When Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1 first launched earlier this year it was running a stock version of Honeycomb. At CTIA 2011, the South Korea-based vendor showed off its TouchWiz user interface and promised an update for tablets in the near future. While Wi-Fi versions of the slate were updated soon after the announcement, Verizon’s LTE variant was left untouched — until now. Verizon is currently pushing an over-the-air update that brings TouchWiz along with other fixes and improvements to the Galaxy Tab 10.1. TouchWiz includes numerous custom widgets, a mini app tray, and various “Hubs” for social media, reading, and music and videos. Other additions for the device include support for DivX video along with Bluetooth 3.0 and Samsung’s AllShare DLNA solution. It would be best to connect to Wi-Fi when applying the update, which is a 351MB download.

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Samsung’s Galaxy lineup has been one of the most sought after smartphone lines worldwide. The Galaxy S II became the company’s fastest selling smartphone ever, selling 3 million units in just 55 days. Moreover, Samsung sold more than 30 million Galaxy S and Galaxy S II smartphones worldwide as of October. There is no question that consumers are interested in the Galaxy lineup and it is almost certain that we will see a Galaxy S III in 2012. According to Korean website ETNews, the much anticipated device will debut at Mobile World Congress in February and feature a quad-core Exynos chipset. Additionally, the Galaxy S III will sport a Super AMOLED Plus 720p display, LTE connectivity, 2GB of RAM and Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich with TouchWiz. It has also been rumored that Samsung’s flagship device will feature 3D technology that will integrate the device with 3D television sets. Mobile World Congress is scheduled for February 27 through March 1, 2012 in Barcelona, Spain.

[Via Phandroid]

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Right on schedule, Samsung’s TouchWiz update began rolling out to Galaxy Tab 10.1 owners on Friday. The update provides a number of visual enhancements to the user interface including a live panel view, a new mini mode tray for quick access to open applications, a clipboard, an indicator quick panel and a photo editor. Samsung also added Amazon Music Player, Words with Friends, Samsung Media Hub, Social Hub, the Swype keyboard and Kindle software. To update simply go to Settings > About Tablet > Update. Unfortunately, it looks like Samsung hasn’t pushed the patch out to its Limited Edition Google I/O Galaxy Tab 10.1 or to Verizon’s 4G LTE version just yet, but we’re hoping it does soon.

Samsung held a special event in New York City on Wednesday where it upgraded Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 owners with its custom TouchWiz user interface. If you weren’t in the New York area, fear not, as Samsung announced on Wednesday morning that it will begin pushing out the update over-the-air on August 5th. The patch will add the Amazon Music Player, Words with Friends and Kindle software. TouchWiz includes the following updates user interface enhancements:

Live Panel: Magazine-like widget view for immediate access to weather, social updates, email, news, photo gallery, all on the home screen. The visual layout of Live Panel is completely customizable for one-touch entry into each user’s most important information.

Mini Mode Tray: One-touch access to commonly used applications—Task Manager, Calendar, World Clock, Pen Memo, Calculator, Music—which overlay in a pop-up window on display screen for powerful multi-tasking.

Clipboard: Advanced copy & paste functionality allows Galaxy Tab 10.1 users to store photos, Web pages, YouTube links, etc., on the clipboard for easy sharing via email and social network sites.

Indicator Quick Panel: Quickly toggle on/off Wi-Fi, notifications, sound, brightness and settings in lower right hand corner of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 display.

Photo Editor: Rotate, crop and adjust colors on high quality digital images

Samsung’s update will also add Swype, a host of enterprise features, Social Hub and Samsung Media Hub. Read on for the full press release.

Samsung Mobile Announces Availability of Major Software Update for Award-Winning Samsung Galaxy Tab™ 10.1 WiFi Edition

New software includes TouchWiz® UX user interface with fully customizable widgets and mini applications for multi-tasking, redesigned Samsung Media Hub service, Enterprise mobile solutions and Samsung Kies 2.0 support for PC & Mac.

DALLAS–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Samsung Telecommunications America (Samsung Mobile), the No. 1 mobile phone provider in the U.S.¹, announced the Samsung Galaxy Tab™ 10.1 WiFi software update including Samsung’s TouchWiz® UX user interface, Adobe Flash Player 10.3 and the redesigned Samsung Media Hub service, will begin rolling out over the air to all Galaxy Tab 10.1 owners beginning Friday, August 5.

The Galaxy Tab 10.1 software update is scheduled to include the following features and services:

Samsung TouchWiz® User Interface:

The Samsung TouchWiz UX is specifically designed to work with Android™ Honeycomb 3.1 to optimize the large screen tablet user experience. The TouchWiz UX delivers superior multi-tasking and customization for an enhanced visual, fluid and intuitive mobile computing experience. TouchWiz UX features are scheduled to include:

• Live Panel: Magazine-like widget view for immediate access to weather, social updates, email, news, photo gallery, all on the home screen. The visual layout of Live Panel is completely customizable for one-touch entry into each user’s most important information.
• Mini Mode Tray: One-touch access to commonly used applications—Task Manager, Calendar, World Clock, Pen Memo, Calculator, Music—which overlay in a pop-up window on display screen for powerful multi-tasking.
• Clipboard: Advanced copy & paste functionality allows Galaxy Tab 10.1 users to store photos, Web pages, YouTube links, etc., on the clipboard for easy sharing via email and social network sites.
• Indicator Quick Panel: Quickly toggle on/off Wi-Fi, notifications, sound, brightness and settings in lower right hand corner of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 display.
• Photo Editor: Rotate, crop and adjust colors on high quality digital images

Samsung Media Hub:

The Galaxy Tab 10.1 software update will introduce the evolution of Samsung’s popular movie and next day TV content service, known as Media Hub. Media Hub has been redesigned with a new user interface and optimized video content for the 10.1” display for even easier downloads and higher quality viewing experience of rented or purchased content. Media Hub features thousands of new release and top-grossing titles from major Hollywood studios and leading television networks, including NBC Universal, Paramount, MTV, Warner Bros. , CBS and FOX. The new version also features Media Hub Show, which allows the user to playback Media Hub content on a TV through an HDMI cable from the Galaxy Tab 10.1 dock or adaptor. Users can register up to five devices under one account to access owned content across multiple devices without repurchase. Alternate premium video options include Android Movies, which is available to download from the Android Market.

Social Hub:

The software upgrade will also include Samsung’s Social Hub service, which aggregates email, instant messaging, contacts, calendar and social network connections into an integrated experience.

Apps Preloaded:

The Galaxy Tab 10.1 software update includes preloaded applications, scheduled to include:

• Amazon Music Cloud Player: Upload your music in the cloud and access it from any device
• Amazon Kindle: Get access to about a million Kindle books
• Words with Friends: Face off against friends near and far with one of the most popular social games from Zynga

Enterprise Solutions and Services:

• Full support for Exchange ActiveSync version 14
• On device encryption
• Cisco VPN (Virtual Private Network)
• Sybase MDM (Mobile Device Management)
• Cisco WebEx mobile conference solution for meetings on the go

Samsung Kies 2.0:

Galaxy Tab 10.1 users will also gain greater file sharing capabilities through Samsung Kies 2.0 with support for both PC and Macs. Samsung Kies 2.0 includes the following user benefits:

• Better device management: PIMS and multimedia data sync, firmware upgrades with file backup and wireless connectivity via WiFi and Bluetooth
• Powerful multimedia support: Integrated library for storing mass data and complex content files
• Faster performance: quick and seamless installation of Samsung Kies 2.0 delivers immediate access to file transfer process

Swype:

This enhanced, tablet-optimized typing application includes features such as ability to re-size the keyboard, move the virtual keyboard anywhere on the screen and of course, type faster by swyping.

Mobile Printing:

Print documents and pictures wirelessly from the Galaxy Tab 10.1 to any compatible printer.

Samsung announced on Wednesday that it will hold an event on August 3rd during which all Galaxy Tab 10.1 owners can bring in their tablets to have them updated to the latest software build. The update will add Samsung’s custom TouchWiz user interface, which includes live panels and mini apps, as well as a redesigned Samsung Hub application. It will also install Words with Friends, Amazon’s Cloud Player for music and Amazon’s Kindle software. Galaxy Tab 10.1 owners in the New York area can bring their units to the Samsung Experience Store at Columbus Circle between 1:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. to have their devices updated for free. Those outside the New York metropolitan area will receive an over-the-air update “soon.”

Awaiting yet another 4G LTE device to take advantage of the fastest 4G network in the country? The LG Revolution for Verizon Wireless might be your handset… on second thought, maybe not. While we had high hopes for the LG Revolution, even in our short time with the phone, we came away disappointed. The device itself feels a little thinner than the chunky HTC ThunderBolt and it’s more comfortable to hold and use, but most of the positives end there. We can’t stress this enough, but the display on the Revolution is just disappointing. It’s dull, lacking colors, and looks extremely pixelated. LG’s custom UI doesn’t help as well, as it feels like a knock-off version of Samsung’s TouchWiz without the added benefits. LG’s default keyboard in Android is the poorest attempt at a software keyboard we’ve seen lately, and the way LG organizes their app drawer is chaotic. We haven’t spent enough time with the device to get a good handle on the battery life, but if it’s anything like the ThunderBolt, well, you’re going to be looking for an extended battery STAT. Check out our LG Revolution hands-on gallery below while we get revolving on the review.

Verizon Wireless is finally prepared to launch its latest 4G smartphone, the Samsung DROID Charge. Verizon has confirmed with BGR that the device will become available for purchase Saturday, May 14th, online and in stores across the country. We recently reviewed the Samsung DROID Charge and called it “the phone to beat” for consumers looking for blazing fast data speeds. All that speed comes at a price, however, as the DROID Charge will cost $299.99 on contract when it becomes available tomorrow.

UPDATE: Hit the break for Verizon Wireless’ full press release.

VERIZON WIRELESS UNLEASHES DROID CHARGE BY SAMSUNG DROID Charge Joins Verizon Wireless’ Android Family

BASKING RIDGE, N.J. – Verizon Wireless and Samsung Telecommunications America (Samsung Mobile) today announced that the DROID Charge by Samsung will be available for purchase in Verizon Wireless Communications Stores and online at www.verizonwireless.com.

The DROID Charge is designed with Samsung’s 4.3-inch Super AMOLED™ Plus display, setting a new touchscreen standard for brightness, clarity and outdoor visibility.  The DROID Charge is equipped with both a rear-facing 8-megapixel camera with LED flash and front-facing 1.3-megapixel camera for both stills and video chatting.  The smartphone’s 1 GHz application processor and HTML 5 Web browser maximizes high-speed 4G LTE connectivity for faster downloads and graphics processing.

Additional features:

• 4G LTE – Customers can expect download speeds of 5 to 12 Mbps and upload speeds of 2 to 5 Mbps in 4G Mobile Broadband coverage area
• Android 2.2 platform – Support for Google Mobile Services including Gmail™, YouTube™, Google Talk, Google Search, Google Maps and access to more than 200,000 apps available to download from Android Market™
• Adobe^® Flash^® Player compatible
• Mobile Hotspot capability – Share 4G connection with up to 10 Wi-Fi-enabled devices or a 3G connection with up to 5 devices
• Samsung Media Hub – Samsung’s own content service, offering a vast lineup of critically acclaimed films and TV programs for rent or purchase
• Virtual QWERTY keyboard featuring Swype technology

Pricing and data plans:

• The DROID Charge by Samsung will be available for $299.99 with a new two-year customer agreement.
• DROID Charge customers will need to subscribe to a Verizon Wireless Nationwide Talk plan and a 4G LTE data package.  Nationwide Talk plans begin at $39.99 monthly access.  Unlimited 4G LTE data packages start at $29.99 monthly access.  Mobile Hotspot feature will be included for a limited time at no additional charge.

The Samsung Infuse 4G, with a radio capable of achieving peak rates of 21Mbps, is being marketed as the fastest smartphone currently available from AT&T. It’s the big brother to the Samsung Captivate, and fits just between that device and Samsung’s Galaxy S II when it comes to hardware specs. The Infuse 4G packs a gorgeous and massive 4.5-inch display, a thin and light form factor, and a solid camera. AT&T’s first HSPA+ “4G” phones fell flat when it came to data — neither the HTC Inspire 4G nor the Motorola ATRIX 4G could hold a candle to the 3G download speeds available on the iPhone 4, and we won’t even discuss the upload speeds. Is the Infuse the AT&T 4G smartphone you’ve been waiting for? I’ve been trekking along with it for more than a week and have penned my impressions, so check out the gallery below and then hit the jump for my full review.

Hardware / Display

The very first thing you will, and I did, notice about the Infuse 4G is its huge 4.5-inch 800 x 480-pixel resolution Super AMOLED Plus display. It’s the same screen technology that’s on the DROID Charge from Verizon Wireless, and it’s hard to describe just how beautifully colorful, bright, and sharp it is. We first saw Samsung’s last generation Super AMOLED displays on its Galaxy S devices, and the Super AMOLED Plus improves on that panel in a number of ways. It’s easier to read under direct sunlight, and the blacks are even darker and inkier. Everyone needs to see this screen, even if you’re not on the market for a new phone. But I digress.

Despite having such a large display, the Infuse 4G is shockingly light at about 5 ounces. It’s thin, too, and measures just 0.35-in thick. The touch sensitive buttons for menu, home, return, and search all worked well during my tests. The power and volume buttons are all located within reach and there’s a 3.5mm headphone jack on the top of the phone. With a capable camera on board though, I wish Samsung added a camera quick-launch button, too.

Speaking of cameras, the Infuse 4G has two of them: a 1.3-megapixel front-facing shooter for video chats, and an 8-megapixel camera capable of recording full 720p HD video on the back. There’s also a single-LED flash, something the Captivate lacked. The back of the phone looks sharp and has a textured finish that blends nicely with the imitation metal border that wraps around the whole device. However, the textured back battery panel is flimsy. The HTC Inspire 4G, by contrast, has a rock solid unibody design. While I appreciate the Infuse 4G’s lightness and its aesthetic, it does feel a bit cheap.

Under the hood there’s a 1.2GHz processor, 16GB of storage built in, a 2GB microSD card, support for 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi networks, a 1,750mAh battery, and more. That’s not a huge jump from the hardware that the Captivate offered, and I wish the phone packed Samsung’s dual-core Orion processor that’s inside the Galaxy S II. All of the aformentioned hardware powers Android 2.2.1 (Froyo), with Samsung’s last generation TouchWiz user interface. Let’s get into that now.

Software

The Infuse 4G runs Google’s previous-generation Android 2.2.1 operating system. That’s not a huge deal, given that just 4% of phones are powered by the newer Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) OS, but it’s still odd to me that new devices are hitting the market with an outdated version preloaded. Here’s what really gets me though: Samsung’s previous-generation TouchWiz user interface.

I’ve spent time with Samsung’s new TouchWiz 4.0 on the DROID Charge, and I like what the firm has done to improve it compared to earlier versions. The UI feels faster, has several new and fun zooming features, and has an improved widget interface. Unfortunately, Samsung didn’t include that on the Infuse 4G, and I can’t figure out why. TouchWiz 3.0 is too colorful and cartoonish, and the widgets waste too much space. Thankfully the 1.2GHz processor kept everything snappy, though, so it never felt too sluggish. User interfaces are a matter of taste, and I’ve met plenty of people that prefer TouchWiz to competing UIs. For me personally though, it’s not a good fit.

As I’ve said in the past, I’m not a fan of the black background in the e-mail user interface, and don’t like Samsung’s default keyboard. There’s the option to use Swype on the Infuse 4G, which worked pretty well, and you can switch to the default Android keyboard, too. One software issue in particular that stood out was the sluggishness of the web browser. On multiple occasions it would lock up while I was trying to access a new website or pan around a page. Sometimes it would just stall for a few seconds, and then work properly again, but this is an issue I’ve typically seen with lower-end devices — not 1.2GHz “superphones.”

Last, but not least, the Infuse 4G is the first phone on AT&T to allow for side-loading of third-party applications. That means you can load up an .apk file on the phone, access it via your file manager of choice, and then install it. Before you can start side-loading apps, however, you’ll have to visit Settings > Applications, and check the box next to “Unknown Sources.”

Calling / Data

The data speeds on the Infuse 4G are awful and are just barely better than what I’ve seen on the ATRIX 4G and the Inspire 4G. I averaged 3.07Mbps on the downlink and a pitiful .11Mbps on the uplink. That’s a solid 3G download speed, but overall the throughput is pathetic for anything with a 4G moniker. Verizon’s 4G LTE network consistently offers downlink speeds of 20Mbps with phones like the Samsung DROID Charge; that’s more than six times faster than AT&T’s 4G network. I hope AT&T issues a patch that fixes the speeds, and it’s upsetting the carrier is advertising this as its fastest phone yet — with theoretical 21Mbps peak download speeds — when even 5Mbps seems unachievable and the “3G” iPhone 4 regularly sees faster download speeds.

Calls on the Infuse 4G were decent, but nothing to call home about. I didn’t have a single dropped call during my tests in New York City, but voices did sound a bit watery during a few conversations. The speakerphone volume was more than sufficient. One friend said he could tell I was using a speakerphone but that I sounded “pretty clear.” Overall the call quality of the Infuse 4G sits around average in my book.

Battery Life

I was easily able to get through a full workday with moderate usage on a single charge of the Infuse 4G’s 1,750mAh battery. That’s an improvement over the Captivate, which frequently died on me before 5:00 p.m. Using the phone as my primary device, checking email, surfing the web, and listening to music, drained the battery noticeably faster, but I was also impressed with its standby time. Overall the Infuse 4G’s battery life was among the best I’ve seen on a high-powered Android phone yet. If you’re looking for a bit longer, I’d suggest checking out the ATRIX 4G, which managed to muster through a full workday with heavy usage.

Camera

The Infuse 4G’s 8-megapixel took stellar photos, especially in good lighting conditions. Shots taken around New York City came out clear, and the sky on a sunny day was deep blue. On particularly bright days, I noticed that the sky would bleed a bit into my subjects, and shots came out overexposed altogether. Low light pictures came out OK, but just like the DROID Charge on Verizon, street lights really bled into my images, even with the anti-shake option enabled. I took a few more images while watching the Kentucky Derby in a dark pub, though, and the flash did a good job when I took a picture of my dinner plate.

The Infuse 4G’s camera is capable of recording 720p video, and the results were impressive, but on a par with what the Captivate was capable of shooting, too. I didn’t see much distortion, even while panning around. The camera also continuously auto-focuses, which is a nice touch.

Wrap-up

No, it’s not the 4G phone you’ve been waiting for, but it’s still a solid device. I’m shocked that AT&T can get away with calling this a 4G phone, however, because I have yet to see data speeds that push the boundaries of its network. But if AT&T making good on its “4G” claims and delivering solid data speeds isn’t a necessity for you, the Infuse 4G is worthy of your attention. The screen is incredible, I like the thin form factor, and the solid battery life was definitely appreciated. Samsung’s TouchWiz user interface isn’t for everyone either, but I still highly recommend you consider reserving a spot in your pocket for the Infuse 4G when it launches on May 15th for $199.99.

When we sat down with Samsung yesterday to check out the new Galaxy Tab 8.9 and the improved and thinner Galaxy Tab 10, we were alerted that its TouchWiz UX user interface is the first custom UI on top of Android 3.0 Honeycomb. While it won’t ship on any of the Galaxy Tab family of tablets right away, Samsung does plan to issue an update that applies TouchWiz UX down the road a bit — in fact the new UI should wind up on all of the Galaxy Tab tablets in the near future. Samsung’s UI adds a bunch of features on top of Honeycomb, so hit the jump and we’ll go through some of them together — and don’t forget to check out our photo gallery!

The first noticeable feature in TouchWiz UX is that Samsung has ported over a number of widgets such as calendar, gallery, address book, a music player and more, which can all be dragged around the homescreen like separate little windows. Similarly, there’s a favorite mini-apps section that can be pulled up from the bottom of the screen to quickly launch your favorite and most used applications. If you want to resize an application, like Weather for example, simply long press on it and then pull at the edges. A new weather app, which displays more information, will then appear on the homescreen. Even cooler, you can create little snapshots of your bookmarks on your homescreen that quickly launch to the full page when tapped. Another feature lets you manage widgets on your homescreen by providing a list of them all, as well as a snapshot of each one of your five homescreens. Simply drag a widget to any one of them to apply it. We also liked Samsung’s Social Hub service in TouchWiz UX, which makes it easy to manage and quickly access all of your social networking applications.

There’s certainly a lot to love about stock Android 3.0 Honeycomb, but we wanted to give you a glimpse of the new user interfaces that will be pushed out to some of Samsung’s Galaxy Tab units in the future. The TouchWiz UX may not be for everyone, but we think a lot of people are really going to enjoy it.

We met up with Samsung during the CTIA Wireless trade show in Orlando to get up close and personal with the Galaxy Tab 8.9, Samsung’s new Android tablet that fills the space between its current 10-inch and 7-inch models. We certainly think Samsung hit the sweet spot with this one. The Galaxy Tab 8.9 is just 8.6mm thick, and it felt amazing — it’s much more sleek in the hand than the original chunkier 7-inch Galaxy Tab. Under its hood, the Galaxy Tab 8.9 has a 1GHz dual-core processor just like the 10-inch model. Demo devices weren’t powering up when we played with them, though, so we tested the Galaxy Tab 8.9′s fresh new user interface on a Galaxy Tab 10.1 and we definitely have some thoughts on the new UI to share. Hit the jump for more hands-on thoughts and don’t forget to check out our photo gallery.

In some ways, we see the Galaxy Tab 8.9 as the MacBook Air of Samsung’s Galaxy Tab portfolio. It’s just as thin as the newly designed 10-inch model, but obviously smaller, and not nearly as thick as the original Galaxy Tab. It also lacks some of the trimmings of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 model (which is available in a 32GB version also). Samsung says it will launch running Android 3.0 (Honeycomb) and that, in a future update, it will add its own TouchWiz UX user interface — the first ever custom user interface to run on top of Honeycomb. Unfortunately details are slim on when that update will be pushed out, but we have confirmed that the TouchWiz version is officially titled “TouchWiz UX” and not “TouchWiz 3″ or the yet unannounced “TouchWiz 4.”

That said, we loved what we saw of TouchWiz UX so far. The current build was just a tad sluggish at times, but it’s not final and overall it was snappy. You can customize your homescreens with various widgets, and even resize some of them. Samsung has said that the U.S. version of the Galaxy Tab 8.9 will launch with a refreshed Social Hub service, however the company has not said when it will launch, on which carriers, or at what price point. If the original Galaxy Tab is any hint, though, we could certainly see it land on the major four. It’s also worth noting that Samsung confirmed it will launch new members of the Galaxy Tab family with 4G WiMAX or LTE support, but it did not confirm which models will offer that support.

Formerly known as the SCH-i520, the Samsung Stealth made a brief appearance at the Consumer Electronics show back in January. Announced along with ten other LTE devices by Verizon Wireless, the Stealth was forced to play second fiddle to the ThunderBolt, BIONIC, and XOOM. But today, we get to pay a little homage to the forgotten, 4G handset, thanks to several images of the device frolicking in the wild acquired by blog TechnoBuffalo. If you recall correctly, the device boasts a 4.3 inch Super AMOLED Plus screen, 1GHz Hummingbird processor, 8 megapixel rear-facing camera with 720p video recording, 1.3 megapixel front-facing camera, LTE/CDMA radios, Wi-Fi b/g/n, Bluetooth, aGPS, HDMI-out, and Android 2.2. TB‘s tipster notes that the battery on the device seemed to perform quite well, yielding a full day of use with LTE enabled, and that the device should hit store shelves in mid-April. Pick your poison: ThunderBolt or Stealth. Hit the jump to check out some additional images of the Samsung handset.

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]]> http://www.bgr.com/2011/03/08/verizons-samsung-stealth-gets-pictured-april-release-date-rumored/feed/ 36 http://www-bgr-com.vimg.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/samsung-stealth-1110308212048-80x80.jpg http://www.bgr.com/2010/12/22/samsung-sch-i520-packs-lte-and-front-facing-camera-headed-to-verizon/ http://www.bgr.com/2010/12/22/samsung-sch-i520-packs-lte-and-front-facing-camera-headed-to-verizon/#comments Wed, 22 Dec 2010 20:54:44 +0000 Andrew Munchbach http://www.bgr.com/?p=70324

When it rains 4G LTE handsets it pours them, no? Gizmodo has been sent in another image of a second, and until now unknown, Samsung, Android, LTE handset — the SCH-I520. The device runs Android 2.2.1, had a front-facing camera, and, according to reports, will have the TouchWiz interface but not be Bing’ed out. Decisions, decisions. Do we go with the Incredible HD or this offering from Sammy? What a great predicament to be in.

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What do we have here? It looks like the Galaxy S branded Samsung Continuum; a device with not one, but two displays. Engadget was sent in several images of the device whose most notable feature is an additional, smaller display below the standard Android soft-keys. The secondary display, which is being called the “ticker,” displays date, time, RSS feed, weather, and other pertinent information.  The ticker activates itself automatically when you grip the lower half of the Continuum. Pretty slick. The device is reported to have a side-mounted micro-SD card slot and dedicated camera button as well. We can see why Verizon started running the buy-one get-one promotion on the Fascinate just weeks after launch.

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The Samsung Epic 4G is Sprint’s second 3G/4G hybrid Android device. Although its form does not resemble that of the Captivate, Fascinate, or Vibrant, it has been adopted into the Galaxy S family of handsets. Physical appearance aside, the device comes complete with the standard set of Galaxy S equipment — TouchWiz 3.0 interface, 1 GHz Hummingbird processor, and 4-inch Super AMOLED display — but sets itself apart by being the only device to have a full QWERTY slide-out keyboard. The Epic is poised for an August 31st release on the Now Network. We’ve been putting this bad boy through its paces for the last few weeks, so hit the jump and lets do this thing.

Hardware/Build

Overall, we found the build quality of the Epic 4G to be very good. The device’s official dimensions are 4.90 x 2.54 x 0.56 inches and it weighs in at 5.46 ounces; which is about an ounce heavier than the Captivate. The back and sides of the device are constructed completely from plastic and there is an aesthetically pleasing chrome bezel that divides the phone into two hemispheres. The back cover of the phone has a metallic finish to it and there is 360-degrees of chrome around the 5 megapixel shooter, a nice continuation of the device’s design traits. The battery door is removed by prying it off the device (we have to say this is one of our least favorite ways to get at a battery) and seems a little on the thin side. The thin door does affix itself very securely to the device; there is no wiggle or give when you put the back-cover back on and push on it.

Going around the outside of the handset: on the top you have a 3.5 mm headphone jack and micro-USB port with sliding door. We’ve heard some people say that they don’t like the little USB door that Samsung has put on the Galaxy S line of phones; one common complaint is that the USB cord falls out easily when charging. We can’t say that we’ve experienced this in any way, and well, we kind of like the door. It keeps lint, dust, and other foreign objects out of the USB port when the device is in your pocket, purse, or even — *shudder* — murse. The left side of the device has volume up and down keys and the bottom of the device is nearly naked except for a pin-hole for the voice receiver. The right side of the device has a dedicated camera button towards the bottom and a power/sleep button towards the top. Switching to the back of the device… that’s where the camera and LED flash are housed, which are both towards the top of the phone and centered, as well as an opening for the speakerphone. The front of your Epic 4G has the earpiece at the very top of the phone which sits right above a shiny Sprint logo. To the immediate right of said logo is a red LED notification light and to the right of that is the unit’s front-facing VGA camera. Towards the bottom of the front panel you have a Samsung logo with the standard menu, home, back, and search buttons directly under it.

The Epic’s slider mechanism is mechanically assisted and works as expected. Once you slide the screen more than halfway up the keyboard, the internal springs jump into action and snap the device into the full-upright and locked position. The slider is guided by two rails on the rear of the display-housing and it does a great job of holding the device in place with minimal wiggle when it’s splayed open. Some of you may prefer the cold, stiff feeling of the Motorola DROID’s non-mechanical sliding mechanism, but as far as mechanical sliders go, this is one of the better ones we’ve seen.

Keyboard

The keyboard on this device will be, in all likelihood, the one piece of hardware you interact with the most (it is why you’re considering this phone isn’t it?). After several weeks of use we have to say the keyboard has really grown on us. The keys are boxed, separated, and raised like that of a MacBook or one of the newer HP laptops. What makes the keyboard a little different is that the keys are not “offset” as they are on a standard keyboard. Look down at the keyboard on your computer, to go from 6 to y to h to n to the space bar you have to draw a semi-diagonal line. On the Epic that offset is not present. If you are used to a phone with an offset, horizontal keyboard the keyboard on the Epic will take about a week to get used to.

A few things we really love about the keyboard are the dedicated number keys, arrow keys, and secondary symbols available. There really isn’t much to say about the dedicated number keys, other than the fact that they are there and that they weren’t added at the expense of the rest of the keyboard (Dear OEMs, If you have room… put number keys!). The arrow keys are also appreciated as it makes editing text far easier and allows you to keep your hands on the keypad and navigate the phone’s UI. The secondary symbols included on the keys (the lettering that is in yellow) are also fairly extensive and save you from hitting “Sym” then looking at the grid of icons that pop-up on the screen. It isn’t a deal breaker by any means, but we found them saving us tons of time; several of our frequently used passwords have some obscure symbols in them.

The backlight on the keyboard and the backlight on the soft keys operate independently from each other. By default, the soft-keys turn off their backlighting after six seconds, which, in our opinion, is way too short. We recommend jumping into the settings and upping the time to 15 or 30 seconds. Since the soft-key symbols (menu, home, back, and search) aren’t actually drawn on the bezel — they are only backlit — when the backlighting goes out you are left blindly pawing at the lower half of your Epic trying to find said keys. There is also a toggle switch that allows you to make the backlight times of the keyboard and soft-keys sync up, which can make your life easier.

There is a dedicated “emoticon” button for those of you who prefer to express your inner feelings by using three ASCII characters, and our only — rather small — gripe about the keyboard is that we would have preferred the “Shift” key to be above the “Fn” key… but that’s just us.

Battery

We’ll just come right out and say it: the 1500 mAh battery on this device is average. We took the handset and fully charged/discharged it twice. We then set up the device with an Exchange and Gmail account set to synchronize via push, put the phone down, and set a timer. After about twenty-nine hours the phone was beeping, politely asking to be charged. The unit had 3G and Wi-Fi on (in good coverage areas) and 4G off and we did not turn the device’s screen on at any point during the test. On the scale of smartphone batteries we’d say that is about average; not great but not poor.

If you happen to be in an area with 4G coverage — and plan on leaving your Epic’s 4G radio on todos los días — you can expect the battery life of the device to go down significantly. We were testing the phone in Boston — even though it isn’t officially lit up with 4G there is still 4G signal to be had — and managed to squeeze about 15 hours out of the device with moderate emailing, text messaging, and web-browsing. We also saw 4G downlink speeds of around 5 Mbps which were very, very much appreciated.  The device lasted about 3 hours and 30 minutes — from full charge to 6% charge — while being used as a mobile hotspot and connected to Sprint’s WiMax network. 4G is definitely one of the things that sets this phone apart from other high-end smartphones — duh — but it is quite taxing on your battery.

For the next battery test we set the screen timeout function to 30 minutes (that’s as high as it can go) and continued to muck with the phone every twenty-eighth minute so the screen would continuously stay on. The device persevered for just under three hours before throwing in the towel and needing a recharge.

Depending on how you use and abuse this phone will ultimately determine what your battery life is. But the super-bright, Super AMOLED display and 4G radio (which are all good things) aren’t going to help your cause any.

Phone

The phone component of the device is good; there are no real hiccups or anomalies to report here. The voice quality emanating from the earpiece is loud and crisp; if you have the volume all the way up you do get a tiny hint of buzzing but kick it down one level and that all goes away. The speakerphone is also loud and you hear your call-mate(s) clearly; the speaker works really well for media too.

The Epic uses the standard Android dialer, with the TouchWiz color scheme, but does add several neat features. If you dial a number not in your phonebook (using the number pad) the phone prompts you to add the number to an existing contact or save the number as a new contact upon call termination. There is also a dedicated text message button on the number dialer. If you dial a number and hit the text icon, you are bounced into the messaging application with the dialed number already in the “To” field. Not reinventing the wheel, but still nice touches. The device also includes a Sprint-run visual voicemail service for those who don’t know, or don’t want to know, what Google Voice is.

Camera

As we mentioned in our “initial impressions” post, while the auto-focus still-camera is very good, it is also sort of in the hands of the user in low-light settings. Shooting images outside — or in good indoor lighting — yields clear photos. Shooting inside — or in low-light–  can at times be frustrating, as the devices flash doesn’t always know when it is needed and when it isn’t.

Like the Captivate and Fascinate, the Epic has a ridiculous amount of options and settings to tinker with from within the camera application itself. The modes are: single shot, beauty, continuous, self shot, smile shot, panorama, vintage, action shot, add me, and cartoon. Single shot, beauty, continuous, panorama, vintage and cartoon are all pretty self-explanatory. Self shot activates the devices front facing VGA camera and will allow you to snap a quick photo of yourself; which we don’t recommend considering the difference in quality from the rear facing camera. Smile shot allows you to press the shutter button and spin the camera around, the device will fire when it detects that your pearly whites are in frame. Action shot allows you to make a panoramic picture from a moving object; you can see below what we did in our apartment with a swiveling desk-chair.

The GPS tagging and anti-shake modes on the camera are off by default; we would have preferred to see them on and recommend using them. GPS is convenient and the anti-shake mode helps compensate for the small amount of jitter your phone will inevitably be doing when you press the shutter button.

As you probably know, the video camera on the device shoots in sweet, sweet 720p HD. The video camera offers far fewer configurable options than the still-camera, but there still are a few bells and whistles to play with: Flash on/off, exposure, and “Limit for SMS” mode to name a few. The video the Epic shoots is not spectacular, it isn’t bad by any stretch of the imagination, but it is not as crisp as the 720p video you get from the DROID X or EVO 4G. We’ve got a sample video below; we’ll let that speak for itself.

The front-facing camera is good for using the Qik video chat… and that’s about it. We wouldn’t recommend firing this bad boy up for anything but that (see example images below). The video quality during a Qik chat matches that of the EVO 4G; no real improvements or differences to report.

All things considered: this is a camera on your high-end smartphone and as such it is more than suitable for most users. If you’re a photo fanatic, don’t leave your SLR or point and shoot at home. If you just like capturing life’s random moments in good quality, no problems here. As for the video camera, it is on par with all the other major smartphones out there, but it certainly isn’t a stand-out feature of the device.

Official Specs

The official wrap sheet for the Epic 4G looks like this:

• 4-inch Super AMOLED capacitive touch-screen display  (480 x 800)
• 1 GHz Coretex A8 Hummingbird processor
• Android 2.1 with TouchWiz 3.0
• 512 MB RAM/512 MB ROM
• CDMA EV-DO rev. A/WiMax
• Wi-Fi b/g/n
• Bluetooth 2.1
• a-GPS
• rear-facing 5 megapixel camera with 720p video recording and LED flash; front-facing VGA camera
• micro-SD card slot
• 4.90 x 2.54 x 0.56 inches
• 5.46 ounces

Software/UI

What makes these phones both fun, and painful, to review is that even phones within the same device family have a litany of different features; the Epic 4G is no different. In our initial review we said the device felt a bit snappier when compared to AT&T’s Captivate and it may have something to do with things that this device does not have. It does not use Samsung’s Music Player that is present on the Captivate (just the stock Android player colored to match the rest of the phone’s UI). The Daily Briefing application and accompanying widget are also not on the Epic 4G. Some of these applications have services that are constantly running/updating in the background and could be the source of the Captivate’s and Vibrant’s UI weight.

Another thing that is missing from the Epic, aside from the aforementioned, is the ability to customize your application list and dock icons. Sprint refers to the dock icons as “primary shortcuts” in the user guide, which leads us to believe you are pretty much out of luck in terms of moving these bad boys around. Your two options for customizing the main applications layout are “list view” or “grid view.” “Custom view” is not present as it is on other Galaxy S devices. So sad.

One nice UI touch we appreciate (aside from the one found in the dialer) is the two-click access to the task manager. If you hold the “home” soft-key, which invokes the application switcher, you are presented with a list of open applications and an option to go directly to the task manager. This makes closing unwanted tasks fairly easy; although not quite as easy as a program like Advanced Task Killer.

Programs that are pre-loaded on the Epic include: AllShare, Amazon MP3, Asphalt 5, Sprint NASCAR, Qik, Sprint Football, Sprint Hotspot, Sprint Navigation, Sprint TV, SprintZone, and ThinkFree Office.

The device ships with Android 2.1. There isn’t much else to say about that fact. Froyo is due to hit the device in the September time frame according to Samsung. If Android 2.2 is on you list of “must haves,” then you’re out of luck for the time being.

A quick note on GPS…

While the GPS unit on the device isn’t quite as bad as the one on the Captivate it still isn’t on par with other smartphones. We get a GPS lock almost instantly that gets us to within 20-30 meters, but getting a lock down to 2 or 3 meters takes close to 60 seconds. Hopefully Samsung rolls out a fix for this ASAP; we know there are a lot of Galaxy S owners out there who are frustrated.

Conclusion

The fact that Sprint now has two high-end, 4G, Android handsets in the marketplace is really an impressive feat. The Samsung Epic 4G is an amazing device and certainly one worthy of standing on the same pedestal as the HTC EVO 4G. The device is quick, responsive, and — perhaps most importantly — you feel like you are using Sprint’s flagship device (even if technically it isn’t). Would we have loved a key on the keyboard moved and maybe a better video capturing experience? Yes… but that didn’t really hinder our overall impression of the device.

At the end of a phone review we always ask ourselves: could we use this device day-in and day-out as our primary phone? And we are happy to report that in regards to the Epic 4G the answer is: absolutely. Combine the flexibility of Android with a rock-solid keyboard and high-end features and you have yourself a winner. We wouldn’t hesitate to recommend the Epic 4G to anyone and truly wonder which of the two 4G handsets Sprint considers its flagship. The device is priced $50 higher than the EVO 4G, but if you need to have a physical keyboard — and don’t mind the TouchWiz UI and Android 2.1 — it’s money well spent.

For those Samsung Galaxy S-loving purists out there, you’ll be pleased to know that there is an option around the corner. Stock Android 2.1 has been running just fine on the Galaxy S, though there are some issues at this early stage in the game, namely the camera application not functioning. Once all the bugs are worked out, how many of you would rather run stock Android than Samsung’s TouchWiz interface? Video after the jump.

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