How I learned to like the iphone or

[jas2k9]

Left Android in search of what works for me.

Ok, as most here know I have ATT service and I am not leaving it. I have a 4 phone family plan, and we all have different expiration dates. In addition, I am in the DC suburbs, and here, ATT is as good as it gets, based on a number of discussions we have had with friends over the years.

My last 3 phones were razrs. Before that a phone that was a phone

 

[ilusv]

Nice write up and I couldn’t have said it better myself. I love my phone but there are simple things that it can’t do or I should say can’t do well. E-mail is a basic functionality that I expect from a smart phone and the default e-mail app. simply DOES NOT work, I tired K-9 and others and none came close to the reliability and the functionality of the iPhone e-mail. Its mind boggling that a simple thing like yahoo mail doesn’t work reliably; NO I don’t want to switch to Google mail and sync my calendar/contacts to Google’s site…Samsung not providing the American consumer with a two way sync application software is downright unacceptable… I spend hours trying to get kies to work and followed the advice of many helpful members on here without any success, rooting and un-rooting the phone was easier and more straight forward.
I don’t want to trash the phone because I really like it and going to hate not having it but I think this phone (Samsung captivate) is not ready.

 

[nmoline]

Here is the simple response to all these threads. ios4 is for people who just want their phone to work. Android is for people who want to customize their experience. If you are not into figuring things out and making technology work how you want get an iphone

 

[Shelbster]

Thanks for the update jas.

After reading your post, I immediately went one office down and began playing with a friend's iphone 4.

I'm still confused between the two. I think because I've already had iphones, so it still feels very familiar.

 

[jas2k9]

Here is the simple response to all these threads. ios4 is for people who just want their phone to work. Android is for people who want to customize their experience. If you are not into figuring things out and making technology work how you want get an iphone

I am not going to get into a pissing contest withyou or anyone else . There is some merit to What you have said but it not that simple. It is afterall a phone customizing only goes so far. N ow that said give me a phone that works and it's a different story.

 

[jblaze5779]

I don't consider what nmoline said to be an attempt to start a pissing contest. I do agree with what he/she said I had a iphone 3g and an iphone4.... the iphone is for people that just want to open up their phone and go. Whether they're 3 or 90, ******ed or genius. iOS is a blanket for everyone.

Android is what you want it to be... you can't be impatient or dumb to run this os. There is a learning curve here. This os is what you, the individual user, makes of it.

 

[ilusv]

I don't consider what nmoline said to be an attempt to start a pissing contest. I do agree with what he/she said I had a iphone 3g and an iphone4.... the iphone is for people that just want to open up their phone and go. Whether they're 3 or 90, ******ed or genius. iOS is a blanket for everyone.

Android is what you want it to be... you can't be impatient or dumb to run this os. There is a learning curve here. This os is what you, the individual user, makes of it.

The issue here is that certain functionalities don

 

[getDange]

I am not going to get into a pissing contest withyou or anyone else . There is some merit to What you have said but it not that simple. It is afterall a phone customizing only goes so far. N ow that said give me a phone that works and it's a different story.

Well then post your story on some apple forum, it will be more welcomed there.
The post you replied to was totally polite and politically correct. The guy did not deserve to read the word "pissed" in replies to him.

 

[jas2k9]

Apologies to all for sAying pissing contest. I was inferring that this was not a mine better than yours "contest".

 

[Shelbster]

Well then post your story on some apple forum, it will be more welcomed there.
The post you replied to was totally polite and politically correct. The guy did not deserve to read the word "pissed" in replies to him.

jas was asked by a number of members to post once got his iphone. A number of members here, including myself, were curious to hear his thoughts on the iphone after having used the Captivate for a while.

There are a Captivate users here that are still undecided whether to keep their Captivates or to return them for an Iphone. Its nice to hear from someone who has used both. I don't think there is any reason to ever tell someone to post their story on an apple forum.

 

[baji]

It's interesting to read the issues that so many of you are having. Maybe I am just lucky, but, my gps has worked fine, my battery has been off the charger and put to good use since around 10 this morning (7:20 now) and it's still at 70%. While the stock email app does suck, when I switched to Mail Droid all of my problems went away. That's with yahoo, and aol mail. The stock media apps were not that great. So I got something off the market that performs just as well if not better than my iphone. And I got my phone on release day at an ATT Store here in Florida.

The simple truth in my view is that with iPhone, you get the core apps which come on the phone and that is it. No preference, no changing--it is what it is. Email, media, etc. Android allows you, the user, to make of your phone what you will.

Perhaps Samsung *should* have waited an extra month or two before pushing the phone out. Then the software problems some of you are experiencing might not have happened. Hopefully between firmware updates and Froyo, your problems will get sorted out.

 

[ConceptVBS]

Perhaps Samsung *should* have waited an extra month or two before pushing the phone out. Then the software problems some of you are experiencing might not have happened. Hopefully between firmware updates and Froyo, your problems will get sorted out.

There are thousands of issues that are sorted out even before products are launched. These few issues that people seem to bitch about constantly are one of the few that fell through the cracks. No matter how many thousands of hours engineers pour in to quality test their products, the general public always has the upper hand simply due to sheer numbers: A few engineers versus millions of consumers. You make the call.

 

[jas2k9]

Well then post your story on some apple forum, it will be more welcomed there.
The post you replied to was totally polite and politically correct. The guy did not deserve to read the word "pissed" in replies to him.

For what it's worth he did not read the word 'pissed' and the context that 'pissing' was used in was to say I am not here to bash the Captivate - I have not, and I will not; nor am here to say the iphone is better, it does things that I want right out of the box, that had the Captivate done, I would not have had to return it. But that is for another post.

You fully missed the point and the intent of the original post as well as my response to the first guy.

As to the guy who says one needs to be smart (or whatever) to use an Android phone, don't pat yourself on the back too hard - one needs to have money, one need not be smart and the differences in the 2 phones and their styles and performance have nothing to do with intellect.

In my case I purchased something that was flawed, and in the hunt for decent apps to rectify it, I found some good ones and some less than good ones.

As I said, and as I maintain, between Swype and the screen I was sold, had the GPS worked and had the battery not overheated repeatedly I'd have been hard pressed to swap it, even though it is clearly tougher to deal with music - it is doable - just tougher, it matters not if it's 2 clicks or 10 minutes or whatever. If it did music as the iphone does I could have spent all that other time doing something else, with the phone or not.

I have not, and I will not bash people, I will not insult others by suggesting that some need be smart to use a device or not, and I will not belittle those who read the review/comparison - and understand what it said, basically, that Android OS is close to being a direct and complete challenger to Apple (in my limited opinion). That there are some great phones on the Android market - INCLUDING the Captivate - once all the bugs, or at least MAJOR bugs are removed. But, I can't sit back and risk the next 2 years on maybe they will fix this or that.

 

[Xerbia]

Really I am just a spectator to these forums and never planned on posting, but I have seen so many of these threads about the samsung galaxy s having it's "problems", switching to iphone blah blah. I thought I would put in my input.

Like the above poster said, I've had my captivate since launch and have not had one problem with the phone. I love it. My friend has the iphone 4 and I could care less for the simplicity of its OS. Maybe I was another one of the lucky ones who got one of the good phones? Doubt it, before I had everything working like I wanted I had to change some things. Certain settings weren't right but as soon as I fixed them the phone was perfect.

I really think the people who are having problems with this phone are the ones who want to take a phone out of the box and have it working just like they want it. If that's you then fine, go with the iphone. Fact of the matter is android is very customizable so it's not gonna be simple out of the box like iphone is.

Also I read you weren't eligible for an iphone, but then halfway through your story you are? that doesn't make sense. A smart phone is a smartphone. To me this sounds like an iphone fanboy rant.

 

[jas2k9]

"These few issues that people seem to bitch about constantly are one of the few that fell through the cracks."

I am having a hard time accepting this, just I have a hard time accepting it with the antenna issue on iphones.

The issues people are bitching about - be warned you will get a nasty post for using bitching as I did for using pissing (kidding), are not small minor things, and it appears that a lot of people have the same issues - poor battery performance, overheating, and no or poor performing GPS - it would seem to me that I'd have the main components and major s/w portions functioning. That said Apple has problems with antennas - so what do I know. I can say (again) that the one I am demoing has not displayed any antenna deficiencies - and I have no case on it at all.

 

[jas2k9]

Really I am just a spectator to these forums and never planned on posting, but I have seen so many of these threads about the samsung galaxy s having it's "problems", switching to iphone blah blah. I thought I would put in my input.

Like the above poster said, I've had my captivate since launch and have not had one problem with the phone. I love it. My friend has the iphone 4 and I could care less for the simplicity of its OS. Maybe I was another one of the lucky ones who got one of the good phones? Doubt it, before I had everything working like I wanted I had to change some things. Certain settings weren't right but as soon as I fixed them the phone was perfect.

I really think the people who are having problems with this phone are the ones who want to take a phone of of the box and have it working just like they want it. If that's you then fine, go with the iphone. Fact of the matter is android is very customizable so it's not gonna be simple out of the box like iphone is.

Also I read you weren't eligible for an iphone, but then halfway through your story you are? that doesn't make sense. A smart phone is a smartphone. To me this sounds like an iphone fanboy rant.

I am sorry you feel that way. I want to understand how I am a fanboy considering it's my first iphone? And that I had the Captivate? I received the iphone by doing the upgrade on my wife's phone and swapping (so to speak) the sim cards after installation - that was a 'favor' done to me by the ATT store salesman. This was initially how I got the Captivate. The Razr was failing, and I called for an upgrade - after the first ATT store I went to said I was not elligible, my phone was elligible in 2 months - but I told the ATT phone agent I was not going to purchase a go phone that close to eligibilty - she then allowed me to get the Captivate. When I was returning/exchanging it, the agent mentioned that the problem still existed (upgrade, as apparently apple will not allow early upgrades, but he noted that my wifes account was elligible and he could save me money this way). Anyway, short of that, I would have gone 3gs off Craig's List or I would (more likely) gotten a replacement Captivate - and if you really read my initial post in this thread - you'd see that I don't dislike the Captivate or Android OS - and yes, I can successfully use both. I just wanted an interface that was specific for music (itunes like), and I wanted the phone to operate as expected - if those things had happened I'd still have it.

I HATE the iphone's over simplification of things, HATE. IT. Really, I do. I also HATE the input keyboard and hope they will go the swype route. I also HATE that many apps that are free on the Android platform are NOT on the apple platform.

Am I still a fanboy?

 

[Aerimus]

Here is the simple response to all these threads. ios4 is for people who just want their phone to work. Android is for people who want to customize their experience. If you are not into figuring things out and making technology work how you want get an iphone

I disagree with this comment. I think the difference between iOS and Android is a simple one. Android started with the ability to do anything, and Google is working backwards to clean up all segments a little bit at a time. You can do whatever you want, but it may not work perfectly.

iOS on the other hand did little, but didn't it perfectly, or close to it. Now, iOS is adding more and more abilities with each iteration, and each new ability works pretty darn close to perfect, or as close as you can expect to get on a smartphone. It can't do whatever you want it to do, but what it does, it does DAMN well.

Here's my problem...first and foremost my Captivate is a phone, and if I miss one more call because my phone lags as I'm trying to answer, it's going back. I realize this problem can be fixed, but when? Apple takes a lot of flack because they're the 2000 pound elephant in the room...but when they release something, it's pretty damn refined.

 

[Intervenient]

Sure, Android can be customized, but what is the point of any GUI? To navigate to apps, and apps on Android get about a 6-6.5 out of ten right now.

 

[Xerbia]

Sure, Android can be customized, but what is the point of any GUI? To navigate to apps, and apps on Android get about a 6-6.5 out of ten right now.

IOS apps have ALOT of apps but ALOT more crummy ones. I find android has a lot more quality apps. Games on the other hand, IOS easily takes the win.

 

[Intervenient]

IOS apps have ALOT of apps but ALOT more crummy ones. I find android has a lot more quality apps. Games on the other hand, IOS easily takes the win.

I'd say iOS has the same amount of useful apps as Android, and the iOS apps are a lot more polished.

 

[nmoline]

I disagree with this comment. I think the difference between iOS and Android is a simple one. Android started with the ability to do anything, and Google is working backwards to clean up all segments a little bit at a time. You can do whatever you want, but it may not work perfectly.

iOS on the other hand did little, but didn't it perfectly, or close to it. Now, iOS is adding more and more abilities with each iteration, and each new ability works pretty darn close to perfect, or as close as you can expect to get on a smartphone. It can't do whatever you want it to do, but what it does, it does DAMN well.

Here's my problem...first and foremost my Captivate is a phone, and if I miss one more call because my phone lags as I'm trying to answer, it's going back. I realize this problem can be fixed, but when? Apple takes a lot of flack because they're the 2000 pound elephant in the room...but when they release something, it's pretty damn refined.

I had the 3g for two years and was tired of living in apples walled garden that is why I switched to Android and the Captivate. My Captivate has no problems, GPS has never failed me and my phone is not laggy at all. That all being said let me clear up my earlier post.

I like both phones and I think they each serve a distinct purpose. Recently I had an adult friend 45 year old man ask about my phone and if I liked it. While of course I love it he asked if I would recommend it to him over the iphone. This made me think real hard and no I would not. He is a guy who would just want to make calls and download the occasional app and use the phone exactly how apple wants him to. He won't tether, he won't customize the look (adw launcher pro etc...), He won't look for apps not approved by Apple. This is a 45 year old average customer who wants to make calls and check facebook.

What I was saying before is for someone like me who jailbroke and always looked for ways to get around Apple's limitations I am so glad I jumped feet first into Android and love tinkering with my phone every day. But for the average dude this is not what they want. They want the itunes interface, the itunes store, the apple apps etc...

I love both phones, just think the iPhone is for a more simple person.

 

[MikeyMike01]

When you get an iPhone, you get Apple's phone.

When you get an Android phone, you get your own phone. It may take some work, time, patience, or whatever to get there, but at the end of the day it'll be yours.

If you're content to do what Apple says, and only do what Apple allows, when they allow it, how they allow it, and if the allow it, go right ahead.

However, I (along with a growing majority) are not content to be in such a locked down environment.

 

[Muirne]

There are thousands of issues that are sorted out even before products are launched. These few issues that people seem to bitch about constantly are one of the few that fell through the cracks. No matter how many thousands of hours engineers pour in to quality test their products, the general public always has the upper hand simply due to sheer numbers: A few engineers versus millions of consumers. You make the call.

This deserves being repeated.

Oh and by the way, does the game of 'beat the dead horse' help?

 

[MarkPharaoh]

You can't just draw arbitrary lines between iPhone and Android users. I'm a huge technophile, and yet I just returned my Captivate earlier today and stayed with my iPhone 4. Yes, I do want a phone that works, but I want to customize it.

There are several LARGE issues with the Captivate. The battery is god awful. The GPS is pitiful. Apps constantly try to open themselves, even in airplane mode. A task killer can only do so much. The software overall is poor. I spent several hours with LauncherPro and on XDA, even going through the "Pimp my Captivate" guide. Even after spending hours digging through dev forums and tinkering with the device, it was still downright terrible in numerous areas.

I really don't want the iPhone to be my main device. It's small, restrictive, and fragile. But it's the best phone on AT&T. The small bonuses of the Captivate for me (4.0 inch screen, Swype, widgets) don't come close to balancing out the glaring weaknesses of the device.

 

[AndroidForMe]

The iPhone is for people who want a simple..no frills layout and OS experience. This is why AT&T offers it first to people who are not tech-savvy.