The Epic 4G on Sprint was on paper a really nice phone. However, it was severely hamstrung by Samsung's lack of timely updates and, presumably, the reason for the slow updates, Touchwiz.

Android is a great OS but is let down by manufacturers like Samsung. When left to their own devices, they really can turn a diamond into a turd.

The keyboard wasn't great and I much preferred using either the standard Gingerbread keyboard or Swype. The battery life was abysmal under Samsung's own firmware, giving me around 4 hours of use before needing to be plugged in. Cyanogenmod improved this slightly, with times going up to 6 hours. Still not a full day away from home though. WiMax speeds are lovely, but again, was mostly turned off in an effort to get that little extra life from the battery.

When Samsung eventually released their own Gingerbread update, ICS was days from release, Honeycomb was already out and I had already sold the handset and bought an iPhone 4 on Sprint.

If you want an Android phone, never stray from the Nexus line. If you do, you will be sadly disappointed.