional programs, if you can find "Launcher2.apk", a file for android, you will be able to run stock froyo and have the basic lay out with 5 screens
13. dbrandt (unregistered) posted on 15 Sep 2010, 08:30 0 0
Hello, I just received an Evo last week. Is anyone else noticing a washed out screen? And it has been locking up on me alot. I had the Hero and I really liked it. I was thinking of switching to the Epic but am reluctant because I heard that Samsung isn't the greatest company and their phones don't stack up to the competition. I also use the camera alot. I am not happy wth the quality of the camera. I am a one device person. I had the palm pre and it took magnificent pics. A sprint rep told me its because the Evo is using HD quality. Should I switch? Is the epic a much better phone? How is the reception with the epic? I roam at work, so I need it to be able to pick up the roaming ability. The Evo does a decent job. Please help. I am spending a lot of money, I want what is the best for my money now. DJ
14. LP71 posted on 15 Sep 2010, 16:44 0 0
I can't really say its a fair comparison of functionality until they both are running FROYO. Then we can have a better say on which is truly better of the 2 phones which are both phenomenal in my opinion. They should have waited before doing this comparison.
16. Gadgetsage (unregistered) posted on 17 Sep 2010, 13:11 0 0
Add to this the fact that the HTC EVO which I currently have after trying N1, nokia n900, HTC HD2 (disaster, avoid at all costs), Samsung vibrant, that the HDMI out simply does not work, HTC tech support says it's a known issue, and that they will be pushing out a software fix for it "soon" but would not name a date or ETA
17. Gadgetsage (unregistered) posted on 17 Sep 2010, 13:28 0 0
Add to this the fact that the HTC EVO which I currently have after trying N1, nokia n900, HTC HD2 (disaster, avoid at all costs), Samsung vibrant, that the HDMI out simply does not work, HTC tech support says it's a known issue, and that they will be pushing out a software fix for it "soon" but would not name a date or ETA, and the pretty dismal camera on the EVO, and I would have to choose the Samsung (it can be rooted to froyo). Even when (no wait, scratch that, IF) the HDMI is made to work, it will only show videos, slideshows, etc., NOT the actual screen of your phone, which means no external monitor capability that I thought I was getting. Think I'll call the sprint store and switch to the Epic. Settings to make the camera work well enough to capture a document and make it legible; NOTE* SCROLL DOWN TO “RESET TO DEFAULT”, or simply leave contrast at middle/average to not get a black and white picture when you want to quickly snap a photo. This is the sort of time-consuming fiddling I thought I'd left behind with my palm treo 755p. Never went to the Pre, I was waiting for them to make a man-sized phone (EVO). I like solving puzzles, but I don't like wasting time, thus I think I'm dumping the EVO for the Epic. metering; average exposure/ bright;+2 (flash off) (variable depending on light, +1-2 indoors) contrast; +2 (max) saturation; -2 (minimum) sharpness; 0 (neutral, no +/- adj) effect; none white balance; flourescent seems to result in sharpest & brightest pictures of documents (under flourescent light indoors anyway where this extensive testing was done, outside in daylight may be different) resolution;8mpixels (I previously felt 5mp was optimum, that the light-gathering chip was overwhelmed by the massive amount of data, but at least for documents, 8 seems to be sharpest) iso;auto (actually, I didn’t test other iso settings, because of an unwillingness to have to fiddle with exposure times in search of 1% gains in picture clarity endlessly dependent upon light level, thereby wasting more time from my life and driving myself bonkers)
18. hmzevo (unregistered) posted on 17 Sep 2010, 16:35 0 0
Please learn how to take pics if you are gonna review this ..... press and hold on what you want the camera to focus on.... my pics always look better than this
19. ChristianH (unregistered) posted on 17 Sep 2010, 22:10 0 0
"it also used Samsung's new SuperAMOLED (pause) technology it also has 16 million colors which makes eveything seem more (slight pause) dark, v-vibrant and crisp. (BIG BREATH) LMAO
