Epic 4G - 4/7 - Android Police - Android News, Apps, Games, Phones, Tablets

Oct

Hot: Samsung Epic 4G Now Also $99.99 On Amazon.com

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Epic 4G, News, Samsung, Sprint

Hot in the heels of the incredible $100 Amazon deal on Sprint's flagship EVO 4G, we found ourselves looking at the same price tag on an even more expensive and more recent 4G device - the Samsung Epic 4G. Retailing for $249.99 at Sprint, the best deal we've seen on an Epic so far was $200 at both Amazon and Wirefly.

What we're looking at today is a brand new Epic 4G for $99.99 on a new 2-year contract, with free 2-day shipping and no tax. Amazon is also temporarily waiving the $36 activation fee until the end of today.

Oct

Android 2.2 (Froyo) Update Begins Rolling Out For Samsung Galaxy S - In The Nordic Region

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Android OS, Captivate, Epic 4G, Fascinate, Froyo 2.2, Galaxy S, News, Samsung, Vibrant

We have good news and bad news for Samsung Galaxy S owners. The good: the Froyo update source code released a few days ago is now officially being rolled out by Samsung. The bad news: they're starting with the Nordic countries... then "gradually" moving across Europe, Asia, North America, Africa, and everyone else.

The word "gradually" isn't exactly encouraging, and neither is the fact that North America is towards the end of the list. Still, the news alone should be enough to brighten the day of a whole bunch of people.

[Source: Samsung via Engadget]

Full press release:

Samsung GALAXY S Offers New Android 2.2 Upgrade

New platform upgrade provides enhanced experience on the go

SEOUL, Korea – October 18, 2010 – Samsung Electronics Co.

Oct

Meet SuperOneClick: Easily Root Nearly Any Android Device, Including Froyo-Rockin' Samsung Captivate

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Applications, AT&T, Captivate, Development, Devices By Manufacturer, Epic 4G, Froyo 2.2, Galaxy S, News, Samsung, Vibrant

This article deals with a couple of advanced topics. If you’re unfamiliar with some of the terms, hit up our primers here:

A few days ago, a new version of Universal Androot was released with support for Froyo, but a number of devices were still incompatible.

Oct

Epic Experience ROM Lands On Samsung Epic 4G, Makes Itself At Home With Less Bloatware, More Live Wallpapers, And YouTube HQ

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in Development, Epic 4G, News, Samsung, Sprint

Last Updated: October 10th, 2010

Well it isn't CyanogenMod 6, but according to our tipster, it's close - one of the Epic 4G's first ROMS has just gone live on xda-developers, and it looks... promising, if nothing else.

While we haven't had a chance to test this ROM out ourselves, the forum post states that the ROM's standout features include:

Deodexed

Sprintware Removed

Modified MMS/SMS app

Bootup/Shutdown sounds ported from the Samsung Galaxy S I9000

Changed shutdown display screen

Choice of 4 launchers

ADW Launcher

LauncherPro

Launcher (Vanilla)

TouchWiz

AOSP apps:

Calculator

Calendar

Clock

Car Home

GenieWidget (News & Weather)

AOSP Lockscreen

EVO YouTube App

Spare Parts

Superuser

Google Maps & Google Street View are up to date

Pandora Compatible

Live Wallpapers ported from the Samsung I9000 & Samsung Fascinate:

Aurora

Blue Sea

Connection

Dandelion

Flow

Forest

Layers Of Light

Luminescence

Ocean Wave

Spark

As with most other ROMs, a full wipe of both the data and cache partitions is required, but since one of my wife's main gripes with the Epic has always been its lack of an option to play YouTube videos in HQ (something my EVO is capable of), I think the Epic Experience ROM might just be worth a try.

Oct

CyanogenMod 6 Coming Soon To Epic 4G? [PIC]

Posted by Nate Kimmey in Development, Epic 4G, Froyo 2.2, News, Sprint

The invasion continues! Development of CyanogenMod 6 for the Epic 4G is clearly coming along nicely, as a picture of it running has just been released as a quick "status update" on the CM forums.

The fact that it is actually running on the device is encouraging, but we could still be pretty far away from a testable version: no downloads are available yet, and if you look at the notification bar, you'll see a pretty significant bug in this build. Still, if you're desperately awaiting Android 2.2 (or just vanilla Android) on your Epic, just know that it's on the way.

Oct

Samsung Pulls Update For Epic 4G, Community Begs To Differ

Posted by Brad Ganley in Epic 4G, News

Aw, snap! That update Sprint was supposed to deliver to the Epic 4g yesterday didn't happen due to "administrative issues" per this announcement from Sprint:

We learned this evening that there were administrative issues getting this software loaded to Google's servers. We don't yet have an expected time when this will be available but will update you as soon as possible. Please see the statement below that was sent by the Sprint Product Management team:

We were planning to release an update for your Samsung Epic 4G on 9/30. The file was delivered and on track for distribution but late this afternoon, we learned that an administrative issue prevented Google from releasing the update as we had planned. We are working to resolve the issue and will provide an update as soon as we understand the new delivery schedule.

Sep

Samsung Epic 4G Receives Update, 3G Gets Faster, 4G Gets More Capable, We Wish It Were FroYo

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in Epic 4G, Froyo 2.2, News, Samsung, Sprint

To offset the not so successful news of the Samsung Vibrant's supposedly (but not actually) GPS-fixing update, Samsung has just rolled out software version S:D700.0.5S.DI18 for the king of the Galaxy S ring, the Epic 4G for Sprint. It isn't FroYo, but it does introduce a number of important fixes, including:

an issue where the battery would drain as a result of the cell modem continuously searching for available networks while on standby
an issue with 3G upload speeds
an issue with Amazon not being able to download music over 4G
an issue where large emails would be slow to upload

The update will be rolling out over the next few days and will be available in typical over-the-air fashion, with Sprint citing download times of around seven to eight minutes.

Sep

Sprint Launches 4G In Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN And Pittsburgh, PA

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Epic 4G, EVO 4G (Supersonic), News, Sprint

Sprint continued its 4G announcement marathon this morning with the official launch of WiMax service in Minneapolis-St.Paul, MN, also known as Twin Cities, and Pittsburgh, PA. Welcome to the fast lane!

This announcement follows the Nashville 4G launch 2 weeks ago, Orlando launch last week, and the introduction of Epic 4G in the beginning of the month. Sprint’s 4G service now covers 55 markets.

Users of the only 2 aforementioned devices capable of running on Sprint’s 4G network are charged an extra $10 "premium data" fee, no matter whether 4G is available in their area or not.

As Sprint’s 4G network expands, be sure to follow its growth on our up-to-date 4G Coverage Tracker, right here at Android Police.

Sep

Eldar Murtazin Speculates On The Future Of The Samsung Galaxy S: RIP Super-AMOLED Phones?

Posted by Brian O'Toole in Captivate, Devices By Manufacturer, Epic 4G, Fascinate, Galaxy S, News, Samsung, Vibrant

If there's one man with an inside line in the mobile industry, it's mobile-review.com's Editor-in-Chief Eldar Murtazin. This guy has a network of informants rivalling any national security agency you'd care to name.

The latest subject of his (occasionally spurious) tweeting is Samsung's family of Super-AMOLED phones, namely the Wave and Galaxy S. Eldar seems to have some insight into the production and stock of S-AMOLED panels, leading him to think that neither of the two aforementioned phones are in production anymore because of S-AMOLED scarcity.

Murtazin goes on to indicate that the Galaxy S line does not have an immediate replacement in the pipeline (dash our hopes), and that all current stock of Samsung's stunning new screen tech has been sold to Apple for a product release in 2011.

Sep

Battery Lives Of 8 Flagship Android Phones Tested And Compared - LCD Wins, AMOLED Loses, Droid X Takes Home The Crown

Posted by Brian O'Toole in Captivate, Devices By Manufacturer, Droid 2, Droid X (Shadow), Epic 4G, EVO 4G (Supersonic), Incredible, News, Streak, Vibrant

Here’s something to get your teeth into. Over at LaptopMag, a whole host of Androids have been put through their paces in a grueling battery life endurance test. The goal was to keep the phones’ screens on while doing a moderate amount of processing, namely cyclically browsing a collection of web pages. Despite the supposed power savings afforded by AMOLED screens, the phones employing that screen technology fell quite a ways behind in comparison to the traditional LCD phones.

Why is that? AMOLED is supposed to only use up power on non-black pixels, right? Well, as LaptopMag points out, the majority of webpages are actually dark text on a light background, a scenario in which AMOLED actually uses more power than an equivalent backlit LCD.