Help Issues with Epic 4g (from an Evo user)

[SntaCruz83]

For the sake of avoiding a huge paragraph filled with stories, I'm going to just list my current issues with the Epic 4g.

Software Issues (Easily Fixed)

• Camera (Doesn't autorotate and doesn't autofocus without touching screen.)
• Email Sync with email app is much slower than with Evo's.
• Gmail app gets bogged down and slows Epic to a crawl when sending an image via Gmail App.
• While on a call, I enable WiFi or 4G to surf net, and it works fine, but I can not use the email app to refresh my emails...it won't connect to server.
• Some of the same video files that I had on the Evo will play on the Epic but do not show thumbnails. (MP4)
• WiFi signal is no better than Evo (although it seems to work faster than the Evo's)
• Videos have to be restarted every time you stop to do something else on the phone. Evo would remember where you left off.
• Auto-rotate only works when you turn the phone horizontally in a counter clockwise direction. The Evo will rotate to both directions.

Potential Hardware Issues

• Capacitive Buttons (in particular the Back button) can be unresponsive and require multiple presses. For me, the "Swipe method" doesn't resolve the issue.
• GPS is much slower to locate me and not as accurate as the Evo's.
• While on a call (not using speakerphone) the speaker buzzes when the other person talks. I have to turn the volume down to half to avoid it, and then it becomes difficult to hear them. Sound a little like a blown speaker.
• 3G reception is weaker and slower compared to my Evo and proven through SpeedTest app.

If someone could test the issue with getting (refreshing) their email through the email app on the Epic while on a phone call I'd appreciate it. I just noticed it and am having difficulty searching for whether or people are having this issue or not.

 

[MILcityBOI]

My question is why are you comparing everything to an EVO? If all these drawbacks are on your Epic then why don't you own or buy or whatever with an EVO? I've only had an EVO to play with for about 3 days and some of the issues your are speaking of i do not remember being faster on an EVO....maybe since the Froyo update it has gotten faster but still...I think you are in the wrong section and need an EVO.

 

[heavychevy]

I think most noted faster 3g and 4g speeds on the EVO after the Froyo update, so it's possible that could be rectified some, but I've been seeing almost double the speeds on the EVO so that would be a huge leap if the case.

I'm pretty sure the auto-rotate is a Froyo feature for the EVO as well.

My wife's Epic has better WIFI range.

Rotation in both directions was also a feature that came with Froyo on the EVO.


I agree with the hardware issue for the most part. The capacitive buttons are a huge fail for useability on the Epic.


At least compare apples to apples in the software stuff. Unless you just got your EVO, you already know several of those issues are Froyo related.

 

[SntaCruz83]

My question is why are you comparing everything to an EVO? If all these drawbacks are on your Epic then why don't you own or buy or whatever with an EVO? I've only had an EVO to play with for about 3 days and some of the issues your are speaking of i do not remember being faster on an EVO....maybe since the Froyo update it has gotten faster but still...I think you are in the wrong section and need an EVO.

I was hoping to keep the thread relatively cut and dry; have it be strictly about the issues I have (personally) found with the Epic so it would be easier to add or remove them as they come up or are resolved.

Anyway, the reason I am comparing everything to an Evo is because that was the phone I had prior to the Epic's release. It's the only other 4g smartphone put out by Sprint. It was/is my benchmark as it is for many others. There are thousands of people who bought the Evo who are curious if they should have waited for the Epic or if they should shell out the cash for an Epic without getting the promotional price. I figured comparing the Epic to the Evo was sort of an obvious thing to do.

I wasn't trying to make it personal or anything or say that the Epic is a bad phone or that I don't want it. There are simply some issues I have that I hope get addressed with a future update. I suppose I could have made a Pro's and Cons list so I could show why I like and want to keep my Epic, but I was focusing more on the issues seeing as how this is the troubleshooting section.

 

[SntaCruz83]

I think most noted faster 3g and 4g speeds on the EVO after the Froyo update, so it's possible that could be rectified some, but I've been seeing almost double the speeds on the EVO so that would be a huge leap if the case.

I'm pretty sure the auto-rotate is a Froyo feature for the EVO as well.

My wife's Epic has better WIFI range.

Rotation in both directions was also a feature that came with Froyo on the EVO.


I agree with the hardware issue for the most part. The capacitive buttons are a huge fail for useability on the Epic.


At least compare apples to apples in the software stuff. Unless you just got your EVO, you already know several of those issues are Froyo related.

My apologies about the software stuff...I guess I didn't know where to look to find where it listed the auto rotate in both horizontal directions and improved 3g/4g as a feature of the Froyo release. For some reason I thought the 3g improvements came with an ota update sprint rolled out before Froyo.

I did know that the camera's auto-rotate was from Froyo and that is why I listed the software issues with a note that they are "easily fixed" in an attempt to imply that they aren't too worrisome; I know from experience that my "issues" with a phone can be resolved with ota updates and maybe even Froyo.

 

[Araliss]

I have the weaker 3g signal versus what the Evo has. I'm sorry the other user didn't think it was relevant but I do. Especially when its been so bad that I've had to put my Epic down and pick up my husband's Evo to make a call so people could understand what I was saying.

Those were good points about it maybe possibly being Froyo but we had Evo before that update and I don't remember it ever having the terrible signal I have. And this is my second Epic, I exchanged the first one, hoping it was just a bad phone.

 

[gtl408]

The autofocus is by design, it's similar to the iPhone setup. Another thing you can do is use the mechanical shutter button and just press it halfway like you do with a regular point and shoot camera.

Your Gmail bogging down when sending a picture might be partial due to the pathetic upload speeds I've seen with the Epic. Under 3G coverage, I have yet to see anything above 200 Kbps, which is piss poor.

All the Samsung video players don't recall the last position played. It's a big oversight. But that's not too big of a deal since there's a bunch of video players on the Android Market. I believe Double Twist has the feature, but could be wrong as I no longer have my Epic to verify.

The speaker buzzing seems like an issue with the Samsung Galaxy phones. I've had the Vibrant, Captivate, and Epic. I didn't notice it too much on the Epic, but did on my 1st Captivate. When I exchanged it for another one, that unit didn't buzz as much at loud volumes.

GPS is definitely bad. Each one of my Galaxy phones all exhibited the same GPS issue, slow to lock and inaccurate at times. In my recent tests with the Droid X, Evo 4G, and iPhone 4, they all locked much quicker.

The Galaxy phones have a pretty low SAR rating, which one would assume would be attributed to having weaker radios. I did notice that my download speeds were a good 100-200 Kbps slower than the Evo, but my upload speed never broke 200 Kbps regardless of having a decent download speed or not.

Sorry, I would have tested out the email refresh while on voice, but I've already returned my phone. I didn't want to be locked into a contract with this many issues especially the poor data rates issue.

For the sake of avoiding a huge paragraph filled with stories, I'm going to just list my current issues with the Epic 4g.

Software Issues (Easily Fixed)

• Camera (Doesn't autorotate and doesn't autofocus without touching screen.)
• Email Sync with email app is much slower than with Evo's.
• Gmail app gets bogged down and slows Epic to a crawl when sending an image via Gmail App.
• While on a call, I enable WiFi or 4G to surf net, and it works fine, but I can not use the email app to refresh my emails...it won't connect to server.
• Some of the same video files that I had on the Evo will play on the Epic but do not show thumbnails. (MP4)
• WiFi signal is no better than Evo (although it seems to work faster than the Evo's)
• Videos have to be restarted every time you stop to do something else on the phone. Evo would remember where you left off.
• Auto-rotate only works when you turn the phone horizontally in a counter clockwise direction. The Evo will rotate to both directions.

Potential Hardware Issues

• Capacitive Buttons (in particular the Back button) can be unresponsive and require multiple presses. For me, the "Swipe method" doesn't resolve the issue.
• GPS is much slower to locate me and not as accurate as the Evo's.
• While on a call (not using speakerphone) the speaker buzzes when the other person talks. I have to turn the volume down to half to avoid it, and then it becomes difficult to hear them. Sound a little like a blown speaker.
• 3G reception is weaker and slower compared to my Evo and proven through SpeedTest app.

If someone could test the issue with getting (refreshing) their email through the email app on the Epic while on a phone call I'd appreciate it. I just noticed it and am having difficulty searching for whether or people are having this issue or not.

 

[SntaCruz83]

The autofocus is by design, it's similar to the iPhone setup. Another thing you can do is use the mechanical shutter button and just press it halfway like you do with a regular point and shoot camera.

Your Gmail bogging down when sending a picture might be partial due to the pathetic upload speeds I've seen with the Epic. Under 3G coverage, I have yet to see anything above 200 Kbps, which is piss poor.

All the Samsung video players don't recall the last position played. It's a big oversight. But that's not too big of a deal since there's a bunch of video players on the Android Market. I believe Double Twist has the feature, but could be wrong as I no longer have my Epic to verify.

The speaker buzzing seems like an issue with the Samsung Galaxy phones. I've had the Vibrant, Captivate, and Epic. I didn't notice it too much on the Epic, but did on my 1st Captivate. When I exchanged it for another one, that unit didn't buzz as much at loud volumes.

GPS is definitely bad. Each one of my Galaxy phones all exhibited the same GPS issue, slow to lock and inaccurate at times. In my recent tests with the Droid X, Evo 4G, and iPhone 4, they all locked much quicker.

The Galaxy phones have a pretty low SAR rating, which one would assume would be attributed to having weaker radios. I did notice that my download speeds were a good 100-200 Kbps slower than the Evo, but my upload speed never broke 200 Kbps regardless of having a decent download speed or not.

Sorry, I would have tested out the email refresh while on voice, but I've already returned my phone. I didn't want to be locked into a contract with this many issues especially the poor data rates issue.

Thanks for such a thorough response! Would you happen to know if the signal strength of these radios can be increased? I mean, if it's possible that Samsung decided to be conservative with how much they are pushing the 3g radio to conserve battery life?

I have a feeling you're probably right about the low upload speeds being the cause of the lag. However, even if an upload took a while through the Evo i never saw any kind of adverse affect on phone usage during upload. I feel like there has got to be a simple software fix for this.

Regarding the camera focus...i feel pretty dumb now...i completely forgot there was a dedicated camera button on the Epic. Even though I'm used to my SLR, I also took my Evo with me to Iceland and took a ton of pictures and just got so used to having to use the touch screen to take a picture. I honestly forgot I could even take a picture on a phone with a physical button.

 

[SntaCruz83]

Anyone remember how long it took for the Evo to get it's first OTA update after having been released? Since we only have 30 days to decide whether or not to stick with the Epic, I hope they have one within a couple weeks.

As much as I love the keyboard, superior fps, SAMOLED screen, and imo better video recording...if they don't get the slow GPS, slow 3g upload/download speeds, and at least address that there is a capacitive button issue...i'm going to have to get another Evo.

*Anyone else have multiple gmail accounts setup through the epic's email app? When I am looking in the "combined inbox" and hit menu and refresh, it doesn't actually check for new emails in either account? I have to open each account separately and then the new messages will show up in the combined inbox.

 

[SntaCruz83]

just wanted to post a quick update:

I went to Radio Shack and swapped out my phone for a new one with a release date of August (my original was from July) and the capacitive buttons are 95% more responsive. In addition, I haven't had issues with my email syncing. I'd also like to say my GPS lock-on was faster, but I want to test further as I may just be fooling myself with all the excitement of having capacitive buttons that work.

 

[RoboMonkey]

I did notice that on my wife’s Epic there are no previews for the video files. Bummer for her. I could not figure out a way "I'm Epic challenged" on how to just list the video file names. For now she's stuck clicking on the blank video until she finds the one she wants.

 

[SntaCruz83]

I did notice that on my wife

 

[mrvirginia]

i noticed the gmail syncing issues today. touch buttons are pretty responsive, but the gmail issue and there being some wiggle to the top piece of my phone is going to make me send it back. gonna drop by the Sprint store today to see if they can tighten up the top piece. if so, then i'll wait for the first OTA update. if not, back it goes!

in a way, i wish Sprint had gotten the Fascinate. would be no question about keeping it then.