Still contemplating

[sremick]

Captivate owner since Monday.

The lag, SMS/MMS and GPS issues are unfortunately real although not experienced by 100% of users apparently.

I can't comment on the Facebook syncing since I don't use that.

The screen is definitely glass, and since Samsung has a relationship with Corning it is believed to be Gorilla Glass:
Corning Supplies Samsung Electronics with Gorilla? Glass for Touch Screen Mobile Phones

Scratch resistant doesn't mean scratch proof. It will still scratch with enough force/abuse, just like anything else.

But my main reason for responding is the feel... it doesn't feel cheap and plasticy at all. Considering the screen is glass and the majority of the back is metal... not sure what people are comparing it to. Yes the iPhone, especially the iPhone 4, is beefier and heavier, but it has more metal... what do you expect? And we all know how all that extra metal helped out in the iPhone 4... heh. I actually prefer that the Captivate doesn't feel like a brick in my hand like the iPhone 4 does... or even the iPhone 3G. Lightness can be a virtue. It still feels plenty solid, and the Body Glove case is very sharp and sexy while still providing a great amount of protection.

And I've used iPhones plenty for comparison.

 

[Jofaba]

As soon as I finally ended up holding it, after reading all the previews, I immediately dismissed the "cheap" talk as rubbish. The phone is heavier than I was expecting. It looks/feels mostly metal and glass though I'm not sure what material the side bezel is made of; feels metal but could be treated plastic.

But with all the talk, I was expecting the phone to be unnaturally light. Like demo-unit light. It's not.

 

[Baldilocks]

Listen, you have a right to your opinion as well as I have mine. Nobody asked you for your opinion of my take on the phone.

This is a public forum. If you didn't want people to comment, you should have kept YOUR opinions to yourself.

So again, the Samsung Captivate phone feels terribly cheap.

Again, I call B.S. on you even have held one.

For those that might have commented otherwise, I would disagree that the plastic is scratch resistant. Why is phone in this class being made with plastic at all?

99% of high end phones are made of plastic. The Captivate also happens to contain some metal.

The screen may in fact be glass, yesterday I guess the screen felt like plastic because the phone was running, so it was warm/at room temperature? Today the screen is cold and it feels like it could possibly be glass. It probably is glass, but I was talking about how the phone felt, and it feels like crap.

Just proves my point that you don't now what you are talking about. The screen IS glass, always has been.

The added texture to the metal plate on the back of the phone makes it feel less like metal and more like plastic.

Again, YOUR opinion and since you made it on a PUBLIC forum, many of us are going to disagree with you.

For those who disagree with the feel of the phone, perhaps you are accustomed to lower end phones; I am not.

Again, I smell B.S. Let's see you with some of your 'high end' phones.

Another point about why the phone feels so cheap is because of the god awful placement of the home button - now try and follow me here... one must be handling the sides of the phone quite a bit to reach for and press the home button on the top right side... and just holding the phone, the border of the phone is indeed plastic. That's what you're touching the entire time you're holding the phone, is the plastic.

How often do you use the home/power button seriously? Every phone has a learning curve.

I suggest you go into another forum area instead of trolling in this one.

 

[baddress]

The screen is definitely glass, and since Samsung has a relationship with Corning it is believed to be Gorilla Glass:

Nope, it's confirmed to be regular ol' tempered glass. Gorilla is too fancy for the likes of AT&T haha.

 

[Chromag]

Nope, it's confirmed to be regular ol' tempered glass. Gorilla is too fancy for the likes of AT&T haha.

Because Gorilla Glass is so awesome?
iPhone 4 Gorilla Glass not quite so scratch-resilient after all? - SlashGear

According to Apple, the glass used in the iPhone 4 sandwich is

 

[jmreed97]

My take:

The phone doesn't feel cheep at all. I had read some of that before getting the phone and was pleasantly surprised by the high quality feel. I have had no reception problems, facebook works well, I have had no issues with SMS/MMS, and I've noticed no lag (although I'm coming from a windows phone so anything will be fast in comparison)

My only continuing problem and it is the reason I plan to return the phone if it isn't addressed by Samsung soon, is with the GPS. I have tried all the fixes and they have helped, but I continue to have difficulty getting and maintaining an accurate GPS lock (outdoors). My previous phone (Samsung Jack) had great GPS and locked very quickly and accurately (often even indoors). I use GPS daily so that is a must for my phone.

It is a otherwise great phone, and I am worried I will miss it in 25 days...

 

[Chromag]

My only continuing problem and it is the reason I plan to return the phone if it isn't addressed by Samsung soon, is with the GPS. I have tried all the fixes and they have helped, but I continue to have difficulty getting and maintaining an accurate GPS lock (outdoors). My previous phone (Samsung Jack) had great GPS and locked very quickly and accurately (often even indoors). I use GPS daily so that is a must for my phone.

I completely agree. The only problem I have with this phone is the GPS problems. When I first got the phone the GPS was fine but shortly after, it stopped locking on. Since I rooted it when I first got it, I did a factory reset before taking it back to the store. When I got there.. guess what happened! The GPS locked on just fine - so I don't think it's a problem with my phone in particular, or the GPS settings. It sounds like Samsung knows it's a problem (according to posts here) and it will be fixed soon.

 

[Jamiepfef]

I have had my phone for about 5 days, and was reading your guy's opinion on the GPS on the phone. I was wondering if it ever works at all, or sometimes? With everything I have used it with such as weather and google maps it seems pretty accurate. I just wanted to know what apps are the most troublesome for the GPS?

 

[jmreed97]

I have had my phone for about 5 days, and was reading your guy's opinion on the GPS on the phone. I was wondering if it ever works at all, or sometimes? With everything I have used it with such as weather and google maps it seems pretty accurate. I just wanted to know what apps are the most troublesome for the GPS?

Well for me weather didn't work until I used the "fix." before that I got an error that my location was unavailable. Now it works fine but weather only has to find my city. As for google maps, it is constantly losing my location and when it has my location, it shows me a block and a half away from where I actually am. That prevents it from working properly when using navigation because it thinks I am on a different street than I am actually on.

 

[Baldilocks]

I have no problems with the GPS. It always put's the blue dot right on my back porch when I am using Google Earth. (shrug).

 

[jmreed97]

I have no problems with the GPS. It always put's the blue dot right on my back porch when I am using Google Earth. (shrug).

Damn I'm jealous. But it could be worse. I could have all the issues people are having.

 

[MarcMaiden]

I am coming from an HTC Aria and let me give you my little review:

The battery life is MUCH MUCH better on this phone. Those who have bad battery life are most likely still using live wallpapers, and not using advanced task killer. I get 2 full days of battery at least.


The gps issues is one I have not had. I can get accurately located indoors no problem.
The facebook sync problem is there, but after trying over and over again it worked
I have been sending countless MMS with out a hic up
I have had no lag what so ever
The sensitivity of the bottom keys are kind of sluggish, but I got used to it.

EDIT: the issue with reception is this: I get perfect reception, but what would normally be "Full bars" shows as 3/5 bars. I am pretty sure the other 2 bars are for the 7.2 Mbt/s speeds that are not released in all areas yet. I live in the bay area and sometimes get a whisper of 4th bar, but at 3/5 bars, i get 3Mbt/s easy


overall I am exteremely happy with this phone, and feel confident that I have a future proof phone. The Aria is good for someone who is looking for a small, not a powerhouse android phone. It worked very well, but I personally needed something more.

 

[Baldilocks]

"Bars" have nothing to do with network speed. It it supposed to be a representation of signal strength in dB.

 

[MarcMaiden]

interesting, I always thought signal strength also represented speed

"Bars" have nothing to do with network speed. It it supposed to be a representation of signal strength in dB.

 

[robthecomputerguy]

As soon as I finally ended up holding it, after reading all the previews, I immediately dismissed the "cheap" talk as rubbish. The phone is heavier than I was expecting. It looks/feels mostly metal and glass though I'm not sure what material the side bezel is made of; feels metal but could be treated plastic.

But with all the talk, I was expecting the phone to be unnaturally light. Like demo-unit light. It's not.

If you take the battery out of the phone, it actually is unnaturally light... there's no heft to the manufacture of the phone.

 

[Jofaba]

Yeah, and if you remove the engine from a car I bet you and I could lift it up. So what? When exactly did light start becoming a bad thing?

 

[tekonus]

interesting, I always thought signal strength also represented speed

Get a network speed test app and try it when you have full bars... and then do it when you have one. In my experiences the speeds have been just about exactly the same.

 

[dsjr2006]

Is it supposed to do anything besides sync with my contacts and get news feed? Maybe I am missing something here?

Nope, but mine doesn't work. Maybe because I have over 800 people, but that should be a reason.

 

[robthecomputerguy]

Yeah, and if you remove the engine from a car I bet you and I could lift it up. So what? When exactly did light start becoming a bad thing?

well polycarbonate light is strong but light. Plastic light is crap.

 

[Regalicious]

polycarbonate is a type of plastic

 

[sremick]

If you take the battery out of the phone, it actually is unnaturally light... there's no heft to the manufacture of the phone.

Granted, I'll give you that. And since we're comparing to the iPhone, to make it fair and compare Apples-to-apples, just pop out the battery from the iPhone... oh, wait.

Since the iPhone is the new metric that all the iPhone fanboys are using to compare other phone's build against, the Captivate's weight without its battery is absolutely meaningless.

 

[Android_J]

Why would anyone want a heavy mobile product? The lighter a mobile phone is the better as far as I'm concerned.

A low mass phone will see low forces on a drop. A high mass phone, such as the iPhone 4 or HTC EVO, will see higher forces when dropped from the same height. Higher forces = higher chance of breaking.

Plus, who wants to have their pocket weigh down when wearing slacks or other lightweight materials with a heavy phone sloshing around?

 

[tekonus]

Why would anyone want a heavy mobile product? The lighter a mobile phone is the better as far as I'm concerned.

You, sir, are correct. I promised myself years ago after finally getting rid of my old Nextel i530 (the big black indestructible rubber brick) that I'd try to never get a phone that thick and heavy again.

 

[ecb]

Ive been furiously contemplating switching from the Htc aria that I got a week ago to the captivate.

So far this is what Im lookin at:

pros:

Super Amoled Screen
Swipe
Better gaming
better movies
better battery life

Cons:

Issues with MMS-big problem for me
Issues with gps- which i dont use anyway
Issues with synching with facebook- dont like that...
Issues with laggyness-
Not so great reception
A little bit larger than I'd like



Man I just dont know. Cant decide. I hope they will fix these issues most seem like they are software issues that could be fixed.

Also does anyone know if theres a clock/weather widget like on the Aria, that shows weather affects when you wake it? I know its just a gimmick, but its makes the phone more exciting when I turn it on and clouds float by, or lighnting strikes or when the wipers clear the raindrops off the screen. lol

I really like the HTC sense, but I love the super amoled screen

I can't speak to the MMS issues because I use Google Voice, but there have been enough mentions on this forum to make me believe it's a legit issue

Regarding all your other concerns, they are all issues I am having (to some degree) on my Captivate.

I'm not sure if the antenna issues will affect reception in a weak ATT area, but there is an issue with antenna degradation when the bottom of the phone is obscured (for me's it's quite a dramatic drop from about -81 to -97 but I still get good data speeds and I have not dropped a call yet)

There is a GPS fix floating around, but I'm still not thrilled with the GPS accuracy. Both the iPhone4 and the Nexus One have me spot on inside my house, while the Captivate is off by as much as 50 or so feet. The only time I need a high level of accuracy is when I'm using the navigation features (and the phone will not be in a building) so I'm not too concerned, but the accuracy does appear to be less than the iPhone4 and Nexus One

There is a fair amount of lag opening applications and a large amount of lag when using the spotlight search (pressing the magnifying glass button and searching for a contact/app on the phone)

Facebook sync is not very good. I had to shut down my WIFI connection in order to add my Facebook account (via the Accounts/Sync option in Settings) and it took me about 5 times of adding and deleting the Facebook account before my contacts sync's (I would get a failure message indicating that the Facebook sync was not currently available) I've never had an issue syncing Facebook with another Android phone

Battery life is average to good for an Android phone and I happen to think the size is perfect . It can be easily used in one hand and the size makes typing a breeze compared to any other phone i've used.

The super AMLOED screen is amazing and games play great on the phone. Browsing the internet is wonderful due to the screen and size

Short of the antenna issue (which may or may not affect actual usage) all the issues I've found are software related and can be fixed via an upgrade. That being said, the TouchWiz layer on top of Android is pretty poor. There are one or two nice features (the once i like the best is the ability to toggle WIFI, Bluetooth and Vibrate from the Notifications menu) but you'll be disappointed coming from HTC Sense.

I'm on the fence about keeping this phone. It has great hardware, but the software holds it back. All may be fixed when Froyo hits in a few months, but I'm just surprised that some of these software issues (the lag in particular) are present on a flagship phone