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[h1]Sprint’s Galaxy S II dubbed ‘Samsung Epic Touch 4G,’ launches in September[/h1]
By: Zach Epstein | Aug 2nd, 2011 at 06:10PM

http://www.bgr.com/2011/08/02/sprin...touch-4g-launches-in-september/#disqus_thread/www.bgr.com/?p=98821">http://www.bgr.com/?p=98821" style="color: rgb(0, 51, 102); text-decoration: none; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; ">79 Comments
Filed Under: Exclusives, Mobile



We know we don’t have long to wait before Samsung’s wildly popular Galaxy S II smartphone launches stateside. It’s also a pretty safe bet that the sleek smartphone will reach all four major U.S. carriers considering how popular the original Galaxy S was. Additional details have been slow to surface, but we’ve just been given some preliminary details about one of the four U.S. variants we’ve been waiting for. BGR has learned that Sprint’s version of the slim smartphone will launch as the Samsung Epic Touch 4G. Like its predecessor, the Epic Touch 4G will feature 4G WiMAX connectivity, though as its moniker might suggest, it will lack the QWERTY keyboard found on the original Epic 4G. Additional specs are hardly a mystery — we reviewed the international version of the Galaxy S II back in May. And while we have yet to track down a specific release date for this cutting edge Gingerbread phone, our source did say that it is launching in September. Also of note: Sprint will launch both the BlackBerry Curve 9350 (Sedona) and the Samsung Conquer 4G later this month, possibly as soon as August 21st.

 

[luckyluchiano]

I won't lie that Galaxy Tab 10.1 might be the best tablet out. So much better feeling than the Xoom, I prefer iOS, but the 10.1 is the truth. I`m just not messing with it cause of Androids fragmentation, especially when Ice Cream Sandwich drops.

 

[luckyluchiano]

I won't lie that Galaxy Tab 10.1 might be the best tablet out. So much better feeling than the Xoom, I prefer iOS, but the 10.1 is the truth. I`m just not messing with it cause of Androids fragmentation, especially when Ice Cream Sandwich drops.

 

[pacmagic2002]

Damn....gotta wait till september? Glad i didnt have to use my upgrade, i can use it whenever i want

 

[pacmagic2002]

Damn....gotta wait till september? Glad i didnt have to use my upgrade, i can use it whenever i want

 

[sneaky]

What's all the hype behind the S II?

How's it far up to the evo 3D? Which one is better?

 

[sneaky]

What's all the hype behind the S II?

How's it far up to the evo 3D? Which one is better?

 

[JayDean03]

This will be my bday phone 

hate that they changed the name though 

 

[iheartboost]

Originally Posted by Nike Jordan

Any tips on extending battery life on the Evo 3D?

Don't buy HTC.

 

[JayDean03]

This will be my bday phone 

hate that they changed the name though 

 

[iheartboost]

Originally Posted by Nike Jordan

Any tips on extending battery life on the Evo 3D?

Don't buy HTC.

 

[basketballsavant]

 Samsung Hercules

 

[basketballsavant]

 Samsung Hercules

 

[JayDean03]

Originally Posted by MPLSdunk

Originally Posted by Tetsujin23

Originally Posted by MPLSdunk

Giving miui.us a second try now. Hated it 2 months ago but I like it now.

I still hate MIUI.US

the was a typo. Isn't the only difference the translations?

No. The OG dev made it more stable for some reason, then he left and somebody else got it.

I still like it but cuz of the themeing tho.

That Hercules

 

[JayDean03]

Originally Posted by MPLSdunk

Originally Posted by Tetsujin23

Originally Posted by MPLSdunk

Giving miui.us a second try now. Hated it 2 months ago but I like it now.

I still hate MIUI.US

the was a typo. Isn't the only difference the translations?

No. The OG dev made it more stable for some reason, then he left and somebody else got it.

I still like it but cuz of the themeing tho.

That Hercules

 

[cincoseisdos]

Originally Posted by ljlukelj

Anybody rooted their EVO 3D? How easy was it? Seems complicated compared to the evo. I wanna do it, but I also wanna wait for more stability. Thoughts?

If root =S-off then I did itNot complicated

Just install HTC drivers, download Tue software, run CMD and follow the few instructions, then call *2 and have them reset the settings for voice and data, and you're done.

 

[cincoseisdos]

Originally Posted by ljlukelj

Anybody rooted their EVO 3D? How easy was it? Seems complicated compared to the evo. I wanna do it, but I also wanna wait for more stability. Thoughts?

If root =S-off then I did itNot complicated

Just install HTC drivers, download Tue software, run CMD and follow the few instructions, then call *2 and have them reset the settings for voice and data, and you're done.

 

[jd3772000]

Anyone know how to get the new photon to show the non mobile webpages? I see nothing in the settings. Some webpages come up in mobile version...some come up in full webpage. I would like to view everything in full webpage form.

 

[jd3772000]

Anyone know how to get the new photon to show the non mobile webpages? I see nothing in the settings. Some webpages come up in mobile version...some come up in full webpage. I would like to view everything in full webpage form.

 

[Gordonson]

Originally Posted by jd3772000

Anyone know how to get the new photon to show the non mobile webpages? I see nothing in the settings. Some webpages come up in mobile version...some come up in full webpage. I would like to view everything in full webpage form.

Look around the mobile site. There should be an option to switch to the full site. But I know of no way to completely prevent ever seeing a mobile version of a site on ANY phone. Just one of the annoying things we have to deal with.

 

[Gordonson]

Originally Posted by jd3772000

Anyone know how to get the new photon to show the non mobile webpages? I see nothing in the settings. Some webpages come up in mobile version...some come up in full webpage. I would like to view everything in full webpage form.

Look around the mobile site. There should be an option to switch to the full site. But I know of no way to completely prevent ever seeing a mobile version of a site on ANY phone. Just one of the annoying things we have to deal with.

 

[iheartboost]

Originally Posted by Sneaky

What's all the hype behind the S II?

How's it far up to the evo 3D? Which one is better?

My biggest issues with Android phones are: 
1. Battery 
2. Camera & Video

3. Screen Display

Engadget rated the Galaxy S II 9/10. Here are some key quotes:

Screen Display

The Galaxy S II's screen is nothing short of spectacular. Blacks are impenetrable, colors pop out at you, and viewing angles are supreme. This would usually be the part where we'd point out that qHD (960 x 540) resolution is fast becoming the norm among top-tier smartphones and that the GSII's 800 x 480 is therefore a bit behind the curve, but frankly, we don't care. With a screen as beautiful as this, such things pale into insignificance. And we use that verb advisedly -- whereas the majority of LCDs quickly lose their luster when you tilt them away from center, color saturation and vibrancy on the Galaxy S II remain undiminished. It is only at extreme angles that you'll notice some discoloration, but that's only if you're looking for it and takes nothing away from the awe-inspiring experience of simply using this device.
Whether you're pushing it to its limits with movie watching or just tamely browsing the web, the Super AMOLED Plus panel inside the Galaxy S II never fails to remind you that it's simply better than almost everything else that's out there. For an instructive example of the contrast on offer here, take a look at our recent post regarding the LG Optimus Big's upcoming launch in Korea. The pattern on that handset's white back was so subtle on our desktop monitor that we completely missed it, whereas when we looked at the same image on the GSII, it looked clear as day. Maybe that doesn't speak too highly of the monitors we're working with, but it underlines the supremacy of the display Samsung has squeezed into the Galaxy S II.

We'd even go so far as to say it's better than the iPhone 4's screen, purely because, at 4.3 inches, it gives us so much more room to work with. It's almost impossible to split the two up in terms of quality of output, they're both top notch. Notably, however, that was also true of Samsung's original Super AMOLED display, the one that graced the 4-inch Galaxy S, and by now you must be wondering if there's actually anything significant enough in the new S-AMOLED technology to justify appending that "Plus" to its name. The short answer is yes, and it's all in the pixels.

The one major downside to the original Super AMOLED panel was to be found in its PenTile matrix subpixel arrangement. It employed an RGBG pattern, wherein you got two green subpixels for every pair of red and blue ones, but the overall resolution was counted on the basis of green subpixels. Ergo, a PenTile 800 x 480 resolution wasn't as rich at the subpixel level as your standard RGB screen (768,000 versus 1,152,000), which resulted in slightly grainier images than would otherwise have been the case. Well, that "otherwise" scenario is now with us, because Samsung has switched to a Real-Stripe RGB array in the 4.3-inch Galaxy S II, which means it packs the full 1.152 megasubpixel count and, as we've already noted, the display looks delectable for it. A lesser criticism of the original Galaxy S was that its colors were a little blown out and oversaturated, but that's once again rendered moot on the successor device -- a software setting called Background effect allows you to tweak saturation, so if you're feeling a little melancholy, you can tone down the intensity of your handset's colors to match your ennui. Basically, if we haven't made it clear already, this is everything that Super AMOLED was, minus the bad parts and plus an extra .3 inches in real estate. A triumph.

Okay, there is one mildly irritating aspect about the Galaxy S II's screen and that's the auto-brightness -- it tends to hunt around for the correct setting and occasionally makes jarring jumps between darker and brighter values. Whether that's down to the ambient light sensor or the software reading data from it isn't all that important, what's relevant is that we found ourselves more comfortable with a human helming the brightness controls.

Camera & Video

Samsung eschews the default Gingerbread camera app for its own effort, which comes with a neat slice of customization. The left menu column gives you three shortcut slots for the functions you consider most relevant to your photographic exploits. By default, two of them are populated with a button to flip between the rear-facing 8 megapixel and front-facing 2 megapixel camera and another one for controlling the flash, but you can do whatever you fancy. Resolution, ISO, scene and shooting modes, or adjustments like white balance, contrast, metering, and after-effects can all be included in there. And if you consider different things important when in video mode, that's no problem, because that retains its own set of shortcuts separate from the stills mode. It's a fully realized suite of options, even if most users will neglect the left side and just keep bashing the capture key on the right.
When they do so, they'll be treated to some excellent results. The camera compartment on the back of the Galaxy S II justifies its size (it's still tiny, it just happens to protrude a little bit from the ultrathin GSII body) with the collection of great detail in nearly every shot. What most impressed us about this sensor is that images remained relatively sharp at full resolution -- such as the one you see above, it's a 100 percent crop from an 8 megapixel capture -- with Samsung feeling confident enough in the quality of its hardware to apply almost no noise-reducing blur under default settings. That does permit for graininess to sneak into some images, but on the whole, we're looking at one of the finest smartphone camera sensors around. Closeup shots are handled very well too, in spite of the lack of a dedicated macro mode (Update: There's a Macro setting under the Focus mode menu; thanks, Josh!). The flash is a typically overpowered LED unit, though we were impressed to see the Galaxy S II use it while focusing on a nearby object but not while shooting -- had it been used in the shot, the flash would've whitewashed the entire composition, so it's good to see the software showing a timely bit of restraint.

The only real issue we encountered was that that the GSII's sensor has a predictably narrow dynamic range, meaning that photographs with high contrast between dark and well-lit areas end up with either deep shadows or blown out highlights, depending on which you opt to focus on. Then again, that can lead to some highly artistic / moody shots, so we're not too sure this is a major downer. A limitation, sure, but not something that will seriously impact your enjoyment of snapping pics with this phone.
Battery Life

The story of the Galaxy S II's battery life cannot be told without returning to its luscious screen. Being an OLED panel, the 4.3-inch display here doesn't use one single backlight as LCD screens do, and instead only illuminates the pixels that are needed to actively display content. This is the reason why it can generate truer blacks than any backlit panel, but it also permits the user to optimize battery life by doing such things as switching to a darker wallpaper or reading ebooks against a black background. We didn't actually bother with such tweaks, we were too busy exploring every one of the myriad features on this phone, but the option's there as an extra dimension of obsessive control if you care for it. As to the Galaxy S II's actual endurance, we found it highly competitive with the latest batch of Android phones. After 20 hours, half of which were filled with the above tinkering and exploration, we managed to drag the Galaxy S II down to 15 percent of its original charge. This was with our usual push notification suppliers, Gmail and Twitter, running in the background and while constantly connected to our WiFi network. 
Using the Android System Info app (available for free on the Android Market), we found confirmation that the Galaxy S II is indeed running a 1.2GHz ARMv7 dual-core processor, but more importantly, we also dug up a breakdown of how often the SOC was reaching that max speed. Only 9.2 percent of our use harnessed the full 1.2GHz, with Samsung wisely downclocking its chip to as low as 200MHz when the phone's idling (that accounted for 46 percent of the Galaxy S II's uptime). What's impressive about this is that we never hit upon any performance bumps to indicate that we were running at slower speeds. Clearly, Samsung's power management system is doing its job well. In summary, we expect you'll be able to get a decent couple of days' regular use out of the Galaxy S II -- our experience with it came close to what we got out of HTC's Incredible S and Desire S that recently crossed our review bench -- though processor-intensive activities like HD video playback will eat into that, as will the variability of 3G coverage. What we can say with absolute certainty is that the Galaxy S II is no slouch when put against its contemporaries, and it also marks a definite improvement in longevity over the original Galaxy S.

 

[iheartboost]

Originally Posted by Sneaky

What's all the hype behind the S II?

How's it far up to the evo 3D? Which one is better?

My biggest issues with Android phones are: 
1. Battery 
2. Camera & Video

3. Screen Display

Engadget rated the Galaxy S II 9/10. Here are some key quotes:

Screen Display

The Galaxy S II's screen is nothing short of spectacular. Blacks are impenetrable, colors pop out at you, and viewing angles are supreme. This would usually be the part where we'd point out that qHD (960 x 540) resolution is fast becoming the norm among top-tier smartphones and that the GSII's 800 x 480 is therefore a bit behind the curve, but frankly, we don't care. With a screen as beautiful as this, such things pale into insignificance. And we use that verb advisedly -- whereas the majority of LCDs quickly lose their luster when you tilt them away from center, color saturation and vibrancy on the Galaxy S II remain undiminished. It is only at extreme angles that you'll notice some discoloration, but that's only if you're looking for it and takes nothing away from the awe-inspiring experience of simply using this device.
Whether you're pushing it to its limits with movie watching or just tamely browsing the web, the Super AMOLED Plus panel inside the Galaxy S II never fails to remind you that it's simply better than almost everything else that's out there. For an instructive example of the contrast on offer here, take a look at our recent post regarding the LG Optimus Big's upcoming launch in Korea. The pattern on that handset's white back was so subtle on our desktop monitor that we completely missed it, whereas when we looked at the same image on the GSII, it looked clear as day. Maybe that doesn't speak too highly of the monitors we're working with, but it underlines the supremacy of the display Samsung has squeezed into the Galaxy S II.

We'd even go so far as to say it's better than the iPhone 4's screen, purely because, at 4.3 inches, it gives us so much more room to work with. It's almost impossible to split the two up in terms of quality of output, they're both top notch. Notably, however, that was also true of Samsung's original Super AMOLED display, the one that graced the 4-inch Galaxy S, and by now you must be wondering if there's actually anything significant enough in the new S-AMOLED technology to justify appending that "Plus" to its name. The short answer is yes, and it's all in the pixels.

The one major downside to the original Super AMOLED panel was to be found in its PenTile matrix subpixel arrangement. It employed an RGBG pattern, wherein you got two green subpixels for every pair of red and blue ones, but the overall resolution was counted on the basis of green subpixels. Ergo, a PenTile 800 x 480 resolution wasn't as rich at the subpixel level as your standard RGB screen (768,000 versus 1,152,000), which resulted in slightly grainier images than would otherwise have been the case. Well, that "otherwise" scenario is now with us, because Samsung has switched to a Real-Stripe RGB array in the 4.3-inch Galaxy S II, which means it packs the full 1.152 megasubpixel count and, as we've already noted, the display looks delectable for it. A lesser criticism of the original Galaxy S was that its colors were a little blown out and oversaturated, but that's once again rendered moot on the successor device -- a software setting called Background effect allows you to tweak saturation, so if you're feeling a little melancholy, you can tone down the intensity of your handset's colors to match your ennui. Basically, if we haven't made it clear already, this is everything that Super AMOLED was, minus the bad parts and plus an extra .3 inches in real estate. A triumph.

Okay, there is one mildly irritating aspect about the Galaxy S II's screen and that's the auto-brightness -- it tends to hunt around for the correct setting and occasionally makes jarring jumps between darker and brighter values. Whether that's down to the ambient light sensor or the software reading data from it isn't all that important, what's relevant is that we found ourselves more comfortable with a human helming the brightness controls.

Camera & Video

Samsung eschews the default Gingerbread camera app for its own effort, which comes with a neat slice of customization. The left menu column gives you three shortcut slots for the functions you consider most relevant to your photographic exploits. By default, two of them are populated with a button to flip between the rear-facing 8 megapixel and front-facing 2 megapixel camera and another one for controlling the flash, but you can do whatever you fancy. Resolution, ISO, scene and shooting modes, or adjustments like white balance, contrast, metering, and after-effects can all be included in there. And if you consider different things important when in video mode, that's no problem, because that retains its own set of shortcuts separate from the stills mode. It's a fully realized suite of options, even if most users will neglect the left side and just keep bashing the capture key on the right.
When they do so, they'll be treated to some excellent results. The camera compartment on the back of the Galaxy S II justifies its size (it's still tiny, it just happens to protrude a little bit from the ultrathin GSII body) with the collection of great detail in nearly every shot. What most impressed us about this sensor is that images remained relatively sharp at full resolution -- such as the one you see above, it's a 100 percent crop from an 8 megapixel capture -- with Samsung feeling confident enough in the quality of its hardware to apply almost no noise-reducing blur under default settings. That does permit for graininess to sneak into some images, but on the whole, we're looking at one of the finest smartphone camera sensors around. Closeup shots are handled very well too, in spite of the lack of a dedicated macro mode (Update: There's a Macro setting under the Focus mode menu; thanks, Josh!). The flash is a typically overpowered LED unit, though we were impressed to see the Galaxy S II use it while focusing on a nearby object but not while shooting -- had it been used in the shot, the flash would've whitewashed the entire composition, so it's good to see the software showing a timely bit of restraint.

The only real issue we encountered was that that the GSII's sensor has a predictably narrow dynamic range, meaning that photographs with high contrast between dark and well-lit areas end up with either deep shadows or blown out highlights, depending on which you opt to focus on. Then again, that can lead to some highly artistic / moody shots, so we're not too sure this is a major downer. A limitation, sure, but not something that will seriously impact your enjoyment of snapping pics with this phone.
Battery Life

The story of the Galaxy S II's battery life cannot be told without returning to its luscious screen. Being an OLED panel, the 4.3-inch display here doesn't use one single backlight as LCD screens do, and instead only illuminates the pixels that are needed to actively display content. This is the reason why it can generate truer blacks than any backlit panel, but it also permits the user to optimize battery life by doing such things as switching to a darker wallpaper or reading ebooks against a black background. We didn't actually bother with such tweaks, we were too busy exploring every one of the myriad features on this phone, but the option's there as an extra dimension of obsessive control if you care for it. As to the Galaxy S II's actual endurance, we found it highly competitive with the latest batch of Android phones. After 20 hours, half of which were filled with the above tinkering and exploration, we managed to drag the Galaxy S II down to 15 percent of its original charge. This was with our usual push notification suppliers, Gmail and Twitter, running in the background and while constantly connected to our WiFi network. 
Using the Android System Info app (available for free on the Android Market), we found confirmation that the Galaxy S II is indeed running a 1.2GHz ARMv7 dual-core processor, but more importantly, we also dug up a breakdown of how often the SOC was reaching that max speed. Only 9.2 percent of our use harnessed the full 1.2GHz, with Samsung wisely downclocking its chip to as low as 200MHz when the phone's idling (that accounted for 46 percent of the Galaxy S II's uptime). What's impressive about this is that we never hit upon any performance bumps to indicate that we were running at slower speeds. Clearly, Samsung's power management system is doing its job well. In summary, we expect you'll be able to get a decent couple of days' regular use out of the Galaxy S II -- our experience with it came close to what we got out of HTC's Incredible S and Desire S that recently crossed our review bench -- though processor-intensive activities like HD video playback will eat into that, as will the variability of 3G coverage. What we can say with absolute certainty is that the Galaxy S II is no slouch when put against its contemporaries, and it also marks a definite improvement in longevity over the original Galaxy S.

 

[mplsdunk]

Originally Posted by Tetsujin23

Originally Posted by MPLSdunk

Originally Posted by Tetsujin23


I still hate MIUI.US

the was a typo. Isn't the only difference the translations?

No. The OG dev made it more stable for some reason, then he left and somebody else got it.

I still like it but cuz of the themeing tho.

That Hercules

Oh OK. My themes don't work anyways. Theme manager is busted in the latest version.

 

[mplsdunk]

Originally Posted by Tetsujin23

Originally Posted by MPLSdunk

Originally Posted by Tetsujin23


I still hate MIUI.US

the was a typo. Isn't the only difference the translations?

No. The OG dev made it more stable for some reason, then he left and somebody else got it.

I still like it but cuz of the themeing tho.

That Hercules

Oh OK. My themes don't work anyways. Theme manager is busted in the latest version.