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When the rest of your planet 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. Fortunately, the time has lastly come as well as the Android superphone are going to be available by means of many carriers this fall. Sprint is first out from the gate, launching the Samsung Epic 4G Touch on September 16 for $199.99 with a two-year contract. Because the successor towards the common Samsung Epic 4G, the smartphone loses its slide-out QWERTY keyboard, but gains a more quickly dual-core processor, bigger and sharper Super AMOLED Plus touch screen, far better cameras, and considerably far more. The phone is around the huge side, which will hold some at bay, but for all those who can deal with the size, the Epic 4G Touch won't disappoint.

Design and style

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

Plus, you could be willing to handle the phone's bigger size any time you get a glimpse on the 4.52-inch, WVGA (800x480) Super AMOLED Plus touch screen. The spacious show plus the vibrant colors make it good for viewing Web pages and multimedia. There are actually slightly sharper screens out there, like the qHD (960x540 pixels) display on the Motorola Photon 4G, so photos and text are not fairly as smooth, but we still discovered the Epic 4G Touch's screen simple to read.

The touch screen is responsive. The smartphone offers both Swype and Samsung's virtual keyboards. It registered all our taps, and we have been able to very easily navigate by means of the menus. Furthermore to using the typical touch interface, you could also use motion gestures around the Epic 4G Touch. Together with the settings turned on, you may flip the phone to mute it. With two fingers around the screen, you may tilt to zoom in and out in the Gallery and browser. Flicking your wrist left or suitable (panning) can move a property screen icon when you happen to be holding it. Double-tapping the major of your phone prepares the Vlingo-powered Voice Speak app for voice commands whilst you happen to be driving. Nonetheless, panning and zooming weren't as responsive as we'd like. While most of the motion controls might not figure into your every day use, this type of gesture functionality adds welcome solutions in general.

Below the show, you are going to come across touch-sensitive buttons for the menu, residence, back, and search functions. The left side features a volume rocker, although the appropriate spine includes a power/lock button. There is a 3.5mm headphone jack on major on the device and also a Micro-USB port on the bottom. In the right-hand corner just above the show, there is an LED indicator light and in the left-hand corner is a 2-megapixel camera for video calls. The back on the phone options 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 does not really feel so slick, but like quite a few Samsung smartphones before it, the Epic 4G Touch features a plastic construct. Some metal accents or components would go a extended way in generating it feel like a far more premium handset.

Sprint packages the Samsung Epic 4G Touch with just the basic 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 as well as Samsung's most recent TouchWiz 4.0 user interface. We're often less enthusiastic about custom interfaces--they occasionally add unwanted complexity and unremovable apps, and are usually slower to update to new OS versions. However, TouchWiz 4.0 includes a few factors going for it, some carryovers from preceding versions of TouchWiz. There are actually seven home screens, for instance, and also the notification pull-down menu has icons for easily turning on Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS, 4G, and sound profiles.

Customizing the property screens is created much easier, having a carousel-like setup that lets you move through the a variety of panels to add and remove shortcuts and widgets at the same time. Previously, you had to complete a long-press on one screen to adjust it and then repeat the procedure if you wanted to adjust an additional web page. You may also now resize Samsung Live Panel widgets and there is a much more fluid motion when scrolling by way of widgets lists and home pages.

A number of the changes are purely cosmetic, but they certainly add some polish towards the UI. You'll find also some valuable additions also, for instance an integrated activity manager that displays all of your active applications, downloaded apps together with the option to uninstall, RAM status, and method storage. Also good: the capability to now capture screenshots by just pressing the power button and home crucial simultaneously.