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