After getting to use the Captivate for about a week and getting fed up with it's problems, here is my take on the phone and why I returned it for an iPhone 4.
Here's what I liked and didn't like about the phone:
-Random lag, crashes, bugs, although most of the time it was pretty quick. (I was using launcher pro, not crapwiz)
-System sounds would randomly come on after I put them on silent when I opened up certain apps.
-The brightness was different on my home screen than in apps. I have no idea why.
-Touchwiz is terrible. It's a slow, rip-off of the iPhone UI. There was at least a 1 second delay from when i hit any of the buttons at the bottom of the device. Launcherpro is awesome, however and fixes most of the lag issues.
-GPS didn't work at all, this is one feature that i use A LOT. Completely unacceptable.
-Entirely too difficult to change the cursor placement on the thing
-Hard to select, copy, and paste text, could not be done in email
-Terrible reception, many times I would get network errors and dropped calls when my iPhone 3G NEVER had problems.
-Wifi issues. Not only did the device not have as good range as my 3G, it would randomly give me an error page on the browser on some networks.
-Proximity sensor didn't work all the time
-Phone fell asleep during calls
-For some reason the ringtone started out quiet? I don't really understand this one
-The text is quite hard to read and appears "grainy" to me. I actually thought it was harder to read than my old iPhone 3g. Compare the text to the iPhone 4 and it's game over.
-Sometimes when I opened up messaging and was still in a conversation with someone I would hit the back button to go back to see all my texting threads, but instead of doing so it would completely exit the app.
-When the phone is used in landscape for typing, you cannot see anything but the text box. I hate this. You have to find the "submit" or "send" or "post" button after you finish typing too. The iPhone just has the button reformatted right there for you.
-The phone is overall not as polished as the iPhone 4. This includes everything from OS to apps. The appstore crushes the marketplace IMO.
-Battery life is okay after charging and discharging quite a few times. A little bit better than my iPhone 3g but not on par with the iPhone 4.
-I didn't like the placement of the power button. Maybe it's because I'm used to the iPhone, but i wish it was on top.
-Backlight on the bottom buttons went off too fast for my liking though it was easy to memorize their positions. I wish there was a physical home button.
-No camera flash. I actually just want this feature so I can use my phone as a flashlight. A have a DSLR so I never really use my phone to take serious pictures.
-The browser sometimes cut urls up randomly in the middle where I guess it thought the url had stopped and random text started so I couldn't click some urls.
-Windows 7 64bit would not recognize my phone even with the drivers installed and the phone in "mass storage" mode.
+ I LOVED swype and haptic(I think that's what the vibrating is called) feedback on the keyboard
+ I LOVED the large screen and the amazing color/contrast, the blacks were literally black. The iPhone really needs a 4" screen. It's just the perfect size.
+ I LOVED the little notification bar at the top. That is just awesome.
+ The browser flies. It's extremely fast and is almost, and i mean just shy of being iPhone-like smoothness. I like double tap to reformat text, too.
+ It looks really nice, feels good in the hand.
+ Can do some cool things that the iPhone can't (download free music, make ringtones on the phone, cool apps, google voice). But IMO where both phones can do the same thing, the iPhone does it much better.
+ Widgets are pretty cool, but none of the weather related widgets ever seemed to update correctly.
I really, really wanted to love this phone, but it just had too many problems. I felt like I really had to tinker with it to get it to work properly, which shouldn't be the case. I am aware that a GPS update and Froyo are on the way, but I didn't feel like waiting around for some of the devices' problems to maybe be fixed.
I know many will disagree, but i think the iPhone 4 is the better device. It just WORKS. That's what I love about Apple... and no i'm not an Apple fanboy. The iPhone is the only apple device I own.
I will definitely give Android another try when 3.0 gets here, but until then the iPhone 4 remains king in the smartphone world.
I hope this thread helps some people who are trying to decide if the Captivate is the right device for them. Any questions or comments are appreciated.
*Some of the issues I experienced are most likely hardware related and should not be present on all devices
Here's what I liked and didn't like about the phone:
-Random lag, crashes, bugs, although most of the time it was pretty quick. (I was using launcher pro, not crapwiz)
-System sounds would randomly come on after I put them on silent when I opened up certain apps.
-The brightness was different on my home screen than in apps. I have no idea why.
-Touchwiz is terrible. It's a slow, rip-off of the iPhone UI. There was at least a 1 second delay from when i hit any of the buttons at the bottom of the device. Launcherpro is awesome, however and fixes most of the lag issues.
-GPS didn't work at all, this is one feature that i use A LOT. Completely unacceptable.
-Entirely too difficult to change the cursor placement on the thing
-Hard to select, copy, and paste text, could not be done in email
-Terrible reception, many times I would get network errors and dropped calls when my iPhone 3G NEVER had problems.
-Wifi issues. Not only did the device not have as good range as my 3G, it would randomly give me an error page on the browser on some networks.
-Proximity sensor didn't work all the time
-Phone fell asleep during calls
-For some reason the ringtone started out quiet? I don't really understand this one
-The text is quite hard to read and appears "grainy" to me. I actually thought it was harder to read than my old iPhone 3g. Compare the text to the iPhone 4 and it's game over.
-Sometimes when I opened up messaging and was still in a conversation with someone I would hit the back button to go back to see all my texting threads, but instead of doing so it would completely exit the app.
-When the phone is used in landscape for typing, you cannot see anything but the text box. I hate this. You have to find the "submit" or "send" or "post" button after you finish typing too. The iPhone just has the button reformatted right there for you.
-The phone is overall not as polished as the iPhone 4. This includes everything from OS to apps. The appstore crushes the marketplace IMO.
-Battery life is okay after charging and discharging quite a few times. A little bit better than my iPhone 3g but not on par with the iPhone 4.
-I didn't like the placement of the power button. Maybe it's because I'm used to the iPhone, but i wish it was on top.
-Backlight on the bottom buttons went off too fast for my liking though it was easy to memorize their positions. I wish there was a physical home button.
-No camera flash. I actually just want this feature so I can use my phone as a flashlight. A have a DSLR so I never really use my phone to take serious pictures.
-The browser sometimes cut urls up randomly in the middle where I guess it thought the url had stopped and random text started so I couldn't click some urls.
-Windows 7 64bit would not recognize my phone even with the drivers installed and the phone in "mass storage" mode.
+ I LOVED swype and haptic(I think that's what the vibrating is called) feedback on the keyboard
+ I LOVED the large screen and the amazing color/contrast, the blacks were literally black. The iPhone really needs a 4" screen. It's just the perfect size.
+ I LOVED the little notification bar at the top. That is just awesome.
+ The browser flies. It's extremely fast and is almost, and i mean just shy of being iPhone-like smoothness. I like double tap to reformat text, too.
+ It looks really nice, feels good in the hand.
+ Can do some cool things that the iPhone can't (download free music, make ringtones on the phone, cool apps, google voice). But IMO where both phones can do the same thing, the iPhone does it much better.
+ Widgets are pretty cool, but none of the weather related widgets ever seemed to update correctly.
I really, really wanted to love this phone, but it just had too many problems. I felt like I really had to tinker with it to get it to work properly, which shouldn't be the case. I am aware that a GPS update and Froyo are on the way, but I didn't feel like waiting around for some of the devices' problems to maybe be fixed.
I know many will disagree, but i think the iPhone 4 is the better device. It just WORKS. That's what I love about Apple... and no i'm not an Apple fanboy. The iPhone is the only apple device I own.
I will definitely give Android another try when 3.0 gets here, but until then the iPhone 4 remains king in the smartphone world.
I hope this thread helps some people who are trying to decide if the Captivate is the right device for them. Any questions or comments are appreciated.
*Some of the issues I experienced are most likely hardware related and should not be present on all devices