First let me disclaim: I am not a phone expert, reviewer expert, or anything. I work in the IT industry so I have a natural built-in ability to "deal" with buggy stuff more than a typical end-user. Some folks have posted their experiences here, I thought I would too. Let's roll.
First things first, the shipping/packaging. The warehouse had tons of Epics in stock on day 1 and there was 0 problem getting it shipped to me (I use a corporate account). So we can put to rest the concerns of a shortage like the Evo, at least for now. The packaging is slightly more wasteful (full rectangle vs the Evo's sardine-tin look) but is very nice and pretty typical of a cell phone from Sprint. The phone comes with a charging cable (micro-usb), a plug adapter for the cable, earbuds, and manuals. There is a ton of safety-tape all over the phone. I actually like this, it ensures you have a crystal clear exterior out of the box.
Putting it up to the Evo, I noticed a few things. It looks a LOT nicer when turned off. The phone is just sexy. It's very sleek and full black, rather than the Gray-ish Evo. At first I loved the lack of buttons, just makes it much more sleek, but this came back to bite me later. I saw a reviewer say that taking away the Sprint and Samsung labels would make the sex appeal of the turned-off Epic go through the roof and I couldn't agree more. It is lighter in the hands than the Evo, and the shape feels more comfortable in my hand. When using the Evo, I found myself constantly setting off the soft buttons on the front. On the Epic, I find myself constantly setting off the hard buttons, mostly the camera button on the lower right side. Not a major issue.
The other hardware items are a nice upgrade: the charger being on top presents a much more preferable configuration, when holding/using the device plugged in, but also when using it in the car or at a desk; there is less cord bending needed. The volume rocker on the left isn
First things first, the shipping/packaging. The warehouse had tons of Epics in stock on day 1 and there was 0 problem getting it shipped to me (I use a corporate account). So we can put to rest the concerns of a shortage like the Evo, at least for now. The packaging is slightly more wasteful (full rectangle vs the Evo's sardine-tin look) but is very nice and pretty typical of a cell phone from Sprint. The phone comes with a charging cable (micro-usb), a plug adapter for the cable, earbuds, and manuals. There is a ton of safety-tape all over the phone. I actually like this, it ensures you have a crystal clear exterior out of the box.
Putting it up to the Evo, I noticed a few things. It looks a LOT nicer when turned off. The phone is just sexy. It's very sleek and full black, rather than the Gray-ish Evo. At first I loved the lack of buttons, just makes it much more sleek, but this came back to bite me later. I saw a reviewer say that taking away the Sprint and Samsung labels would make the sex appeal of the turned-off Epic go through the roof and I couldn't agree more. It is lighter in the hands than the Evo, and the shape feels more comfortable in my hand. When using the Evo, I found myself constantly setting off the soft buttons on the front. On the Epic, I find myself constantly setting off the hard buttons, mostly the camera button on the lower right side. Not a major issue.
The other hardware items are a nice upgrade: the charger being on top presents a much more preferable configuration, when holding/using the device plugged in, but also when using it in the car or at a desk; there is less cord bending needed. The volume rocker on the left isn