Samsung Epix

Despite the similarity, the Epix is not being marketed as a successor to the Samsung BlackJack and BlackJack II models. And for good reason a lot of that look is skin deep. The most obvious difference is that the Epix has a touchscreen, and runs the more complex Windows Mobile Pro version of the platform more on this later.

It also looks black in the publicity photos, which led me to be surprised when I opened up the box and found that it's actually a hematite grey, like a glossy version of the color sported by the Samsung Ace. If you don't know what hematite looks like, think dark silver. It's a good look, being attractive but still businesslike. It's a little fingerprint prone, but not so much that it becomes a distraction.

It's pretty hard to please about fingerprints, but the Epix does better than my relatively smudgable BlackJack II.

Speaking of deceptive photos, the first impression that people tend to get from looking at them is that the Epix is monstrously thick (an impression bolstered by online peanut gallery commentators with more opinions than facts).

But that's not really the case. The Epix measures out at just 0.51 inches thick, substantially less than the similarly specced AT&T Tilt and the same as the Palm Treo Pro.

Both of those other devices, notably, have a smaller battery than the Epix. The Samsung Epix is also known as the SGH-i907. Unfortunately this leads to confusion with the i900, also known as the Omnia. Although they share similar specs, the two devices are quite distinct in design. The Epix is actually based on the design of the Samsung i780, a device offered overseas, but it's not an exact copy of that, either. The Epix is thicker to accommodate a much larger battery than the i780, and sports some other minor tweaks.

Because of its design and feature set, the Epix invites comparison to the Palm Treo Pro. Both devices have a similar form factor, GSM, Wi-Fi, and GPS. While I haven't had the opportunity to use the Treo Pro itself, on the face of it the Treo has several advantages over the Epix. It has a classic directional pad instead of the slightly more experimental optical mouse a built in 3.5 mm headphone jack without the need for an adapter and a slightly less cramped app button layout.

To get these things, though, you have to trade off the 624 MHz processor in the Epix for the 400 MHz one in the Treo, as well as losing some of that exceptional battery capacity, 1800 mAh versus 1500 mAh. There's also one last hands down victory for the Epix price. The GSM version of the Treo Pro runs $550, while the Epix is rated at $200 with a new contract or extension. This is a bit of an unfair comparison, of course, because the Treo is sold unlocked and without contract, but the bottom line is that you're just not going to get a cheap Treo Pro, while the Epix is available at a heavy discount to a lot of people.