Database Users

Thinking of getting getting Vibrant, opinions?

I currently have the N1, and I feel that the vibrant may end up being a better phone in the long run, even if there's small things missing from it. I want a phone that would be good with gaming and the Vibrant seems to be that phone.
Basically if you have owned an N1 please let me know if you're satisfied with the Vibrant. What makes it better, if not, again reasons why. I'm very curious.

mafaesto said:
I currently have the N1, and I feel that the vibrant may end up being a better phone in the long run, even if there's small things missing from it. I want a phone that would be good with gaming and the Vibrant seems to be that phone.
Basically if you have owned an N1 please let me know if you're satisfied with the Vibrant. What makes it better, if not, again reasons why. I'm very curious.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Coming from a former N1 user, I think you'll definitely enjoy the Vibrant a lot more. It's just something about the phone...it's powerful, fast, sleek design, perfect screen size, 16GB built in memory and the AMOLED screen is best in class hands down.
The two fastest phones available for processing / gaming is the Galaxy S (Vibrant) and the iPhone 4 which uses the same Samsung CPU made in Korea.
Here is a GPU comparison for some of the leading smartphones:
* Motorola Droid: TI OMAP3430 with PowerVR SGX530 = 7 million triangles/sec
* Nexus One: Qualcomm QSD8×50 with Adreno 200 = 22 million triangles/sec
* iPhone 3G S: 600 MHz Cortex-A8 with PowerVR SGX535 = 28 million triangles/sec
* Samsung Galaxy S: S5PC110 with PowerVR SGX540 = 90 million triangles/sec
And for comparison a few consoles:
* PS3: 250 million triangles/sec
* Xbox 360: 500 million triangles/sec
I think the biggest advantage of our phone is the AMOLED screen. There's nothing like it. Check this out:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6mAgHO1_8c
There are a lot of reasons of "why the Samsung Vibrant..."
You'll like it.

I'm a old n1 user for 6 months, although I miss froyo and the trackball alerts and flash, the vibrant is all around better. Its smoother, more sensitive awesome screen, amoled is beautiful and the gpu is amazing, its already been rooted so just wait, there will be some bad ass ****...
I
Definatly a worthy upgrade

While I can see that Vibrant may be a better phone on a paper and during the first impression, I get really annoyed with the list of issues that just keeps growing:
1. Signal issues (even if it's software related)
2. GPS issues
3. Market issues
4. No LED alert
5. No trackball/trackpad
6. Lag after few days of use
7. No adjustment for button backlight
8. No dev. support (althought I'm sure that will change)
I also understand that 2 of those are personal preferences but it still scares me that people experience all these issues 2 days after phone came out.
Good luck.

borodin1 said:
While I can see that Vibrant may be a better phone on a paper and during the first impression, I get really annoyed with the list of issues that just keeps growing:
1. Signal issues (even if it's software related) I heard the signal issue wasnt even an issue, its just displaying the wrong number of bars when it has full signal
2. GPS issues Not sure, havent tested yet since I dont have the phone yet
3. Market issues Market Issues are happening even on my G1, so i dont think thats vibrant specific
4. No LED alert Workaround is being developed now using the screen OLED, search the General Forum for progress
5. No trackball/trackpad True
6. Lag after few days of use Same as 2.
7. No adjustment for button backlight I heard that was annoying but its only 4 buttons and im sure it doesnt take long to memorize their location
8. No dev. support (althought I'm sure that will change) lol its only been 2 days, dont worry im sure its gonna change besides we have JAC on here of G1 fame lol
I also understand that 2 of those are personal preferences but it still scares me that people experience all these issues 2 days after phone came out.
good luck.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Personally I think its worth it and those gripes are minor and easily solvable with either a custom rom, apk's being developed right now, and/or an OTA update.

speedysilwady said:
Personally I think its worth it and those gripes are minor and easily solvable with either a custom rom, apk's being developed right now, and/or an OTA update.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I certainly value everyone's input but my mind is already made up, I'm not getting it and here's why: I spent enough time working out issues, fixing problems and finding workarounds with G1 (apps2sd, 10mb hack, Danger SPL etc). I want to get a phone that will be good out of the box so I can start improving it, not fixing it and Vibrant is not it, at least for me. I also don't think that I can overcome not having LED notification as I ALWAYS use it (along with a trackball but I don't think I really need it with a bigger screen)

borodin1 said:
I certainly value everyone's input but my mind is already made up, I'm not getting it and here's why: I spent enough time working out issues, fixing problems and finding workarounds with G1 (apps2sd, 10mb hack, Danger SPL etc). I want to get a phone that will be good out of the box so I can start improving it, not fixing it and Vibrant is not it, at least for me. I also don't think that I can overcome not having LED notification as I ALWAYS use it (along with a trackball but I don't think I really need it with a bigger screen)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That is probably a wise decision. I am probably returning my Vibrant in the next couple of days.
The signal attenuation of holding the phone naturally utterly kills my data speeds and the compass is a piece of crap. That compass does not work at all, it just randomly points around and jerks about.
The phone's display and speed are great, makes it a whole new experience compared to the G1, but with all the random bugs and the unfix-able antenna attenuation, I can't recommend this phone. Maybe if a firmware patch comes out for the compass and if you lived in an area that has excellent reception, then the phone would probably be great.

borodin1 said:
I certainly value everyone's input but my mind is already made up, I'm not getting it and here's why: I spent enough time working out issues, fixing problems and finding workarounds with G1 (apps2sd, 10mb hack, Danger SPL etc). I want to get a phone that will be good out of the box so I can start improving it, not fixing it and Vibrant is not it, at least for me. I also don't think that I can overcome not having LED notification as I ALWAYS use it (along with a trackball but I don't think I really need it with a bigger screen)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
*shrug* to each his own, but for the record, I do believe this phone will be the most customized phone in Android history. For the reason that this phone is already in 110+ countries.

t1n0m3n said:
*shrug* to each his own, but for the record, I do believe this phone will be the most customized phone in Android history. For the reason that this phone is already in 110+ countries.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well said. It's funny seeing some of these people complaining about personal issues. The phone is badass and all the points they pointed out can be fixed.
To the post originator, dude just get the phone. Play with it and if you don't like it you'll have 14 days to take it back. What have you got to lose?
You don't know what you don't know.

t1n0m3n said:
*shrug* to each his own, but for the record, I do believe this phone will be the most customized phone in Android history. For the reason that this phone is already in 110+ countries.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm with you.

After thinking about which Sammy GAlaxy i was going to get, i decided on the Vibrant. As a 5 year member and at times developer here, i too think that the Vibrant will get the most support from us. For as many reasons there are to not like the Vibrant, there are more for the other models.
Here are my personal evaluations on the Sammys.
====================================
Pro's for Vibrant
-Most like the original Galaxy (big plus for O.S. tweaks)
-Lightest weight, and best looking. This phone was meant to look good.
-Tmobile didn't load this with any junk.
-16 gigs of internal storage. Huge plus for apps. To expand to 32 gigs, only need to buy a 16 gig HC class 16 micro card. About a $100 cheaper than a 32 gig type card for Verizon/sprint.
-True 4G speeds, without paying the extra fee for it.
cons against tmobile vibrant
-LED (would be nice for knowing when phone is fully charged.)
-weird location for charging (TOP)
-no flash (front camera means nothing to me)
Con's against ATT captivate
-same hardware as tmobile but ....
loaded with ATT junk, restricted maps, ****ty network.
-no free movie, extra backplate or great headsets.
cons against Verizon fascinate
-2 gigs of Internal ROM storage (see above)
cons against Sprint EPIC.
-1 gig of internal storage (see above)
-Keyboard can be a plus/minus, for me, it's unwanted extra weight.
-HUGE. Biggest and heaviest of the bunch.
-Sprint extra fees for 4G even if you don't get it.
So it's all a matter of ranking those and more. To me, the biggest pluses are ease of development of which i believe the Vibrant is withs its' near Galaxy stock version. And the internal high speed memory of both ATT and Tmobile.
If a keyboard is a must for you, then the choice is easy.
If a flash camera is needed, then the Verizon/SPRINT is a mimimum. For those live for the webcam things, assuming you have or will have friends that use one of these front camera things, then only Sprint should be your choice.
I personally can't think of a reason to get the ATT model unless Tmobile doesn't have service in your area. And outside of a flash camera, I can't see a reason to get the lower memory Verizon version. I think it's a 2 horse race between the Vibrant and the EPIC.

orateam said:
After thinking about which Sammy GAlaxy i was going to get, i decided on the Vibrant. As a 5 year member and at times developer here, i too think that the Vibrant will get the most support from us. For as many reasons there are to not like the Vibrant, there are more for the other models.
Here are my personal evaluations on the Sammys.
====================================
Pro's for Vibrant
-Most like the original Galaxy (big plus for O.S. tweaks)
-Lightest weight, and best looking. This phone was meant to look good.
-Tmobile didn't load this with any junk.
-16 gigs of internal storage. Huge plus for apps. To expand to 32 gigs, only need to buy a 16 gig HC class 16 micro card. About a $100 cheaper than a 32 gig type card for Verizon/sprint.
-True 4G speeds, without paying the extra fee for it.
cons against tmobile vibrant
-LED (would be nice for knowing when phone is fully charged.)
-weird location for charging (TOP)
-no flash (front camera means nothing to me)
Con's against ATT captivate
-same hardware as tmobile but ....
loaded with ATT junk, restricted maps, ****ty network.
-no free movie, extra backplate or great headsets.
cons against Verizon fascinate
-2 gigs of Internal ROM storage (see above)
cons against Sprint EPIC.
-1 gig of internal storage (see above)
-Keyboard can be a plus/minus, for me, it's unwanted extra weight.
-HUGE. Biggest and heaviest of the bunch.
-Sprint extra fees for 4G even if you don't get it.
So it's all a matter of ranking those and more. To me, the biggest pluses are ease of development of which i believe the Vibrant is withs its' near Galaxy stock version. And the internal high speed memory of both ATT and Tmobile.
If a keyboard is a must for you, then the choice is easy.
If a flash camera is needed, then the Verizon/SPRINT is a mimimum. For those live for the webcam things, assuming you have or will have friends that use one of these front camera things, then only Sprint should be your choice.
I personally can't think of a reason to get the ATT model unless Tmobile doesn't have service in your area. And outside of a flash camera, I can't see a reason to get the lower memory Verizon version. I think it's a 2 horse race between the Vibrant and the EPIC.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well said and thanks for sharing.
I agree with you that the front facing camera means nothing to me. The led flash is not a big deal either.
It's important for people to realize that this is a phone, not a flash camera so they should really evaluate what the sole purpose of a phone is. Then they may begin to realize the appreciation of what the Vibrant offers and not lose sleep over the ffc or led flash on the camera.
As for the carriers, TM and ATT are contracted to share towers, therefore, the reception between the two are the same. What you have to do is to make sure you go to network settings and turn on the network to AUTO...by default they are selected specifically to their carrier and you'll only connect to that tower. How do I know this about the two carriers? Somethings are left better unsaid.
What I can tell you though is that it's very real. I know it's real and have experienced it myself in places I had 0 reception, now I have full bars. I check my phone and sure enough it says ATT, when I'm a TM customer.

mafaesto said:
I currently have the N1, and I feel that the vibrant may end up being a better phone in the long run, even if there's small things missing from it. I want a phone that would be good with gaming and the Vibrant seems to be that phone.
Basically if you have owned an N1 please let me know if you're satisfied with the Vibrant. What makes it better, if not, again reasons why. I'm very curious.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As far as performance, the Vibrant benchmarks better than the Cyan 6.0 Nexus One, except for the linpack because of the JIT on 2.2.
Now I will tell you what I like better about the Vibrant than the Nexus One.
Hardware:
* Larger more beautiful screen and MUCH better in the sun.
* I actually like the lightness of the phone.
* VERY thin, thinner than the N1.
* Capacitive buttons that actually work correctly, the N1 has a problem with the lower section of that area.
* Battery Life is better. 1500mAh! Just don't load up the screen with all the widgets available.
Software:
* I do enjoy the daily briefing widget
* The camera takes photos as soon as you hit that button, no lag!
* Messaging is MUCH better with a nicely done "bubble" thread style.
* The calendar is MUCH better showing your agenda under the "31month" view like iPhone does. Better polish to it.
* Integration with contacts is huge! Facebook, twitter, SMS all in one place under "updates" in contacts. Swipe right to call and swipe left to text!
* World Clock! Something I use greatly on my old iPhone but Android never had one and the market versions I do not like. The Vibrant copied the alarm, world clock, stopwatch, timer app from iPhone and it is beautiful!
* Beautiful memo pad!
* Drop down power control! Just swipe down and there is your power controls, no need to use screen space for that now!
Samsung has done a great job at polishing up Android! I look forward to the improvements Gingerbread brings to the polish of Android but until then, I feel Samsung has done a great job!

unxconformed said:
That is probably a wise decision. I am probably returning my Vibrant in the next couple of days.
The phone's display and speed are great, makes it a whole new experience compared to the G1, but with all the random bugs and the unfix-able antenna attenuation, I can't recommend this phone. Maybe if a firmware patch comes out for the compass and if you lived in an area that has excellent reception, then the phone would probably be great.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I returned two today. Compass is useless but I can live with that. But the GPS is also VERY VERY bad. Didn't work in my unit, didn't work in my wife's unit, and, best of the best, didn't work in the store unit.
It simply a very bad GPS sensor.

nricci said:
I returned two today. Compass is useless but I can live with that. But the GPS is also VERY VERY bad. Didn't work in my unit, didn't work in my wife's unit, and, best of the best, didn't work in the store unit.
It simply a very bad GPS sensor.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry you had a bad experience, I have not had any issues with my Vibrant (albeit anything that I didn't inflict LOL, overall my thoughts on the phone has been extremely positive and everything works accordingly and I have not had some of the issues that others have had regarding the GPS and compass.

nricci said:
I returned two today. Compass is useless but I can live with that. But the GPS is also VERY VERY bad. Didn't work in my unit, didn't work in my wife's unit, and, best of the best, didn't work in the store unit.
It simply a very bad GPS sensor.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i know the GPS has issues but you have a whole new level of issue with it not working at all. hopefully we'll get this fixed ota

I just tested my Vibrant to my N1 in maps and the direction the Vibrant thinks I am going is all over the place. There is a serious problem with the GPS or compass.
(Update) After a battery pull all seems well but slower to respond than the N1.

nricci said:
I returned two today. Compass is useless but I can live with that. But the GPS is also VERY VERY bad. Didn't work in my unit, didn't work in my wife's unit, and, best of the best, didn't work in the store unit.
It simply a very bad GPS sensor.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Mine and my wife's GPS works flawlessly.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App

mafaesto said:
I currently have the N1, and I feel that the vibrant may end up being a better phone in the long run, even if there's small things missing from it. I want a phone that would be good with gaming and the Vibrant seems to be that phone.
Basically if you have owned an N1 please let me know if you're satisfied with the Vibrant. What makes it better, if not, again reasons why. I'm very curious.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Boy did I see this at the right time, I am currently holding a vibrant in my hand, well its on my desk, I LOVE IT, sold my Nexus on Ebay for 450.00 and got this for 345.00 becauseiIt was an early upgrade. Well let me tell you, the Phone is INCREDIBLE (not the Droid..lol) The screen is amazing, it is fast, its thin and light, the rep told me its a Gorilla screen which is scratch resistant, but I still put a screen protector on it. The down side its android 2.1-update, but 2.2 shortly, I probably will not rom the phone, not sure why you would the Interface is amazing, and the screen I still can believe is amazing. Also there is no Flash for the Camera but it has some kind on night shot, the HD 720p video is amazing. (I should go work for Tmobile... lol). If you like to know anything else let me know.
Thanks
Lou.

SugarMouth said:
As far as performance, the Vibrant benchmarks better than the Cyan 6.0 Nexus One, except for the linpack because of the JIT on 2.2.
Now I will tell you what I like better about the Vibrant than the Nexus One.
Hardware:
* Larger more beautiful screen and MUCH better in the sun.
* I actually like the lightness of the phone.
* VERY thin, thinner than the N1.
* Capacitive buttons that actually work correctly, the N1 has a problem with the lower section of that area.
* Battery Life is better. 1500mAh! Just don't load up the screen with all the widgets available.
Software:
* I do enjoy the daily briefing widget
* The camera takes photos as soon as you hit that button, no lag!
* Messaging is MUCH better with a nicely done "bubble" thread style.
* The calendar is MUCH better showing your agenda under the "31month" view like iPhone does. Better polish to it.
* Integration with contacts is huge! Facebook, twitter, SMS all in one place under "updates" in contacts. Swipe right to call and swipe left to text!
* World Clock! Something I use greatly on my old iPhone but Android never had one and the market versions I do not like. The Vibrant copied the alarm, world clock, stopwatch, timer app from iPhone and it is beautiful!
* Beautiful memo pad!
* Drop down power control! Just swipe down and there is your power controls, no need to use screen space for that now!
Samsung has done a great job at polishing up Android! I look forward to the improvements Gingerbread brings to the polish of Android but until then, I feel Samsung has done a great job!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree. Samsung has done a fine job with the Galaxy S phones.

IF Samsung is listening -- Get your act together NOW !

I'm just venting my frustration (and such appologies to the forum moderators) but I do hope someone is listening.
I've had my SGS for about 2 weeks now. For the first time since I'm using _any_ sort of smartphone (many, many moons) these two weeks were constant tinkering, tweaking, lagfixing, trying leaked beta software etc. -- a LOT of frustration, with very little improvement.
So I came to this conclusion: You just cannot polish a turd
So, dear Samsung let me say it straight:
SGS is a POS. Get your act together, you are losing customers in drones. There is a good reason you are far behind HTC -- YOU SUCK
The irony of it all ? It's all in the SW -- the HW platform seems solid, with a good foundation. However, the horrible, horrible things they've done to the OS and -- not the least that HORRID TouchWhiz simply make me cringe. Personally, I would fire the project manager responsible for this abomination with a geostationary rocket.
In my personal case I've got this phone from work -- there is no chance in hell I would have handed out my hard earned cash for this POS. If, in a moment of insanity, I would have ever done so, not later than the day after I would be prompt back at my local Samsung rep and told them to stick that phone somewhere special and ask for a full refund then and there.
(Again, sincere appologies to the forum moderators -- I hope I am not breaching forum posting rules. At least not too many )

Not quite sure where your happy or content place is with your sgs but mine is with JH2 and the OCLF V2. Providing it doesn't blow up on me I think I could deal with this for a while. I feel your frustration though, the quest for perfection can certainly be less than gratifying.
Sent from my GT-I9000M using XDA App

HTC also have their problems as well.

There is no perfect phone.
I owned TONS of smartphones, most by HTC: the ALL had issues.
In fact i moved away from HTC after the EVO Fiasco if the bad hardware build, 30fps cap after trying the N1 which that CHEAP screen!
There is no perfect phone. deal with it.

iphone is perfect except for restrictions on it by apple

hatin it how samsung keeps moving froyo release date

TS has a point
The topic starter has a point. Coming from a HTC Desire, you clearly experience the poor software. The HTC Desire works far better out of the box. I got my hands on a SGS through swapping providers, otherwise i would have stuck with HTC Desire.
On the other hand, its starting to grow on me, and i expect the Froyo update to make it much better (as it did to the Desire also i must admit).

salmanslick said:
iphone is perfect except for restrictions on it by apple
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Then is it not perfect

So go tell Samsung directly if you want them to hear.. There are enough threads with people whinging, so if anything, this is a dupe.
Also, losing customers in drones? Really?? HAHAHAHAHA. Have you got any evidence for that claim? The only customers being lost seem to be at XDA, and some of them are overanalysing, such as the people who were whinging about GPS, have been saying "the iphone wouldn't have that problem", and yet, people have produced tracks which suggests it does. And "lag" is apparently no worse than previous generation devices, it certainly doesn't make the device "unusable" as many exaggerators have claimed
There are problems with every device... The question, is how much the user tries to train themselves to be annoyed by a problem.. On OSX for instance, I'd notice when a program crashed, users don't care.. But on Windows, people almost throw their keyboard

dial to get latest news on froyo from samsung:
1-800-ef-kay-samsung

FlorianO said:
In my personal case I've got this phone from work -- there is no chance in hell I would have handed out my hard earned cash for this POS. If, in a moment of insanity, I would have ever done so, not later than the day after I would be prompt back at my local Samsung rep and told them to stick that phone somewhere special and ask for a full refund then and there.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lucky you... I was one of those who did hand out hard earned for this POS... and its going to cost me even more to rectify my problem and do what I should have done in the first place: chose the iphone.
If it wasn't for this forum, I probably would have dropped it down the toilet.

Touchwiz is easily replaced with better options from the Market. There's not a single Android device sold today that have a better Launcher than a couple of the ones on the Market IMO, and it's easy to replace the stock one. + for Android.
In my mind there is only 1 huge problem with this phone, and that is the RFS filesystem that causes lag.
GPS is an issue as well, but nothing major. It works well enough for most people.
Other than these 2 issues, this phone is awesome.

This is the best phone I have ever bought. If it was stolen, I would but another one for sure. I an not sure why you are going nuts about it, but I am sure that types like you whiners would go crazy about a "prefect" iphone (lol) as well!
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App

My mates with Iphones do not have the same gps problems as I do. If I geocache with them my gps jumps wildly and cannot in many cases get me close enough to find something. The iphones haven't had any problems, though appear to have worse accuracy "in general". I think when the gps is fixed it will be heaps more accurate, but it's fluctuation now makes it virtually useless.
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App

salmanslick said:
iphone is perfect except for restrictions on it by apple
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not really http://discussions.info.apple.com/forum.jspa?forumID=1139

I've spent the last 4 months looking for a good phone after having an iphone 3G which once jailbroken was superb but I got bored of it in the end and the battery life was terrible.
I had the Dell Streak which I got rid of because I didnt like Dells silence over the 2.1 update or the US launch and in all honesty its a bit big.
I sold the streak and got a cheap sony x10 mini pro which was a really nice little phone even though it was on 1.6 with no definate date for upgrade and when someone on here wanted to trade his HTC Desire for it I jumped at the chance.
The Desire was really good solid build stock 2.2 was very good but sense annoyed me and slowed the phone down. Multi touch was terrible. the desire cant even do 2 point touch properly let alone five like the SGS. This made playing games impossible and the HTC bluetooth stack is borked so it doesnt support wiiremotes unless you flash opendesire.
So I sold that and got an SGS for £9 more off ebay and I like it
I've had my SGS for 2 days now. It was on 2.1 JF3 when I got it so I rooted it and put on the lag fix. It was still under performing so I put the newest build of 2.2 on the JPK thing. installed launcher pro which is the closest to stock 2.2 I've found.
Although its still an early version it flies. I think people have to keep the faith a bit. Companies are terrible at shipping devices to market too early just to beat the competition. I think thats happened alot this year.
There isnt a single perfect Android device out there right now and if your after perfection you really shouldnt consider android. Its great for geeks like me who like to tinker. If thats not you then go get a nokia or an iphone.

I even registered for this
I own a SGS my wife owns an iPhone4. I feel my phone is significantly better, despite my wife's phone costing significantly more.
The iphone is not perfect...things I dont like
1. They do not yet have a free satnav app.
2. You cannot email more than one photo at the same time.
3. Does not have swype
4. Smaller screen
5. No back button (top left corner of screen always has to have a back button)
6. You have to pay extra for everything (ring tones etc.)
7. SGS is much more resistant to drop based damage
8. No customisable home screen for regularly used functions which occasionally are multi-level deep in an iPhone
9. No removable storage
10. No chance of a flash browser...
Do not get me wrong the iPhone 4 is an exceptionally good phone, but the SGS IMO is better and cheaper!
Additionally I have noticed my battery lasts a day longer than my wife's (completely unscientific testing though).
For balance I will point out the things on my wife's phone that are superior to SGS
1. Camera has a flash (the flash is not great, but it is better than nothing).
2. The text rendering is superior
3. The safari touch screen movement is superior (difficult to explain why you need to use both to appreciate what I mean)
My wife's iPhone 4 regularly (approx twice weekly) asks her to re-enter the wifi security code for our house, that bug to me is far more annoying than anything I have experienced on my phone so far.

Great!
Tesmond said:
I own a SGS my wife owns an iPhone4. I feel my phone is significantly better, despite my wife's phone costing significantly more.
The iphone is not perfect...things I dont like
1. They do not yet have a free satnav app.
2. You cannot email more than one photo at the same time.
3. Does not have swype
4. Smaller screen
5. No back button (top left corner of screen always has to have a back button)
6. You have to pay extra for everything (ring tones etc.)
7. SGS is much more resistant to drop based damage
8. No customisable home screen for regularly used functions which occasionally are multi-level deep in an iPhone
9. No removable storage
10. No chance of a flash browser...
Do not get me wrong the iPhone 4 is an exceptionally good phone, but the SGS IMO is better and cheaper!
Additionally I have noticed my battery lasts a day longer than my wife's (completely unscientific testing though).
For balance I will point out the things on my wife's phone that are superior to SGS
1. Camera has a flash (the flash is not great, but it is better than nothing).
2. The text rendering is superior
3. The safari touch screen movement is superior (difficult to explain why you need to use both to appreciate what I mean)
My wife's iPhone 4 regularly (approx twice weekly) asks her to re-enter the wifi security code for our house, that bug to me is far more annoying than anything I have experienced on my phone so far.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Welcome to the community.
Excelent post.
Congratulations and thank you for the analysis.

nCoder said:
Welcome to the community.
Excelent post.
Congratulations and thank you for the analysis.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
music on iphone sounds way better than sgs.

Tesmond said:
1. They do not yet have a free satnav app.
2. You cannot email more than one photo at the same time.
3. Does not have swype
4. Smaller screen
5. No back button (top left corner of screen always has to have a back button)
6. You have to pay extra for everything (ring tones etc.)
7. SGS is much more resistant to drop based damage
8. No customisable home screen for regularly used functions which occasionally are multi-level deep in an iPhone
9. No removable storage
10. No chance of a flash browser...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. True, but there are cheap ones. Google navigation works terribly for me, so the SGS may as well not have one TBH. I've got no doubt its the phone not the program thats causing this. Clearly other people dont have this problem though.
2. No big deal for me or most people for that matter, but fair point.
3. True - I'll miss swype when I go back to the iphone. That said swype isnt perfect either - its often putting the wrong word in for me and i'm having to go back correcting the errors.
4. True... but its sharper and not pentile. I think the screens are a draw for me.
5. True, but it doesn't really need one IMO.
6. True - but not bothered.
7. I can imagine.
8. Yes, but then its rare you need to. Main thing I'd like to see is a button for airplane mode and to keep the screen on, but I can live with it.
9. True but it does have a lot of storage built in. Not a big deal for me.
10. To be honest the importance of this is overstated - when I've witnessed flash running on a phone it often slows to a crawl anyway.
Tesmond said:
Do not get me wrong the iPhone 4 is an exceptionally good phone, but the SGS IMO is better and cheaper!
Additionally I have noticed my battery lasts a day longer than my wife's (completely unscientific testing though).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wouldnt say the SGS is better. It lags, is full of bugs and the GPS doesn't work at all for many people. The build quality is questionable (though I dont mind).
However, you really have to be joking about the battery? My mate has an iphone 4, and the battery life is not just slightly better on his, it is STAGGERINGLY better. We are both heavy users, and his is easily double what mine can do on the battery. If your partners iphone 4 battery does not last longer than your SGS, I'd say hers is faulty, TBH.
Tesmond said:
For balance I will point out the things on my wife's phone that are superior to SGS
1. Camera has a flash (the flash is not great, but it is better than nothing).
2. The text rendering is superior
3. The safari touch screen movement is superior (difficult to explain why you need to use both to appreciate what I mean)
My wife's iPhone 4 regularly (approx twice weekly) asks her to re-enter the wifi security code for our house, that bug to me is far more annoying than anything I have experienced on my phone so far.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. Not only does it have a flash, it is also FAR superior in terms of picture quality. Again, first hand experience. The SGS camera is acceptable, nothing more. The iphone camera has better sensors etc, and is actually almost as good as a compact dedicated camera from a few years ago.
2. Agreed
3. Again, agreed - even the original iphone moves around the screen better than the SGS (or any Android phone).
Now a few you forgot...
4. It runs faster - a LOT faster. Even if you lag fix an SGS, it STILL doesn't run as fast. Then again even a 1 year old Nexus One outperforms the SGS (but again, not the iphone 4).
5. Less buggy - this surely cannot be denied.
6. MUCH better apps
7. GPS actually works
8. Looks nicer
9. Far, FAR better battery life - I don't know how anyone can really say otherwise.
10. Updating it doesn't result in you having to spend an hour reinstalling apps without the aid of a (paid) backup app.
11. Resale value, come the day, will be FAR superior. In the UK, we have phone recycling sites (which no doubt, so will you)... and already the maximum price you can get for the SGS is around £115. That is APPALLING. You can STILL get £190 for a 2 year old iphone 3G. Big deal, you may think, but for me, this more than offsets the extra cost of the phone. In actual fact, a 16Gb SGS was £550 when it came out in the UK, £50 MORE than the iphone. Yet, in a years time, when you want to sell it, you'll still get £350 for the iphone, but you'll probably be lucky to get much more than £100 for the SGS, so TCO the iphone is actually significantly cheaper.
As for your wifi bug, again, I'd say that was a faulty phone - I certainly never had that problem with my 3G.
Also, if your iphone gets faulty, then Apple will replace it there and then. I wouldn't like to imagine what would happen if I sent it to Samsung given their dire customer service in this country.
Don't get me wrong, I'm no iphone fanboy, if I was, there would only have been one choice for me, but you're pushing it saying the SGS is better and cheaper, because frankly, it's only better on paper. In reality, its very different.

Can't decide between HTC Evo and Samsung Epic?

Well, good news guys. I am starting as a cell phone tech repair at a local store here and can't seem to decide between a HTC Evo 4G or Samsung Epic 4G. They both look awesome.
I am also with T-Mobile with the HD2 and love HTC products but the Samsung Epic looks tempting. I feel so indecisive now.
Any help here?

I feel your pain. Before Access released the new version of Graffiti that works perfectly on the Epic, I was literally within hours... maybe a day or two... of taking my Epic back and exchanging it for an Evo. It's amazing how being totally handicapped at text-input colors (darkens?) your view of pretty much everything else about the phone.
I'm still not thrilled with the Epic's jiggly-ness, but I have hope that Seidio (or maybe Otterbox) will eventually release a case that lets you latch the halves together (or clamp on a semi-temporary exoskeleton that achieves the same purpose).
The single worst problem I found with the Evo is its usb port. HTC cut corners and didn't attach it properly, so the solder connections (surface-mount, no less) end up bearing 100% of the stress and strain from attaching and removing the cable, and eventually fail. Technically, that's something I could probably fix myself if it happened (I have a hot air rework tool, solder paste, tubes of flux, tweezers, and the other usual supplies needed for homebrew surface-mount soldering), but I know *exactly* how it can fail, and it bothers me that HTC could have possibly done something that stupid. That's not the kind of mistake an engineer makes... that's the kind of screwup that happens when HTC management decides to cut corners anyway after their engineers throw a fit and threaten to quit over it.
Also, I've spent the past week lurking on the Evo development boards, and got the worst sense of deja-vu when I saw that HTC still releases useless kernel source that's unbuildable, with proprietary binaries compiled straight into it (in total violation of the GPL, not to mention common sense and human decency) so that it's nearly impossible to take an old kernel and use it as the basis of a newer one (without breaking every single binary driver in the process). Samsung might have sinned mightily and royally screwed up the GPS, but at least they had the decency to treat the kernel with respect & dignity, and implement everything that's not open-source as proper loadable kernel modules. It might be the only thing they've done right, but it's a really big, really important thing that NEEDS to be right
Both the Epic and Evo have criminally-undersized batteries, and battery life that totally sucks. The main difference is that there are multiple extended battery choices for the Evo available today, and zero extended battery choices for the Epic today (though there will probably be just as many Epic choices as Evo choices by Christmas... maybe more, since only the extended battery's back cover would be unique to the Epic, and the batteries themselves are common to the entire Galaxy S family).
Out of the box, the Evo feels a lot better in your hand. I bought the Epic originally because I wanted the keyboard, but I personally think the Epic's keyboard sucks to the point of being unusable because they made the keys too big and too flat. Had they made the keys smaller (keeping the same pitch), or made them taller and more rounded (like the Sidekick's keyboard), it would have been awesome. Thus, I'm now officially in the "I want a case with exoskeleton or latch so I can just secure the keyboard shut and forget it exists... at least, until I'm in a mood to slap on a GameGripper and play videogames with it" camp. It's a shame, because it COULD have been a really awesome keyboard if Samsung hadn't ruined it for the sake of aesthetics.
I'm a little nervous about the Epic's AMOLED screen, because I found out that they suffer from an effect that has similar appearance to burn-in. Apparently, the blue elements have a half-life of ~7,000 bright hours before they dim noticeably. The result is that if you display static bright blue content for extended periods of time, it will look like old-school yellow burn-in when white is displayed (the blue will dim, causing the brighter red and green to give the pixel a yellowish cast). LCDs can develop persistent images, but it's a temporary effect due to static electricity that dissipates over time. With AMOLED and blue-fade, by the time you see it happen, it's too late -- the panel's ruined forever.
I'll admit I've slightly warmed up to Touchwiz... especially once I replaced the homescreen with ADW, and figured out how to make the app drawer scroll vertically (god, the horizontal scrolling drove me *insane* for a couple of days). Samsung's "Phone" app is definitely prettier than HTC's was on the Hero (I've never actually used an Evo to make a call), and "Weather and Toggle Widget" (or whatever it's name is) gave me enough SenseUI look and feel to keep me happy without it.
There's still a tiny chance something will motivate me to switch to Evo before my 30 days are up in 2 weeks, but for now, I'm back to being content with my Epic.

Well, I had both the Evo and now the Epic and while the Evo was "okay," I love the Epic. Returning the Evo was the best thing I ever did. The main issues I had with the Evo where the physical size (Epic is thicker, but less surface area) and the battery. My Epic can last a full day with moderate to heavy use on a single charge. The Evo, with light use, needed to be charged about half way through the day. That is with all the usual tweaks, etc. Also, the Evo with the brightness turned down (to save battery) was almost useless, but the Epic on its lowest brightness setting is brighter than the Evo on about 50% brightness. Finally, even though Swype is cool, it is nice to have the keyboard if you do any kind of long typing or typing of words that are not in the dictionary. True, you can always add them, but if you ever do any kind of work where you type in commands, (terminal, etc) then you can do it much easier with a real keyboard.
Anyway, those are my two cents. On a 1-10 scale I would give the Evo a rating of 6 and the Epic a rating of 8.

Greetings! I have both an Epic and an Evo, both rooted, both used extensively for work. The Epic I use mainly for wireless tethering of a work issued laptop, the Epic I use primarily for fielding calls and email.
I like the ability to use a hard keyboard with the Epic but as a former blackberry owner for YEARS I still believe the best hard keyboards to exist are ones engineered by RIM. It's too bad Samsung didn't tap into RIM engineering when constructing the feel and heft of their physical keyboard.
I wasn't a huge fan of Sense before getting an Evo but it's incredibly easy to use and easy on the eyes (mine, anyways) It seems that the email functions on the Evo are easier to utilize than the ones on the Epic but again a matter of personal preference.
I've re-rooted both phones in the last week (accidentally deleted g-talk off of Evo then turned right around and bricked my Epic!) and both phones are running much smoother since doing so. I noticed my Evo was getting really sluggish as time wore on (rooted it right after I got it in July) and the Epic was displaying warning signs of brick-ville prior to it actually bricking. I've benchmarked both units and without a doubt the Epic is MUCH faster than the Evo.
I've noticed subtleties between both phones since using them so much:
SCREENS/VIBRANCY: Epic colors seem more washed out. Evo's are clearer. Evo screen reacts so much easier to the touch....I have to press buttons more than once often to get Epic touch to register....
BATTERY LIFE: Face it, phones like this suck mega power. Multiple batteries and chargers for both are a must. Since I travel between multiple offices, I have a cache of chargers/batteries at all locations along with techie travel items I never leave home without. Tip: for a quick boost to get you at least one hour of extra time on your phone grab one of those keyring battery boosters Sprint sells....they're cheap and come as advertised (****WARNING DO NOT CHARGE YOUR PHONE WITH THE BOOSTER WHILE SIMULTANEOUSLY CHARGING THE BOOSTER FROM AN ELECTRICAL SOURCE -SPRINT ADVERTISES THIS IS POSSIBLE BUT... YOU CAN START A FIRE*****) Hopefully my Travelers agent isn't on this forum !
SOUND: Epic seems to produce better sound at higher levels. Epic's speakers seem to have a weird screeching to them at top volume.
I don't know how much this has helped you, but the bottom line here is: if you are a physical keyboard person go for the Epic. If a larger screen floats your boat get the Evo. I'm fortunate to have been able to get both for professional reasons and have learned to love the differences that both provide.
Finally, here are two programs I highly recommend:
EPIC: noLED. Terrific app. Don't need root for it. Also works on Evo but designed for phones lacking a LED.
EVO: LEDHack. Ditto. You will need root. Not applicable for Epic.

All you really have to think about is "Do I want a pure touch screen? or do I want a qwerty keyboard as well as a touch screen?", "Do I want HTC Sense, or TouchWiz?", "Do I want a kickstand?", lol.
But for a more in-depth look, I made a comparison of the tech specs and I gathered the information from Wikipedia as well as google.
Here is my post http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=7788180#post7788180
Also. Playing Emulator games on the Epic is far more easier than it will be on the EVO. Due to the Epic having a physical keyboard so you can actually have buttons to press instread of tapping the touch screen. There are even keyboard covers that people have made in the shape of controllers to make the gameplay easier.
However. EVO has more developers than the Epic does for now. We only have about 4 roms and they're nothing really special. Pretty much stock roms with OC'ed kernals with a developer idea behind it. We don't even have a OTA rom developer yet. I still wish I knew how to do this stuff lol.

it's mostly personal preference, but I find the epic to be much nicer than the Evo. The keyboard is a much nicer addition for typing. Virtual keyboards just leave me wanting that tactile feel again. The epic is bigger, but also has a much nicer display and the battery life is longer. I also love the small things like the microusb port on the top, and the power button on the side. These help when I'm using it in the car.
As far as ROMs. The EVO has much more development, but I haven't really longed to change anything on the stock epic (except maybe the bloatware). It's nice and fast and TW is clean. SenseUI always bogged my Evo and made it clunky. The only time I had a smooth ROM was in CM6.So far on the Epic, I don't think I'll need to change anything until I upgrade to 2.2

Also, the Hummingbird processor feels faster than the Snapdragon QSD8650 in the EVO. The extra GPU power really makes a difference. That's why I switched.

I could never decide between the two really, there is just a list of pro's and con's for both of them!
So I got an Evo for my second line. (Girlfriend uses it).
I swore to myself that I would never get a Samsung phone. After I switched away from my Motorolla razr many years ago to the HTC Touch, I fell in love with the quality of their phones.
The Epic just makes the Evo seem so outdated. The only thing going for the Evo is the development community, accessories, and support. And of course the build quality of the phone is just PERFECT.
Unfortunately, I grew tired of Sense UI over a year ago, and much prefer the AOSP UI. I can say, side by side, the Epic just rips the Evo apart in terms of fluidness, performance, and raw GPU power... That, and the screen looks a million times better, and FEELS better too!
I like them both though! =)

one thing to also consider since you are currently a t-mobile customer, the G2 from HTC is out.

I think all of these "Epic or Evo" posts are kind of strange, honestly. The two phones fill different niches. I agree with the poster that said it really comes down to keyboard vs. no keyboard and touchwiz vs. sense. Everything else is relatively minor, and something you will easily get used to (or not even realize the difference).
For me, a better question would be something like Epic or G2, or Epic or Droid 2. It's really not that hard to switch carriers (in fact I did it to buy the Epic), and unless you're very close to the beginning of your present contract - in which case you can't upgrade yet anyway - the ETF probably won't be that much, if anything. I got out of my contract with AT&T after 18 months and they didn't charge me any ETF - though that may be because I still have a second line with my wife's iPhone on it.
I just feel like phones with or without keyboards are a completely different experience. (I had an iPhone for a *day*, and it felt like walking around on one leg to me. So I returned it. And now I'm very happy with my Epic.)
If I didn't need a keyboard, I wouldn't consider the Epic, because the keyboard just adds extra bulk and another failure point - actually several more failure points. Instead, I'd then be comparing the Evo to another Galaxy S phone on another carrier. There's usually no reason to restrict yourself to one carrier. Even if you are going to be charged an ETF, you can usually find a deal on any phone that will more than pay for it (vs. the normal subsidized price of the phone).

badasscat said:
I think all of these "Epic or Evo" posts are kind of strange, honestly. The two phones fill different niches. I agree with the poster that said it really comes down to keyboard vs. no keyboard and touchwiz vs. sense. Everything else is relatively minor, and something you will easily get used to (or not even realize the difference).
For me, a better question would be something like Epic or G2, or Epic or Droid 2. It's really not that hard to switch carriers (in fact I did it to buy the Epic), and unless you're very close to the beginning of your present contract - in which case you can't upgrade yet anyway - the ETF probably won't be that much, if anything. I got out of my contract with AT&T after 18 months and they didn't charge me any ETF - though that may be because I still have a second line with my wife's iPhone on it.
I just feel like phones with or without keyboards are a completely different experience. (I had an iPhone for a *day*, and it felt like walking around on one leg to me. So I returned it. And now I'm very happy with my Epic.)
If I didn't need a keyboard, I wouldn't consider the Epic, because the keyboard just adds extra bulk and another failure point - actually several more failure points. Instead, I'd then be comparing the Evo to another Galaxy S phone on another carrier. There's usually no reason to restrict yourself to one carrier. Even if you are going to be charged an ETF, you can usually find a deal on any phone that will more than pay for it (vs. the normal subsidized price of the phone).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you are coming from other carriers, then switching carrier might be a good idea.
But for Sprint customers (especially SERO), switching is usually costly. And unfortunately, at this moment, there are only 2 premium phones that we can choose from.

acegolfer said:
If you are coming from other carriers, then switching carrier might be a good idea.
But for Sprint customers (especially SERO), switching is usually costly. And unfortunately, at this moment, there are only 2 premium phones that we can choose from.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
People without SERO really dont get us sero users.
Even at 50 a month (with my 5pm nights and weekend perk) I will NEVER leave this plan.

the ones we got are evo epic pre transform to a lesser extent hero moment and even lesser extent the i1 and intercept
verizon att and tmo are lucky they have much more

My dad has the evo, I have the epic.
Grab a halloween wallpaper with lots of pumpkins on it. Then compare the screens. I couldn't believe the difference. The epic hands down has darker blacks and more vivid colors. Totally worth it.
Also a few co workers this week complimented the screen.

acegolfer said:
If you are coming from other carriers, then switching carrier might be a good idea.
But for Sprint customers (especially SERO), switching is usually costly. And unfortunately, at this moment, there are only 2 premium phones that we can choose from.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The OP is coming from T-Mobile. So there's no real reason he should only be looking at the Evo and Epic, and not much reason he'd have to compare only those phones to each other.

Coin Slot said:
one thing to also consider since you are currently a t-mobile customer, the G2 from HTC is out.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1 On this.. Amazing Device.. Dumb Fast.. Dumb Fast..

actually i am not leaving T-Mobile but adding Sprint as my second line. So in two months i will have a final decision.
Sent from my HTC HD2 using XDA App

Do your think the new mytouch4g is better

Well I've been showing my phone off tio my friends and most of them say they think the new mytouch is better than the vibrant and some guy thinks his ipod touch 2g is better because his pocket pond app has better graphics
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App

its all about personal preference.
vibrant has best gpu,samoled screen.
mt4g has flash, hspa+, and a ffc.
id personally stick with my vibrant. once its lag fixed and oc'd its a beast.
and that ipod 2g is not better than the vibrant lol that guy who said that has to be a noob, the reason pocket ponds looks so good on it,because its optimized for the hardware.

Yup! What's ffc
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App

Front facing camera

blasian shadows said:
its all about personal preference.
vibrant has best gpu,samoled screen.
mt4g has flash, hspa+, and a ffc.
id personally stick with my vibrant. once its lag fixed and oc'd its a beast.
and that ipod 2g is not better than the vibrant lol that guy who said that has to be a noob, the reason pocket ponds looks so good on it,because its optimized for the hardware.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. Vibrant will have full flash once 2.2 hits.
2. Hspa+ is a backwards compatible service, so the vibrant will still benefit from it (up to the hardware limit which is like 7 mbps)
3. You can mod a ffc onto the vibrant if you really want it...but there really aren't too many practical uses for it right now anyway.
The vibrant is by far still a better device imo.
Mobile Post Courtesy Of Tapatalk

Dragoth12 said:
1. Vibrant will have full flash once 2.2 hits.
2. Hspa+ is a backwards compatible service, so the vibrant will still benefit from it (up to the hardware limit which is like 7 mbps)
3. You can mod a ffc onto the vibrant if you really want it...but there really aren't too many practical uses for it right now anyway.
The vibrant is by far still a better device imo.
Mobile Post Courtesy Of Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think he is talking LED flash
From the last Apple announcement:
Reporter: What about flash support?
Steve Jobs: Our phones love flash, that where we store things.
I do think Vibrant is a better choice, even though the Snapdragon 2nd Gen processor in HTC phones (G2 and MyTouch 4G) is a beast on its own, but if it weren't for somewhat childish looks of MTG4 and the fact that you cannot mod the damn thing (only temp root, and no RW access to NAND) makes it a bit of a downer.

Dragoth12 said:
1. Vibrant will have full flash once 2.2 hits.
2. Hspa+ is a backwards compatible service, so the vibrant will still benefit from it (up to the hardware limit which is like 7 mbps)
3. You can mod a ffc onto the vibrant if you really want it...but there really aren't too many practical uses for it right now anyway.
The vibrant is by far still a better device imo.
Mobile Post Courtesy Of Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Will you have to get the official update to get flash? I'm running Eugene's froyo and my phone won't receive any updates at all for other reasons so if i can't get flash that would suck.

Dragoth12 said:
1. Vibrant will have full flash once 2.2 hits.
2. Hspa+ is a backwards compatible service, so the vibrant will still benefit from it (up to the hardware limit which is like 7 mbps)
3. You can mod a ffc onto the vibrant if you really want it...but there really aren't too many practical uses for it right now anyway.
The vibrant is by far still a better device imo.
Mobile Post Courtesy Of Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
my mistake i should have said led flash.
and yea once the banding issues are fixed i am buying a Ffc lol

From a majority consumer point of view, the MyTough3g is better.
FFC isn't a niche device, it's pretty mainstream considering you can now chat with people who use Yahoo Messenger from your Android phone if it has a FFC. Don't really care about Qik, but Yahoo is very much in use in the world. I suspect Windows Live Messenger will debut this feature quite soon with some Windows Phones coming out with FFCs.
The phone is snappier. Doesn't have the crappy RFS file system. The GUI looks good, and the Speech recognition works great. Doesn't feel like a paper plate in you hands, either (though I've added a cover to my vibrant to put some weight on it).
The Vibrant is a good device but the software (and I've heard FroYo doesn't really change much, outside of the fact that it's FroYo and yes I do need some of the features in FroYo so I welcome it) is terrible and some of the ommisions are just mind-boggling. No LED on front for notifications, for example. No Flash. GPS that still doesn't work correctly for half the people who have it. Slow as hell file system that makes the phone unusable from time to time. Less Application RAM than an HTC Aria. The GPU really doesn't matter because Android 2.1/2.2 still doesn't have a gfx accellerated GUI and Windows Mobile 6.5 has more games than Android (more games that you're bother installing, that is).
HTC also typically has an HTC Sync application for their phones, which makes managing them much easier than Galaxy S in the US (no Kies for us).
TBQH, I'm tired defending this phone. I wonder when others will get tired of it (prolly never on this forum, people still call the HD2 the greatest phone on earth here). This device is being completely overshadowered by other offerings and the only reason why it sold so well on AT&T/T-Mobile/Sprint is because:
1. T-Mobile didn't have anything else worth buying in the range of high end smartphones (HD2 not an option for most people with it's OS and problematic reputation)
2. AT&T Doesn't have much other high end smartphonts other than Palm Pres and the Torch that just came out with the Captivate (the Pre and Torch feel more mid-range compared to iOS/Android devices, and there was the Aria as well in that space).
3. Sprint had so many issues with Evo backorders/issues that customers had no issue but to get something else. They have no other good phones. Their Pres are 1st gen and no one wants a Touch Pro 2 or Hero, Lol...
How that there are other good phones coming out... I wouldn't expect much.
Not everyone is a power user. My mom doesn't cry about not being able to jailbreak her Blackberry and when she had a WinMo phone she didn't even install an app on it. She just used it as a phone/txt device (basically as a feature phone). The temp-root issue is only an issue for a very small minority of users - so it isn't even an issue at all in the grand scheme of things.

I looked at the new mytouch.
No thanks.
And I'm at a loss as to the above posters issues. This is my third android phone, and it us by far the fastest happiest android device I've used. My last phone, the Nexus one, although sexy, would need a reboot at least once a day to keep it snappy.
And I live the size if included internal memory is the Vibrant. No need for special hacks to get files on SD.
The Vibrant, for me, is a fantastic phone.
And yes, can't wait for the banding issue to be resolved for the FFC.
Oh, and it doesn't need a flash. It takes better pictures in low light conditions without one, than other phones that have a flash

Well, the one thing that is unmatched on the Galaxy S line is the amazing screen. Sorry, but I can't go back to LCD or plain AMOLED after this. After all, you use the screen more than any other feature on a smartphone.
As for the other things, it all depends on what's important to you. GPS works great for me now. FFC would be nice, but not necessary for me. As for flash? Meh, LED flash is barely adequate as a solution.
Personally, I picked the Vibrant because aside from the core smartphone functions, I wanted a phone that could also replace my old iPod. So for me, having 16gb of built-in memory was more important than even having a camera, much less a flash.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App

My First Impression Of The MyTouch 4G:
The screen on the MyTouch 4G is much higher in resolution. You can barely see pixels. The MyTouch 4G produces real whites, the SuperAmoled produces green/blue whites. However the SAMOLED has a much better contrast ratio, meaning colors pop since blacks are much darker.
The 3.8 inch screen is too small for me
The Build Quality of the 4G seems to be good.
The GPU seemed slower than the Vibrants PowerVR.
The CPU is faster on the 4G.
Now here is the odd part. I must admit I've noticed the same thing with the G2.
Both the G2 and the Mytouch 4G are HSPA+, while the Vibrant is not. However, side by side, running speedtest app. The vibrant EVERY SINGLE TIME had both higher download and upload speeds. It just doesn't make sense. Side by side, the Vibrant got almost 6mbps download. MyTouch 4G best it could do was 3mbps. Same with the G2, I don't get it.

Henchman said:
I looked at the new mytouch.
No thanks.
And I'm at a loss as to the above posters issues. This is my third android phone, and it us by far the fastest happiest android device I've used. My last phone, the Nexus one, although sexy, would need a reboot at least once a day to keep it snappy.
And I live the size if included internal memory is the Vibrant. No need for special hacks to get files on SD.
The Vibrant, for me, is a fantastic phone.
And yes, can't wait for the banding issue to be resolved for the FFC.
Oh, and it doesn't need a flash. It takes better pictures in low light conditions without one, than other phones that have a flash
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Every phone has its fanbois. I just left T-Mo and played with an HD7.
Vinrant fells like an 8088 PC-XT compared to that. Only way to think this phone is snappy is to have only used worse phones.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App

LOL yup so I'll wait another 2 years for a newer android phone with android 4.0 if its going there
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App

Me and my roomate both had our Vibrants in the store. We were astonished by the difference, just in scrolling form home screen to home screen. The Vibrants were obviously laggy doing something trivial. The Windows phone just blew through everything. The UI is beyond polished. The minimalist look definitely works well.
Microsoft definitely took the best route short of developing their own phones: Lock down the hardware and focus on doing what you do best - software ~ namely the OS and all the device drivers. Google should take note, or Android will suffer (although I'm sure it will be prevalent in the low-mid range device market, since Nokia isn't that big a player - at least in the US).
We played with the MyTouch 4G. The phone itself is ugly and I'm not a fan of screens < 4". It has some Sense elements in it which = update churn like 90% of other Android phones. The G2 performed decently but it has a whole host of problems. If you haven't experienced that ****ty hinge I implore you to go to a T-Mobile store and play with it. The minute the phone is perpendicular to the floor the phone starts closing (more like slamming) on you. That makes the phone unusable for me if I'm lying in bed and using it (as I often do before I go to bed). I guess something like an Epic 4G or Droid 2 wouldn't have that issue, though. That hinge was a terrible idea, Lol.
Oh, and did I mention the touchscreen keyboard on WP7 is /drools/ worthy.
I can't see myself getting any other Android Phone again.
If you get a phone with a UI on it that looks decent it is bound to come with hoards of issues and update churn. If you get a stock phone the built quality is pure crap and/or half the space is taken up to lock the phone down instead.
In any case, I heard FroYo for Galaxy S in the U.S. is supposed to be coming Nov. 11 on Facebook from "Samsung Galaxy S."
I heard Galaxy S performance is still below acceptable with FroYo, though... Some people are reporting regressions.

i just picked up the new mt4g. i have two phone lines (one for my work) and will probably keep both phones. i will need to use the mt4g for a couple of weeks go form a complete review/opinion on the phone v. the vibrant.
the mt4g is very solid and very snappy considering all the bloatware. with its HTC Espresso UI, the interface isn't for every body. Just like HTC sense it does a huge amount of social integration, moreso than the vibrant. And just like HTC sense you have pre-set "themes" you can load in terms of personal and business preferences.
it's screen is super crisp but no where near as "vibrant" as our vibrant phones. in terms of gaming, i haven't compared the two yet as i'm sure the mt4g can handle them well to a certain extent vs. the vibrant being that it's a second gen snapdragon. but i'm sure in terms of rendering and graphic display, it won't match the vibrant. i'll probably compare the gaming and video playback between the two later this week.

N8ter said:
In any case, I heard FroYo for Galaxy S in the U.S. is supposed to be coming Nov. 11 on Facebook from "Samsung Galaxy S."
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There's been no announcement or even real rumor of the sort, unfortunately.
The only thing that's confirmed is "by the end of the year".

If the mytouch had at least a 4" screen I would get it. That being said, I'm looking forward to the android version of the Dell Venue Pro
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App

SamsungVibrant said:
My First Impression Of The MyTouch 4G:
The screen on the MyTouch 4G is much higher in resolution. You can barely see pixels. The MyTouch 4G produces real whites, the SuperAmoled produces green/blue whites. However the SAMOLED has a much better contrast ratio, meaning colors pop since blacks are much darker.
The 3.8 inch screen is too small for me
The Build Quality of the 4G seems to be good.
The GPU seemed slower than the Vibrants PowerVR.
The CPU is faster on the 4G.
Now here is the odd part. I must admit I've noticed the same thing with the G2.
Both the G2 and the Mytouch 4G are HSPA+, while the Vibrant is not. However, side by side, running speedtest app. The vibrant EVERY SINGLE TIME had both higher download and upload speeds. It just doesn't make sense. Side by side, the Vibrant got almost 6mbps download. MyTouch 4G best it could do was 3mbps. Same with the G2, I don't get it.
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vibrant and mt4g have the same resolution. 800x480

lexluthor said:
There's been no announcement or even real rumor of the sort, unfortunately.
The only thing that's confirmed is "by the end of the year".
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Click to collapse
You're wrong.
The source of my info is in the the sentence you quoted.

Pre > Epic > Evo > back to Epic

For anyone trying to decide between the Evo and Epic, here is my take after having each for at least 2 weeks as my primary phone. These are just my opinions as everyone has different tastes
I must be an exception to the rule...I switched from a Palm Pre to the Epic for a couple weeks. I liked swype so much I decided to drop the epic for the evo.
After using an Evo for two weeks I traded it back for an Epic and I like the Epic much better for a few reasons.
First I didn't care for HTC Sense. I like the gallery, email, music player, calendar, and various apps included with the Epic better than HTC's versions. Also, HTC doesn't ship a file browser or task manager whereas Samsung does. Some people will say "just install one from the market" but those typically all have ads. I realize you can remove the ads with a host file, but that’s beside the point. These are basic OS functions that should be included.
Second the Epic feels much faster. Scrolling is smoother and games run better. Froyo or not, it’s faster.
Third…contrary to what you may believe it is MUCH easier to root an Epic. With the Epic you can essentially take the long way or the shortcut 1-click method but the Evo HW0004 currently there is only a long somewhat difficult root process.
Fourth, everyone complains that the dev community is so much better for the Evo. I would argue that this community is really top notch and has been extremely helpful and understanding to new users such as myself. I saw a lot more flaming going on in Evo forums.
Finally the hardware: Something overlooked by many, the Epic is way more comfortable to hold. Turns out rounded corners are round for a reason. After browsing the web & xda for about 30 min on the Evo I noticed the center of my palm, right where the bottom corner rests was a tad sore, almost felt bruised. This is not a problem with the Epic with its nicely rounded body and curved back. Also the earpiece is much better on the Epic, its louder clearer and is more comfortable up to the ear. And yes, the samoled screen is worth the 0.3” loss in size.
I wouldn't even consider the Evo Shift at this point. I'm shocked to see so many people recommending it over the Epic which to me is well worth the higher price.

If they fix the keyboard issues, GPS issues, and battery life issues I would agree with you that the Epic 4G is definitely the best phone on Sprint. If a Droid or the iPhone had even one of these issues, all of the media outlets would be up in arms and there would be mass returns. They are all MAJOR issues. For some reason, Samsung is allowed to get away with it on the Galaxy S devices. People are not really returning their devices in large numbers (as far as I know), and all of the reviewers gave the Galaxy S devices very high scores.
The reality is this is essentially a device with alpha or beta quality software on it, that is not getting fixed until at least six months after release. I am not buying Samsung again for mobile phones.

I have to agree with op. Best phone i ever had, and i have had quite a few smartphones. even before official froyo, it runs much smoothr than the few evos i played with. Gps, keyboard is perfect for me. And the screen is amazing.....
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App

Stock Evo vs. Epic battery life is within 5% I would say. I couldn't tell any difference in my usage. Probably because I am almost always within Wi-fi range which makes a big difference.
Keyboard on the Epic doesn't impress, I'll agree with you. Thats probably why I use swype most of the time. It is very handy to punch in passwords though.
GPS is better on the Evo. If you are a road warrior I would avoid the Galexy S line. That said, if you enable GPS & wireless networks it will place you on the map within 30 seconds, but it is definitely not as accurate as the Evo. Supposedly Samsung is working on improvements.
Thanks for bringing up some points I didn't include!

thechicgeak said:
If they fix the keyboard issues, GPS issues, and battery life issues I would agree with you that the Epic 4G is definitely the best phone on Sprint. If a Droid or the iPhone had even one of these issues, all of the media outlets would be up in arms and there would be mass returns. They are all MAJOR issues. For some reason, Samsung is allowed to get away with it on the Galaxy S devices. People are not really returning their devices in large numbers (as far as I know), and all of the reviewers gave the Galaxy S devices very high scores.
The reality is this is essentially a device with alpha or beta quality software on it, that is not getting fixed until at least six months after release. I am not buying Samsung again for mobile phones.
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Click to collapse
A. The keyboard is the only legitimate argument you have here.
B. Most users who buy the epic(and yes, the users who root and are members of this forum are the minority) do not see a GPS problem. I didn't even notice one till I started reading this forum and trying to replicate the problem. I have two friends with Epics, and they have never complained of the GPS not working.
C. The battery is no worse than the Evo, and that is a fact. Read on both forums and you will see that everyone gets VERY comparable operating times. Unfortunately with screen this big and clear, you aren't going to get the battery life of other phones. Have you seen the screens on Evo and Epic compared to iphone and droid? They are night and day difference, and the product of that is battery life.
If you go to the Droid forums you will see complaints as well, however because 80% of the public does not have the same demand as the users of forums like this, the complaints are not escalated as highly. The high end techies complain about everything that is not perfect, cause techies are never satisfied, I should know, I am in that boat. However, that does not mean we are holding a inferior piece of hardware/software. Outside of this forum, I have never met a normal person dissatisfied with their Epic or Evo.

I was in a sprint store last week getting a replacement Epic so while waiting i did about 15 seperate 4g bandwidth tests with the floor demo and my replacement Epic comparing it it side to side with the Evo. I'm disappointed to say not only did the Evo best the Epic every time in some instances it nearly doubled the speed. It regularly was 1-3 megabits a second faster and the fastest speed for a Epic was 7.2 megs and the Evo was 10 megs. I also noticed that even though we were in a full coverage area the Epic would go from full to no bars for some unknown reason. The Evo must have a better antenna or the Epic has some reception issues. Has anyone else tested this out?

swanysto said:
...C. The battery is no worse than the Evo, and that is a fact. Read on both forums and you will see that everyone gets VERY comparable operating times. Unfortunately with screen this big and clear, you aren't going to get the battery life of other phones. Have you seen the screens on Evo and Epic compared to iphone and droid? They are night and day difference, and the product of that is battery life...
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Click to collapse
I'm going to chime in here and state that the Epic's 45-nm S5PC110 is ~20% more power efficient than the EVO's 65-nm QSD8650. The SAMOLED on the Epic does eat more juice than the EVO's LCD when cranked all the way up or when displaying lots of white pages, but when displaying dark colors and blacks it can sip less energy.

swanysto said:
A. The keyboard is the only legitimate argument you have here.
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Agreed, the keyboard is junk on this device. I am not sure if it is software, hardware, or both that causes the missed keys. Hopefully it is just software issues...
swanysto said:
B. Most users who buy the epic(and yes, the users who root and are members of this forum are the minority) do not see a GPS problem. I didn't even notice one till I started reading this forum and trying to replicate the problem. I have two friends with Epics, and they have never complained of the GPS not working.
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Click to collapse
I can see how for some people, the GPS issues are not a big deal, but it is for people who do not want to do any sort of hacking whatsoever to help decrease the long lock times. Not the end of the world, I'll grant you that, but my point is that this would not be accepted on any other major mobile phone, so why is it so accepted on the Galaxy S devices? Look at how up in arms people were about the iPhone 4's relatively minor "death grip" problem.
swanysto said:
C. The battery is no worse than the Evo, and that is a fact. Read on both forums and you will see that everyone gets VERY comparable operating times. Unfortunately with screen this big and clear, you aren't going to get the battery life of other phones. Have you seen the screens on Evo and Epic compared to iphone and droid? They are night and day difference, and the product of that is battery life.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When it works as it should, it can have great battery life (mine under DK28 works great and I get around 20 to 30 hours on a charge with moderate usage). That being said, there are problems in the software that, on some phones under certain conditions, cause absurdly bad battery life (10% battery drain or more per hour while idle, which is how mine was until I upgraded to DK28 and how my friends' Fascinates are) and cause the phone to heat up considerably while idle. I have only ever heard of this happening with Galaxy S phones. Either way, frequent updates from Samsung and getting the latest Android release reasonably fast would mitigate this complaint for me, but that doesn't happen, so it is a legitimate complaint.
swanysto said:
If you go to the Droid forums you will see complaints as well, however because 80% of the public does not have the same demand as the users of forums like this, the complaints are not escalated as highly. The high end techies complain about everything that is not perfect, cause techies are never satisfied, I should know, I am in that boat. However, that does not mean we are holding a inferior piece of hardware/software. Outside of this forum, I have never met a normal person dissatisfied with their Epic or Evo.
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Click to collapse
I will agree that many people expect too much out of their smart phones. 20 to 30 hours is not enough for many people. That being said, 10 hour battery life doing absolutely nothing with the phone is completely ridiculous, and it is a legitimate software problem with the Galaxy S devices.
EDIT: Some grammar changes

I believe every phone's capabilities have to do with their "abuse" levels. Higher the abuse, lower the satisfaction. And, with higher abuse there will be more frequent visits to the Sprint store than usual.
I got my Epic on the day it came out (8/30/2010) and I have to admit this is a very beautiful phone with nice features. And the custom roms just spice it up even more (with less abuse of course)

If you have 10% drain an hour then you have app issues or something running in the background. On eclair I was getting 60 - 80 hours with no problem. On froyo it has been 20 - 30 hours now with ext 4 its up to 55 hours
Our stock standby time is 300 hours evo is like 200.
Epic 4g Quantum Rom Ext 4

Since im replying from my phone and I don't feel like editing a quote I'll just say that the gps is a MAJOR issue as I was never able to use it until I started having my phone. Considering gps is such a basic feature nowadays that is unacceptable.
Sent from my ext4 Epic 4G running Bonsai4all 1.1.3!

so far so good
I'm always tempted by the path not chosen, but so far the Epic has done everything I've needed it to do.
I drive for a living, and while the GPS does take time to lock, it does lock. Otherwise I can find myself on the map and plot my route on the map to at least start my travels until it does lock. I consider this to be standard GPS protocol :/
I could really care less about the keyboard, but for some reason Sprint has designated the slider as their form factor of choice since the PPC-6700. It misses keys, and I thought it was just me, but I'll just have to factor that in and type more carefully. But only the form factor and the OS have been real temptations for me.
I was in the market to replace my Flip camera, and when i saw the video comparisons between the Evo and the Epic, I knew I would be very disappointed with the Evo. And while it may not matter to some, I appreciate the dedicated 2 step camera button.
I'm also feel I'm in the minority when I say that I really like plug location. I leave the phone plugged in while I drive, and it's nice to not have to stow the phone upside down and have to hold it around the plug. This has been a plus with every Samsung phone I have had, the ability to charge it in the upright position. And I cannot tell you how much I adore the slide cover of the plug.
The screen looks great from any angle even in bright light I can see it better than I could ever see the screen on my TP2.
Now, is the phone light and cheap feeling? Possibly. But I would rather drop a light phone than a heavy phone. Think about it. I already dropped it once trying to take a picture of something on the floor. Wood floor, no harm, lesson learned. But the phone seems well put together, and it should last at least the year before I can upgrade to, whatever.
4G, eh, whatever. I play with it in Chicago, and it's iffy at best. They basically tacked on an extra radio, and I mostly pretend it's not there. However, it does grant the ability to do simultaneous voice and data, which will be a plus if this network ever expands and takes hold.
So even though I am sick to death of waiting for Froyo since I'm checking on it every day, I still know I made the right choice as far as what Sprint has to offer.

docdg said:
I also noticed that even though we were in a full coverage area the Epic would go from full to no bars for some unknown reason.
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This happens to me all the time. Months ago there were some posts postulating that this problem may be because the Epic's network defaults to "WCDMA preferred" under the advanced network settings, and WCDMA, despite its name, is actually a protocol for GSM phones, not CDMA phones. The thought is that it preferentially periodically goes looking for these networks it cannot connect to.
I have found that switching this setting to "CDMA auto" causes my "time without signal" to drop from ~50% to about 4%, so there's probably something to that argument. Unfortunately the phone seems to change itself back, especially when it reboots, and in any case I still get the bars dropping away quite often, even after changing this.

Phreddo said:
I'm also feel I'm in the minority when I say that I really like plug location. I leave the phone plugged in while I drive, and it's nice to not have to stow the phone upside down and have to hold it around the plug.
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Click to collapse
I also like the plug where it is, though I didn't think I would when I got it. It is so much nicer than a bottom or side plug, not only when plugged into the car, but also when plugged in anywhere else, especially at the computer.

I really like my Epic over the Evo. My cuz has an Evo and it looks and feels so big and square, I really don't think I'd like carrying that thing in my pocket, like I carry my Evo. And for me, Evo's screen is actually larger than needed. I lived without a keyboard for two years with my HTC Touch and now, I can't go without a keyboard. I personally find Swype to be inaccurate and I constantly had to make adjustments. I use the android keyboard when not typing on the keyboard.

edonnelly said:
This happens to me all the time. Months ago there were some posts postulating that this problem may be because the Epic's network defaults to "WCDMA preferred" under the advanced network settings, and WCDMA, despite its name, is actually a protocol for GSM phones, not CDMA phones. The thought is that it preferentially periodically goes looking for these networks it cannot connect to.
I have found that switching this setting to "CDMA auto" causes my "time without signal" to drop from ~50% to about 4%, so there's probably something to that argument. Unfortunately the phone seems to change itself back, especially when it reboots, and in any case I still get the bars dropping away quite often, even after changing this.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I too noticed that in the settings. When I switch to CDMA auto, the bars were almost always full or close to full even when I was in areas that historically gave me a bad signal. Unfortunately, the phone swtiches back to WCDMA and I go back to my normal, high-and-low signal.

One final note as I am actually switching to an evo today. On the topic of task killers the one included with the epic is crap. It does not show programs samsung does not want you ending and so I've always used advanced task killer. To me GPS that works and manufacturer support far outweigh the need for a manufacturer supplied task killer.
Sent from my ext4 Epic 4G running Bonsai4all 1.1.3!

kenvan19 said:
One final note as I am actually switching to an evo today. On the topic of task killers the one included with the epic is crap. It does not show programs samsung does not want you ending and so I've always used advanced task killer. To me GPS that works and manufacturer support far outweigh the need for a manufacturer supplied task killer.
Sent from my ext4 Epic 4G running Bonsai4all 1.1.3!
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Click to collapse
I think I'm switching to the Epic but I haven't considered the GPS issue. I just assume I'll get a good one. lol. To me, the screen, the still and video camera are reasons to switch. Though the dev community doesn't seem as robust for Epic and the manufacturer support clearly isn't there as well.

dwd3885 said:
I think I'm switching to the Epic but I haven't considered the GPS issue. I just assume I'll get a good one. lol. To me, the screen, the still and video camera are reasons to switch. Though the dev community doesn't seem as robust for Epic and the manufacturer support clearly isn't there as well.
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You can get GPS working you just have to be on DK28. If you like the phone by all means get it. It comes down to opinions and my opinion is that there really isn't anything I like about the Epic. Its got great graphics and a good camera but I have a 42" flatscreen+a PS3 for gaming and I have a 12mp camera for pictures, I don't need my phone to do those things. Sure, having a hardware keyboard is great but considering I have to slow my typing speed down so I don't miss letters and how much I've come to love swype I don't really want/need it anymore. I've said this in the Evo Shift vs Epic thread and I'll say it here: Go try both phones. If you like one more than the other, buy it. Manufacturers and Carriers are always going to skew their descriptions and spec sheets to get you to buy something, so just go with what you want.

jbadboy2007 said:
If you have 10% drain an hour then you have app issues or something running in the background. On eclair I was getting 60 - 80 hours with no problem. On froyo it has been 20 - 30 hours now with ext 4 its up to 55 hours
Our stock standby time is 300 hours evo is like 200.
Epic 4g Quantum Rom Ext 4
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I am not quite sure exactly what it is, but it seems to be restricted to Galaxy S phones. I spent quite a lot of time trying to figure out what was causing it on my phone, and while I have heard of people like you who got good battery life in 2.1, everyone I know who has a Galaxy S device has this issue. Judging by the fact that for me and others, 2.2 has cleared up the issue, I am guessing there is a fix specifically for this in that update.
For the record, I once ran logcat to see if I could pinpoint the issue. It seemed that Google Sync was querying Google's servers CONSTANTLY even though I had configured to push in GMail, so it could be an issue with Android or the GMail app itself, but why it seems to manifest on Galaxy S devices with alarming frequency is beyond me.