A few issues i have noticed..a little concerned

[tmaxey1]

I have a line that is almost due for an upgrade so i stopped at the sprint corporate store this afternoon to check out the epic. After adjusting the screen brightness to all the way up (i like bright).

1. I decided to test out the GPS. I launched google maps (gps was on) and the phone NEVER got my current location. I kept closing the app with the built in task killer(great idea), but no matter what it just would not locate me. I tested this on the other Epic next to the one i was testing and still neither phone could get a gps fix for me. I was very disappointed in this.

2. I was in a 4G area and decided to download 2 different speedtest apps from the market so i could check the 4g speed right next to my EVO's 4G speed. I probably ran the test 10 times because i could believe the difference. My EVO was almost twice as fast. I was getting about 4800 on the EVO while the Epic was getting about 2300 tops. Has anyone who has both phones tested this out?

3. This may seem strange but the screen seemed to dim when i launched the browser. I had the screen all the way up and i turned off auto adjust brightness. But it really seemed to dim the browser. (stock browser).

4. Where is google Nav? I could only find sprint Nav. Even when i spoke "navigate to ____________" it didnt launch google nav like my EVO does.

I would have recorded the 4g speed difference between the 2 phones because people have a tendency to call people liars if they say anything negative about something they love. But since my only way to record was on my EVO i couldnt record my phone with my phone. The Epic and EVO displays were not close enough to record them. I felt a little weird to ask the employees in a fairly busy store to unhook the security badge to move them closer so i could record them.

Now things i loved about the Epic.....

1. It wasnt as thick in hand that i feared.
2. It was very light. I thought i would hate this part but it felt nice.
3. The Super Amoled screen really is nice. I know why samsung is keeping them for themselves.
4. I am not a physical keyboard fan in general but i could really type fast on this one.
5. The Swype that came preinstalled was so fast and responsive. It made my swype on the EVO feel laggy.

I am considering the Epic for the other line on my account that is almost due to upgrade. And i will probably choose this phone for my fiance. She likes keyboards. But the GPS issue makes me nervous.

Thanks guys. I hope you are enjoying your new phones.

 

[Regalicious]

For #3, the (Android) stock browser has its own brightness setting that overrides the systemwide brightness setting so you have to manually set it (via the Menu button) to what you want.

You can get to Google Nav from within Google Maps (type in or search for a destination and then hit "Navigate to")

 

[DonB]

Also GPS could of been an issue because you were indoors need to turn AGPS on, as for Google maps it just needed to be downloaded from the Market

 

[gme109]

I have a line that is almost due for an upgrade so i stopped at the sprint corporate store this afternoon to check out the epic. After adjusting the screen brightness to all the way up (i like bright).

1. I decided to test out the GPS. I launched google maps (gps was on) and the phone NEVER got my current location. I kept closing the app with the built in task killer(great idea), but no matter what it just would not locate me. I tested this on the other Epic next to the one i was testing and still neither phone could get a gps fix for me. I was very disappointed in this.

Did you turn on AGPS? The default setting is off. So if you were indoors, you would not locate any satellites.

 

[SamsungVibrant]

Also GPS could of been an issue because you were indoors, as for Google maps it just needed to be downloaded from the Market

Hey, I dont completely refute your statement, yes GPS units nead a clear sight of the sky for optiminum performance. However, I ask you 1 simple question, why is that almost every smartphone I've ever used is able to get acceptable GPS performance indoors, yet the Galaxy S phones can't. What makes the Galaxy S phones so sensitive and finicky?

As a vibrant owner, you can bet I've tested the Vibrant's GPS against many smartphones both indoors and outdoors. Consistently every phone I've tested works flawlessy even indoors, except the Galaxy S phones.

 

[tmaxey1]

Did you turn on AGPS? The default setting is off. So if you were indoors, you would not locate any satellites.

You know i didnt. I guess thats why then. The gps icon kept blinking like it was searching but just never found a signal.
I'm glad that is why. I was thinking the gps signal was awful.

I also liked how the bottom keys stay dark until you touched them. That was pretty nice looking. The all black front.

 

[DonB]

Because it usually needs to be outside for the first time, and also location could be an issue from where you purchased it, depending on the building and obstruction, try taking it outside and try it again and make sure AGPS is turned on, it is off be default, I have A Hero and one on the malls near my house when I am indoors there I get no Sat reception in there, try taking your real GPS indoors and see if it works, it will loose reception 8 out of 10 times

Hey, I dont completely refute your statement, yes GPS units nead a clear sight of the sky for optiminum performance. However, I ask you 1 simple question, why is that almost every smartphone I've ever used is able to get acceptable GPS performance indoors, yet the Galaxy S phones can't. What makes the Galaxy S phones so sensitive and finicky?

As a vibrant owner, you can bet I've tested the Vibrant's GPS against many smartphones both indoors and outdoors. Consistently every phone I've tested works flawlessy even indoors, except the Galaxy S phones.

 

[Kelmar]

Great concerns/questions.

My upgrade is in a month and I think this is what I'll be getting.

 

[mrvirginia]

For #3, the (Android) stock browser has its own brightness setting that overrides the systemwide brightness setting so you have to manually set it (via the Menu button) to what you want.

You can get to Google Nav from within Google Maps (type in or search for a destination and then hit "Navigate to")

Also GPS could of been an issue because you were indoors need to turn AGPS on, as for Google maps it just needed to be downloaded from the Market

Did you turn on AGPS? The default setting is off. So if you were indoors, you would not locate any satellites.

all of what was said here is correct. lots of false GPS complaints because of the AGPS feature. turn that off if you want to see if it picks up good outside, and turn it on if you want to see if it picks up good inside. then, i'd recommend leaving it on so both work whether you're indoors or out

Hey, I dont completely refute your statement, yes GPS units nead a clear sight of the sky for optiminum performance. However, I ask you 1 simple question, why is that almost every smartphone I've ever used is able to get acceptable GPS performance indoors, yet the Galaxy S phones can't. What makes the Galaxy S phones so sensitive and finicky?

As a vibrant owner, you can bet I've tested the Vibrant's GPS against many smartphones both indoors and outdoors. Consistently every phone I've tested works flawlessy even indoors, except the Galaxy S phones.

again, did you toggle AGPS on/off when doing these tests?

man, can't wait to get my Epic so i can do a comparison on things like this and actually have a vid

 

[Puddin422]

Where the heck is this AGPS on/off setting??

 

[njbianco]

the browser has a separate brightness setting press your menu key in the browser and goto more then goto brightness settings


also you need to update Google Maps in the market to get the navigation icon in the app drawer

 

[Keybeeetsss]

I'm sitting in the house, but it locked as soon as I opened it & I myself hav no clue of what or where to find AGPS so its definitely off

 

[irwinm]

2. I was in a 4G area and decided to download 2 different speedtest apps from the market so i could check the 4g speed right next to my EVO's 4G speed. I probably ran the test 10 times because i could believe the difference. My EVO was almost twice as fast. I was getting about 4800 on the EVO while the Epic was getting about 2300 tops. Has anyone who has both phones tested this out?

This was interesting for me - I seemed to have a hard time locking into a 4G signal with the Epic, and the switch time between 3G and 4G was very long compared to my EVO. But when I finally got it fully locked on 4G and ran it side-by-side with the EVO, the Epic actually ran much faster on multiple speed tests (like 5.2 Mbs vs 3.8 Mbs or similar). I'm not sure what to make of it, as the EVO seemed to grab the 4G signal in and out of the building much easier than the Epic. Also, the fact you can't keep 4G and Wifi on simultaneously on the Epic is a big fail for me.

 

[Puddin422]

Ohhh..."Maps" in the app menu. Got it. And it locked in on my location pretty quickly.

 

[JulianUF]

Ditto, where is the AGPS setting?

 

[mrvirginia]

Where the heck is this AGPS on/off setting??

Ditto, where is the AGPS setting?

not sure. don't have it yet. maybe try menu > settings > location

edit: yeah Settings > Location & Security
also settings > privacy (to use your location)

 

[Adrift]

By the way,

To get Google Nav, you need to go into market, hit menu, select "downloads". In the downloads menu you will see there is an update that needs to be downloaded for Google Maps, this update includes Google Nav. After installing this update, Google Navigate (appearing simplay as an arrow and the word Navigation) is now installed in your apps drawer.

 

[Android XTC]

GPS is accurate on my handset.

 

[Cobravision]

3. This may seem strange but the screen seemed to dim when i launched the browser. I had the screen all the way up and i turned off auto adjust brightness. But it really seemed to dim the browser. (stock browser).

SAMOLED conserves battery when displaying blacks because the pixels simply shut off. Conversely, when displaying whites, SAMOLED uses more power than LCD. The reason the browser has its own brightness setting and is a dim by default is because most web pages use the black text on white background design. This will cause the battery to drain faster than LCD screens. If you look at the results of this test:

Android Battery Test Reveals Droid X Lasts Longest, AMOLED Handsets Trail

You can see the Galaxy phones and the Incredible finish at the bottom. The way the test was set up (which I think has little bearing on "real world" use), the phones were on web pages continuously and since most web pages use the black text on white background color scheme, the SAMOLED/AMOLED screens didn't perform as well. Note the very dark palette of the Galaxy screens, another battery saving measure.

4. Where is google Nav? I could only find sprint Nav. Even when i spoke "navigate to ____________" it didnt launch google nav like my EVO does.

Google Voice Actions only runs on froyo. But you can run Vlingo for free on 2.1, and I think it's better than the native Google app. I use Vlingo exclusively for this.

5. The Swype that came preinstalled was so fast and responsive. It made my swype on the EVO feel laggy.

The Evo Swype is laggy, but the lack of dedicated cursor buttons and dodgy interface for non-standard words and spellings kind of kills my enthusiasm for it. It's great sometimes when I want to write a long forum post, but if you're searching for apps or some such, it's a pain in the ass.

Eh, maybe I'm not using it correctly.

But have fun with the your new addiction folks! The feeling you get in that four week initial period when you can't put the thing down is the reason I need to upgrade every year.

 

[chill145]

You know i didnt. I guess thats why then. The gps icon kept blinking like it was searching but just never found a signal.
I'm glad that is why. I was thinking the gps signal was awful.

I also liked how the bottom keys stay dark until you touched them. That was pretty nice looking. The all black front.

that's one of the things i didn't like on it. i like how they look better on the evo

but i do like the screen better on the epic, color is more crisp and overall better. and browsing the internet, epic was a little faster most of the times.

and they did a good job with the keyboard, spaced and pretty easy to type on. but i wouldn't be using it and it didn't feel right for some reason on the phone. like cheap or something but i couldn't get over the screen, big difference for some of the videos watched on espn.com

 

[TheAndroidWorks]

There are some hacks that can be done for better 4g tuning of the radio... you can considerably increase the range and lock in speed. In my experience, the EPIC does get faster speed with the same signal on 4g, though.

 

[heavychevy]

Testing both, they were almost identical for me, sitting right next to each other.


One little aggravating thing though is in the market, when you turn the phone from portrait to landscape it keeps reloading the page, anyone elses do this?

 

[SamuraiBigEd]

Great concerns/questions.

My upgrade is in a month and I think this is what I'll be getting.

Say it ain't so Kelmar! Come hang out with us...

 

[megabiteg]

Honestly I would never base 100% of my judgment on a phone by using the store display phone... usually they have been submitted to much tinkering and play.

I haven't experienced not even 1% of what you described. I guess its a "depend where you are and what your playing with" situation.

Up to know my phone has been 100% operational in everything even when I want it to fail.

 

[ub3r-l33ch]

1. It wasnt as thick in hand that i feared.

If thickness is such a concern for you, you might want to take a step back and get things in better perspective.