Exchanging My Captivate today

[berdo]

So I am exchanging my Captivate today for many of the same reasons that every one else is having but mostly because I have had to reset it three times because it is not receiving incoming calls. I have talked to AT&T and they really didn't have any reason or explanation for this.

My question to all of you forum readers is should I stick with the captivate or try the Xperia X10 or the Dell Streak. I have been pretty happy with the captivate but would appreciate any input.

 

[t-readyroc]

I would think you'd want to ask X10/Streak owners on the appropriate forums....? The only thing we can rly tell you is our experience w/the phone you're returning...

 

[berdo]

You are probably right but I thought captivate owners would have opinions to share on this matter. If you guys are like me you read every bit about every phone regardless of the phone you have.

 

[t-readyroc]

Well, based on my limited knowledge of what I've read, I'd say that the Captivate's the superior piece of kit on paper, but it's like I tell everyone who asks what sort of laptop they should buy: you really need to play with the ones you're interested in before you commit to a purchase.

There's no substitute for first-hand experience with the device, & the people in those forums definitely have way more of that than (I'd guess) any of us in here would

 

[geekprof]

xperia is running 1.6, which is intolerable, IMO. plus the phone felt kind of heavy and the buttons at the bottom felt cheap and plasticky.

After 3 exchanges on the captivate, I gave up and got a little aria. After sideloading swype (unrooted), I'm reasonably happy. It works.

 

[Bearsyzf]

i would keep the Captivate atleast until the Froyo update and GPS fixes come out.

 

[bigmike75]

xperia is running 1.6, which is intolerable, IMO. plus the phone felt kind of heavy and the buttons at the bottom felt cheap and plasticky.

After 3 exchanges on the captivate, I gave up and got a little aria. After sideloading swype (unrooted), I'm reasonably happy. It works.

I had the Aria and then exchanged it for the Captivate. I think I made a mistake. With the exception of the larger screen, I think the Aria simply is a better phone. There was no lag, the apps loaded and ran quickly. There seems to be a lot of quirks with the Captivate which is a shame. The lagging and having to use a third party home screen app (lancherpro) to deal with it just seems like bandaid fix. The GPS simply doesn't work, although I fortunately held on to my Garmin. I am stuck with it, though, unless I do a buy/sell on eBay (which I am still contemplating on doing).

 

[FraGztr]

All these problems makes me nervouse to buy one for my wife. She told me to sell her Blackberry Bold so she can get the new Samsung Captivate. worst case scenario, Is it hard to get a replacement.?

 

[qwertyaas]

Honestly, at this point I think the two best choices from AT&T are either the Captivate or iPhone. The other offerings are downgrades.

 

[thindery]

All these problems makes me nervouse to buy one for my wife. She told me to sell her Blackberry Bold so she can get the new Samsung Captivate. worst case scenario, Is it hard to get a replacement.?

Hard to get a replacement - some have reported exchanging their captivate 3 times. I think some people are just impatient and don't understand a phone is a phone and there will be some slight flaw no matter the device. You have 30 days, and you can switch but you may have to pay the $35 restock fee. I doubt the GPS excuse will work since Samsung announced they will optimize it.

For the problems, as of now, you do have to do a little modding to get the Captivate up to it's potential. You can install the leaked firmware (Jh2, i believe) and it fixes the gps a bit to where you can atleast use it until samsung officially releases it in the next month.

You can do the lag fix that many people have talked about to fix some of those problems.

If you've heard about music problems just try a different music player on the market. I like double twist better than the stock anyways.

There will be short term frustration a little bit. But I find it is offset by the gorgeous screen and android in general (notifications, widgets, wealth of google services). I can download a movie torrent and just copy it to my sd card from the computer and it just WORKS. no needing to convert to another format like iphone other other devices. If your wife doesn't want to take the time to customize her device and download apps that will help her with her everyday life, then I'd say android just isn't the phone os for her.

my wife has an iPhone 4 and she likes it because it has a bunch of "Sims" like games. That is the only reason she wanted that phone. If Android had the same game options she would go for that because she knows it can do a lot more. Everyday I show her something knew I learned on android.

For example, froyo is going to have voice commands for nearly everything (playing a song, artist, text messaging, calling[already does in 2.1], directions[already does in 2.1]). I didn't want to wait for it and there is an app that just went free called "Vlingo" that does all of this already (except the music side i think). I showed her how I can say "Text John Due message Want to grab some beers tonight?" and it auto types the message with correct punctuation and I just click send. super easy, especially if you are driving.

There's just little stuff like that, that makes Android what it is. I'd have her look into if Android is really the thing for her. The Captivate will have it's bugs fixed in due time, keep in mind though xda-developers may be the best way to do it though, as they are always modding and improving.

 

[FraGztr]

Hard to get a replacement - some have reported exchanging their captivate 3 times. I think some people are just impatient and don't understand a phone is a phone and there will be some slight flaw no matter the device. You have 30 days, and you can switch but you may have to pay the $35 restock fee. I doubt the GPS excuse will work since Samsung announced they will optimize it.

For the problems, as of now, you do have to do a little modding to get the Captivate up to it's potential. You can install the leaked firmware (Jh2, i believe) and it fixes the gps a bit to where you can atleast use it until samsung officially releases it in the next month.

You can do the lag fix that many people have talked about to fix some of those problems.

If you've heard about music problems just try a different music player on the market. I like double twist better than the stock anyways.

There will be short term frustration a little bit. But I find it is offset by the gorgeous screen and android in general (notifications, widgets, wealth of google services). I can download a movie torrent and just copy it to my sd card from the computer and it just WORKS. no needing to convert to another format like iphone other other devices. If your wife doesn't want to take the time to customize her device and download apps that will help her with her everyday life, then I'd say android just isn't the phone os for her.

my wife has an iPhone 4 and she likes it because it has a bunch of "Sims" like games. That is the only reason she wanted that phone. If Android had the same game options she would go for that because she knows it can do a lot more. Everyday I show her something knew I learned on android.

For example, froyo is going to have voice commands for nearly everything (playing a song, artist, text messaging, calling[already does in 2.1], directions[already does in 2.1]). I didn't want to wait for it and there is an app that just went free called "Vlingo" that does all of this already (except the music side i think). I showed her how I can say "Text John Due message Want to grab some beers tonight?" and it auto types the message with correct punctuation and I just click send. super easy, especially if you are driving.

There's just little stuff like that, that makes Android what it is. I'd have her look into if Android is really the thing for her. The Captivate will have it's bugs fixed in due time, keep in mind though xda-developers may be the best way to do it though, as they are always modding and improving.

Thanks for the suggestions. You said thre's a fix for the lag issues? Gonna do research about this. My wife doesnt really care about the GPS since she hardly use the GPS and we have better gps anyways. All she wants is a phone that works for texting, calling, facebooking and more texting... So I think she can live without the GPS. I just need to know how to fix the lag issue. Thanks again

 

[mongstradamus]

Thanks for the suggestions. You said thre's a fix for the lag issues? Gonna do research about this. My wife doesnt really care about the GPS since she hardly use the GPS and we have better gps anyways. All she wants is a phone that works for texting, calling, facebooking and more texting... So I think she can live without the GPS. I just need to know how to fix the lag issue. Thanks again

You can check the All Things Root subforum here i believe and they have a one step lag fix, but you will have to root your phone to apply most of the lag fixes that are out there.

 

[bigmike75]

I had a Bold before the Aria and now the Captivate. If texting is the feature your wife uses the most, I would say it's a tossup, at best, between the Cap and the Bold. The keyboard on the Bold is awesome whereas there is a little bit of a learning curve in getting used to the touchscreen. I use Swype which definitely helps speed up the typing. The one thing that I really don't care for is the lack of a trackpad cursor (similar to the trackwheel on the Bold). On the Cap, you have to use a Swype command to move the cursor, or you can tap the screen and hope it moves the cursor to where you want it. I find myself making a lot of typos, even with Swype, on the Cap, so the cursor placement is rather important to me. The Aria has a small touchpad below the screen which works great.

 

[berdo]

Well I exchanged my Captivate for another Captivate. I played with the X10 and it wasn't really that great and it was pretty thick and the store I was at didn't even have a Dell. I like this phone, and coming from the iPhone 3G it is such a fresh breath of air. Thanks for all the input.

 

[Infinite-t]

I returned my first captivate and exchanged it for another. I was ready to ditch the damn thing, but I am glad I didnt. My second one has, so far worked flawlessly, even the GPS is working for me fairly well, so far.

I have it rooted and side loaded some apps for teathering and hotspot, but havent done any of the lag fixes or firmware hacks. Ill wait for official ones before I do that since I dont seem to be having many issues. I use launcherPro and the lag is gone, plus I love setting up my own homescreens and docks and such. I am 100% happy with my second Capt.