Introduction

Samsung Epic 4G

Your Price: $149.99 with service

It also doubles as a hotspot for up to five Wi-Fi devices to share the 4G simultaneously. With its slide-out QWERTY keyboard and social media apps, the phone makes staying connected with friends on Facebook and Twitter a snap.

Other features include Bluetooth capability, Swype text entry and a 5.0-megapixel camera with high-definition video recording. For navigation, the Epic comes downloaded with Google's Navigation app but can also subscribe to Sprint's Navigation service.

Finally, the phone's Social Hub feature syncs contacts with Facebook and most email accounts, including Microsoft Exchange. Because of its versatility, Samsung is positioning the Epic as a phone for business as well as entertainment.

Design

At first glance, the bulky Epic exudes a quaintly outdated look. Compared to the slender iPhone 4 and other palm-sized handsets, it stands out like a Hummer in a lot full of compacts.

The largest model in the Samsung Galaxy S series, the phone measures a hefty 4.9 inches long by 2.54 inches wide by 0.56 inches thick. But Samsung sacrificed small and sleek for performance and screen size when it designed the Epic. And in spite of its chunkiness, the 5.46-ounce phone feels light in the hand, even though it won't fit in any pocket.

All trepidation about the phone's size dissipates when the Epic's colorful, 4.0-inch display lights up. It dwarfs the iPhone 4's 3.5 inch-screen, while it doesn't quite measure up to the 4.3-inch screen on the HTC Evo 4G. The Epic is equipped with an accelerometer and can be set to automatically switch the screen orientation when rotating the phone.

When typing, users have a choice tapping on a virtual keyboard or thumbing the slide-out, full QWERTY keyboard. The backlit, raised keys press solidly and respond quickly for no-nonsense typing. Designated keys to the left and right of the keyboard also provide "Search," "Home," "Back" and program functions. And on the bottom right corner of the keyboard, four-way directional keys make editing texts or emails a breeze.

When the phone is activated, the same basic buttons found on the keyboard -- "Search," "Home, "Back," and Menus" exist on the front screen as touch-sensitive keys on the bottom of the phone. Each key brings up an elegant, pop-up menu for its respective function. However, the "Back" button in particular is buggy, and sometimes won't respond at all. Other times, instead of going back to a previous screen, it simply quits an application. Samsung has not yet fixed the issue, which some users say gets worse over time.

In the settings menu, users can choose whether or not the soft keys respond with a vibration feedback, and set the intensity of the vibration -- a small detail, but a nice option to have, in case you don't want the phone to go crazy in your hand every time you press a button. Just like the Droid or the iPhone, the home screen uses a grid of application icons -- called a "drawer" -- that users can scroll through. The Epic has a limit of six pages for icons.

Other physical keys on the phone include an on/off switch and a camera activation button on the right edge of the phone. Among the Galaxy S models, the Epic is the only phone that features camera lenses on both the front and back of the phone, as well as a LED flash on the back lens.

A volume rocker sits on the phone's left spine and a 3.5-millimeter headset jack and micro-USB port rest on the top edge. The back of the phone houses the speaker, the battery and the microSD card slot, which users access by removing the phone's back cover.

Out of the box, the Samsung Epic 4G comes with a standard battery, a USB power adapter, a dock connector to USB cable and a user manual.

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