Sprint Epic 4G Review / Comments (Samsung Galaxy S Pro)

Here I'll make some observations of different aspects of this Android device with somewhat detailed analysis of its performance.

Battery Life / Charging

Well, battery life isn't very good. The Galaxy S phones ship with a 1500mA battery, and that just isn't going to last very long if you use it heavily. In standby with most things shut off (4g, wifi, gps) it will last a few days though.

Charing with this phone is the interesting thing. Connected to the little USB charger that comes with it the phone charges at a rate of about .4% a minute. So it takes about 2 hours to charge fully. Connected to any other USB device that I have to test with (computer, AC to USB adapter, car to USB adapter) it charges at a rate of about .2% an hour, taking about 4 hours to fully charge. If you use the android application "Battery Status" you can see that the phone detects the Samsung USB adapter as "AC" but every other USB adapter as "USB." Because of what it detects the phone apparently charges at different rates. This does not have any correlation with the amount of power supplied by the actual adapter (well it probably has to have enough) as I've used 1A adapters and they charger slower than the .7A Samsung adapter. I will continue testing with generic and the official Sprint adapter when I acquire them (hopefully in the next week.

GPS Accuracy

I received my phone after at least one GPS accuracy patch has been released but there are still issues that have been apparent and that I'm noticing. The patch allows for quicker satellite acquisition and accuracy fixes. However, using the Android application "GPS Status" it shows that the error margin (accuracy reported) never gets below 98 feet. In testing though the accuracy is closer to 3-4 feet with 8 satellites connected. I'm not sure what is up with that abut it is almost dead on even though it says it isn't. Anyway, it works just fine for geocaching.

GPS is sitting on top of a geocache with accurate coordinates, showing it is within 4 feet, but the error range is way off.

Google buzz for mobile maps

Buzzzzzzz! You might have heard or tried this new google application. It integrates fully with gmail to provide a new and rapidly expanding layer of social networking to the popular web based email client. But, have you heard about its geolocation features? When you post publicly with a location enabled device your little status updates can show up on google maps. Right now this is only available on android powerd devices and the iphone through the google maps application.

Is this a privacy issue or will it enable a new level of sharing and worldwide interaction? Probably both. Within my first few minutes of using this feature I had replied to buzzes from 4 continents and some islands that I will probably never visit. True, you can do that with twitter but it feels much more interactive and fun here. Its also potentially more invasive as you're somewhat linking your email accounts together, a much more personal interaction than a twitter profile. We'll just have to see how this plays out, but its very interesting and I predict incredibly explosive growth unlike anything we've seen before.

Best of the Decade

Who is your favorite actor, athlete, musician from the 2000s? What about your favorite television show or movie? There is now an application on facebook where you can let your choices be known and see the results of your votes. You can compare what you think with everyone else.

Get over to Best of the Decade now and make your voice heard by voting for your favorites from the last 10 years.

Best of the Decade - a facebook app where you can vote on your favorite movie stars, music, sports, and more

Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness; or is it Property, Liberty, and the pursuit of...

Our Declaration of Independence asserted that our inalienable rights are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.  Yet, many argue that we don't have a right to healthcare, because that's socialist.

Thomas Jefferson borrowed that line from John Locke who mentioned the rights of life, liberty, and property. Jefferson didn't think we really deserved the right to property so he changed it. Yet, what rights do we really have in America?

If your property catches on fire the fire department will come and put it out, paid for by your taxes. Isn't that a socialist service? What happens if someone trespasses on or damages your property? Well the police, another socialist service, come and attempt to help with that. So you may not have the right to property outright, but if you own it you apparently have a right to have it protected.

So what rights do you have to your life? That is the right that is actually listed, but do you have a right to have your life protected if it is in danger? Surely if someone injures you or if your house is on fire government run services will come and protect you. They may not charge for those socialist services, but what happens afterwards? What happens if the threat is from within you, such as an illness? You can in fact get treatment at a healthcare facility if your life is truly in danger, but you'll also get a huge bill if you don't have health insurance or if the health insurance decides not to cover it. So is life a right? Why are we fine with paying for the protection of fire and police to respond to our neighbors but not for their health treatment?

Another interesting point is that the government requires us to pay for car insurance if we drive a car. We certainly don't want uninsured vehicles and drivers on the road, they are a liability. Yet, we're ok with uninsured health? Do we really want people that can't afford to pay for their health coverage. If a person is in need of care an ambulance can pick them up, take them to a hospital, and they will receive treatment. But if they can't pay for it then who does? You're already paying for it aren't you? It's just that they have to declare bankruptcy and you have to pay higher health costs and other hidden fees.

We have socialist fire, police, military and other services, admit it. We are socialist in that regard. But where it counts, with our unalienable rights that our government says we have, we don't get that service. Don't we deserve it?