Root, reset or return?

[thejtl]

OK, I've had this phone since day one. I was counting down the days until I could get it. I'd gone from an iPhone 3G, to the Aria, to the Captivate. I was loving the Aria, so I was really excited to get a faster, more full-featured phone. And don't get me wrong, 65% of the time it is a great phone, as long as I'm not trying to listen to music (which is what I do 90% of the time on my phones). I love Swype, I love the screen, yada, yada, yada. All the stuff folks love about this phone, I love.

But now I'm at a crossroads. I'm an audio professional. Music playback is seriously important to me. Shoddy playback just can't happen. I mean, this is the top of the top of the line when it comes to phones, right? It should do something as simple as playback music flawlessly, right. It should perform basic tasks without freezing, hesitating or any of that, right? My Aria was faster and more responsive than this phone (by far). And a little easier to use overall.

So now I find myself wanting to keep the phone, but if I do something's gotta change. I can't wait for months. I need basic music functionality now. So my choices are:

1. Root (which could damage the phone and put me in a more difficult situation). And I'm not a developer or anything. I'm a guy with a conversational knowledge of computers but way too busy a life to spend as much time as I have with this phone, although I've enjoyed the reading forums and tinkering.

2. Reset. Some say a factory reset has cured all their ills, but I'm skeptical. Do I want to risk having to take the time to re-input all my data on the off chance that it will magically solve the problem? Call me crazy, but I think the phone was at factory reset level when I bought it, and these problems have been around since day one.

3. Return. Well, this is almost the same as factory reset, but with a trip to the store, grief from the folks there and the inputting all info again. And nothing guarantees that the new phone is any more or less glitchy than the current one?

Now, let me say that I don't want an iPhone 4. That's the whole reason I went to Android. I don't like the I4. I've been a Mac guy since 1990, I have an iPad, and iTouch, a MacBook, an iMac, a Shuffle, an iPhone 3G. I just don't like where Apple has gone, for the first time in my life.

So, I'm asking you all: what the $&^ should I do? I'm at the breaking point with a phone I love.

 

[mongstradamus]

I found rooting and doing the speed fix really makes the phone a lot faster no lag in between screens. No lag when using browser or twitter either. The only thing that would prevent me from keeping this phone is the gps issue

 

[MassacrMan]

Returning my Captivate for a new one today actually proved to be a good choice. It seems faster and my capacitive buttons are fully functioning and not screwing with my phone (the reason I returned for a new one). As for music, haven't listened to any on it yet. That's what my iPod Touch is for, if I listened to music on my phone it would leave my iPod Touch as a worthless investment. That is just my personal situation, I'd rather not tell you what to do with your phone.

So, I say try the factory reset. If that doesn't work, return it for a new one. If you're still unhappy after both of those solutions, then I am afraid to say this phone is probably not for you. Perhaps, at that point, going back to the Aria would be a good decision?

 

[thejtl]

Yeah, I hear you. The iTouch is a great player. I actually gave it to our 6 year old (?!?!?!). I'm hoping that gets her more interested in music. (I told myself I wouldn't be that Dad.) I usually have my iPad with me, but I just like being able to load stuff on my phone and go. I check mixes that way and I can't listen critically with stuttering playback.

The most appealing solution right now is to root, I guess, but I'm nervous about that, to say the least.

 

[Evrcl]

I have been an Iphone user for 3 years and I just now got the Android captivate. Here are my pros and cons:

Android
Pros:
Google Maps with Nav
GMail Sync
Replaceable Battery
Replaceable Memory Cards
Larger Phone Screens
Multi-tasking is better
Youtube is better
The promise of Flash (plants vs zombie game even if android still doesnt have that app that the iphone has had forever)

Cons:
Does not have a common email inbox
Entire operating system seems buggy
Copy and paste on android is not as good as iphone
App store lacks many apps that apple has
App store functions are missing like sort
Can not always find my Location OUTDOORS!
Bluetooth does not automatically reconnect
Lags when doing basic things like playing music and going from one picture or video to the next.
Multi-button hard coded nav buttons are not as nice as the one button the Iphone has.

I'm returning mine. This phone is not ready for primetime not yet. I rooted and did the speed fix but it still lags. Location bug is a huge loss can not believe they would release a phone this buggy.

 

[evodon84]

Root is the way to go. It is really easy you just need to find the pimp your captivate guide on the xda forums I've never used android before and I followed that guide and now all the lag is gone. I haven't tried the music app yet though.

 

[thejtl]

Anyone who's rooted have extensive experience with music playback? I'm curious to know if that's solved the stutter problems and how?

 

[Chew]

Anyone who's rooted have extensive experience with music playback? I'm curious to know if that's solved the stutter problems and how?

I'm really in the same boat as you. I want to love this phone, but the music stutter is really getting annoying.

I've already bricked a device many years ago, I'm a little nervous to be trying anything that messes with my phone.....regardless of how "safe" everyone claims it to be.

If there's a way to mess it up, believe me: I'll find it.


It's also beyond annoying that you have to take these types of steps just to get a phone to do something so basic as play music smoothly.

 

[thejtl]

Thanks for ask the feedback so far. Anyone else?

 

[sremick]

Returning my Captivate for a new one today actually proved to be a good choice. It seems faster and my capacitive buttons are fully functioning and not screwing with my phone

Get back to us in a week after you've had time to use it and install and configure all your apps.

 

[iPenguin]

Have you tried downloading another music player like Meridian, 3, or MixZing? I'm not sure if your problem is the phone or just the music app, but on my Incredible I was forced to use another player due to the crappy native HTC one and all my problems were solved.

Also, I have to tell you rooting isn't that bad. Back in the day to root the Inc you had to go through ADB and click your SD and... it was a mess. Being a reckless teen didn't help my odds. But I can say I'm still using my Inc to post here. I believe the Cappy has 1 Click root too. AND you can still boot into recovery with the Cappy even if you brick it, so just flash a Rom and bring it to life.

As long as you don't pull some crazy no logic stunt like pulling the battery or have the phone die in the middle of a flash, you should be good. Just follow the step by step instructions posted at helpful sites like this one, Modaco, and XDA.

/end rant

 

[thefunks67]

Cons:

You forgot to add:

Poor image quality from the camera

-Funk

 

[Chew]

Have you tried downloading another music player like Meridian, 3, or MixZing?

I tried several different ones, including MixZing set to highest buffer settings. It still stutters.

 

[bigjerries]

i thought i was the only one with this one that the music would stutter...its annoying.

 

[thejtl]

OK, so I was poised to root, but before I did I decided to give Launcher Pro an extended try to see what happened. I had used it in the past for a day or so.

And lo and behold, the skipping issues are nearly resolved. Almost none to this point and I've been using it for three days. I'll probably still root this weekend and install setCPU, but for those having this issue, I suggest giving LauncherPro a try. As always, YMMV.

 

[Chew]

I've been using LauncherPro for weeks and still had the music stutter issues.

What solved it for me this morning is what I posted in this thread: http://androidforums.com/samsung-ca...-playback-stock-player-samsung-captivate.html

I moved all my music to my external card. No stutter.

 

[Mysta Chill]

I moved all my music to my external card. No stutter.

I've only had my Captivate two days, but all my music is on my SD Card (from my previous phone), none yet on the internal memory, and I have not yet experienced any stuttering during my gym workouts, 2 hours each day. I know 4 hours isn't long, but I've had absolutely no stutter.

However, I am too curious about rooting my phone, mostly the cons.

 

[gr4v3r]

i have had 0 skipping issues. all of my music is on the root of the phone in a folder called Music. I also use the stock app and have 0 problems with it. What do people hate about the stock app, I see the complaints but I don't see why. The function to change songs in the lock screen is amazing