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24 of 24 found the following review helpful:
 Best phone for corporate use after tweaks Dec 30, 2008
By Ovid L. Bailey
IMO, this is the best smartphone currently available, but it did take me a little while to get it there.
My priority was a phone that would work with our Exchange 2007 system (without installing the Blackberry server and server certs), provide WiFi, let me dial one-handed without looking at the phone, and have usual fun goodies. In addition, I use a database app for the PPC, and this one handles it fine (Windcows Mobile comes in two versions - Smartphone and PPC; most phones run under the Smartphone edition but the EPIX adds the required touchscreen and stylus for full PPC apps).
Pros: Loaded with features: GPS, stereo Bluetooth, GPS, Exchange 7 compatible, WiFi, excellent voice dialing recognition, nice touchpad, great battery life, small enough to fit in the pocket, and keyboard allows one-handed dialing with some practice. Keys are small, but separation is adequate. Provides the higher-end WinMobile PPC rather than SmartPhone OS.
Cons: The default configuration does not provide a very good out-of-box experience; WiFi didn't allow surfing initially, and WiFi support from the usual sources was not adequate (you will see lots of complaints that WiFi doesn't work. However, there is a simple solution.
The good news is that everything eventually worked:
1. Internet now defaults to WiFi if available and only switches to slower 3G when WiFi is not available. Had to go to the MS WinMobile user group site to find the solution (disable the Proxy server, but do it from a clean hard boot).
2. I wanted to use the phone routinely without the stylus. One of the highly frustrating issues initially was that there are no dedicated 5-way navigation keys; modifying the touchpad for that function (an option) didn't make sense. But you can reassign the function of four keys on the lower row, and that gives you both mouse and 5-way navigation.
3. Downloading the Google Mobile desktop toolbar is a must. Goes onto your desktop as a transparent search bar. I had initially installed the Opera browser, but went back to IE after installing Google. Tried the LiveSearch application, but (a) it kept changing my keyboard to symbols and (b) it thought I was always trying to look up something close to my geographical location (instead of letting me look up a WikTionary word to settle a bet with my wife).
4. After transfering my contact list from Outlook, voice dialing worked well without training, and far better than my RAZR. If you want to type instead of talk, then the search algorithm is another nice improvement (at least over my RAZR); simultaneously looks for a match on either a name or phone from your typing.
5. Rhapsody To Go worked for me, but it's theoretically not supported yet on WinMobile, and I did find a few anomalies when transferring music files.
Problems have been minimal. OS 6.1 has been stable, with the only lockup coming when I tried to use voice commands with the ATT Navigator/ GPS service. Only thing I haven't figured out is an initial delay in switching over to my Bluetooth car speaker when receiving the first incoming call; works OK after that.
Overall, this phone is doing exactly what I hoped it would do.
6 of 6 found the following review helpful:
Awesome phone Apr 14, 2009
By Jimmy
Cellular companies are difficult in the US, this is a fact we all have to come to accept. So AT&T will probably not help you out if you have problems with this phone, or any other. Samsung, on the other hand is generally a pretty nice company to deal with. The Epix is an extremely well *designed* phone. It has an extremely fast processor, proven layout from the Blackjacks, and most importantly, it has the greatest thing ever put into a phone, a mouse. WinMo is an absolute beast to deal with, but with the addition of a mouse, it's a delight. However, you trade a real D-Pad for a mouse, which makes *most* games unplayable. The mouse can be used as a D-Pad, but it's awkward. If you think this will annoy you, it will, but you'll adapt quickly.
Now, let's get to the main competition: the Fuze. My wife has a Fuze. She loves it and I love my Epix. The Fuze is gorgeous, inside and out, in a way the Epix could never match up to. The TouchFlo thing is a delight to use, since it masks the shortcomings of windows mobile quite well. The Epix doesn't really attempt to, and don't expect it to. The Fuze has a massive army of modders who have made everything from turning the capacitive touch part of the phone into a scroller to making any shape or color of TouchFlo (My wife currently has the black TouchFlo from the HTC Diamond). The Epix has a small, loyal following of modders who are mostly focused on bug-fixing.
Which brings us to the most important point: bugs. The Epix has them. I expected it to be more solid since samsung is experienced by now, but I was wrong. If you search the AT&T forums, you will quickly find a 30 page thread about the dreaded slog dump issue. It is worth a read. The good news is that the bugs are hit and miss. Either you will have it bad, or you will be fine. Other than the slog dump, the bugs have been fixed (only one by samsung, the rest by diligent phone modders).
Cliff notes:
1. I LOVE THIS PHONE. It's fast and I honestly cannot describe how amazing the tiny mouse is.
2. It's not about the looks (GUI speaking)
3. AT&T and samsung have done little to fix frustrating and obvious bugs that plague some users and leave others just fine.
4. The Fuze is better in every way except 3: processor speed (noticeably), lack of tiny mouse (once you have it, WinMo sucks without it), and battery life (also really noticeably)
****Very important links:
****Read these if you are considering this phone
[...]
Most bug fixes are noted in these two sites:
[...]
[...]
Get the Epix or the Fuze, forget the iPhone unless you only specifically want to do the things the iPhone advertises it does, because it doesn't really do anything else. The Fuze can do anything the iPhone can do and more, even if you have to hack it a little to do it. If you're not with AT&T yet, the Samsung Saga through Verizon is very much worth a look.
Don't be afraid to mod it a little if you get an Epix, AT&T couldn't care less.
3 of 3 found the following review helpful:
 Great Phone - limited size of Java applications Jul 02, 2009
By S. Stamatov
Pros:
- Works well as a phone.
- I like the form factor. When closed the keys lock, when opened - they unlock. The QWERTY keyboard is good.
- Alarms are quite sophisticated.
Cons:
- The big button on the front starts a web browser. No way to change that. I have no data plan and can see in my bill how many times I pushed that button by mistake. It was a pain to disable the WEB browser (create dummy profile and assign the browser to it).
- It was a *real* pain to properly load my own java applications on this phone (USB drivers, phone settings, codes etc.).
- Java application size is very limited. No normal dictionary would run on this phone (only those that access the Internet to get their definitions). This was a deal breaker for me. That is why I wanted a qwerty phone in the first place. We'll see if Amazon takes it back.
- The phone is still practically locked even if you pay the full "no contract" price.
Remark:
Battery life is on the short side, but it manages to last two days on one charge.
Get it if you want a texting phone.
3 of 3 found the following review helpful:
Great Product Feb 23, 2009
By MBA Student
I have been using the Epix for about a week now. I am an avid Nokia fan and have had Nokia phones and smart phones all my life and was indeed doubtful about switching to a Samsung but had to so I could get an employer compatible and approved smart phone.
The phone is nicely built and is a quality product. The touch screen works well, and the mouse is my favorite mode of input. I have hardly ever used the stylus that comes with the phone, the mouse is so convenient if I am not using the touch screen with my fingers.
The battery life is amazing, lasts me 2+ days without recharging with decent usage.
The only drawback that I have found is the alarm, which you can barely hear. I do not use an alarm clock and I have always used my cellphone to wake me up, the Epix fails here. Also when the phone was on standby, there were no sound/light/vibration alerts for new emails. But this was fixed by installing an update patch from Samsung, now it can vibrate and wring, but still no light in standby mode.
The phone has not given me any trouble so far and the more I use it the more I am liking it. Its my first Windows smart phone and I have no complaints with this one.
2 of 2 found the following review helpful:
So so Apr 13, 2010
By Alyssa A. Lappen
I have to agree with other reviewers: Overall this is a decent phone. The phone is a nice size, and has a nice sliding lock, and a big screen. The caller id is also a good feature, thought that is nothing new on Samsung models (I've had it since 2004 on an older one). I've never before owned a QWERTY keyboard on a phone, and have little use for it, since I do very little text messaging. But it's nice, I suppose, if you are a heavy text-message sender.
The phone also features good alarms, which can double for as backup for your Palm Pilot, if you carry one of those as well (as I do).
On the con side, however, the phone reception is rather poor, and the battery does not last as long as it should. Sometimes, the phone just dies temporarily, for no apparent reason.
And --- another big problem --- the front button on the phone (as someone else noted) starts a web browser. We do not have any internet access or data on our plan, either, and the extra fees every time this button gets slammed is a royal pain --- um, and unnecessary, really maddening expense. I'll have to try disabling the WEB browser by creating a dummy profile and setting up the browser only for the Fake non-profile. Too bad Samsung didn't think of that before they put that button where they did.
Honestly, I preferred my old Samsung flip phone, which has better reception and works fine for my simple needs. Unfortunately, though, I can't replace it. They don't make the old more basic utilitarian models any more.
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