In unrelated news, I was at a Radio Shack picking up a flash stick for my sis, when I saw an Evo 4G. WOW! Thing looks a beaut. Huge, though. Made me appreciate the small size of my iPhone even more. That screen was awesome, I must admit. I want, at least, a 3.7 on the iPhone 5.
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[Merged] Samsung Galaxy S / Captivate Android Phone
- Thread starter MattG
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The funny thing is I was in the T-Mobile store on Saturday to try and get my account # for pre-paid phone. They asked me why and I said I was buying the IP4. So the sales lady in a headscarf tried to direct me towards a Captivate saying that THIS phone won't drop calls when you hold it. Well I just saw a video demo on Youtube where the Captivate has the same "death grip" issue as the IP4!
T-Mobile dont have the Captivate. I has the Vibrant. Same phone, a bit different design. Captivate is more curved at teh top and bottom.
I bought a Vibrant and i havent dropped one call. My ONLY concern with the phone so far is the battery life isnt that great. Other than that, it is a great device.
Id be fine to keep it, but thinking of returning it only because there might be some better devices with some better engines coming the end of the year.
Have to research it more first.
I have the Samsung Vibrant on tmobile and jphone 4 on AT&T.
Samsung is a great product. It's still dining 2.1. Wait until it gets 2.2 froyo with true flash support before we compare. The screen on sa,sing is almost on oar with the retina screen. Just a step below. But it's extremely bright.
The lack of camera flash is not a concern. There is a night mode on the saumsung which is usable. You have to try it below you jump to conclusions.
Yes death grip is worse on samsung as well. But I use it in the case so no big deal.
I carry two phones with me all the time. Right now iPhone 4 has proximity issues for me that hopefully will be fixed. But in the mean time I will use my bold 9700 and the samsung vibrant.
Samsung is a great product. It's still dining 2.1. Wait until it gets 2.2 froyo with true flash support before we compare. The screen on sa,sing is almost on oar with the retina screen. Just a step below. But it's extremely bright.
The lack of camera flash is not a concern. There is a night mode on the saumsung which is usable. You have to try it below you jump to conclusions.
Yes death grip is worse on samsung as well. But I use it in the case so no big deal.
I carry two phones with me all the time. Right now iPhone 4 has proximity issues for me that hopefully will be fixed. But in the mean time I will use my bold 9700 and the samsung vibrant.
U think apple's keyboard is better than Swype? Yah right, ur opinion means anything
Because it has swype typing and voice to text which he didnt even mention one way or the other. Swype is awesome!
There are people i know who have a iPhone and have had it for months who dont know you can take a screen shot or that if you tap the top of the taskbar, it will take you back to the top of your page.
If you spend 10 minutes with a device, you arent trying a lot of the things it can do but it is a short enough time to say it sucks when you dont know these things, right?
I got a first gen iPhone 4G to mess with from somebody who upgraded to a bigger memory iphone and played with it for a week before i decided i wanted an iphone. I wanted to know the capability of it and how i could hack it before i was sold.
LOL, been bashing Android for weeks and you went and got a Vibrant? Thought you had 3 android phones already?
Anyways, i dont agree with any of this. iPhone has some things i like better and so does the Vibrant. Also i have to give the nod to iPhone for better battery life. That is my only concern about the Vibrant. And i have never dropped a call so i know nothing of a death grip.
Apps seem to be better on iPhone too overall but they are getting new ones all the time in the Market and im looking forward to some to come out that arent there yet. Some are just as good on the Android too as the iPhone. Twitter sucks on Android so far. Waiting for Twitterrific to show up.
And again, it is still running 2.1
you seem to know a lot for not having an iphone...
mine doesn't degrade at all when i use it
You have ZERO Samsungs like the Captivate. Comparing an iPhone 4 to your old Samsung phones is just ridiculous. Should i compare my Wifes Samsung Gravity T to my iPhone? Really?
Yes, the Galaxy S series compares well to the iPhone. It is the only Samsung with the Super AMOLED display, And they arent even running their new firmware yet. It will be even better.
If you read my post, You'd know i'm comparing RF, something that Samsung SUCKS at. No matter how good that ameoled display is, it will get **** signal, worse than even the iP4.
Are you going to replace the iPhone 4 with the captivate/galaxyS/vibrant(same phone) to solve the antenna issue? You'd better to see this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vefQ4I2wOXs&feature=popt00kr0d
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vefQ4I2wOXs&feature=popt00kr0d
Well, ive never dropped a call on mine. And this isnt the first Samsung ive had. Nokia makes good phones. Got nothing but good things to say about them. Nothing real fancy but if you want a good phone, thats a brand to get. Though talk about a phone that took some getting used to. Damn!
Trying to be helpful re Captivate
I got the Captivate on Sunday and canceled my order for the iPhone 4. I own an iPad (love it) and have owned iPhone 3g and iPhone 3gs (loved them in their day), and so am coming to the Captivate (my first Android phone) with a similar background to many of you.
You can form a reasonable view on some aspects of the phone pretty quickly - do you like the screen? Does the size and ergonomics of the hardware work for you? But it's taken me a while to get a hang of the OS. I like it more and more each day, but didn't so much at first.
Android is far less intuitive than iOS. But if you invest the time, you might find you like it. I like its flexibility and customizability. I too found the stock Samsung GUI sluggish and fickle. So I googled around and replaced it with Launcher Pro, which is great. Have tried out a few widgets that I like. And I don't have to convert everything to Apple-friendly formats to watch/listen (love Air Video over wifi at home on my iPad, but it's not ideal over 3g).
The iPhone benefits from Apple's single-minded focus on a simple and intuitive user experience - it took them a while to add copy and paste, but their implementation is so much better for a handheld touch screen than Android's. Android is a more pluralistic platform and works well for tinkerers and tech addicts like me...
I find that the Captivate's hardware suits Android very well. I could return the Captivate to AT&T in the first 30 days and get back on the iPhone line. But I don't think I will.
DW
I got the Captivate on Sunday and canceled my order for the iPhone 4. I own an iPad (love it) and have owned iPhone 3g and iPhone 3gs (loved them in their day), and so am coming to the Captivate (my first Android phone) with a similar background to many of you.
You can form a reasonable view on some aspects of the phone pretty quickly - do you like the screen? Does the size and ergonomics of the hardware work for you? But it's taken me a while to get a hang of the OS. I like it more and more each day, but didn't so much at first.
Android is far less intuitive than iOS. But if you invest the time, you might find you like it. I like its flexibility and customizability. I too found the stock Samsung GUI sluggish and fickle. So I googled around and replaced it with Launcher Pro, which is great. Have tried out a few widgets that I like. And I don't have to convert everything to Apple-friendly formats to watch/listen (love Air Video over wifi at home on my iPad, but it's not ideal over 3g).
The iPhone benefits from Apple's single-minded focus on a simple and intuitive user experience - it took them a while to add copy and paste, but their implementation is so much better for a handheld touch screen than Android's. Android is a more pluralistic platform and works well for tinkerers and tech addicts like me...
I find that the Captivate's hardware suits Android very well. I could return the Captivate to AT&T in the first 30 days and get back on the iPhone line. But I don't think I will.
DW
Each phone has its advantages.
The Vibrant/Captivate's screen isn't as sharp as the iPhone 4's, but it is larger and waaaaay more Vibrant.
The T-mobile version comes loaded with a copy of Avatar you can watch on the phone. It is a sharp picture.
The GPS on the Samsung is sloooooow to acquire position, but it comes stock with google maps & navigation. The color calibration is on the 'cool' side compared to my G1.
Pinch to zoom doesn't work quite as nice as on the iPhone, but I didn't have any issues with scrolling through app menus.
The swype keyboard is *awesome*. I wouldn't be surprised to see swype keyboard apps written for other touchscreen phones in the coming months.
Is it better than an iPhone 4? yes and no. They are different and both have advantages over one another. The Samsung's biggest problem is that it is made by Samsung. They don't have the greatest track record in terms of quality and support for their phones.
The Vibrant/Captivate's screen isn't as sharp as the iPhone 4's, but it is larger and waaaaay more Vibrant.
The T-mobile version comes loaded with a copy of Avatar you can watch on the phone. It is a sharp picture.
The GPS on the Samsung is sloooooow to acquire position, but it comes stock with google maps & navigation. The color calibration is on the 'cool' side compared to my G1.
Pinch to zoom doesn't work quite as nice as on the iPhone, but I didn't have any issues with scrolling through app menus.
The swype keyboard is *awesome*. I wouldn't be surprised to see swype keyboard apps written for other touchscreen phones in the coming months.
Is it better than an iPhone 4? yes and no. They are different and both have advantages over one another. The Samsung's biggest problem is that it is made by Samsung. They don't have the greatest track record in terms of quality and support for their phones.
I tried to go back and fall in love with the Captivate one more time before my Iphone 4 return policy is up on the 23rd. Nothing against my iPhone (I actually love the iPhone 4) just want to try something different. I have to be honest, as vibrant as the screen is I don't understand how you guys are putting up with the pixelation on that screen, it's not even pixelation, more like a grainy appearance..
I noticed some bad image distortion on web pages when scrolling, the image would look broken, or sort of jaggy. Almost like artifacts on the image and text as you scroll.
Small text looks awful so you pretty much have to zoom thus in some ways negating the size of the screen. (a 4 inch retina would truly take advantage of the real estate because you would be able to read all the text without zooming), pics look like they have pin holes in them. Just very disappointed in the screen and kind of curious how some comparisons have called it a draw with the retina display. Yes it is bigger and has better blacks and colors, but the clarity is a big step down from iPhone 4.
Also the GPS appears to be less than stellar. I can deal with the OS not being as polished, but after using iphone 4 I really couldn't see myself being content with the screen on the captivate, just too grainy, and the white levels are way off.
I noticed some bad image distortion on web pages when scrolling, the image would look broken, or sort of jaggy. Almost like artifacts on the image and text as you scroll.
Small text looks awful so you pretty much have to zoom thus in some ways negating the size of the screen. (a 4 inch retina would truly take advantage of the real estate because you would be able to read all the text without zooming), pics look like they have pin holes in them. Just very disappointed in the screen and kind of curious how some comparisons have called it a draw with the retina display. Yes it is bigger and has better blacks and colors, but the clarity is a big step down from iPhone 4.
Also the GPS appears to be less than stellar. I can deal with the OS not being as polished, but after using iphone 4 I really couldn't see myself being content with the screen on the captivate, just too grainy, and the white levels are way off.
Perhaps that would be a reasonable assumption for someone limited to iPhone experience which does not offer much in terms of customization. It's generally not true for other platforms.
It's not as simple as it sounds. For example, one has to know how to control screen brightness. On Android there are different modes one being an automatic. Responsiveness will depend on many factors. Trying the phone in store, usually does not give you a good perspective because people tend to try lots of apps and Android being a true multitasking platform, those apps might drag the responsiveness down. With Captivate, I noticed that a simple thing like switching from Live Wallpaper to a static one soled the problem with lagginess (not to mention the ability to switch to completely different GUI on Android).
Same lagginess issue here. As far as Captivate is concerned, it has faster CPU and much faster GPU than iPhone 4. So it's very fast.
There are more than 100K of them for Android now so it might be difficult to evaluate them in 10 minutes
The browser is pretty good. It's on par with iPhone but it'll get even faster once Captivate switches to Android 2.2 (and it'll get Flash)
Not that simple either. On Android you can install different keyboards, including SWYPE which many consider to be the best keyboard available on touch-screen phones. Also, with Android one can use voice-to-text everywhere. And do not forget bigger screen. So, I'd say that tht Captivate has an advantage here.
Captivate is lighter and bigger. I'd say it's an advantage.
This one you will definitely not be able to evaluate in 10 minutes. So people have not reported any reception issues for Captivate.
What really sucks and is rather lame is that Engadget, Gizmodo or any other major tech blog has yet to review the Captivate.
AT&T's biggest Android release, probably one of the most powerful Android phones and instead lame ass Engadget has a story about Iphone band aids.
So pathetic. The only recent Captivate story on Engadget was announcing that it had shipped, like that was a big shock considering it was freaking release day.
AT&T's biggest Android release, probably one of the most powerful Android phones and instead lame ass Engadget has a story about Iphone band aids.
So pathetic. The only recent Captivate story on Engadget was announcing that it had shipped, like that was a big shock considering it was freaking release day.
I agree with you about Nokia.
They haven't made a great phone probably since the N95/N82 days. I sometimes hate the Symbian UI + lag, and hate that they use what feels like cheap plastic for a high-end phone. I know they burned alot people with the N97 and it was disappointing they used a resistive screen on the N900. Their OS just seems surpassed now and the CPU speed they use is not as fast compared to the Snapdragon, Hummingbird, and A4. Nokia is still playing catch up to the touchscreen era.
But when it comes to making a solid phone with dependable reception, they are ace. Those cheap $20 prepaid Nokia dumbphones have better reception than these superduper smartphones that are packed with so much chips and doing too much. Of the dozen phones I have owned since 1999, I say I have good experiences with them when I need to make a phone call. Even those brick 3200/3300 series, I would drop them on concrete many times and it still kept chugging along.
I don't trust Samsung as much as the other manufacturers. Same with LG. Nothing against the Korean manufacturers, but I would rather go to Apple, Nokia, RiM, Motorola, HTC, Palm, and Sony Ericsson before going to Sammy and LG. I even liked Sanyo more than Samsung when I was on Sprint.
I agree that Captivate's display is not as sharp as iPhone's. In fact nobody disputes that. The importance of this however is another matter. The normal text is pretty sharp. The pixelation becomes noticeable only when text size gets very small. One probably should not read anything using this small font anyways
Also while the text may not look as good as on iPhone (again only for very small fonts), does it really matter? Due to our cognitive abilities, we can read this text just as easily as the better text on the iPhone so it becomes mostly the matter of aesthetic. On the other hand, SAMOLED screen has much better contrast and richer colors so it looks much better when viewing videos or pictures. One can say that iPhone screen is better for text whilst SAMOLED is better for video and pictures.Add to this the following advantages:
a. the screen is thinner - hence:
1. No need to compromise phone thickness for external antennas
2. More space for battery
3. Phone is lighter
b. SAMOLED consumes much less power -> better battery life
c. Bigger size - lots of advantages here
d. Real Gorilla Glass (from Corning)
I agree that Captivate's display is not as sharp as iPhone's. In fact nobody disputes that. The importance of this however is another matter. The normal text is pretty sharp. The pixelation becomes noticeable only when text size gets very small. One probably should not read anything using this small font anyways
Add to this the following advantages:
a. the screen is thinner - hence:
1. No need to compromise phone thickness for external antennas
2. More space for battery
3. Phone is lighter
b. SAMOLED consumes much less power -> better battery life
c. Bigger size - lots of advantages here
d. Real Gorilla Glass (from Corning)
Good points, though I noticed it in just about everything, not just text. Not a deal breaker if you're set on Android, but for someone to switch from iPhone 4 I would think they would really notice the grainy effect on the Captivate. Still a beautiful screen, just wish they struck a balance on clarity and the insane contrast/color saturation.
Also thanks for answering a question I couldn't find about the Gorilla glass. I thought the phone had a plastic screen just based on how light it was, good to know it's gorilla glass.
I have read mixed reports on battery life, some say it was slightly better though not drastically, others have said it's worse. Probably all depends on usage, data settings, brightness.
Again I'm just voicing my disappointed because I really wanted an alternative, I wanted something to pull my away from my Iphone because I'm just in the mood for something different. The Captivate came close, but for how I use the phone it had too many short comings to switch, but like I said before it does NOT suck. I spent an hour playing with it on Sunday and went back on Monday to tinker with it for another half hour. It's a nice phone, no doubt about it.
I did find it slightly laggy but even that wasn't a big deal, for me it all came down to the screen and camera.
Give it some time. The customization of Android is overrated and gets old pretty quick. Especially with the lack of quality Apps in the Android Marketplace. I used Android for a while and it was the little things that drove me back to the iphone. The laggy UI and lack of Apps was the main reason. If you dont care about quality Apps then Android isnt bad but not comparable to iOS right now.
Lag is easily fixed by moving to LauncherPro and removing the AT&T bloatware. I totally agree with you on the camera though. Oh well, seems better than my 3GS camera.
I read a post on Engadget from one of the staff there that said hold off on the Captivate. They are going to review it but first impressions are that its laggy.
So there is a way to just run standard Android UI?
Also say Samsung doesn't release an update to 3.0 Gingerbread, since Samsung hasn't been known for it's stellar support on phones, is it possible to most likely update it using a net release?
The bloatware was another thing that bugged me.
I saw that too, but I'm just disappointed that they haven't released an official review. This phone is a pretty big release for AT&T. Engadget should know that a lot of readers are Iphone 4 owners, and many of us are close to our return policy date. It would have been nice to have a "professional" review of the phone to coincide with what I thought about it to help me make a more informed decision on what to do.
They could possibly point out things that I missed to sway me one way or the other. I actually respect Engadget with their hardware reviews and really thought they would have a review out on release day like they did for all the other Verizon Droid phones.
I do recall the laggy Captivate they used was a pre release though and that it had been tweaked a bit for release.
The lag I noticed was when closing an app, or when on the app screen and hitting the home button, there was a delay going back to the home screen. It wasn't anything horrible.
I did have one issue with the phone kind of freaking out and taking me back to my home screen while in a different menu or in an app. Not sure if I was hitting a touch button or what, didn't think I was.