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Any (former) iPhone users in here?

icemanjs4

Member
Jul 17, 2010
99
21
Texas
I've seen lots of people comparing Epic to Evo, Hero, and others, but I haven't heard a single person compare their new Epic to their iPhone...

What do you all think if you're coming from an iPhone?

Personally I love the configurability and the widgets. The screen is beautiful, and it's all so much faster.

On the flip side, It's definitely not as polished as the iPhone. Somehow the iPhone is just an overall smoother experience. The email clients are better - the keyboard is better, and the voicemail can be accessed from the phone dialer "app".

I'd love to see what others think.
 
To be honest I haven't found a phone yet good enough to make me switch, even given AT&T's inferior coverage.

I've had the Epic for a couple of days now and yes, the screen is nice, yes, it's fast, but the stupid sleep/wake button on the side, the slide to unlock screen being up to the top which is quite the thumb stretch means that unlocked the phone to use it takes a lot longer than it should.

The widgets are nice, but most apps are many steps inferior to iPhone apps. Most of the widgets are useless. The camera is no where near as good. The music quality is nowhere near as good. The video playback is nowhere near as good.

I did find in the settings on the youtube app that you change change it to hq mode, that's nice.

The soft buttons don't work reliably for me either which is probably my biggest frustration with general usage on the phone.

I'm still playing with it but those are my initial observations...
 
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That's exactly my problem. Unlike Apple, I feel Samsung paid little attention to detail. The fact that there's no way to turn the phone on while it's lying flat on a table drives me nuts. The protruding camera means that when I hold the phone up to my ear, I'm frequently putting fingerprints on the lens.

And yes the unlock on the iPhone is much more natural. You press the button near the bottom, where your thumb wants to be, then the sideways swipe is right there. On the epic, assuming right handed operation, I hit the button on the side, then wrap back around to the front - very unnatural.

I do feel the earpiece quality was better on iphone, the headphones are better (I did a side by side this evening). My only problem with the iPhone is it's just boring. The widgets, configurability, etc, just make the android phones more exciting.
 
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my brother has an iPhone 4 and the video playback on the epic is better, so not sure what you're talking about there :p

Plus, you have a white balance setting so you can avoid those lousy yellow indoor pics that the iPhone 4 is plagued with. Plus, we have real multitasking, not tied to iTunes, don't have to jump through hoops fir voice-to-text entry, and a notification bar that actually tells us when we have an email or IM waiting for us while we're using another app, and free tethering. Best of all we can give the finger to Steve and the rest of his cult! :)
 
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I have the iPhone 4 right now and I'm seriously thinking about picking up the Epic, which I may do and compare both side by side. From the testing of the Epic I have done so far in the Sprint store it seems FANTASTIC!!!! Fast, Screen is beautiful, more customization options compared to iPhone. I guess I'm going to have to take Epic for a test drive.. The media hub thing with Samsung seems exciting as well....
 
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I came from an iPhone and the comparison is pretty one sided. I've never felt so in control of things as I do with this phone because of the Android OS. Some of the apps are not quite as good as their iOS counterparts (for reasons I'm not sure of), but everything else is just light years ahead of Apple in almost every way.

I have no problem sliding up to unlock my phone rather than to the side. The widgets are an amazing feature that of course can't be found on iOS. My video playback is a million times better than any experience I've had with my iPhone. This phone will play back DivX/XviD videos... How many phones out there do that?

I'm totally in love with this phone and I'm happy to say I won't be needing the 30 day return policy because I'm keeping this beast.
 
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My best friend is an iPhone4 user. I'm a previous iPhone 3G user. The switch to the EVO was SO EASY because just rooting and flashing new roms was more fun than I ever had with a phone. Now I have the Epic... which is the fastest phone in the world (along with other SGS variants).

I can't convince him to switch... but he already said that he is jealous of my Epic. He is jealous of the speed. He is jealous of the myriad of things the OS lets you do (customization, live wallpapers, widgets, launcher pro dock, etc). Quick desk is the single best multi-tasking app in the world. My phone (Epic) can play 720p\1080p MKV files without converting them. No other phone in the world (other than another galaxy s variants) can do that. It also plays divx AVI movies perfectly.

He is hung up on a few things. Our apps are inferior. The design of the Epic is flat-out ******ed. Samsung made sooooo many design flaws.


  • The unlock\power button is hard to reach and slides the keyboard out when you press it. You also press the volume keys a lot when trying to press the power button.
  • The smiley button is so bad (reduces spacebar size) that whoever made that decision should be fired. I'm serious. It's that dumb.
  • The volume down key gets held in whenever you are using the dock. This means that if you're watching a movie with the dock, it's very easily for the volume to get muted. The dock is the best alternative to the EVO's kickstand.
  • The headphone jack on the dock DOES NOT WORK. Sound still comes out of the phone........

There are probably more flaws but those are apparently enough to prevent him from switching to the Epic.

Google really needs to start paying some people to make high quality apps. Apple has to be doing that. They have a gorgeous UNREAL engine game coming out, as well as ID Software's RAGE. And the millions of other awesome games that android doesn't have. Where the hell is popcap....?
 
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i am a former iphone user who went back to android. I will give apple kudos in the fact that their os and product is a well oiled smooth machine. they have been out longer, thus obviously having more credibility. so of course they would have more apps. that being said, it's also probably the most boring if you crave customization quality. I have the epic, and I must say that it's a great piece of machinery, does it have it's minor faults? of course. but they don't overshadow nor hinder the overall great product of the phone. Better camera, better video, great screen, customizable virtual keyboards as well as a physical qwerty. the ability to add whatever you want and configure it to however you'd like. Android is on the rise for a reason, and HTC, Samsung, Motorola and the like are some of the reasons that it's moving along. for those who complain about minor issues such as the turn on button not at the bottom but instead on the side and on top. if it helps you feel better about your allegiance by nitpicking at little detail stuff... feel free. you are entitled. those who love their phones, will stick to them and the reason they love them in spite of said little nitpicks. now, exactly why is apple releasing a REDESIGNED iphone 4? problems much?
 
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i am a former iphone user who went back to android. I will give apple kudos in the fact that their os and product is a well oiled smooth machine. they have been out longer, thus obviously having more credibility. so of course they would have more apps. that being said, it's also probably the most boring if you crave customization quality. I have the epic, and I must say that it's a great piece of machinery, does it have it's minor faults? of course. but they don't overshadow nor hinder the overall great product of the phone. Better camera, better video, great screen, customizable virtual keyboards as well as a physical qwerty. the ability to add whatever you want and configure it to however you'd like. Android is on the rise for a reason, and HTC, Samsung, Motorola and the like are some of the reasons that it's moving along. for those who complain about minor issues such as the turn on button not at the bottom but instead on the side and on top. if it helps you feel better about your allegiance by nitpicking at little detail stuff... feel free. you are entitled. those who love their phones, will stick to them and the reason they love them in spite of said little nitpicks. now, exactly why is apple releasing a REDESIGNED iphone 4? problems much?

It will be interesting to see if Apple really attempts on releasing a redesigned IP4 without having every current IP4 owner such as myself screaming for the new model... Sorry for the quick off topic post.... Anyways back to message at hand.. Android with the current Epic 4G are making it a heck of a lot easier for iPhone fans to jump ship as I believe they have not only closed the gap but probably surpassed Apple in almost every way in terms of operating system...
 
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Had the iPhone 4.

I love my Epic! I used to drool at the retina display, and do the same with the Epic SAMOLED!

The Epic is super fast, camera is good, & the widgets rock (calendar, to do, weather, facebook, music).

Only downside is the battery life, the iPhone 4 really has stunning battery life.
 
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There's a lot I love about the Epic. Having used the iPhone platform for several years now and being serious for a minute, here are the things that I miss from it:

1. If you're not in a 4G area, I miss being able to have voice and data at the same time.

2. Having a usable upload speed under 3G, right now, for some reason, the Epic is capped at 200 Kbps for uploads while the iPhone 4 utilizes full HSUPA. So in my area, I was getting a little bit above 1 Mbps upload speeds for the iPhone and around 4-4.5 Mbps for downloads. The best I can get from the Epic under 3G is around 1.5 Mbps for downloads.

3. The basic video trim feature that you can do before uploading your camcorder video to Facebook and the like. While we're on the topic of the camcorder, I miss recording my videos in the H.264 format, which saves a ton more storage space. The Epic 3gp format videos are really big in comparison, even compared with the Droid X.

4. The attention to detail with the supplied apps. For example, the AllShare app from Samsung is missing something basic like a setting for aspect ratio. While having DLNA is great, watching movies in the wrong aspect ratio just plain blows.

5. HTTP live streaming protocol. For the current Android version we have, there's no support for it. You end up needing to download a video versus streaming it from a website. Just an extra headache and an Android limitation, not specific to the Epic.

6. Certain apps like Air Video. I have yet to find an equal app that allows me to stream my videos from my NAS remotely. Orb sucks!

7. Gaming experience. The games are really lacking on the Android Market and has a lot of catch up to do. Right now, the iPhone can give an Xbox Live type of experience.

8. Less buggy apps. Since you have so many hardware variations to deal with on the Android side, you really run into more buggy apps. Along those lines, there's no clear cut separation on what's considered old hardware versus the standard set for developers to make software for. Meaning, how many apps out there will really fully take advantage of the Epic's fast GPU, nice screen, etc.

9. UI simplicity. There's more to remember on the Android side when it comes to using apps. Lots of options that are buried and no real standardization on usage either.

That's all I can think of at the moment. I still like Android, though. It makes me feel like how I felt when I graduated from my private Catholic high school. A great sense of being free after being oppressed for so long. lol
 
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i am a former iphone user who went back to android. I will give apple kudos in the fact that their os and product is a well oiled smooth machine. they have been out longer, thus obviously having more credibility. so of course they would have more apps. that being said, it's also probably the most boring if you crave customization quality. I have the epic, and I must say that it's a great piece of machinery, does it have it's minor faults? of course. but they don't overshadow nor hinder the overall great product of the phone. Better camera, better video, great screen, customizable virtual keyboards as well as a physical qwerty. the ability to add whatever you want and configure it to however you'd like. Android is on the rise for a reason, and HTC, Samsung, Motorola and the like are some of the reasons that it's moving along. for those who complain about minor issues such as the turn on button not at the bottom but instead on the side and on top. if it helps you feel better about your allegiance by nitpicking at little detail stuff... feel free. you are entitled. those who love their phones, will stick to them and the reason they love them in spite of said little nitpicks. now, exactly why is apple releasing a REDESIGNED iphone 4? problems much?

I was thinking of staying with AT&T and getting an iPhone 4, but I didn't.
One of the reasons was because I could not live with the iPhone's 2 major flaws.

1) Its a glass sandwich. Whoever thought this was a good idea should be fired!

2) Placing the antenna on the outside of the phone, and not coating it with a non conductive material is plain stupid. Now the phone requires a case in order to operate properly. Reception problems are a deal killer for me. Whoever let this one slip by should be fired!

The other reasons have to do with AT&T.

No unlimited data plan with a smart phone like the iPhone 4 just doesn't make sense. Having to worry about data overages is not something I want to deal with.
 
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I went from 3GS to Evo (and now Epic). Personally, I have found several things I miss about the iPhone, including several apps I loved. But I've found several things on Android/Evo I like just as well. Apple puts a lot of thought into design (too much, sometimes, witness the glass sandwich) but after watching Steve Jobs act like an arrogant a-hole and AT&T messing up several billing issues, I decided to make the switch.
 
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I got an Epic a few days ago after having an iphone 3g for 2 years, and I couldn't be happier with the switch. The differences between the iphone/ATT and Epic/Sprint are really dramatic.

With my iphone, everything was slooooow. Opening apps was slow and browsing the web was so slow (took up to a minute to load a basic wikipedia page) it was pretty much useless. Because of this I hardly ever used it besides just making calls and checking email. I think I would have been just as satisfied with a "dumb" phone.

The Epic is such a better experience in almost every way. It's incredibly fast, the screen is absolutely gorgeous, it has a camera that actually takes decent pictures, web browsing and downloading new apps is snappy. Most of all the amount of customization that's possible (without rooting/jailbreaking) is on a whole other level from any Apple product.

I'm sure the IP4 would also have been a major improvement in terms of hardware, but for me the move to Android is very similar to how I felt when I moved to Linux as my primary desktop/laptop OS. It may not be quite as polished in all respects, but I don't feel like a slave anymore.
 
Upvote 0
There's a lot I love about the Epic. Having used the iPhone platform for several years now and being serious for a minute, here are the things that I miss from it:

1. If you're not in a 4G area, I miss being able to have voice and data at the same time.

2. Having a usable upload speed under 3G, right now, for some reason, the Epic is capped at 200 Kbps for uploads while the iPhone 4 utilizes full HSUPA. So in my area, I was getting a little bit above 1 Mbps upload speeds for the iPhone and around 4-4.5 Mbps for downloads. The best I can get from the Epic under 3G is around 1.5 Mbps for downloads.

3. The basic video trim feature that you can do before uploading your camcorder video to Facebook and the like. While we're on the topic of the camcorder, I miss recording my videos in the H.264 format, which saves a ton more storage space. The Epic 3gp format videos are really big in comparison, even compared with the Droid X.

4. The attention to detail with the supplied apps. For example, the AllShare app from Samsung is missing something basic like a setting for aspect ratio. While having DLNA is great, watching movies in the wrong aspect ratio just plain blows.

5. HTTP live streaming protocol. For the current Android version we have, there's no support for it. You end up needing to download a video versus streaming it from a website. Just an extra headache and an Android limitation, not specific to the Epic.

6. Certain apps like Air Video. I have yet to find an equal app that allows me to stream my videos from my NAS remotely. Orb sucks!

7. Gaming experience. The games are really lacking on the Android Market and has a lot of catch up to do. Right now, the iPhone can give an Xbox Live type of experience.

8. Less buggy apps. Since you have so many hardware variations to deal with on the Android side, you really run into more buggy apps. Along those lines, there's no clear cut separation on what's considered old hardware versus the standard set for developers to make software for. Meaning, how many apps out there will really fully take advantage of the Epic's fast GPU, nice screen, etc.

9. UI simplicity. There's more to remember on the Android side when it comes to using apps. Lots of options that are buried and no real standardization on usage either.

That's all I can think of at the moment. I still like Android, though. It makes me feel like how I felt when I graduated from my private Catholic high school. A great sense of being free after being oppressed for so long. lol
The epic does record in H.264, H.264 is the codec, 3gp is the file type.
 
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I was thinking of staying with AT&T and getting an iPhone 4, but I didn't.
One of the reasons was because I could not live with the iPhone's 2 major flaws.

1) Its a glass sandwich. Whoever thought this was a good idea should be fired!

2) Placing the antenna on the outside of the phone, and not coating it with a non conductive material is plain stupid. Now the phone requires a case in order to operate properly. Reception problems are a deal killer for me. Whoever let this one slip by should be fired!

The other reasons have to do with AT&T.

No unlimited data plan with a smart phone like the iPhone 4 just doesn't make sense. Having to worry about data overages is not something I want to deal with.


Answer to your #2. He has already been fired :)

And yes I agree the NO UNLIMITED DATA is TERRIBLE!!!!!
 
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I've had the Epic for a couple of days now and yes, the screen is nice, yes, it's fast, but the stupid sleep/wake button on the side, the slide to unlock screen being up to the top which is quite the thumb stretch means that unlocked the phone to use it takes a lot longer than it should.

You can change the unlock process that you dislike by going to settings/location and security/unlock pattern. You can set up any pattern you want to unlock the screen. You can even have the swipe across like the iPhone if you want.
 
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I upgraded from a 3Gs running iOS4 to the Epic. It's quite different. In the Apple OS everything is very refined. Android seems to be able to get most of the same stuff done, you just need widgets for everything.

I've been contemplating on switching back to AT&T due to the service in my area and fear of durability of the Epic. It seems as if my slider is already loosening when it's open. That's unacceptable.

Another thing that boggles my mind is, how is it that there can be such an amazing Google application for the iPhone and there isn't one for an Android which is made by google??
 
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I upgraded from a 3Gs running iOS4 to the Epic. It's quite different. In the Apple OS everything is very refined. Android seems to be able to get most of the same stuff done, you just need widgets for everything.

I've been contemplating on switching back to AT&T due to the service in my area and fear of durability of the Epic. It seems as if my slider is already loosening when it's open. That's unacceptable.

Another thing that boggles my mind is, how is it that there can be such an amazing Google application for the iPhone and there isn't one for an Android which is made by google??
I think it might be best for you to go back to iPhone, specially since the service is bad in your area.
 
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