Sprint’s Samsung Epic 4G Touch still the best Galaxy S II variant in US shores?

Before the Samsung Galaxy S III entered the smartphone competition, the Galaxy S II was the toast of the town. The handset during its heydays became so popular that most of our smartphone-crazed brethren consider it as the best handset in the Android ecosystem back then. Due to the seeming popularity of the handset, most major US carriers with the exception of Verizon released their respective versions of the handset.

In the case of Sprint, it released the Samsung Galaxy S II Epic Touch 4G as its version of the former flagship device of Samsung. The handset instantly became one of the hottest handsets in the lineup of the wireless carrier and has become the smartphone of choice among the power users who are customers of the carrier.

Not only that, the Samsung Galaxy S II Epic Touch 4G was even rumored in the past to be the first variant of the Galaxy S II released in our side of the world that will get first dibs on the Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich update. In fact, there were even reports back then that the wireless provider has already entered the final stages of testing the ICS update for the handset and an official ICS rollout is scheduled to follow.

Sad to say, we all see that particular rumor stay a rumor because the HTC Vivid 4G from AT&T got the distinction of being the first handset in US shores to get upgraded to the latest version of the Google mobile operating system. In fact, even before AT&T released the official ICS update for the handset, users of the HTC Vivid 4G managed to make use of a dialer trick to force the handset in downloading and installing the Ice Cream Sandwich update for that matter.

Going back to the Samsung Galaxy S II Epic Touch 4G, it is often said that it is the best version of the Samsung Galaxy S II to be released in US shores. Although it has the same 4.52-inch display as that of the T-Mobile version of the handset, Sprint’s variant packs an Exynos chipset under the hood which is said to be more capable than the Magenta’s SnapDragon SoC. While the AT&T version of the Samsung Galaxy S II also comes with an Exynos chipset, it only has a 4.3-inch display which is eaten alive by the 4.52-inch display of the Samsung Galaxy S II Epic Touch 4G.

As for its operating system, the Samsung Galaxy S II Epic Touch 4G is still in the Gingerbread generation but will definitely be upgraded to Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich as confirmed by Sprint in Samsung in the past. Although the exact rollout date of the ICS update for the handset hasn’t been nailed yet, we still think that the Samsung Galaxy S II Epic Touch 4G is one of the best smartphones around – ICS or no ICS.  The Samsung Galaxy S II Epic Touch 4G is available starting at one penny at select retailers with a new 2 year contract.