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Even though the rest on the world has been enjoying the Samsung Galaxy S II for some time now, the U.S. has had to sit by and wait for its turn. Thankfully, the time has ultimately come and also the Android superphone are going to be out there through multiple carriers this fall. Sprint is initially out of the gate, launching the Samsung Epic 4G Touch on September 16 for $199.99 having a two-year contract. Because the successor to the well-liked Samsung Epic 4G, the smartphone loses its slide-out QWERTY keyboard, but gains a quicker dual-core processor, larger and sharper Super AMOLED Plus touch screen, far better cameras, and much a lot more. The phone is around the big side, that will keep some at bay, but for all those who can handle the size, the Epic 4G Touch is not going to disappoint.

Style

At 5.1 inches tall by 2.7 inches wide, the Samsung Epic 4G Touch is a big device. The width makes it harder to grip the phone, specifically when you've got smaller hands, and it's not a handset that effortlessly fits into a pants pocket. It is not going to become for everybody. That stated, like the Samsung Infuse 4G, it's also fairly thin and light at just 0.38 inch thick and 4.5 ounces, so the smartphone is less complicated to handle than one would feel.

Plus, you might be willing to deal with the phone's larger size when you get a glimpse of your 4.52-inch, WVGA (800x480) Super AMOLED Plus touch screen. The spacious show and the vibrant colors make it excellent for viewing Net pages and multimedia. There are actually slightly sharper screens out there, such as the qHD (960x540 pixels) display around the Motorola Photon 4G, so pictures and text are not very as smooth, but we nonetheless found the Epic 4G Touch screen easy to read.

The touch screen is responsive. The smartphone presents both Swype and Samsung's virtual keyboards. It registered all our taps, and we had been able to easily navigate by way of the menus. Also to making use of the normal touch interface, you may also use motion gestures on the Epic 4G Touch. With all the settings turned on, you are able to flip the phone to mute it. With two fingers around the screen, you can tilt to zoom in and out within the Gallery and browser. Flicking your wrist left or right (panning) can move a home screen icon when you happen to be holding it. Double-tapping the leading from the phone prepares the Vlingo-powered Voice Speak app for voice commands although you are driving. On the other hand, panning and zooming weren't as responsive as we'd like. Even though the majority of the motion controls may not figure into your daily use, this kind of gesture functionality adds welcome possibilities normally.

Below the show, you will come across touch-sensitive buttons for the menu, residence, back, and search functions. The left side characteristics a volume rocker, though the right spine includes a power/lock button. There's a 3.5mm headphone jack on best in the device as well as a Micro-USB port on the bottom. In the right-hand corner just above the display, there's an LED indicator light and inside the left-hand corner is really a 2-megapixel camera for video calls. The back of your phone attributes an 8-megapixel camera and an LED flash.

There's a microSD expansion slot behind the battery door. The latter features a textured surface, so the phone doesn't really feel so slick, but like numerous Samsung smartphones ahead of it, the Epic 4G Touch features a plastic construct. Some metal accents or parts would go a lengthy way in creating it feel like a far more premium handset.

Sprint packages the Samsung Epic 4G Touch with just the fundamental accessories, which contain an AC adapter, a USB cable, and reference material.

User Interface

The Samsung Epic 4G Touch runs Android 2.3.4 Gingerbread in addition to Samsung's latest TouchWiz 4.0 user interface. We're normally much less enthusiastic about custom interfaces--they in some cases add unwanted complexity and unremovable apps, and are usually slower to update to new OS versions. However, TouchWiz 4.0 features a few things going for it, some carryovers from earlier versions of TouchWiz. You'll find seven residence screens, for instance, along with the notification pull-down menu has icons for simply turning on Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS, 4G, and sound profiles.

Customizing the home screens is produced a lot easier, with a carousel-like setup that allows you to move through the numerous panels to add and get rid of shortcuts and widgets simultaneously. Previously, you had to perform a long-press on one screen to change it and after that repeat the procedure when you wanted to change yet another web page. You are able to also now resize Samsung Live Panel widgets and there is a far more fluid motion when scrolling by means of widgets lists and household pages.

Several of the alterations are purely cosmetic, but they definitely add some polish towards the UI. There are also some helpful additions also, for example an integrated activity manager that displays all of your active applications, downloaded apps with all the option to uninstall, RAM status, and method storage. Also fantastic: the capability to now capture screenshots by just pressing the energy button and dwelling crucial simultaneously.