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 – no camera, no texts, just phone – weird huh?
Ok. I call ATT, and bottom line, they say I can’t qualify for a iphone (my first choice, based solely on the little I know, having had assorted ipods over the years. They claim I can’t get one, but I can get a Samsung Captivate, I am apprehensive, but with all the discussion here I agree to it. They mail it on 22nd, I receive it on 26th – so I have already lost a week of tinker time – I am not amused by this. First thing I do, charge it up (per instruction), get a data plan, etc etc. When it’s ready I text my wife (she was on travel to Pilwaukee, yes with a P) for business. It went out fine, but every message back from her comes from a non-existant – or at least not the right area code. As a partially deaf guy, texting, while my main communication tool is important, so I can’t be shifting gears every time I need to contact/text her. After hours on the online chats with Samsung and ATT, followed by level 2 (I think it is) support at Samsung (total time about 2+ hours), the only solution – and they claim only a maybe is reset, lose everything I have done, and reset – so after all that time and all the time downloading apps, and customizing and mounting the sd card, and whatever for the computer for music and blah, blah,blah. Erase it all and start over – more hours lost – LUCKY ME! I do it, it works and after several more hours, I have the phone the way I want it again – and all is right with the world – I LOVE THE PHONE – well, as much as one can like a phone – see, I am no technodorkgeek kinda person. I like tech stuff, but well whatever.
The screen is magnificent, everything about is now good, SWYPE is the best input tool ever on earth forever – it’s the krispy kreme of junk food for inputting into the phone or any other touch pad device – did I say I like it. I. LIKE. IT. So, the screen and Swype, and a few really cool other things I have found and I am happy.
Then the battery or the processor maybe, begins to overheat – regularly, to the point where holding the phone is not comfortable. I think maybe it’s isolated, but it happens repeatedly over the course of a few days. The battery also does not hold a charge well – I go from total drain to total charge – and the drain total in about 10 to 12 hours – long before I would normally ‘turn it off for the night.’
Then the GPS starts to fritz out. It works, it does not work, it sees me, it sees me on roads that I don’t even know exist and tries to get me to the roads I am actually on. It locks me on and works great, it takes 5 to 30+ minutes to lock on, it’s a real crapshoot as to will it or won’t it work. Someone indicated that I ought to stay away for just that reason, but stupid me, I did not worry about it – but you need GPS to find stuff (as well as directions) when you go places. Restaurants, gas, whatever.
I won’t go into too much detail on music – it worked fine, after a few hours, maybe I chose the wrong app for it, I used ISync, it did, but only after a lot of work – mounting and unmounting and other stuff. Why it appears that these devices can’t/won’t/don’t function like itunes/ipods – I have no idea. Plug it in and go away, come back and find all your music, apps and photos (that’s all I have) and be happy.
There were a couple other smaller things – like apps running in the background that eat into my data plan use – not good, but I was learning.
Now all this aside, I was ready to send it back for a REPLACEMENT Captivate, NOT an IPHONE. Then I do more research all the stuff I have wrong, a lot of other people have wrong too – so I begin to wonder is my phone defective or is it not ready for prime time, or maybe is Android not ready for prime time (I think the former moreso than the latter – with some reservation - see itunes syncing as a example – but that’s more app than OS – but couldn’t it be part of the OS – makes sense to this user).
Ok, I decide I want to try an iphone – never had one before – never had a smartphone before, infact most of my phones have been downright pretty freaking stupid. After a lot of talking and whatever, I got one 16GB model – price same as the Captivate. I will certainly take it back too if this stuff continues.
But, after last night where I had to download a crapload of new itunes OS/SW and the newer 4.0.1 OS too, it’s ready to do, I have crapload of apps, I have all my music, all my photos – never did figure out how to get them on the Captivate – on the iphone I did not have to figure it out.
What I know so far. The Androids do and can do a lot of cool stuff – most of which I don’t care about, and a lot of which I would not have used – not soon anyway. I think based on my trial that the Captivate is a good phone that has a lot of bugs and sadly, Samsung knew it and sent it out for us anyway (because evidently all the problems existed in the Euro version and it came out a month sooner). So, I was expected to just stay the course, stick it out and hope that Samsung and ATT would make it right – I have no doubt they will, but when? And with what OS and what phone? Maybe Froyo? Maybe Gingerbread, Maybe whatever is next after that? And what about the hardware – my research tells me a lot of companies find it easier to just send out new products rather than fix the issues that people have with the phones. So, I might have a bad phone for 18 to 24 mos and no real options? Not good. Oh, and I may certainly have similar issues with an iphone – but the differences I think – reside in the fact that the iphone has already been through of these issues and resolved most of them – over the models and years. The 3gs – from what I have read is still a great phone.
I, my wife, and my 2 daughters have tried in different locations to create/replicate the grip of death – Can’t do it. I know it exists but I think (hunch time) that it’s mostly in overused areas and rural areas. Oddly enough I did see some deathgrip issues with the Captivate – that is, I saw my bars go down – and it was repeatable at times based on how I held it – I NEVER LOST A CALL THOUGH – and so far I have not lost a single call with iphone either – infact, I can’t recall the last time I did lose a call – I know I did from time to time with the last razr, but that’s a while back – and very very sporadic.
Anyway, that’s my story. Thanks for watching.
Last words:
I am not, nor will I start, saying that the iphone is a better product or that ATT is a great wireless company, nor that Samsung is good or bad.
I do think iOS is more mature than Android, and it helps, I also think that the hardware on the Android side is fantastic. I expect that as the 2 OSs get even closer (maybe 12 to 18 mos from now) it will force Mr. Stevie to really change it up, open up the Apps market, and make his iphones about 4.25" that - to me is the optimum size - some will like them larger and some smaller, but for those you use the phone as a phone it'll be a good size. A normal phone has about 5.25" between the center of the mouth and ear pieces, I think something around 5" inches in a cell phone would be right - and it would allow for a larger screen than the current iphones have.
One more post script - sorry it's just how the memory works.
Battery, I am presently at 79% on the iphone, have done about 1 hour on GPS, constantly on for blue tooth, about 20 minutes of games and bout 25 texts and 10 minutes surfing. The phone has been on for 8 hours. Same deal on my Captivate and I am under 50%.
GPS, locks on and is dead on accurate in 5 seconds - have used it/played with it 3 times.
All my music, apps and photos synced up as they should have, no mounting no nothing - just load up the lastest itunes s/w and the newest iOS (4.0.1) and let them communicate.
It's still early and I will have a week with this one - it's no where near as flashy and the graphics and lack of swype make me miss the Captivate already - should I develop a host of new issues with this phone I would look at the Captivate again - or whatever other Android phone ATT has the time.
I think they are close - Android and iphone - not close enough yet, but in 12 to 18 mos - WOW, it could be a whole new world.
I will not be one of these people who wants to convert people - I am not trying to rub anyone's nose in anything, and I may yet return to Captivate and Android land - I promised another person here that I would share information good AND bad as I saw it and as it applied to me and my experiences - and I will do that.
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.
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
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.
Last edited by jas2k9; August 5th, 2010 at 03:27 PM.
Reason: Clarity
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.
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’t work as they should. E-mail, battery, GPS, two way sync with a PC/MAC and the list goes on.… just simple tasks you expect your smart phone to perform flawlessly or perform better at this advanced stage of smart phones. As a SW/HW company you have to provide solutions to your clientele and not have them scour the net for support/solutions.
That's the root cause of the problem and not the learning curve.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
"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.
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.
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.
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.
The Following User Says Thank You to nmoline For This Useful Post:
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.
Last edited by MikeyMike01; August 5th, 2010 at 09:57 PM.
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?
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.
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.
One would think that faulty GPS would not be one of these issues.
To the OP: My thread might sound very similar to your experience.
1. GPS is remarkable, I work in one of the largest oldest office buildings in the DC area. I got a clear and accurate lock in the basement cafeteria.
2. Do NOT like that apps frequently cost money - even though many are 'only' $.99, it's the principle of the thing - same/similar apps on Android are often free.
3. I would certainly like more customization - but that is a tradeoff - it was a known going into this.
4. I find some games very slow on the iphone compared to their ipod touch counterpart - and I have no idea why that is - these are not really graphical intensive - but, it's another 'thing.'
5. Still have had no dropped calls and still have not replicated the death grip - giving up on that. Both the Captivate and this iphone get good signals in my office - my razrs (the last 2) were never able to get a signal at my desk.
6. I keep the phone on bluetooth all day, and it's never on ring. When I receive a call or message - it vibrates - as I set it up to do, when I send a message though it chimes (or something) in my hearing aids - not something I set it up to do - not a big deal but again a 'thing.'
7. Battery life day 1 out of the box - as they say, on day one:
blue tooth all day
games about 90 minutes
wifi about 90 minutes
calls about 30 minutes
music about 60 minutes
surfing maybe 45 minutes
texting about 75 messages (we had a power outage here - due to storms) I seldom send or receive that many.
Other fiddling around with it - maybe 20 minutes, and kids played with it for about 20 minutes as well.
Phone overall was on from about 730AM to about 1030 PM - battery claimed to have 34% remaining - again this was on day one.
Good luck to all, I think (as it seems many here did), I will use this as a learning experience, and just use/enjoy the device for the contract term, then - assuming that both the Android OS and hardware have matured - I can very VERY easily see myself getting one.
I can say this much (with only about 2 days on iphone), if the Captivate had worked properly, GPS, etc, and if the interface for music and photos had been what I will call seamless (or more ipod like), I would NEVER EVER have switched - period, would not have done it.
I have a 3gs for the last 2 years and got the Captivate about a week after release from AT&T online. I haven't had a GPS problem, works fine in the car and with the navigation (without the cellphone tower use for GPS enabled).
My wife now has the iPhone and I had to sit down and teach her how to work a few things on the phone (such as messaging and how to write/delete emails, etc). I can't even imagine how I would explain to her how to use the Droid. She does say that the screen on the Cappy looks much better and all the widgets are cool. She keeps asking me, "Can you get that on the iPhone?" (fancy widget, moving backgrounds).
One thing that is loads better with the iPhone is synching up media. I don't have a problem with drag and drop, but it's just one extra step I rather not take if it's possible. Setup iTunes with playlist and done, it uploads it or you can play the list in the PC. Too many steps for the Cappy OR too slow with the program (I tried one and it took FOREVER to scan the iTunes library).
So in conclusion, it is definitely easier and simpler to use the iPhone, which is not a knock on it because it works for the most part and it has a bucket load of apps. The Cappy advantage is that you can customize just about anything on the phone relatively easy, however it does take someone who is comfortable with more detailed instructions and extra steps.
7. Battery life day 1 out of the box - as they say, on day one:
blue tooth all day
games about 90 minutes
wifi about 90 minutes
calls about 30 minutes
music about 60 minutes
surfing maybe 45 minutes
texting about 75 messages (we had a power outage here - due to storms) I seldom send or receive that many.
Other fiddling around with it - maybe 20 minutes, and kids played with it for about 20 minutes as well.
Phone overall was on from about 730AM to about 1030 PM - battery claimed to have 34% remaining - again this was on day one.
first of all I want to apologize if my tone sounded harsh or offensive. I am not against anyone and do not like fighting
Now to the post I just quoted: I gather this one day was a work day. And you spent about 4-5 hours exclusively playing with the phone??
Yes it was a work day, and I started my office day at about 0900 and left at 1630 - after a power failure. that is 7.5 hours and my timesheet will back that up - should you want to take a look! I am not worried and I know you were kidding.
When you get an Android phone, you get your own phone.
This. What the iPhone does, it (usually) does well. The problem is, what "it does" is an artificially-restricted subset of what a lot of people would like to do. It's the "walled garden"... you can have a blast playing with the pretty things that are there, as long as you're content with what few pretty things you're allowed to have, and being told how you may and may not play with them.
Android does more. Android does... well, just about anything you want it to do. It's quite powerful... but with great power comes great responsibility. Because there's customizing, you will be expected to delve into places with lots of options on the chance you don't like the defaults. This intimidates people, but to many of us, choice is better than no choice.
Some people just simply aren't suited for Android. Some people are iPhone people... either because of the inherent way they are, or because they've become victim to market and social conditioning. It's a simple test:
Do you see your "phone" as a phone that can sort of do other stuff?
Do you see your "phone" as a media player that can also be used as a phone?
Do you see your "phone" as a handheld device to use when you're not near a computer?
When it comes to media (music, photos, videos), are you of the "synchronizing" or the "copy" school of thought?
The answers to these questions determine what platform is best for any given person.
See, your frustrations getting pictures on your Captivate baffles me. I'm of the "copying" school... and getting pictures (or anything else) onto my Captivate is as easy as copying a file from one folder to another. Nothing could be easier, and it Just Works. iTunes struggles with that concept, especially when it doesn't like the type of file I want to put on the iPhone.
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I see, so it's implied that I am not an Android person because I don't want to take time to mount and umount and copy and paste and drag etc, pictures (or whatever else)?
Is it really that simple?
If you go back and read the first post in this thread - you would see that while I like/prefer/want (put whatever word here you want) that ipod like feel when I connect it to the computer for syncing - it was and is not mandatory.
However all the other things are.
Some are hardware related some may not be - heck maybe all are S/W related - but it really does not matter.
When I spend a lot of money on a product and it does not work as advertised I takle it back.
It seems nearly everyone here is saying, it's still good (and it is, I agree), they'll fix it (and maybe they will, but I am not willing to chance it).
As I said after my week the Captivate and Android, it's just not mature enough yet - for me.
As to the iphone - it does everything I want/need, there are certainly things I wish it did differently, but it does do them - honestly, I don't need a fancy widget that looks like a digital clock from the 70s or an icon that tells me it's sunny on the main screen - I might like to have it, but I don't need it, I can get that information. I don't fiddle and play and brag on my phone - I use it for music, for calls, for internet, and for GPS (when I need to). All the rest is packaging and entertainment. And that is true for all these devices - I am not picking one side over the other except for the fact that one is working better than the other (at this time).
In 12 mos (as another poster suggested), with 2 or 3 new OS updates, and maybe 12 or more new phone options, I could/might easily sell my iphone for $400 (judging by Craiglist on used 3GS') and buy a new Android phone.
But right now, today, ATT does not offer one I want, other than the Captivate, and it is not ready for primetime (for me and my wants needs). I have not, am not and will not say it's a bad product, it's not - it's a fine product and so too is the iphone.
Walled garden - or whatever other fun terms - I am no fan of Apple nor Jobs, but I am also not brainwashed by either side - it all good, to me.
Yeah I don't agree with the copy vs synch comparison. Synch just works better because it just works with about 99% of what I need to move around and it takes less time to do it. What is wrong with that? Sure there is an odd ball here and there, but I can just as easily spend a bit of time converting the file to something that will synch, then not have to worry about it again. With the copy mentality, I have to manually do it every time. With synch, I only worry about it on files that don't work, and even then it's just a one time fix.
Otherwise I do agree that the iPhone is very restricted and do agree with the rest of your points. It's not a negative thing to be a iPhone person vs a Droid person. One is not better than the other in all instances. My wife is more an iPhone person, she doesn't like to tinker and just wants things to work. I do my own work on stuff (pull engine out of my car, build my computer at home from scratch, etc) and I don't mind the tinkering. My wife would LOVE to have all the cool stuff that my Cappy has, but she admits she wouldn't like it in real life because of all the extra steps and precautions she would have to take. She just doesn't want to deal with it and there is nothing wrong with that.
And if my GPS and battery would suck the big one I would take it back as well, but I haven't experienced these problems yet with my phone. I can get locks inside my bathroom (no windows, apartment) without the wireless fix and my battery is at 73% after an 8 hour day at work with the Wifi on all the time.
Last edited by Dimcorner; August 6th, 2010 at 04:30 PM.
I'm test driving the iphone 4 right now, basically if it doesn't drop calls, I'll keep it. But, I'm pretty sure this will be the last iPhone I own. I'm not realy a fan of Apple- I've always been a PC guy and even was rocking the Zune back when I used to carry a seperate media device. I hate the fact that I can't change the battery myself. I envy the ability to put google listen on a phone and have it automatically download my podcasts without having to sync with a computer. And I think black turtlenecks with jeans is a stupid look.
The Captivate was very, very enticing, but in my research (much of which was reading these forums) there were enough things people were complaining about for me to decide that I would wait. Nothing major, but enough small things that I'm going sit out this round of android goodness. My next phone will definitely be my first android phone, though. Also, if the iphone 4 drops calls during my 30 day trial (which it hasn't so far, but I've only had it a short time) I'll kick it to the curb and probably get the Captivate, because it seems to be the only real option on AT&T right now.
PS- even if I don't go android right now, can I still stick around these forums and experience android vicariously through you guys?
I have a crazy question about these types of threads. Why post them? If you are that happy with your iPhone - Congrats. Why bother coming to a Captivate forum to post about how much you love your iPhone? I'm sure there are plenty of iPhone forums out there for that.
Right from the start I want to just say I mean absolutely no disrespect to the original poster. In fact I have read and enjoyed all of posts and find them well written and insightful. I have been semi lurking on these boards for a couple of weeks now. I don’t currently own a Captivate, I plan on getting one, but my upgrade doesn’t come around until October and while AT&T has graciously offered me an early upgrade I would have to purchase directly through them, and having gone that route before don’t want to do it again.
Now I have read all the threads about the problems and issues folks are having with their brand new phones. Some seem to have nothing but problems and others have no problems what so ever. Some seem to think that the problems are universal to the Captivate and others say the problems are just a few phones, perhaps all from a single launch day batch. I honestly don’t know. Now what I think is that Samsung, with its Galaxy S series of phones has set itself an extremely ambitious task. They set out to take on the King of the Smartphone’s, the iPhone. Not only that but they are rolling out a phone on just about every major carrier in the USA. That is a mammoth task. And the Captivate is THE very first such phone to launch. And it is suffering from Samsungs eagerness to get the phone out. Of course there are issues. Eventually Samsung and AT&T will work them out. Both companies, especially Samsung have too much riding on this not too. Will it be next week? Probably not. Will it be soon enough for some? Nope! I have to agree that in a perfect world Samsung would have worked out all the kinks before releasing a flagship phone, but we all know that’s not the way the corporate world works these days. Why pay all that money for testing when you can release the product, sell it to your customers and let THEM do all the testing for you, and have them PAY to do it.
But one thing I have gotten from these forums and everything I have read, and learned is that everyone needs to pick whatever phone or device or two cans connected by a piece of string that works for them. I will end up with a Captivate; I’m already in love with the phone. I have looked and drooled over the iPhone 4, but it just isn’t me. I hope by the time I purchase that most of the bugs are worked out, but if they aren’t I will still buy. But I will do so with my eyes wide open and grateful for everyone that went ahead of me and was gracious enough to share their experiences, good and bad with me.
To the last 2 posters. I wrote the original post not to say one was better, that is not my plan - I am not attached to a phone or a TV or a car or whatever. I was asked to share my experiences with the swap. Keep in mind several things. Nearly everyone I read that says I won't GO BACK to an iphone - well me, I NEVER had one before. Both of these are my first smart phone. All I ask that that what I get is relatively easy to use and that it works as advertised - so to speak.
I have said numerous times, I am not locked into one or the other, and I am not a fanyboy of either. I prefer Swype and I prefer the Captivate size and screen, but it fails in other areas.
I prefer the ease of use of the iphone - but, I have only had it for 2+ days, yet in those days the things I use it for all work as advertised.
I have suggested that both Samsung and Android may be a bit behind the power curve but clearly are catching up, and when I think they do, I'd no problem whatsoever switching over, but I don't feel they are there yet - and ATT does not offer any other phones that meet both my wants and needs.
In NO way am I suggesting to others what is better, what to buy, or anyting else - and I see that I have veered that way a few times, for that I apologize, but the threads that I have referred to this way were close to inflamatory, or so I took them to be. Inferring that only intelligent people could us Android (for example).
Look for me, life's too short to fight over a phone - but maybe there is someone out that who is like, getting something for the first time if so, maybe (BIG MAYBE) they can read this and make a decision that bests suits them - that is (and remains) my goal - nothing more.
And as to why I came and posted this - I came here as a Captivate owner, and wanted to learn more and maybe see if my phone was bad or if I was doing something wrong - my first iphone post (this thread) was oh 25 or 30 posts into my 'history' here. Unlike some others I never came here intending to end up using an iphone.
Best of luck - to all in whatever they select. If I may, one question for anyone who has read this far....it seems that no one (other than me?) is into this phone Captivate as a pure rookie (like me). It appears that every single person using the Captivate was either using some other smart phone on Android (or whatever Blackberry uses for OS) or from iphone. So, I ask you other than the customization is there something truly unique? And if you were (or are) a rookie (like me) how did you arrive at this phone? Maybe whoever does reply to this request can start it in a new thread?
i have one question. im surprised no one here has talked about jailbreaking an iphone? i for one have both units(captivate and iphone 4) and if you jailbreak an iphone it performs almost the exact same as an android phone. its open, not locked down to apple restrictions. i even have the android lock on my iphone 4 lol
I cannot speak for others - but at this time - still not 100% decided if I will keep my iphone, I don't plan to jailbreak it, or root the Captivate, should I elect to return to that phone.
To the last 2 posters. I wrote the original post not to say one was better, that is not my plan - I am not attached to a phone or a TV or a car or whatever. I was asked to share my experiences with the swap. Keep in mind several things. Nearly everyone I read that says I won't GO BACK to an iphone - well me, I NEVER had one before. Both of these are my first smart phone. All I ask that that what I get is relatively easy to use and that it works as advertised - so to speak.
I have said numerous times, I am not locked into one or the other, and I am not a fanyboy of either. I prefer Swype and I prefer the Captivate size and screen, but it fails in other areas.
I prefer the ease of use of the iphone - but, I have only had it for 2+ days, yet in those days the things I use it for all work as advertised.
I have suggested that both Samsung and Android may be a bit behind the power curve but clearly are catching up, and when I think they do, I'd no problem whatsoever switching over, but I don't feel they are there yet - and ATT does not offer any other phones that meet both my wants and needs.
In NO way am I suggesting to others what is better, what to buy, or anyting else - and I see that I have veered that way a few times, for that I apologize, but the threads that I have referred to this way were close to inflamatory, or so I took them to be. Inferring that only intelligent people could us Android (for example).
Look for me, life's too short to fight over a phone - but maybe there is someone out that who is like, getting something for the first time if so, maybe (BIG MAYBE) they can read this and make a decision that bests suits them - that is (and remains) my goal - nothing more.
And as to why I came and posted this - I came here as a Captivate owner, and wanted to learn more and maybe see if my phone was bad or if I was doing something wrong - my first iphone post (this thread) was oh 25 or 30 posts into my 'history' here. Unlike some others I never came here intending to end up using an iphone.
Best of luck - to all in whatever they select. If I may, one question for anyone who has read this far....it seems that no one (other than me?) is into this phone Captivate as a pure rookie (like me). It appears that every single person using the Captivate was either using some other smart phone on Android (or whatever Blackberry uses for OS) or from iphone. So, I ask you other than the customization is there something truly unique? And if you were (or are) a rookie (like me) how did you arrive at this phone? Maybe whoever does reply to this request can start it in a new thread?
Cheers
I apologize if somehow my post gave the impression I was reacting negatively to your posts. I totally agree with your decision to find the phone that works best for you. My comments were directed more at the idea that seems to be lingering around these forums that the problems and issues surrounding the Captivate are somehow new. I find it strange that a large portion of seemingly intelligent, resourceful people are SHOCKED that a Multi-Billion dollar company like Samsung would release something only partially ready. That’s just the way business is done these days. And those of us who love to jump on the band wagon early take the brunt of the abuse.
Everyone else with two brain cells to rub together (like my Wife, damn her no interest in cool gadgets hide) sit back and wait a month or two for all the bugs to be worked out and for the price to drop to something more reasonable AND then makes their purchase.
Of course the iPhone is going to do things well. It’s on its 4th generation (hell maybe 5th?) Apple has had YEARS to work out the kinks. Yes there are even more kinks with the newest iPhone, but what works works well.
The Captivate is fresh out of the gate, if it sticks around until there is the Captivate IV, then we can really complain if the GPS still doesn’t work.
I also turned my Captivate back in for an iPhone 4. Reasons:
1. I also have spotty GPS issues.
2. The battery is OK, but is spotty. I spend most of my days texting, checking email, and having some internet use. The battery will get to 50% in 4 hours one day and last 80% the other. I check my battery usage and the vast majority (60%-70%) is on the display. This is with screen brightness all the way down.
3. Gmail integration is great, but the default mail application is complete dogshit.
4. Somehow Samsung decided to leave out the option to sync only my contacts, not all contacts. No, I don't need the "show contacts with phone numbers" workaround because I have email contacts without phone numbers I wish to retain. When I first synced up my phone, it pulled every single person I ever emailed into my address book. After cleaning it out, it still adds every person I emailed to my address book. Unfortunately I tend to update numbers/emails and add people frequently so I wish to keep it constantly synced to gmail, but that simply won't work here.
5. Colors. Who's bright idea was it to make everything in Android customizable except font sizes and colors, and more importantly, make the SMS theme with pacman colors? The default mail application isn't much better. Also, I don't see the point in having a 4" screen when everything uses 24 point font, so a line of text takes up 1/5 of the screen anyways.
There's a lot of things right about android (the notification system, google googles, google talk application, 720 video camera, the integration of all apps into contacts and google), but there's just enough broken with it to make me want to return it. 90% of my phone usage is texting and email, and when those basic features are inferior to the iphone 4's, then i'm going to switch.
Android customization is nice but I also don't want to have to play with my phone all day to get it set up to something usable. Yeah, linux is great, but it's also too much of a hassle to use on a regular basis.
Sure, maybe this will all get fixed in September by samsung and with Froyo 2.2. However, I'm not willing to roll the dice on being stuck with the phone as it currently is.
Another key factor in my decision is availability and resale value. A NIB captivate sells on ebay for around $400. A mostly new iphone4 fetches $600+ easy, so if android 2.2 does come out and the captivate becomes awesome, I can always sell my iphone and get the captivate.
"Android customization is nice but I also don't want to have to play with my phone all day to get it set up to something usable. Yeah, linux is great, but it's also too much of a hassle to use on a regular basis.
Sure, maybe this will all get fixed in September by samsung and with Froyo 2.2. However, I'm not willing to roll the dice on being stuck with the phone as it currently is."
These are things that weighed heavily in my exchange as well. I know that many (it appear all former users) don't care for Apple, and that's fine, maybe I can become one of them - but all of them had the Apple product for years it seems, in order to formulate that opinion - and all because they could not spend hours customizing or because they used itunes (I have used itunes on NON-phone items for years- flawlessly - make no mistake, my family are PC people, 5 laptops 1 desktop), I am no fanboy.
I have used PCs for years, and even used Linux for a bit. I haven't had anything apple except an ipod for a long time.
Now I have a macbook pro (bootcamping OSX and Win7) because nobody makes a better physically constructed laptop. And I am switching to the iphone because it just WORKS. It's not the most customizable, but a phone is not something I want to spend hours tweaking to get just right.
Right now I'm on the fence between the iPhone and Captivate. I prefer an Android phone as I am not much of a fan of Apple (I dislike iTunes, I prefer to have a more Customize-able product...). Something other than issues that is throwing me off the Captivate as well - Samsung's track record with support (although with a release as big as this over all major carriers - if they don't support it they are really shooting themselves in the foot).
However, the issue is not the learning curve of the Captivate. The issue is some features are broken. GPS and Battery among others. That is a pretty big deal to many people. And as Jas mentioned, being able to sell the iPhone even a year after release for a significant amount is indeed a great perk (one that will pay for a large chunk of a full priced Anroid if need be).
As for myself, I think I will still get a Captivate and try it to see if the phone has the issues seen by some users here. If not, great. If the issues are there, I will opt for an iPhone.
I have had an iphone since first gen including the iphone 4 and am so happy to say I returned it and grabbed the captivate. The issue here is based on personal preference. For me I love being on these forums and finding out new cool stuff my phone can do or what is in the makes of being developed. This isn't for everyone and I completely understand why. Some people like to muck around with cool tech and others just want to own cool tech. The iPhone is an amazing phone but in my opinion it becomes very stale if u like tinkering. My captivate does everything the iPhone does and more but I would never have known that if I didn't spend so much time lurking. What it comes down to is that I would recommend the iPhone to some of my friends and I would recommend the Captivate to others. (My parents and little sister the iPhone and my geek friends the Android) Sorry I needed ONE smerky remark.
I came from the BB camp so was used to easy trouble free sync. Never owned an Android or Iphone (my son has an Itouch) before but when it was time for an upgrade, I chose the Captivate over the Iphone4. The first week has been interesting discovering all that it can do and some things that it doesnt do well. I too have had non-working GPS (despite several hours of troubleshooting) but my battery life has been excellent. Back to sync - I have not been able to get the Kies interface to work. I think that it is a noble first try from Samsung but I have concluded (as mentioned in a previous post) that the combination of hardware and software is not mature enough yet IMO. I too am on the fence whether to get the Iphone4 because I find myself jumping back and forth between the "easy customization" and "just works" schools of thought. Maybe a few years ago, I would have been more willing to spend the time it takes to work through the inevitable issues but the scale seems to be tipping toward the Iphone.
The Samsung Captivate is AT&T's version of the Samsung Galaxy S, marking Samsung's first strong push into high-end Android territory. The manufacturer simultaneously launched the Galaxy S on every major American carrier, each reta... Read More
How I learned to like the iphone or
