Please help with Epic vs I Phone choices...

[rommeldobie]

Help please!! We are Apple users, have an IMAC, Mac book, IPad, etc... We also purchased approx. 2 wks ago 2 IPhones 4G....my husband is not crazy about the service, dropped calls which we never encountered with Verizon... to make matters worse we were at the mall yesterday and he fell in love with the Epic 4G...question is now do we dump AT&T and go with Sprint? Is Sprint the only carrier that provides service? We are south of Tampa FL and the Sprint map showed Good-Fair voice service..which is a concern since this is the reason we are ready to dump our IPhones. Also, can the Epic sync and play nice with our other Apple equipment? If anyone has any advice I would appreciate it!! Thanks in advance.

 

[pastafarian]

The Epic doesn't have to play nice with your Apple stuff. It syncs with Google and updates over the air. The epic is a galaxy s phone and each provider has one. The big difference is the Sprint only Epic has 4g and a hardware keyboard. Maybe it's time to leave the warm mesmerizing embrace of the cult of Jobs?

 

[buggerritt]

Help please!! We are Apple users, have an IMAC, Mac book, IPad, etc... We also purchased approx. 2 wks ago 2 IPhones 4G....my husband is not crazy about the service, dropped calls which we never encountered with Verizon... to make matters worse we were at the mall yesterday and he fell in love with the Epic 4G...question is now do we dump AT&T and go with Sprint? Is Sprint the only carrier that provides service? We are south of Tampa FL and the Sprint map showed Good-Fair voice service..which is a concern since this is the reason we are ready to dump our IPhones. Also, can the Epic sync and play nice with our other Apple equipment? If anyone has any advice I would appreciate it!! Thanks in advance.

Sprint is the only carrier for the Epic. Almost every carrier is carrying the Galaxy S line but, the Epic is the only one with a slide out qwerty keyboard.

Ending your contract with AT&T is a matter of talking to the provider and checking your choices.

Syncing is great with every OS. Mac syncing seems to be native and simple. Windows needed an app to sync outlook to Gmail but, you have it easier.

 

[huntm856]

My impression, from my own experience and a lot of anecdotal info from other Sprint subs (long time Howard Forums and Sprintusers member), is that Sprint's coverage in central and south FL is quite good, not quite as good as VZW's when you get out into alligator areas, but quite solid everywhere else. E.g., I recall roaming heavily on VZW on a drive from Cocoa to St. Cloud via FL 520 and 532, but got Sprint signal continuously thereafter all the way back to where we were staying in Orlando, and just about everywhere else I went in central FL on that trip (Clearwater/Redington, St. Pete, Tampa, Orlando, Space Coast). And I've been to SE FL before and remember the coverage down there (Palm, Broward, Dade, even Monroe, all the way down to Key West) to be quite good as well.

(I was surprised to see SO MANY COWS on that drive -- I never knew FL had so much ranching. But anyway. A good rule of thumb is that Sprint's coverage may not be so great if there are more cows than people where you are.)

OTOH, even when roaming I had no problem using my phone because Sprint roams just about everywhere it doesn't have native coverage. I've even been places where I got signal and VZW users didn't because Sprint allows extensive in-market roaming and VZW doesn't, and neither's coverage was very good where I was (it was a strong USCC area). The one downside is that you only get 1xRTT data (roughly EDGE speed) roaming on VZW (though you get EVDO on USCC).

As far as using the phone goes, you probably don't need anyone to tell you that the Android experience is a very different one from the experience of using an iPhone. It will require some adjustment, probably. But it's at least as capable and a lot more customizable. Battery life is not as good. But hey, batteries are cheap, I got two 1500 mAh batteries and a charger for like $30 from Amazon.

I'd say that since you're still within the trial period and you're not happy with your ATTM service, it certainly makes sense to try out another carrier, and based on what I know I'd be surprised if Sprint's coverage and QoS wasn't entirely satisfactory where you are.

What I'd do if I were you would be to keep the ATTM phones and also open up lines with Sprint. That way you'll have a couple weeks to use both handsets side by side, allowing you to directly compare their strengths and weakness. I always tell people to try out another carrier on a probationary sort of basis before switching or porting their old lines.

Good luck.

 

[mynewandroid]

What part of the phone did your husband like? If it was the slide out keyboard then the EPIC on Sprint is the only way to go. If the slide out keyboard is not a big deal then Verizon offers the same phone (Fascinate) without the slide out keyboard.

Regarding Sprint coverage: I live in the Tampa Bay area and switched from Alltel (now Verizon) a year ago. I have been pleasantly surprised and the coverage has been very good. I have some friends who have iPhones and they have nothing good to say about ATT in the Tampa Bay area. Verizon coverage is probably going to be a little better than Sprint in rural areas though.

Are you looking to keep your existing phone numbers? If so, you could leave one phone on ATT and port the other over to Sprint and compare the two services for a couple of weeks. Sprint gives you 30 days to try their service so you could cancel if the coverage is not good for you. Not sure if ATT gives you 30 days or not.

I don't have a Mac so can't tell you if the Epic is going to plug and play with your computer.

 

[MisterDisney]

I have and use the iPhone 4 (since June) and the Epic 4G ( for a little over a month). I can definitely tell you there are things about the Epic 4G that I love and wish were more readily possibly with the iPhone/iOS. But there are also things that, as Apple is fond of saying, "just work" on the iPhone. And nothing beats the Retina display, although Super AMOLED does not disappoint.

Primarily, these are phones though. And I would strongly recommend basing your decision on which provider is going to serve you best. We recently moved and after several months, we finally found out that only Sprint had reliable coverage where we are now. But we're too deeply entrenched in AT&T to leave just now.

I would definitely give Sprint a go. As was said above, you can try them side-by-side for a couple of weeks and see what fits.

I'm also fellow Mac user (from our old Strawberry iMac to our new Aluminum one ).. I recommend checking out Sync Android, Motorola, Samsung, HTC: doubleTwist with Amazon MP3. You'll have some trouble with protected content you purchased from iTMS, but for everything else it copies over automatically and will let you sync all of your playlists etc., just as you have them on iTunes.

 

[dan330]

yes.. try Sprint...
att sucks.

also.. sprint phones roam on Verizon network.
and .. sprint is cheapest plans. Nothing wrong with saving money!

you should check out other android phones on sprint. (EVO vs EPIC). these 2 phones are 4G.. crazy fast data speeds...
Does your area have 4G? if not, they still work on 3G just fine!

maybe even look back at verizon's android phones.

 

[badankles]

just to add to the already good information, there are android apps that will synch with your apple computers, so no worries there. you should go check out the apple forum or sites to ask more about compatibility of what you need to do between the smartphone and apple computer.

the one good thing about going with the Epic, i think, for iPhone users, is that the stock Touchwiz homescreen is very similar. so the immediate learning curve shouldn't be too bad. but be prepared to be amazed (and overwhelmed) with android's customizations and such.

although, if you are high into apps, you might be disappointed at first depending on what apps you are using now on iphones. but, android apps are catching up by leaps and bounds.

 

[Devlyyn]

I live in NE Bradenton, probably really close to where you are and the Sprint coverage is great. I know they get 4g in Orlando, and I picked it up outside of Tampa briefly a few weeks ago so I know it's coming! The phone is great without 4g, but when it gets here it'll just be that much better. I never lose any calls and get good signal pretty much everywhere.

As for the whole transition from apple to...not...I guess part of it would depend on how much you have invested in itunes. Can you even transfer all your music and stuff over? Something to think about, but if you use google for anything else (email, search, maps) you'll feel right at home with android.