Epic Competition?

[dbpaddler]

aren't they getting just one WP7 phone to start, and a slate one to boot? So no keyboard for those of us that want a keyboard. I don't remember hearing about multiple WP7 phones coming to sprint. Could be wrong. Happens from time to time.

And personally, I think the latest Evo commercial sucks. While everyone else is advertising what these new fangled devices can do, Sprint seems more interested in telling people what others think of the Evo. I could care less who said what. I want to know what a phone will do for me. That commercial is up there with their webOS ones. Or should I say down there?

I also think down the road I'd be happy leaving samsung in the dust as long as there is another 4+ inch slider out there. I can't imagine anything new in that realm having a bad processor or screen which seems to be tow of the key things that factor into our decision making process.

 

[adelmundo]

It's not really what the commercial is, whether it was well made or poorly made, IMO it shows what direction Sprint has been going on which phone they want to promote. I haven't seen an Epic commercial now for months, yet Sprint touts the EVO. As it is said in the entertainment business, keeping your name out there is important, whether the commercials are awful or good, the EVO name sticks in people's head. When they do go into a Sprint store, they know the name EVO (and by default the EVO Shift) and this leads more sales to those phones. When Sprint sells more EVOs and Shifts, guess what phone gets more support down the road?

It was a brilliant move for HTC/Sprint to give the Shift the EVO monicker, even if very little of the phone is an EVO with a hardware keyboard. NO FFC, smaller screen, different processor, less I/O ports amongst other things, but by calling it an EVO (just like the name Droid for Verizon, it builds a brand image for Sprint.

 

[dbpaddler]

well, considering the Epic isn't a finished product per say and the Evo is, I wouldn't promote the Epic either. When they can't even get the Froyo update right and the Epic in stock form has some issues, it's tough to tout it along with the Evo even if it is a great phone in general.

And the processor change is actually a benefit in the Shift's favor. And as I mentioned before there is a huge difference between Droid for Verizon and Evo for Sprint. Droid is for Verizon's ENTIRE android line. Evo is strictly for HTC android products. So promoting that name as their droid line is to the detriment of all the other android phones, not just the Epic. They over do the Evo name and promote htc, then you'll be stuck with very little competition and very little choice because what manufacturer would continue to put the effort into making phones for Sprint if they're always going to take a backseat to HTC? Why would they continue to support their current phones? Sprint doesn't care. They're not promoting those other phones anyway. So it'll be the customer that suffers for what you see as marketing genius. I know I'd suffer because after the Epic, I probably wouldn't choose another samsung phone unless it was my only choice, and I don't want either HTC phone, and there is no other 4+ inch replacement out there.

And considering Sprint is still leaking customers at a very good rate, is it really a good idea to alienate more of them by throwing their support behind one manufacturer at the expense of others? Verizon seems to support Motorola and HTC very well, and then the iphone will get added to that stable. Sprint has low end, unsupported high end and HTC. People love to throw around the idea that it's dumb to switch carriers based on a phone, and it's even dumber if you leave sprint if you have good service and are paying less money. But if the premium smartphone choice is whatever by HTC and that's it, people will leave and spend more money to have better choices on Verizon. Taking Samsung out of the equation, Verizon has two premium phone manufacturers (three when the iphone hits) and Sprint has one.

 

[EarlyMon]

Gotta remember - Verizon has a much larger subscriber base to amortize the cost of more high end phones. So long as the carriers insist on specializing phones (they have to, to some extent, for radios at minimum) and then rebranding them, this will be true - it's economy of scale. Your Epic is the only Galaxy S with that setup - and the Vibrant in Canada is different that the Vibrant in the US.

HTC, being the smaller manufacturer, is willing to be more aggressive and that no doubt includes pricing back to Sprint.

Not saying it's right or wrong, just saying.

I'm wondering if LG - or Vizio - won't represent game changers to the handset market. When things get crowded, they compete for our love and attention - we consumers tend to win in that climate.

 

[ijeggert]

I would still go with the Epic over the Evo Shift.

Pros of the Epic:

1000mhz proc (sure you can overclock all you want, but at the end of the day you're voiding your warranty and putting undo stress on the chip)

4 inch Super AMOLED Screen (need I say more, the Super AMOLED's from Samsung at top notch)

5 row Keyboard, if you're gonna get a keyboard, why not get the best one out there. To defend that... why should I have to hit two keys just to type in a number, yeah... a full qwerty with a number row.

16gb SDHC card already onboard, and removable without pulling out the battery, how many phones can say that you can switch your microSDHC cards without turning the phone off?

DLNA works without having to buy some extra box (assuming your tv is DLNA compliant and connected to your network)

Could say the Front facing camera, but I haven't used it yet, could almost careless until the gtalk app gets updated, or use fring, but again, I don't do many video chats as it is. (sidenote, anyone actually use that enough to justify saying they wouldn't have gotten it if it didn't have it? Rather than saying oh I just want to have all the little bells and whistles as a "just in case I want to be able to do that)

as far as getting into sense or touchwiz... I prefer the stock android UI.

 

[dbpaddler]

I think any epic owner would stick with the epic, update issues aside. I think the appeal to different people as not everyone wants a 4" brick to carry around. For some, that 3.6" phone is their sweet spot for ease of carry. And you lose the number row so you can maintain a well spaced keyboard instead of making it cramped. Think people coming from treo style phones havean easier time with the alt # style of typing. I know I have no problem with it.

Front facing camera is a non issue for me. Haven't had a need for it yet, and the times I've used it was more to see it actually work. It's nice to have. Saw one of my docs facetime with his daughter. Could imagine if. Haven't seen the girlfriend in a while or something, but that's about it. I would like hdmi out though. As I finish up my av setups at home, it'd be easy to keep a spare hdmi connected for the laptop or phone. Or the ability to hookm up the phone to a pj or tv for imprompu business use or if it's just convenient to actually use the phone that way.

 

[dbpaddler]

just realized the Shift is a chunk. Way to go HTC at .625" thick while the Epic is only .56". Not a huge deal, but they couldn't make it thinner? And the Droid 2 is .54".

 

[EarlyMon]

I was surprised, it felt way less chunky than the numbers suggested. Body contours maybe...

 

[dbpaddler]

I haven't played with it yet, but from the pics it just looks slab like, like an evo with a keyboard. I still might pick one up on the spare line, but i'm going to wait for the palm announcement on the 9th to see what they're bringing to the table.

 

[EarlyMon]

That was my takeaway from those pix as well. That description fits my wife's Moment - her first remark on picking up the Shift - OMG, it's not a big brick like mine. I'll have to check on the screen ratio - comparing to her smaller Moment - the screen is the same width, it's simply taller but the phone overall didn't seem to be. In the hand, it's not bad at all. I'll have to do a volume calculation and comparison like I did for the Epic vs. Evo.

For someone wanting something like the Epic for a few bucks less and a smaller screen (yeap, I know that's not you or me) it's a way ok phone and deal.