"EPIC FAIL :( " - Multiple features removed on Epic 4G?

[SnootchyBoochys]

UPDATE: My goal is to get as many future Epic 4G buyers to respond to this thread as possible to show Samsung how excited we are for the Epic but also how upset we are about the lack of key features that are found in the family of Galaxy S devices but not on the Epic 4G....The only way Samsung will consider adding these into a future update (Hopefully the upcoming 2.2 update) is if they see how many people really do want them....So please help the cause and lets try to show Samsung how much these missing features really mean to the Epic 4G buyers!!!!!....I'm sure they are reading these forums as much as we are

According to multiple sources the Epic 4G appears to be missing multiple features that are found on both the Samsung Vibrant and Samsung Captivate....So far here are the features that I have been hearing are entirely missing from the Epic 4g....Please watch this MobileBurn.com unboxing and video review which discusses all of the missing features that I am discussing here......There are 2 parts and it goes very in-depth so get comfy!

YouTube - mobileburn's Channel

YouTube - mobileburn's Channel


1.) No puzzle piece unlock screen - This was a very cool feature that allows the user access a missed text or voice mail by simply moving a puzzle piece to the correct location on the screen when the phone has been locked. Check out the video below at 3:12 to see the puzzle piece feature on the Samsung Vibrant.

YouTube - Samsung Vibrant for T-Mobile USA - part 1 of 2

2.) The ability to rearrange apps and customize pages for your icons in your applications menu....See the above Samsung Vibrant video at 4:30 for this feature.

3.) The ability to add, remove, and rearrange panels from the home screen....This can be viewed on the Samsung Vibrant video above at 6:40 into the video.

4.) Daily Briefing widget is missing.....See part 2 of the Samsung Vibrant video at 3:40 to see what this widget looks like.

YouTube - Samsung Vibrant for T-Mobile USA - part 2 of 2

5.) Music player - I have not seen this feature on the Epic 4G yet and it looks very nice on the Samsung Vibrant....Seen in the video below at 1:20 into the video.

YouTube - Samsung Vibrant: misc. cool stuff

6.) Customize the main 4 icons on the home screen of the Epic 4G....I found this link that shows a visual step-by-step of the process.

Galaxy S Tips and Tricks (works w/ Captivate, Vibrant, etc)

So this is what I have found to be lacking on the Epic 4G thus far....What do you guys think about these missing features?....Can we convince Samsung to give them to us in a future update if it is even possible?....I'm still buying my Epic on day 1 but it sucks we are missing so many great features that other Galaxy S owners have been enjoying for over a month already!

 

[Eazail70x7]

Hopefully the hackers can help with this...

 

[taylormah]

Just to add to the list, there is no history tab in contacts app. Other GS phones have Contacts, History, Activities and Group tabs while Epic is missing the history tab. Similarly, when you click on a specific contact, history tab is again missing from this view. I believe history tab lists the recent ways you got in touch in your contacts or a specific contact. Next, SMS app is just plain simple. It does not have those colorful bubbles and left/right alignment of messages. Its just plain as was in WM6.1 ... i saw these in some review video, cant't remember which one. This all must be the effect of TW2.5. I guess once they move to TW3.0, everything will be sorted out since all these features seem to be part of the samsung's skin.Also, some other website said Epic can't have Wifi and 4G radio both on at the same time. I don't know if is a bad thing or not, and I don't even know why would anybody keep both on at same time, but they listed it specifically. I still like the phone though since all these are software issues and can be resolved later. I will still buy the phone.

 

[dietcoke]

Didn't watch the listed YouTube videos yet...

....that missing blue/yellow bubble conversation while texting sucks. : (

What else.....
Can an Epic: bring up the contact list, put your finger on one contact, and left sweep with your finger to call them immediately or right sweep to send a text message?
It's one feature that Vibrant owners especially pointed out that they loved and would be sad to lose if returning the phone.

Other things people liked on the Vibrant:
Changing screen brightness by placing your finger on the top menu bar and simply sweeping right or left to adjust.

Instead of sweeping between panels with your finger just tap the tiny panel bubble representations to get them to switch.

Since the Epic has a camera flash- does it still have a "night mode" setting in the camera settings?

The puzzle piece thing is very efficient:
Just one motion to see and choose whether you want to view a text message- or your missed call.

 

[iwillfearnoevil]

i think it's expected that software is different on different carriers. disappointing, but expected.

 

[YaBoiD]

Hopefully the hackers can help with this...

That's what I'm betting on...

 

[neags23]

Using LauncherPro or ADW fixes a lot of the problems listed in the OP.

I've never seen the puzzle lock screen everyone is raving about, but I hate lock screens in general, so I'll just be downloading NoLock, and can see my missed calls/texts without it.

 

[pjy9394]

Is it possible to have an Vibrant-like ROM loaded onto the Epic after rooting it?

 

[Eazail70x7]

For the colored bubbles text messaging, you can use handcent. That has all kinds of customizations. I use it... Its great

 

[SnootchyBoochys]

Using LauncherPro or ADW fixes a lot of the problems listed in the OP.

I've never seen the puzzle lock screen everyone is raving about, but I hate lock screens in general, so I'll just be downloading NoLock, and can see my missed calls/texts without it.

Check out the video of the Samsung Vibrant I posted above....The puzzle piece lock screen is in the beginning of the video at 3:12 into it....It looks very nice and maybe even be a fun alternative to the now infamous unlock code that we all know and love/hate

 

[mrvirginia]

yup, guys over at xda will take care of all of those features missing most likely. all it requires is a dump from the other phones. so, i wouldn't really worry about this stuff

 

[DILands]

yup, guys over at xda will take care of all of those features missing most likely. all it requires is a dump from the other phones. so, i wouldn't really worry about this stuff

How difficuly for an Android Newbie will it be?? This will be my first Android Device - have putzed around with leaked OS Installs on a Blackberry - hopefully somewhat similar?

 

[The Tick077]

Although the missing features are dissapointing (puzzle lock, and rearranging of the icons especially) I don't think that makes it a fail. Look at what we ARE getting: Keyboard, Flash, FFC, 4G, Fixed GPS, and (from the initial reports) NAND internal memory instead of the internal SD card. All those things (asside from the GPS) CANNOT be added! However the features we are missing in touchwiz will either be a non-issue with ADW or LauncherPro, or will be added in the moding community (hopefully).

 

[BrianFX]

Just to add to the list, there is no history tab in contacts app. Other GS phones have Contacts, History, Activities and Group tabs while Epic is missing the history tab. Similarly, when you click on a specific contact, history tab is again missing from this view. I believe history tab lists the recent ways you got in touch in your contacts or a specific contact.

That's a rather odd omission, every phone ever basically has a history function..

 

[icemanjs4]

I just don't understand why sprint or samsung would choose to omit little features like those. There's nothing really platform specific there. So why not just keep all of those things the same. Ie the puzzle pieces. What possible Reason would sprint or samsung have for removing them on the epic?

 

[hdpatterson]

The Epic 4G is only running Touchwiz 2.5 not 3. I bet that is why some of the features that the other phones have are missing.

When all is said and done i believe we will find out at Touchwiz 3 was causing some of the issue the other phones have so they decided to go with a version with less features but also less bugs.

 

[SebastianX]

I say get rid of TouchWiz all together and let the user decide what UI they want, besides it's not like 99% of these widgets aren't openly available on the market.

 

[Hermeod]

To be completely honest, guys, I find the puzzle piece unlock screen ANNOYING - I on purpose have looked for ways to get RID of it - The puzzle piece has to be slid across the screen VERY PRECISELY compared to a normal unlock, and the target is sooo small, and it also is not the fastest (it causes a little lag as the screen is coming back on etc) - I hate it

Daily briefing, same thing - It's too small to really show you your friends' updates... I use the facebook app and whatever twitter app would be better - Same for the weather, although I imagine it COULD be used for weather - But again, I'd rather get the weather in detail on a dedicated app...

Same for text messaging and the lack of functionality in the basic contacts, basic texting program, basic media player - I have specifically downloaded apps for each of these that are free and support all the functionality I want - Yeah, it would be nice to have this natively done for us, but Android is all about customization and giving you the freedom of choice

As to the rest of the "lack of functionality," well, switching out the phone/browser/email/applications buttons on the bottom of the screens is NICE, but it isn't that big of a deal, really... And I would say similarly to the rest of the things - nice, but not that big of a deal

If there's something you should be concerned about it would be getting updated to 2.2 and GPS fix OTA The rest of this stuff is really gravy, and if you can't stand it, root/flash a custom ROM for it and you're set hehe

 

[Hermeod]

Please delete - double post :-X

 

[gotthelife4u]

I don't think I would have used the daily briefing widget. I don't invest in stocks. The lock screen looks kinda like the one on the Pre. If that's the case then I will have no problem with it. When it comes to the music player I might be the only person here that does not load music on to my phones. I only did it when I had my Iphone because it was so freaking easy to do.

 

[ConceptVBS]

The puzzle piece only comes out when you get a missed call or unread message. The Epic 4G video did not have any of these.

However,just to get people's nerves in control, the phone comes with a notification LED built on the upper right corner of the phone, something the other Galaxy S cousins dont have.

 

[ConceptVBS]

The Epic 4G is only running Touchwiz 2.5 not 3. I bet that is why some of the features that the other phones have are missing.

When all is said and done i believe we will find out at Touchwiz 3 was causing some of the issue the other phones have so they decided to go with a version with less features but also less bugs.

Where did you get that info from? All the Galaxy S phones are running TouchWiz 3.0.

 

[cbanks]

We won't even mention the hardware issue of the Epic having only 1 gig of internal storage.

 

[taylormah]

Where did you get that info from? All the Galaxy S phones are running TouchWiz 3.0.

All GS phones are, but not Epic. They had to use something in between 2 and 3 to accommodate landscape mode with keyboard. This is the basic reason for the puzzle lock, media player, contacts app, sms app to have features missing.

 

[gme109]

UPDATE: My goal is to get as many future Epic 4G buyers to respond to this thread as possible to show Samsung how excited we are for the Epic but also how upset we are about the lack of key features that are found in the family of Galaxy S devices but not on the Epic 4G....The only way Samsung will consider adding these into a future update (Hopefully the upcoming 2.2 update) is if they see how many people really do want them....So please help the cause and lets try to show Samsung how much these missing features really mean to the Epic 4G buyers!!!!!....I'm sure they are reading these forums as much as we are

According to multiple sources the Epic 4G appears to be missing multiple features that are found on both the Samsung Vibrant and Samsung Captivate....So far here are the features that I have been hearing are entirely missing from the Epic 4g....Please watch this MobileBurn.com unboxing and video review which discusses all of the missing features that I am discussing here......There are 2 parts and it goes very in-depth so get comfy!

YouTube - mobileburn's Channel

YouTube - mobileburn's Channel


1.) No puzzle piece unlock screen - This was a very cool feature that allows the user access a missed text or voice mail by simply moving a puzzle piece to the correct location on the screen when the phone has been locked. Check out the video below at 3:12 to see the puzzle piece feature on the Samsung Vibrant.

YouTube - Samsung Vibrant for T-Mobile USA - part 1 of 2

2.) The ability to rearrange apps and customize pages for your icons in your applications menu....See the above Samsung Vibrant video at 4:30 for this feature.

3.) The ability to add, remove, and rearrange panels from the home screen....This can be viewed on the Samsung Vibrant video above at 6:40 into the video.

4.) Daily Briefing widget is missing.....See part 2 of the Samsung Vibrant video at 3:40 to see what this widget looks like.

YouTube - Samsung Vibrant for T-Mobile USA - part 2 of 2

5.) Music player - I have not seen this feature on the Epic 4G yet and it looks very nice on the Samsung Vibrant....Seen in the video below at 1:20 into the video.

YouTube - Samsung Vibrant: misc. cool stuff

6.) Customize the main 4 icons on the home screen of the Epic 4G....I found this link that shows a visual step-by-step of the process.

Galaxy S Tips and Tricks (works w/ Captivate, Vibrant, etc)

So this is what I have found to be lacking on the Epic 4G thus far....What do you guys think about these missing features?....Can we convince Samsung to give them to us in a future update if it is even possible?....I'm still buying my Epic on day 1 but it sucks we are missing so many great features that other Galaxy S owners have been enjoying for over a month already!

The reason I'm interested in the Epic 4G, is because of the additional features, like keyboard, camera flash, front facing camera, 4G. But I wasn't aware of the fact I'd also be losing key features found in other Galaxy S phones. This is somewhat anticlimactic. Here's hoping Samsung adds back the missing features in their next upgrade.