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Unboxing
Behold, the unboxing. Sprint will begin selling this Epic 5G Touch Sept. 16 for $199.99 on contract. Powered off, the phone looks unassuming enough.
Back
Flip it over to reveal the sleek, black textured back with attractive lettering. Yes, that's an 8 megapixel camera you're peeping. Its companion is a front-facing 2 megapixel shutter for great self-portraits and video calls.
Side
The Epic 4G Touch weighs only 4.5 ounces and is 5.1-inches long, a wide 2.7 inches (yes, it's better for big hands) and 0.38 inches thin.
Epic vs. Bionic
For context of new high-end smartphones, eWEEK put the Epic 4G Touch and Droid Bionic side-by-side. Sure, they're similarly sized, but the Bionic weighs a full ounce more.
Bionic, S II Back
A rear view of both the Droid Bionic and Epic 4G Touch. We're going to give the edge to the S II on this score. It's just snazzier than the Bionic from the back. Both run Android 2.3.4, of course, on 4G networks. However, when it comes to 4G, we give the edge to Verizon's 4G LTE network.
Display
The screenshots don't do the crystal clarity of the 4.52-inch Super AMOLED Plus display with 800-by-480 resolution justice. Even the weather widget, coated in Samsung's new TouchWiz interface, looks pretty.
Calendar
Here’s a look at the calendar widget on the S II.
News
The news widget streams fresh content regularly.
Vlingo
The Epic 4G Touch also comes with both Vlingo Voice Talk and Commands and Google Voice Search integrated. Clearly, Samsung wants voice to be a much-used input tool.
Testing
We decided to test Vlingo, which we think has a gorgeous UI on the S II.
Voice Commands
Vlingo's voice commands worked well for the most part.
Texting
We especially appreciated how Vlingo will recognize punctuation, so long as it's spoken properly. Sounds strange to enunciate "period" or "question mark" after a text message, but there it is.
Wake Up!
Vlingo sleeps to keep from draining the battery. Here's how to wake it up.
Google Voice Commands
As mentioned earlier, Samsung and Sprint included Vlingo and these Google Voice Commands for users.
Voice Search
When accessing the S II's virtual keyboard, users may still tap the microphone icon to speak their searches.
Keyboard
Here's a peek at that aforementioned keyboard, which also includes Swype gesture input software.
TouchWiz
Another cool TouchWiz feature enables users to minimize or maximize their screen by placing two fingers on the phone's display and tilting it back and forth.
Video
Photo and video shoots were a joy on the Epic 4G Touch, thanks to the 8 megapixel, rear-facing camera/camcorder with auto-focus and flash that shoots video in 1080p HD. This clip is the calm before the storm: We're sure a 6-month-old chocolate lab puppy in the baby's room full of toys can't end well.
YouTube
YouTube and other applications were a joy to use on the Epic 4G Touch, powered by the shiny new processor and Sprint's speedy 4G WiMax network.
Capture
We especially loved the Samsung TouchWiz screen capture feature. Users simply touch the home button and power button at the same time to take a screen grab. Users may then share it.
Gmail
Gmail is one of the sharing options. Just tap Gmail and a message pops up with the screen grab attached.
Other Options
But you don't just have to capture and share. Feel free to rotate, crop, edit, print and rename, among other choices.
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Next to Apple’s iPhone 5, no phones on the planet have been more intensely hyped than Samsung's Galaxy S II smartphones. The lighter, thinner progeny of the Galaxy S lineup that sold more than 10 million units in 2010, the S II sold more than 5 million units just in Korea, Japan and Europe in 85 days. Now Samsung has exported its prized smartphone to the United States, where Sprint Sept. 16 will become the first carrier in the country to sell one of three Galaxy S II handsets. While AT&T and T-Mobile are busy prepping their own S II launches, (Verizon Wireless has skipped the S II to focus on the Motorola Droid Bionic and an alleged new Samsung superphone), Sprint hopes to grab the first mover market advantage with its Samsung Epic 4G Touch. eWEEK tried not to get caught up in the hype of this delightful device. But with a 4.52-inch, WVGA Super AMOLED Plus display, fueled by a new, 1.2 GHz, dual-core Samsung Exynos processor, our reviewer found it difficult not to be overwhelmed by the Android 2.3 "Gingerbread" handset, even coming off the Droid Bionic review. Now, eWEEK readers get to see both handsets side-by-side.