Samsung Captivate (Galaxy S)
Phone Scoop Review
Jul 18, 2010 by Eric M. Zeman
Phone Scoop takes the AT&T version of the Samsung Galaxy S -- the Captivate -- for a spin to see how well it performs. The display and battery life are amazing. How do the rest of the features hold up? read review ›
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I Fixed my Captivate!!
Yep, today my Captivate froze for the last time. After having to take it out of it's body glove and remove the back and battery for the third time today (and about the 10th time this week) I calmly removed the Sim and memory cards then crushed the piece of garbage into two roughly equal pieces. Yea, it was expensive, but the satisfaction I got from watching the glass shatter and the wounderful, "crunching" sound it made as it passed into the next world was priceless!
PLEASE, don't make the mistake I made. This isn't an iPhone, nor is it an iPhone killer as some note. I'm sure that there are good smart phones out there that are not made by the Apple folks, but avoid this one at all costs!
Iphone Never Again
I love this phone! I came over from the Iphone 3G and I am positive as long as Samgsung keeps making phones like this I will never go back! I am free of the endless syncing and its fantastic. The processor is blazing fast, colors are vibrant. I had it all set up and loaded up with my music in under 30 minutes. The plug and play, drag and drop was an easy way to import pics and tunes. Camera needs a flash and I wish the usb was the next size up, like the ones the old razors used, not sure what that is called. Buy one you wont be upset
Very good Andriod phone
I have had the captivate for 2 weeks now. I really like the phone a lot. It has a beautiful screen. It is great for playing android games. It is pretty fast. I love that it has expandable memory. The android operating system is very easy to use and you can set many options and customize screens. It is upgraded to 2.2 froyo now.
I gave it 3.5 stars related to the RF signal. I live in a very poor signal area for AT&T. It works great where I work and decent at home. The RF is not quite as good as my last sony ericsson phone w760a. This also is not uncommon for smartphones.
The battery life is pretty good for an android phone as well. It took a little battery burn in to get it to last all day. It does require charging every night. I usually get about 14-15 hours on it with moderate use.
I love to play with the phone and have tried many apps. It is hard to put down.
LOVE IT
I ABSOLUTELY LOVE THIS PHONE WOULDNT EVEN CHANGE IT FOR THE IPHONE!!!! LLLLLOOOOVVVEEE IT!!! ONLY THING IS DAT IT DOESNT HAVE A CAMARA FLASH. BUT OH WELL!!! I STILL LOVE IT!! DEFINITLY RECOMMEND IT!
A Really Awesome Phone!
Let me start by saying, I usually never five a perfect score as there is usually room for improvement on anything.
This is quite simply the best phone I have used in a long, long time.
Pros:
- 1000 MHz Samsung Hummingbird Cortex A8- 16GB memory, with micro SD expandability (I have 16GB external as well)
- Excellent reception even in poor areas
- Android 2.2 is excellent
- Super AMOLED screed has superb resolution
- Touch screen super responsive
- 5MP camera
- Fully customizable
- Samsung Swype interface
Cons:
- Powers down periodically
- Battery life is very low (switched to 2g and doubled my battery life)
I am totally pleased with this phone. I was pumped to find that my Captivate was faster in network speed than my coworkers Droid X. AWESOME!!
Well...Maybe Not.
Alright let me break this phone down for you. Amazing specs in theory! I love the camera and the fast multitasking with the Android O/S. I even don't mind the AT&T bloatware that comes pre-installed, or the fact that AT&T limits you from downloading third party apps. I could live with it all, however what I will not live with is the Random shut-downs. When I say random, I mean completely random. There isn't a clear reason for these shut downs. So you might be thinking that it is because I rooted my phone and that the firmware I flashed was junk. Negative, I returned the phone after the shut downs became a multiple time occurrences each day. So brand new Samsung Captivate no rooting, didn't even install new apps. Completely stock ROM, shut down within 24 hours of return.
Think I am the only one experiencing this problem? Negative, check out this link to the XDA forums where it is currently at 81 pages of discussion of this problem.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=731560
No current solution to this problem. Some of have speculated that Samsung could release a Froyo or Gingerbread update that would fix this problem. However, I can't afford to take a chance and be stuck with a piece of junk phone. I am returning this phone and not getting another one.
Pros-
5.0 Mp Camera
Android App Market
Decent Battery Life
Super fast 1GHz processor(compared to Iphone 3G)
Cons -
Android O/S 2.1 Eclair
Shut down bug
A World Phone, NOT!
Though touted as a world phone, I discovered the hard way that it lacks a key 3G band, 900 MHz. Now I'm back to carrying 2 handsets for travel.
Pros:
Screen
Android OS
User replaceable battery
Cons:
Battery life
No camera flash
Camera slow
Poor quality speaker
AT&T apps that can't be removed
Simply Amazing
Pro's:
Large, beautiful screen
-Powerful CPU/GPU (equivalent to iPhone 4)
-Android 2.1 (upgradeable in September to 2.2)
-Capacitive Touch Screen
-Live Wallpapers
-Numerous pre-installed Apps (annoys some people, tho many have come in handy for me)
-16gbs of installed memory, upgradeable to another 32gbs.
-a Galaxy S series android phone
Con's
Hasn't cleaned my house once yet.
NOTE: for those who say it wont sync with Windows 7, it will without any additional software. altho, to fully sync device you have to download Samsung's Kies Sync'ing software...once that is downloaded and installed, sync'ing the device easy, and works everytime.
i may sound like a fanboy, but this is by far the best device ive personally ever owned. ive had nothing but WM phones up until the HTC Aria, which was a good device, but not powerful or big enough for me.
pre-intalled wi-fi and sharing apps on the Captivate make everything i xfer from my pc/phone easy, even if im just streaming movies from my computer to watch on my phone in the bedroom.
games are smooth, and the accelerometer is dead on. benchmarks prove this device is more powerful than anything but the Droid X, and even then, is tied.
Iphone killed
Had the iphone 3gs, after review and hands on and now after I bought the captivate, the iphone stands no chance of a comeback. Screen, is all I have to say, if you haven't seen it in person, don't comment. 16 gb internal plus you can add another 32. Go check it out.
Finally a smartphone on AT&T
First, I live in the Northwest of the country and spend a lot of time in areas with less coverage than desirable. There are only two carriers that cover where I work and also live. The one I am forced to use is AT&T. Given that, I tried the various phones they had including the Iphone and was never impressed. I used this phone for 45 minutes in the store before buying it.
After starting it up, I have been nothing but impressed. Running around the Spokane region, I have had great signal, good voice and no dropped calls over the last week. I was worried about GPS, but got nothing but good locks and even geocached with it today. Bluetooth was a snap and apps install and work great. The picture is wonderful and I love the size as I have large hands and small phones don't work for me. The SWYPE is fantastic and easy to use (and I'm over 40).
If I could fix some items, it would definitely be the preinstalled useless programs the carrier puts on. Having used Samsung phones before, I had no problems with the TouchWiz, though I installed LauncherPro as it's cleaner looking.
Also, not a problem for me, but in todays age a cell phone should have and led flash at least. And the carrier should let people utilize the phone they way they want without having to root it, this is slightly annoying, but wasn't a prerequisite for me.
I am very pleased with this phone and would definitely buy it again.
