networking technologies: Sprint Epic 4G Touch review

Sunday, September 25, 2011

Sprint Epic 4G Touch review

The Samsung Galaxy S II hits the U.S. in a big, fast, thin, light way

Thin and light is how Samsung rolls these days. That's no surprise -- it's been doing so for a while now.

It's time to add fast to those superlatives. OK, how about faster. That's really the bottom line with the Samsung Galaxy S II, Sprint Epic 4G Touch. That's its entire, official name, punctuation and all, depending on who you ask. It's a little ridiculous, to be sure. But a big, fast phone perhaps deserves a bombastic name.

The SGSIISE4GT, which is how we're abbreviating it at least one time, is the first version of Samsung's Galaxy S II to be released in the United States. The phone's been around in its RoW (rest of world) form since we first saw it at Mobile World Congress way back in February, and it's safe to say we Americans have been chomping at the bit for this guy.

The Epic 4G Touch is the second phone for Sprint to have both a dual-core processor and Wimax data. Just as with Verizon's Motorola Droid Bionic and Sprint's own EVO 3D and Photon 4G, that presents an interesting situation with battery life. You've got a power-hungry radio with a power-saving processor. Throw in the 4.52-inch (that's four-and-a-half freakin' inches, folks!) Super AMOLED Plus display in a form factor that's just 0.38 inches thick, and Sprint's got the makings of a monster on its hands.

Design: Just about the thinnest, lightest and fastest smartphone available today.

Performance: Fast, fast, fast. (And did we mention it's fast?)

Could be too big for many people with its 4.52-inch display, and we experienced lackluster data speeds on Sprint's network.

If the size doesn't bother you, the Epic 4G Touch is easily the best phone on Sprint at the moment. And while its hulking (yet excellent) display is tempered by its thinness, it's still going to be too large for some.