HTC EVO Shift 4G vs. Samsung Epic 4G - The Battle of the Sprint 4G Smartphones
The 4G Slider Battle
The Samsung Epic 4G was the original landscape smartphone with a full QWERTY keyboard that could connect to Sprint’s 4G network. The Epic 4G was actually a variant of the Samsung Galaxy S series of phones specifically for Sprint. The HTC EVO Shift 4G is HTC’s entry onto Sprint’s 4G network and is a follow up to the very popular HTC EVO currently available on Sprint’s network. Both the Samsung Epic 4G and the HTC EVO Shift 4G are Android powered smartphones with slide out full QWERTY keyboards. In the HTC EVO Shift 4G vs. Samsung Epic 4G battle, the HTC EVO Shift is the newer smartphone, but is it the better smartphone? Similar to the HTC Thunderbolt vs. Motorola Droid Bionic battle, the HTC EVO Shift 4G vs. Samsung Epic 4G battle may very well be an extremely close call.
Design and Display
In the design and display aspect of the HTC EVO Shift 4G vs. Samsung Epic 4G battle, it’s a fairly one sided battle. The HTC EVO Shift 4G comes with a 3.6 inch LCD display while the Samsung Epic 4G comes with a much more vibrant Super AMOLED screen that comes in at 4.1 inches. The display on the Samsung Epic 4G is much brighter and more colorful, and of course, slightly larger than the HTC EVO Shift 4G.
The design may be the big pro for the HTC EVO Shift 4G over the Samsung Epic 4G. The HTC EVO Shift has a bit more of a high end look, especially with the silver chrome lining outlining the display. The Samsung Epic 4G is no slouch in the design department, but the EVO Shift 4G does look slightly nicer. The only con would be the capacitive touchscreen shortcuts below the display that have very visible circles around them. Some may like the design but it can also be a big turn off for people looking for nice clean phones.
Winner: Samsung Epic 4G
Hardware and Software
The HTC EVO Shift 4G comes in a little underpowered with a second generation 800 MHz Snapdragon processor as opposed to Samsung’s 1 GHz Hummingbird processor. However, the difference in the two smartphones is minimal at best, as both the HTC EVO Shift 4G and Samsung Epic 4G handle fairly well with their respective processors. In fact, though the HTC EVO Shift 4G may have what seems to be a slower processor, as it is a second generation chip, it actually performs just like the Epic 4G’s. Otherwise, both have 1 GB onboard storage with expandable microSD slots and both come with 512 MB of RAM.
From the software perspective, the HTC EVO Shift 4G comes with the slight edge in that it comes preloaded with Android 2.2 as opposed to Android 2.1, which the Samsung Epic 4G comes with. Both come with proprietary overlays, Sense UI for the HTC EVO Shift 4G and Touchwiz for the Samsung Epic 4G. Both overlays are decent, though some would prefer stock Android over anything. Samsung has been very disappointing when it comes to updates, and an official Android 2.2 update for the Epic 4G is still in the works. In the software arena of the HTC EVO Shift 4G vs. Samsung Epic 4G battle, the HTC EVO Shift 4G comes out on top.
Winner: HTC EVO Shift 4G
User Interface
The user interfaces on the HTC EVO Shift 4G and the Samsung Epic 4G are very similar, due to them both running on Android. The difference comes with their proprietary overlays, Sense and Touchwiz. Each overlay works well, with HTC embracing Android and Samsung going more for an Apple iOS look. Both are touch sensitive user interfaces and are easy to learn, understand and master.
The biggest difference in user interface would be the physical QWERTY keyboards that slide out from under the displays. The Samsung Epic 4G is spring loaded, while the HTC EVO Shift 4G is a bit like the original Motorola Droid. It feels a bit more solid and requires more of a pushing movement to slide the keyboard out while the Epic 4G is snappier. It’s a close one and comes down to personal preference for the sliding mechanism but the Samsung Epic 4G has a snappier feel to its sliding mechanism.
Winner: Samsung Epic 4G
Features
In the features arena of the HTC EVO Shift 4G vs. Samsung Epic 4G battle, it is almost pretty close, except one major con on the HTC EVO Shift 4G, which will be elaborated on. Both the HTC EVO Shift 4G and the Samsung Epic 4G come with 5 megapixel cameras with LED flash, and they both can record 720p video. They both have access to the Android Market and both can play Flash to a certain extent. Since the HTC EVO Shift 4G comes with Android 2.2, it can run Adobe Flash 10.1, while the Samsung Epic 4G is limited to Flash Lite. On that front, it’s a close battle.
However, the biggest con for the HTC EVO Shift 4G, that causes it to lose the battle is the lack of a front facing camera. For a 4G smartphone, a front facing camera is key. The Samsung Epic 4G comes with a front facing camera, allowing users to fully utilize Sprint’s 4G network to video chat with friends on computers and other smartphones with front facing cameras. The EVO Shift 4G, for one reason or another, decided to ignore that huge advantage that the 4G network offers, and opted to not add a front facing camera. Another 4G smartphone that made this mistake is the HTC G2 on T-Mobile’s network.
Winner: Samsung Epic 4G
The Winner
Unlike other previous battles such as the HTC Thunderbolt vs. Motorola Droid Bionic battle,
the HTC EVO Shift 4G vs. Samsung Epic 4G battle seems to have a pretty clear cut winner. The Samsung Epic 4G, even though it came out first, has huge advantages when it comes to display, and features while the HTC EVO Shift 4G manages to win a slight edge in design and software. Overall the advantages of the Samsung Epic 4G are too big to ignore and it easily comes out on top in this battle of 4G keyboard slider smartphones on Sprint.
Winner: Samsung Epic 4G
References
- Source: Author’s experience
- Image Credit: HTC.com
- Image Credit: Samsung.com
- Image Credit: TouchQwerty.com
This post is part of the series: Smartphone Battles
In the highly competitive smartphone market, it’s hard to determine which smartphone is the right fit for you. In these battles that compare some of the most popular smartphones with HTC smartphones to determine the best phones in the market from HTC.
