Pros and Cons to the Captivate

futrftdoc12

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The Captivate may be my first Android phone/experience, and I of course would not want it to ruin it for me if it is not a good phone. Unfortunately, I'm with AT&T and I know they don't really have a great selection of Android phones. Any info for me?
 

anneoneamouse

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Gps doesn't work well on some phones. On others it does. Test this early in your 30 day trial window, and switch out until you get one that works.

Battery life is okay, not great.

Call quality is very good.

I'm not sure whether bluetooth works well or not as I don't use it.

Screen is nice, but is not thought to be gorilla glass.

Selection of apps is good.

Updates from at&t seem to be slow. Developer community is good, but note that rooting voids your warranty (though it may be hard for at&t to detect that you've rooted).

hope this helps,

AoN
 

fldude99

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A lot of pros...one big con for me is the lack of pinch to zoom on all screens..for example, gmail is hard to see the little font, even when the system is set to huge. My daughter's iphone does gmail and google maps better than android..which seems a little weird to me since google=android
 

XKxRome0ox

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the samsung captivate is my first smartphone...
and if i had to do it again, i would not buy this phone again

the cons are bad enough to make me wish i had just gone with the iphone
or at least a different android phone
 

genuino

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XKxRome0ox,

I came from the iPhone 4 about 3 months ago and I had a lot more issues with it than I do with the Android (very few), would you describe your issues with the Android phone? Please note that no phone is 100%.
Android is not everybody's style, but you can control it at will, the "other" phone will control you.
 

s2h2golf

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I'll agree with Aon. I can go a whole day (24+ hours) on a charge with low to moderate use (couple of phone calls, 20-30 emails, 30 minutes of web browsing, 10 minutes of GPS). I typically will be at 73% after 15 hours unplugged. My GPS works very good, but as Aon stated, some people have real issues with it. Screen is very nice and I think a 4 inch screen is about the perfect size - not too small, and not so big that it won't fit in your pocket. I can easily read a standard webpage (not mobile) when I turn it horizontal without zooming in. As of now, the Hummingbird processor in the Captivate (and all Galaxy S phones) is the fastest on the market. This phone has replaced my laptop for everyday use at home.

Your experience will be defined by what type of phone you are coming from. My wife has an iPhone 4 - if I were to hand off my phone to her she wouldn't like it because she wants simplicity. I personally like the iPhone 4, but I like tinkering with my phone and customizing it too. Android provides that capability, and the developer network for the Captivate is one of the best out there.
 

myk26

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Captivate was my first jump into that Android market (actually...first smartphone) so my opinion is lacking the experience of some.

As the type that likes the option to control all/most aspects of my device (no iPhone) and being an At&t customer (nothing worth gettin till the Captivate), this phone is about as good as it gets....currently.

The only real gripe I have with the phone is it's lack of an led flash (or flash of any kind). Beyond that, any other con's would fall into the "I can live with that" category.

But as others have pointed out above...what you want out of your phone is goin to decide if it's right for you or not.
 

s2h2golf

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gorilla glass's website lists the captivate as one of the devices that uses their glass...dont know where you got the idea that its not

Gorilla Glass | Device List

Corning must have recently updated that website. It used to only include the international version of the Galaxy S. Several people early on reported that they were getting scratches on their screens too easily and without confirmation (actually stating Captivate), it was questionable whether or not it had Gorilla Glass. Aon and I have been on this board for several months and have seen tons of threads come across debating this issue and Samsung, Corning and ATT were never able to provide a definitive answer to the question (until now I guess).
 

retrogreq

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hmm, weird....ive only been here for a few weeks, and only had my captivate for about 2 and a half. The day i got it, though, I read something about gorilla glass, and decided to research it. It was on the website then, so its been up for at least 2 and a half weeks
 

jmerrey

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battery life is the only huge negative for me...of course they say if you turn the screen brightness down and limit your widgets and turn off wifi and a bunch of other stuff it's ok, but I sure didn't buy this phone just to turn everything off
 

derande

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i was a blackberry user for years and my wife has an iphone. the captivate is my first android phone but comparing it to other platforms/devices i've used, i find it far superior for my needs.

the only cons i have are (as stated above) lack of notification LED and low-medium battery life.

being stuck with AT&T for the foreseeable future, if i had to choose over, i would choose the Captivate again.
 

XKxRome0ox

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XKxRome0ox,

I came from the iPhone 4 about 3 months ago and I had a lot more issues with it than I do with the Android (very few), would you describe your issues with the Android phone? Please note that no phone is 100%.
Android is not everybody's style, but you can control it at will, the "other" phone will control you.

battery life is TERRIBLE
i can barely go past 12 hours if i actually use my phone at all
i bought 2 extra batteries and extra usb cable+charger adapter to deal with this issue

bluetooth headset doesn't work with the phone (volume is so low ... cannot get it work right)
don't know if this is a common problem or not

lack of front facing camera ... need to stand in front of a mirror to do video chat

no camera flash... no hardware button for camera (hitting the button on the screen sucks)

no LED notifications

AT&T service/reception seems to have gotten really bad in the past few months (i've been with the same carrier for over 10 years... when it was pacbell, at&t, cingular, at&t ...)

i am just disappointed
i know no phone will ever be perfect
but my friend's sprint htc evo looks better and better every time we compare phones
 

cyberranger

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being stuck with AT&T for the foreseeable future, if i had to choose over, i would choose the Captivate again.

Agreed. I'm stuck on AT&T so for me the Captivate is the best option. If I could be on a different carrier, I'd go with either the Evo or Droid X.
 

myk26

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I'm not sayin your wrong....

...but I would have to toggle every function on, while consistently flipping through homescreens in order to drain the battery in under 12 hours.

The noLED app is a pretty decent replacement for Sansung not including LED notifications.

And standing in front of a mirror to vid-chat just made me laugh. Personally, I find little use in vid-chatting.

(complaining that you have to touch the screen to open a function....on a touch-screen device? .....odd.)
 

s2h2golf

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battery life is TERRIBLE
i can barely go past 12 hours if i actually use my phone at all
i bought 2 extra batteries and extra usb cable+charger adapter to deal with this issue

bluetooth headset doesn't work with the phone (volume is so low ... cannot get it work right)
don't know if this is a common problem or not

lack of front facing camera ... need to stand in front of a mirror to do video chat

no camera flash... no hardware button for camera (hitting the button on the screen sucks)

no LED notifications

AT&T service/reception seems to have gotten really bad in the past few months (i've been with the same carrier for over 10 years... when it was pacbell, at&t, cingular, at&t ...)

i am just disappointed
i know no phone will ever be perfect
but my friend's sprint htc evo looks better and better every time we compare phones

Everyone has their own issues/opinion. As stated before, I can get 24+ hours of battery life on my phone without a problem. Even using it heavily, I can go 17 hours and still be at 20%.

FFC would be nice as I actually use video chat, but I can deal with it.

I've used the camera on a Moto Droid 1 with the dual LED flash and it didn't really do anything - the flash is so weak that it doesn't light up much (seems to be an issue with most phones with a flash). The camera on the Captivate takes excellent pictures inside and outside. I always get good quality photos unless I am in a dark room without much natural lighting. Also, tapping the screen button is so much quicker than using an actual button that I prefer that way over anything else - I would get 2-3 second delays with Moto Droid and my BB Bold - no delays with the Captivate. In fact, it takes faster pictures than my $350 Canon camera.

No LED notifications - not really sure what the issue is with it. My phone is always within reach and if I am away from it for a while, I just turn on the screen to see if I missed a call. I prefer not to let a little blinking light dictate my life.

My ATT service with this phone trumps all other phones I have had (been with ATT for 10 years too). The most recent phones I had (BB Bold and Aria) frequently dropped calls. I maybe get one a month and that is in a known dark area.

Like I said, everyone has different issues/problems, but for those looking at getting the Captivate, I would recommend doing some research and read both 1 star reviews and then the star reviews that have the most numbers behind them - that will give you a good idea of what problems people have had and compare that to what people normally get.
 

futrftdoc12

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I heard that at&t blocks the "sideloading" of 3rd party apps for their android phones... how hard is it to root the captivate? or at least to get around at&t's block?
 

myk26

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Even without Rooting, it's relatively easy to get around the block.

BEAUTIFUL walk-through on how to do just that stickied above these Captivate forums!!!

Loaded up Sirius/XM with relatively little issue ( following the walkthrough, my work PC didn't have the right .NET framework....home PC did ).

...all with no rooting required (although I hear thats pretty easy too).
 

futrftdoc12

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thanks for the help derande and myk26, I'll be sure to look more into it once I get a captivate and join the android experience... looks like the only real issue is with battery life and no LED indicators, but as mentioned above there are apps for the no LED stuff... how about for battery issues? does anyone know of any extended life batteries available? or apps that might help?
 

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