Personally, I can't believe it took us this many years to come up with a phone model named "Epic." I mean, that's like most epic name available for the taking, right? With that said, the Samsung Epic 4G backs up the larger-than-life billing with a feature set bound to endear itself to most power users.
Physically, the smartphone looks sleek, with rounded edges, curved corners and a glossy finish. It's easily the biggest of the Galaxy S line (so far, at least) and will probably be tough to fit in most jeans pockets. Like most hefty phones, though, it feels particularly sturdy, apart from having a great feel in hand.
Display is a 4-inch AMOLED touchscreen, with 480 x 800 resolution. Sharpness, colors and graphics look downright fantastic, made even better by the wide viewing angle. Before we forget, there's a horizontal slide-out keyboard too. Thanks to the phone's size, it's got five full spacious rows of keys, making for extra-convenient typing.
As a phone, the Epic 4G makes for good calls. While it's not epic, audio came through loud and clear, with just a tad of distortion creeping in every now and then. Callers actually reported even better quality than we experienced. Speakerphone was a bit hollow, but had plenty of volume to go and was very usable in crowded environments. Battery is rated at 7.5 hours of talk time. With a phone this multimedia-heavy, though, expect nightly recharges.
Unfortunately, we never got a chance to test out the 4G function. Feedback from other users have been generally positive, though. Performance over 3G is great, with minimal YouTube buffering, even with HQ videos. Streamed videos still didn't look perfect (there was some noticeable degradation), but local 720p videos played beautifully. As you probably guessed, multimedia is a serious strength for the phone, with support for HD content, DivX and Xvid, and DLNA devices. Music playback is similarly outstanding, with onboard 5.1-channel surround support. Internal storage is a paltry 1GB, though, so better load up on those SD cards.
The Epic has all the usual Android smartphone features, including numerous voice capabilities, robust messaging (SMS, MMS, IM, email and Exchange) and the usual suite of Google apps. There's also WiFi, GPS, Bluetooth and Samsung's TouchWiz 3.0 UI.
Camera is 5.0 megapixels and takes exceptional pictures, along with pretty good 720p video. Even indoor shots, with help from the LED flash, were serviceable. It also has a front-facing VGA camera and ships with the Qik video chat app.
Overall, the Samsung Epic 4G is heavy on the features and stands as one of the best multimedia smartphones with Android at the helm. Price is steep, though, at $249.99, although you can get it from Amazon for $50 less.
Not to be confused with the original Milestone (which is known in the US as the Droid), the Motorola Milestone XT720 is a newer model, which ditches the slide-out keyboard and takes on an odd styling. It doesn't have the raw CPU power of other new high-end Android phones, but makes up for it with a solid set of hardware features.
Physically, it takes on a slate design, but includes an odd bump on the lower right side that's used for displaying a variety of LED indicators. Personally, I like the unique touch, although I can imagine a lot of people finding it unnecessary. Screen is a 3.7-inch capacitive touchscreen (480 x 854 resolution). It manages a very crisp display, with bright colors and sharpness to spare. Touch interface is quick and responsive.
As a phone, the Milestone XT720 managed good calls, with loud volume and no interference. Those on the other end reported the same thing, citing very clear audio. Speakerphone added some echo, but was serviceable even in loud environments. Battery is rated at 4.5 hours of talk time, so expect to charge every night or so.
Like other Android 2.1 phones, it comes with the staple Google suite of apps, robust messaging and other OS-based features, aside from access to lots more via the Android Market. It runs on a 720MHz CPU. While far from the 1GHz performers now flooding the market, it performs most tasks without hitch, although it would occasionally act in a sluggish manner when you have a fair share of apps open.
Standard capabilities include quad-band world roaming, smart dialing, Bluetooth 2.1 and aGPS. A few notable preinstalled apps include QuickOffice, a Phone Portal utility (for managing phone content on a PC over WiFi or USB) and an all-in-one social networking app. It uses the default standard browser, with pinch-to-zoom and Flash lite.
Multimedia playback is typical for an Android phone, so it's nothing special. It does have a high-res 8.0 megapixel camera with a Xenon flash and 720p recording. Stills look very good outdoors and very usable indoors, while the video has nice colors but remains somewhat grainy.
Overall, the Motorola Milestone XT720 is a full-featured Android 2.1 phone with a high-res camera and good overall performance as its main selling point. It costs $460 unlocked, but probably isn't the best deal available when Cincinatti Bell releases it for $199.99 on contract.
It hasn’t even been a year since the original Droid first rolled out, but Android's current boom makes rushing the new releases understandable. The Motorola Droid 2 brings enough changes to make it a proper upgrade: faster processor, higher RAM and a generally better experience.
Physically, it sports a very refined design, much more so than its predecessor. While big, it can still be crammed into your pocket. Well...barely. Construction appears solid and the sliding mechanism is very sturdy.
A 3.7-inch capacitive touchscreen (480 x 854 resolution) sits in front. It's vibrant, very sharp and extremely responsive. The keyboard, with its raised keys, is a big improvement over the original, although it's still not the softest to use.
As a phone, the Droid 2 makes for good calls. Audio is clear and went through without much interruption, although it's far from sounding natural. Those on the other end reported a similar experience. Speakerphone is usable, with loud volume. Battery is rated at 9.6 hours of talk time, making good for a full two days (at least, a day and a half) of use for moderate users.
We like the toned-down version of the Motoblur UI on the phone, which does its job without getting in the way. It's a far cry from the original version on the Cliq, feeling much more refined and fleshed-out. By the way, this is running Android 2.2 out of the box, which means you get all the latest features, including Flash 10.1.
Armed with a 1GHz processor, the Droid 2 breezed through most tasks. Data speeds were average, with YouTube playing continuously after a few seconds of buffering. It comes with the usual Android strengths, from robust messaging to Google's suite of apps to social networking integration. Some notable software features: you can have unified and separate inboxes; improved security protocols; and great contact management, with the occasional duplicates during sync.
There's the complete roster of call features, aGPS and WiFi too. Multimedia playback is impressive, particularly for an Android phone, with audio sounding rich and videos running without hitch. Web browsing works great, with Flash videos and games performing really well. The 5.0 megapixel camera offers a bunch of options and average photo quality.
Overall, the Motorola Droid 2 is a nice upgrade for a very popular phone. We don't think it's the best at anything among the current crop of Android devices, but it sure does near everything with flying colors. It's available for $199.99 with a two year Verizon contract.
It's been getting a lot of flak in the press lately, but the RIM Blackberry Torch is actually a really good phone. Problem is, there's little about it that actually feels original and fresh, making it a tough sell in today's smartphone market.
Physically, it's not particularly attractive, although it does look appropriate for business users. It's not as big as I imagined, but it is hefty in hand and construction feels sturdy. Display is a 3.2-inch capacitive touchscreen (480 x 360 resolution) that's bright and responsive, while the bottom-sliding QWERTY keyboard made for comfortable typing (not as good the Bold, though).
As a phone, the Torch delivered great call quality, with little problems (there was occasionally some distortion). Those on the other end reported very good sound as well. Speakerphone had too little volume, though, so it was difficult to use in noisier environments. Battery is rated at 5.8 hours of talk time and should last over a day (might make it to two) with normal use.
One of the phone's biggest features is Blackberry OS 6, which finally updated the platform's interface into one better suited to today's market. Overall, it delivers on its promise: better UI, faster navigation, a well-executed universal search and an updated, infinitely more functional browser. If you've handled an iPhone or Android before, though, there's really nothing new that leaves you impressed. The handset runs a 624MHz processor and is quite sluggish when switching between tasks to the point of freezing for a few seconds.
Being a Blackberry, it's got the solid business capabilities down pat: quad-band world phone, robust connectivity (3G, WiFi, Bluetooth 2.1 and GPS) and impressive messaging services (Blackberry Messenger, Blackberry Enterprise Server and more). It's up to speed on the social networking end too, with preloaded apps for Facebook, Myspace and Twitter, along with an aggregator called Social Feeds. There are a number of notable apps, as well, such as Documents To Go and AT&T's variety of services. While it does have access to App World, you can only store apps on the 512MB of built-in memory.
Data speeds are good, but not spectacular. YouTube requires several seconds of buffering, but it does play continuously after the initial slowdown. Multimedia playback has been vastly improved, with a sexy presentation and a good collection of supported formats. The screen could have been better, but it's definitely serviceable for both music and videos. A 5.0 megapixel camera is also onboard, with some nice editing features and above average shot quality.
Overall, there's nothing bad about the Blackberry Torch. It's just that RIM is now competing with phones that have leaped ahead of it both in hardware and software. While it's officially listed at $199.99 from AT&T, Amazon has slashed down the price to $99.99, so it might be worth it to consider.
Unlike other smartphones, the Motorola i1 doesn't set itself apart by being better or faster than any of its counterparts. Instead, it differentiates itself by bringing push-to-talk capabilities and a rugged design, as well as being available as a prepaid phone.
Physically, it looks like a regular touchscreen device. A closer inspection, however, will reveal notable touches, such as a hard plastic casing and rubber edges, that makes it more suitable for rugged use. Despite the sturdier build, it isn't all that much heavier, retaining the sleek styling common in today's smartphone options. It sports a 3.1-inch capacitive touchscreen (320x240 resolution), providing good image display and excellent touch responsiveness.
As a phone, the Motorola i1 made for great call quality over Boost Mobile, with natural-sounding voices and very clear conversations. Those on the other end reported the same, although they did notice a slight background noise. Speakerphone worked similarly, having loud volume and generally decent sound. Battery is rated at only 3.5 hours of talk time, so expect to charge this nightly if you use your phone at a moderately heavy pace.
It runs on Nextel's iDEN network for data, which isn't the fastest. Surprisingly, the experience was serviceable, with full HTML pages loading fast on the default Opera Mini 5 (which processes pages on the server-side). Speed does suffer, however, with Android's Webkit browser and the YouTube app (plenty of buffering). The handset only runs Android 1.5 (read: ala-G1), so that could be a deal-killer for a lot of people (it's not like there's a deluge of Android phones with PTT, though).
All the typical phone features are here, including PIM tools, aGPS and Bluetooth. You get older versions of Google's suite of apps, plus solid messaging, which has been Android's strength from the start. Other notables include WiFi and a separate contacts list for the PTT service. It comes with a 5.0 megapixel camera that, unfortunately, takes mediocre photos for its level of resolution.
Overall, the rugged frame and unique functionalities of the Motorola i1 makes it a good choice for those whose needs it looks to serve. It's pretty affordable too: $349.99 with no contract from Boost Mobile.
