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The Samsung Epic 4G Touch is a remarkable smartphone that's on par with, and even slightly better than, the original Samsung Galaxy S2. They are similar handsets, but Sprint has used a brighter and slightly larger screen.
Also, the phone uses blinking lights to let you know about charge state and incoming messages.
The phone is fast, has a brilliant and clear screen, lasts all day, plays media smoothly, and has a top-notch camera.
We liked
The screen is outstanding - bright and clear, ideal for browsing the web, watching movies or even reading an ebook. The 1.2GHz processor is fast enough for most Android apps. The phone offers 16GB of internal storage, twice that of most Android phones, and also supports 32GB microSD cards.
The phone is light and thin, yet has a 4.5-inch screen that makes movies and TV shows pop. The camera recorded sharp pictures and high-resolution videos that played smoothly.
We disliked
There's not much to dislike. One slight thing is that there aren't any extra app stores beyond the Android Market, but that's easily remedied by downloading one.
As a Sprint phone in the US, the 4G service is a bit slow even in areas where Wi-Max should pump the bandwidth along just fine. If you don't sign a two-year contract, the Samsung Epic 4G Touch is expensive. And, there's no dedicated camera button.
Final verdict
The Samsung Epic 4G Touch is an almost equivalent version of the Samsung Galaxy S2 that we rated so highly. A few improved features make it one of the best Android smartphones available - however, the higher price it's subjected to and the lack of a decent 4G connection speed mean we can't quite put it in the 5 star bracket... but it's awfully close.
