My uninformed, layman's review (or general thoughts) of my Samsung Captivate after exactly 1 week of use.
Disclaimer: This is my first smart phone of any kind. My wife has a work provided iPhone, but I've never played with it so I can't really compare it to that.
First and foremost, it's damn nifty. I've never been a smart phone type person, I've always just wanted a phone to make calls and take the occasional low quality photo. With my other phone dieing I decided to switch to a smart phone for the GPS functionality, so here we are. The fact that more and more people, including my wife, are starting to text me more often is another factor.
This is AT&T's version of the Samsung Galaxy S phone, very similar to the variations available on other carriers.
Things I like:
The screen quality is fantastic. I don't really know what AMOLED is, but apparently it's a touted feature and it looks great. Touch screen feature works well, but may be too sensitive. Not an issue, but occasionally it will somehow sense a touch when hovering just above the screen without actually touching it???
Android OS. Clearly I have no experience with other OS versions, but I like Android 2.1. I also don't know how this version is different from vanilla Android OS 2.1. It's slick yet simple to use. I like the multi-tasking stuff, and after reading a couple articles I have stopped using the task manager and I just let the OS deal with managing running apps. I let it do it's thing and so far that is working well.
Apps. There are eleventy-billion apps. I've just barely scratched the surface, but it's enough to know this phone can do everything I can think of and lots more. This is an android OS thing more than a phone specific thing. I could go on and on about this, personal e-mail access, IMDB, movie trailers, news feeds, etc. but these are Android specific not phone specific.
Screen lock button. This is the first phone I've ever had that I can carry in my pocket and not accidentally call people or get into some function by accident (yet). You have to push a button on the side then either swipe the screen or move a puzzle piece into a location to unlock it. When receiving a call, you have to swipe the screen, something that isn't going to happen on accident in my picket or while taking the phone out of my pocket. I can't tell you how often I've either answered a call or sent a busy message while taking my old phone out of my pocket.
Size. What I thought may be too big actually turns out to be a great size. Screen is big enough to be easily read, phone is thin, easy to carry in my pocket.
Speed. Nothing to compare it to, but so far it seems like a snappy little phone.
Multi-touch. One of those things I didn't realize Android could do, nor did I think it was very useful compared to any old zoom. In actuality, it's not that much better than a regular old zoom in/out rotate left/right button, but it's a bit more intuitive and convenient. I'd give it 3 stars for functionality compared to other methods, 5 stars for being slick.
Camera. 5MP isn't anything special, but for a camera phone and only a couple test pictures it seems surprisingly good.
Things I don't like:
No physical keyboard. For the most part this is a non-issue. The on-screen keyboard is usually fine. However, I've found at least one app (ssh) that would be much better with an actual keyboard and another app (VNC) that is unusable without a physical keyboard. As far as I can tell, there is no way to pull up onscreen arrow keys or pull up the keyboard without a text input box. In portrait mode the keyboard is small, but usable. In landscape mode the keyboard is a comfortable size, but takes up most of the screen with an input box as the rest - you can't see the screen or webpage you are typing on in landscape mode. Physical keyboard would be better all around, but then the phone would be thicker.
GPS functionality. Without going into all the gory details and all the reading I've done, the Samsung Galaxy S series of phones, including my captivate, have GPS issues. These phones use a new model GPS chip and there are driver issues. Apparently for the captivate, a complete re-write of the driver (or maybe it's just actual fixes) are supposed to be included with the upcoming upgrade to Android 2.2. I've read everything from mid-October to early next year as a release date. In the mean time, i found a work around by opening an app called GPS Status which clears the cached data (apparently incorrect handling of cached data is the source of the problem) then the GPS works fine for a while.
No camera flash. The camera quality seems really good for what it is (not a replacement for a regular digital camera), as mentioned in the likes section. Unfortunately unlike many other smart phones, it doesn't have an LED flash. I have yet to take any low-light photos, but no matter what the results may be I know a flash would make for better low light pictures.
Upgrade worked, but didn't. One of the first things I did when I got the phone was have it do a software update. It ran through, rebooted my phone, and everything seemed ok.. Except that every time I booted my phone after that it came up with the same "your phone has been successfully upgraded" type message, and additional attempts to upgrade came back with "no firmware" message - no way to upgrade it again. A factory reset got things back to normal and a second upgrade worked fine. I probably shouldn't have tried to upgrade the phone from my basement, which leads me to...
Phone coverage is no better than my old phone. It's crappy AT&T, I didn't expect any improvement, but I was HOPING for better coverage than my old beat up dumb phone. I work from home, so I spend most of the work day in my basement office. Once side of my desk (near the plug in where I charge the phone) I get between 0 and 2 bars. The other side of my desk is 1 to 3 bars. Dropped calls are somewhat common. This isn't so much a phone thing as a carrier thing, but since Captivate = AT&T....
Other:
Due to the GPS issues I considered returning the phone. So far I have not for a couple reasons. At this point I've decided to stick with AT&T and they do not have much in the way of Android alternatives. I'm convinced the GPS issues are software based (the GPS Status app not only works fine, but also makes other apps work). AT&T/Samsung have publicly acknowledged the GPS issue and claim to be working on it. The GPS Status work around is ok for now. If AT&T offered an Android 2.1/2.2 phone with physical keyboard and better GPS functionality, I'd have already traded it in. If the wife and mother-in-law were not on the same family plan I'd switch carriers.
Battery life seems fine. Even with somewhat heavy "just got it, need to play" use, wireless turned on and some GPS use, battery life is acceptable. I charge it once a day, and it's usually in the yellow (guessing around 25%). I suspect if I actually use the GPS for any length of time instead of just messing with it as I have been so far I'll need to get a car charger.
No sideloading of apps. This could probably go in the don't like section, but it's an AT&T thing not a phone thing, and honestly I haven't a clue what I'm missing out on.
Not rooted. At this point I see no reason to root the phone. I don't know what I'm missing out on, what the risks are, or why I should care.
Android OS 2.1
Captivate (fixed GPS would/will add 1 full star)
AT&T
overall
compared to any non-smartphone
Disclaimer: This is my first smart phone of any kind. My wife has a work provided iPhone, but I've never played with it so I can't really compare it to that.
First and foremost, it's damn nifty. I've never been a smart phone type person, I've always just wanted a phone to make calls and take the occasional low quality photo. With my other phone dieing I decided to switch to a smart phone for the GPS functionality, so here we are. The fact that more and more people, including my wife, are starting to text me more often is another factor.
This is AT&T's version of the Samsung Galaxy S phone, very similar to the variations available on other carriers.
Things I like:
The screen quality is fantastic. I don't really know what AMOLED is, but apparently it's a touted feature and it looks great. Touch screen feature works well, but may be too sensitive. Not an issue, but occasionally it will somehow sense a touch when hovering just above the screen without actually touching it???
Android OS. Clearly I have no experience with other OS versions, but I like Android 2.1. I also don't know how this version is different from vanilla Android OS 2.1. It's slick yet simple to use. I like the multi-tasking stuff, and after reading a couple articles I have stopped using the task manager and I just let the OS deal with managing running apps. I let it do it's thing and so far that is working well.
Apps. There are eleventy-billion apps. I've just barely scratched the surface, but it's enough to know this phone can do everything I can think of and lots more. This is an android OS thing more than a phone specific thing. I could go on and on about this, personal e-mail access, IMDB, movie trailers, news feeds, etc. but these are Android specific not phone specific.
Screen lock button. This is the first phone I've ever had that I can carry in my pocket and not accidentally call people or get into some function by accident (yet). You have to push a button on the side then either swipe the screen or move a puzzle piece into a location to unlock it. When receiving a call, you have to swipe the screen, something that isn't going to happen on accident in my picket or while taking the phone out of my pocket. I can't tell you how often I've either answered a call or sent a busy message while taking my old phone out of my pocket.
Size. What I thought may be too big actually turns out to be a great size. Screen is big enough to be easily read, phone is thin, easy to carry in my pocket.
Speed. Nothing to compare it to, but so far it seems like a snappy little phone.
Multi-touch. One of those things I didn't realize Android could do, nor did I think it was very useful compared to any old zoom. In actuality, it's not that much better than a regular old zoom in/out rotate left/right button, but it's a bit more intuitive and convenient. I'd give it 3 stars for functionality compared to other methods, 5 stars for being slick.
Camera. 5MP isn't anything special, but for a camera phone and only a couple test pictures it seems surprisingly good.
Things I don't like:
No physical keyboard. For the most part this is a non-issue. The on-screen keyboard is usually fine. However, I've found at least one app (ssh) that would be much better with an actual keyboard and another app (VNC) that is unusable without a physical keyboard. As far as I can tell, there is no way to pull up onscreen arrow keys or pull up the keyboard without a text input box. In portrait mode the keyboard is small, but usable. In landscape mode the keyboard is a comfortable size, but takes up most of the screen with an input box as the rest - you can't see the screen or webpage you are typing on in landscape mode. Physical keyboard would be better all around, but then the phone would be thicker.
GPS functionality. Without going into all the gory details and all the reading I've done, the Samsung Galaxy S series of phones, including my captivate, have GPS issues. These phones use a new model GPS chip and there are driver issues. Apparently for the captivate, a complete re-write of the driver (or maybe it's just actual fixes) are supposed to be included with the upcoming upgrade to Android 2.2. I've read everything from mid-October to early next year as a release date. In the mean time, i found a work around by opening an app called GPS Status which clears the cached data (apparently incorrect handling of cached data is the source of the problem) then the GPS works fine for a while.
No camera flash. The camera quality seems really good for what it is (not a replacement for a regular digital camera), as mentioned in the likes section. Unfortunately unlike many other smart phones, it doesn't have an LED flash. I have yet to take any low-light photos, but no matter what the results may be I know a flash would make for better low light pictures.
Upgrade worked, but didn't. One of the first things I did when I got the phone was have it do a software update. It ran through, rebooted my phone, and everything seemed ok.. Except that every time I booted my phone after that it came up with the same "your phone has been successfully upgraded" type message, and additional attempts to upgrade came back with "no firmware" message - no way to upgrade it again. A factory reset got things back to normal and a second upgrade worked fine. I probably shouldn't have tried to upgrade the phone from my basement, which leads me to...
Phone coverage is no better than my old phone. It's crappy AT&T, I didn't expect any improvement, but I was HOPING for better coverage than my old beat up dumb phone. I work from home, so I spend most of the work day in my basement office. Once side of my desk (near the plug in where I charge the phone) I get between 0 and 2 bars. The other side of my desk is 1 to 3 bars. Dropped calls are somewhat common. This isn't so much a phone thing as a carrier thing, but since Captivate = AT&T....
Other:
Due to the GPS issues I considered returning the phone. So far I have not for a couple reasons. At this point I've decided to stick with AT&T and they do not have much in the way of Android alternatives. I'm convinced the GPS issues are software based (the GPS Status app not only works fine, but also makes other apps work). AT&T/Samsung have publicly acknowledged the GPS issue and claim to be working on it. The GPS Status work around is ok for now. If AT&T offered an Android 2.1/2.2 phone with physical keyboard and better GPS functionality, I'd have already traded it in. If the wife and mother-in-law were not on the same family plan I'd switch carriers.
Battery life seems fine. Even with somewhat heavy "just got it, need to play" use, wireless turned on and some GPS use, battery life is acceptable. I charge it once a day, and it's usually in the yellow (guessing around 25%). I suspect if I actually use the GPS for any length of time instead of just messing with it as I have been so far I'll need to get a car charger.
No sideloading of apps. This could probably go in the don't like section, but it's an AT&T thing not a phone thing, and honestly I haven't a clue what I'm missing out on.
Not rooted. At this point I see no reason to root the phone. I don't know what I'm missing out on, what the risks are, or why I should care.
Android OS 2.1 Captivate (fixed GPS would/will add 1 full star) AT&T overall compared to any non-smartphone
