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Sorting it all out

Infinite-t

Android Enthusiast
Jul 23, 2010
412
74
Hi, Im new here and new to the Android phone (captivate).

I am coming from the iPhone camp and got the Captivate to replace my old iPhone 3g. So i am used to, and spoiled by the mindless simplicity of using it.

I have spent all most all day, every day since monday, when I got this thing trying to get it to work how I want it to work.

The phone came with a HORRIBLE "user guide" that was 5 pages long and show you really only how to put the battery in, and make a simple call. The 140pg PDF one i found on line was still of little help, and samsung support is just rediculous.

It seems pretty crappy to me to expect the user to have to do so much second hand research to use their product.

1. Kies is garbage, I havent been able to get it to work. When it finally did detect the phone, it said it need a new driver and it has been at "installing driver 0%" for 3 days,

I tried double twist, which is really quirky, but finally got music on my phone, but had to create playlists via the phone as it ignored the ones I made in doubletwist... During the syncing, the phone would randomly connect/disconnect over and over and over, finally it went thru.. Is there any better way to get music on the phone.

The GPS is worthless. I tried the reconfiguring thing I found on this forum, and still doesnt work.

Even using app killer to keep apps closed the phone is running SLOW, slower than my old 3g, this thing is supposed to be screaming fast... I must be doing something wrong.

The reception is poor, but no dropped calls yet.

Is there a way to make this thing voice dial? that is a huge let down.

I really wanted to like this phone and be able to use it the way I did my old iP 3g, but so far this thing has been a huge hassle and a BIG dissapointment. I am || this close to taking it back.

Everything was so simple and seemless with the iPhone, just plug it in and go.

Any other android noobs out there gone thru this same thing? If so I would really like some advice on getting this thing to work propperly.

I know I may get some crap from the android $up3r133ts, so feel free, But I am a reasonably smart person with a college education, a degree in electrical engineering, and build computers as a hobby, so I am no bumb***, (dispite my bad spelling) just new and very frustrated with this silly hunk of plastic. Any advice would be great!

Thanks.
 
Honestly, you might be best going back to the iPhone. If you're not into figuring things out and just want the simplistic approach, then probably no Android phone is for you.
Either way, I think that if you spend $200+ on anything, it should be an enjoyable experience. I don't mind the hurdles to use this device, as the only real one has been the battery. I've had none of the GPS problems and such as some have. I rooted it within a day and was the first to find the AT&T startup sound location - I just love tinkering with it. If you don't, it's back to iPhone's walled garden for you :)
 
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Infinite - t,

I am in the EXACT same boat as you and feel the same way. I had my iPhone 3g and moved to this and I'm having an awful time adjusting. I feel like I was spoiled with Apple and moving to the Captivate was, in some ways, taking a huge step back. And dont get me wrong, there are a few things that I love about this device (the screen, notifications). I consider myself a tinkerer as well, but the issues I'm having definitely pass the threshold my patience has when tinkering with new gadgets. I'm having ALL of the problems you mentioned, as well as battery drainage like crazy when I'm not even running anything. Along with that, I use my phone as a reliable (hopefully) alarm clock. I started a thread about this but the snooze on this phone, simply put, does not work. This is a huge let down as I dont feel safe setting an alarm on this thing to wake me in the morning.

I wanted to like Android, but it appears Samsung (and partly AT&T) has let me down with this one. Im a huge fan of them (including AT&T, I've never really had a bad experience with them), I have a nice computer monitor and tv that are samsung, but this phone isn't going to cut it. For the same price, i could get the new iphone that actually functions the way Im used to. My dad has it and has not had any issues with it like you see over the internet.

In no way am I bashing Android. My best friend has the incredible and absolutely loves it and Android. The Incredible is a sleek, fast phone and I think Android is def giving Apple a run for its money. But making the transition for me has been very difficult. I even went as far as thinking about downgrading to the Aria... >.<
 
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Well, I would love to figure it out, but the bigest problem is getting it to interface with my computer. I Have spent 4 days tinkering with it, i dont need to hack it or anything, i just want the damn thing to work. I can do very little with it if it wont connect to my computer and the software provided (sort of) doesnt work.

I wouldnt mind tinkering with it and doin stuff with it, if I could get it to work first...
 
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Threads like this scare me as I'm struggling to decide to go Captivate or with iPhone 4. I'm thinking I'm gonna get the captivate and if I can't deal with it, I'll return it for the iPhone 4.

Dude, do yourself a huge favor, go with the iPhone 4. My wife did and loves it. Best of all, she plugged it in to her computer, clicked a few buttons, 20 minuts later, she was off. It seems to run the same apps alot quicker, the batter lasts pretty long in comparison, the camera flash is good, has voice dial, more apps, more accessories, more support...

Here I sit 4 days after buying it, still cant get it to reliably connect to my PC. Samsung support was no help. The GPS isnt working, it is running slow, and i am here asking a bunch of strangers for help..
 
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Captivate is also my first android phone and i am coming from the iPhone 3G. I had GPS problems as well but messing around with settings fixed it for me. Some people return the phone for a new one because of GPS and the new ones work. If you return it for a new one maybe you won't have the same battery issues. As for the clock make sure that task killer is ignoring the clock app because killing all the process will mess up the clock. Do you have widgets open that maybe syncing and using data hourly? or apps constantly using gps? If your GPS is not working and you have a widget that is based on your location then it will constantly be looking for a signal which drains the crap out of the battery.

As for me, there is no way in hell i'm going back to the iphone. The pros and future potential of this phone outweigh the cons by a lot. As soon as development picks up this phone is going to be a beast

EDIT: You don't really need any programs to connect the captivate. Just connect it to pc and mount sd card and you can drag and drop movies, music, and whatever you want just make sure they go into the right folders. As for Kies, there is no official release for the captivate, the kies you are using is for the i9000
 
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Hey Inifinite-t,

I find myself in a very similar position, as I too moved over from the 3g. I've had the same difficulties with the phone not mounting as storage device, my GPS kinda worked once when I enabled Skyhook fix - has not since. I really really don't want to go back to the Iphone 3g, or 4 for that matter, but overall, I would say the Galaxy-S is on par with Packard Bell, for those unlucky enough to work on one :~/

For those who might interpret this post negatively, please tell me what the purpose of having a smartphone is, if it's applications cannot use location services.

PS the power button on the side is getting on my last nerve as well. At least have something on the front that can wake it up.
 
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Hey Inifinite-t,


For those who might interpret this post negatively, please tell me what the purpose of having a smartphone is, if it's applications cannot use location services.

I agree, this wasnt intended to be a negative post, it was an ask for help. Since Samsung support has not been able to help me. I Still cannot get my phone to connect to my computer reliably, it connects and disconnects repeatedly and randomly, nothing anyone has suggested has helped.. yet.

Since there seems to be a handful of folks sucessfully and happily using it, how did you get to that point?

I agree with the dude who said it has a lot of potential, but i need it to work in the mean time.. and it isnt.
 
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EDIT: You don't really need any programs to connect the captivate. Just connect it to pc and mount sd card and you can drag and drop movies, music, and whatever you want just make sure they go into the right folders. As for Kies, there is no official release for the captivate, the kies you are using is for the i9000

Even w/o Keis, I plug the phone into the computer. It connects, I mount it, i disconnects, then re connects, then disconnects, then reconnects, etc. Every now and then it stays connected long enough that a window pops up and says it want to "fix" my mass storage memory.. in the middle of that, it disconnects.
 
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Mugzee18, if you miss pushing the home button then maybe you should go back to the iphone (not being rude). If this thing had a home button on the front to wake it up it would be too similar to it lol.

Infinite-t, when you connect the mini usb to the phone are you sliding the usb door all the way back until it clicks? there is a point where you slide it back and it stops then you have to really push it and it should go farther and click, that makes it sit in the usb slot better
 
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Just a couple comments from a fellow engineer, infinite-t:
With your USB connection, are you plugging directly into the backplane usb connector on your motherboard? I've tried for a week (yes I got mine early) to connect to my work computer and finally I saw a post today where someone said it wouldn't work in the FRONT usb connectors, only the back. I had been trying to connect to a USB Hub all along. Once I plugged into the back, it connected flawlessly. Drag down your notification bar, tap/hold the USB connection, then select "mount" to mount your phone so it shows up in mass storage mode, and you're good to go.

Basically I look at it this way: Android can be SOOOO much more than iphone EVER will be. It's just a matter of whether you have the patience to wait for people to figure things out. There are several things I'm "unhappy" about (I had the gps problem also) and I'd still really like to see an app so I can make "rules" in email and have it alert different tones depending on the senders' addresses. I'd also like to see the FM radio work.

I came from Windows Mobile, but someone figured a way to load android OS on my WinMo phone, and from then on I was hooked. I bought the Captivate and love it. Sure it takes some getting used to, and sure it's not the PERFECT phone, but I don't think such a thing exists :D

Are you willing to be patient and let the folks who write apps and develop this infrastructure do their jobs? Or do you want it to work the best it ever will work out of the box? If you pick the latter, go back to iphone.

Meanwhile I've got some capacitors and resistors to go sort ;)
 
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Infinite-t, when you connect the mini usb to the phone are you sliding the usb door all the way back until it clicks? there is a point where you slide it back and it stops then you have to really push it and it should go farther and click, that makes it sit in the usb slot better

Yea dude, its not an issue with the cable being loose, both ends are fully and firmly connected.
 
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Yes there is.... hit the voice search app, or hold down the search key. and say "Call (name)" You can also use it to voice search google or say "navigate to (address or name of place)
That doesnt seem to be working, at least for me, If i tap the voice search and say for example, "call dave" it will google search dave.
 
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If you're not into figuring things out and just want the simplistic approach, then probably no Android phone is for you.

I think that's an inaccurate assessment of Android. To be a useful product, Android needs to work well and with minimal hassle. And for the most part, devices running Android do work very well. Clearly, Samsung has some problems with their device. But I'm willing to work though it, and hopefully Samsung fixes things soon.
 
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Just a couple comments from a fellow engineer, infinite-t:
With your USB connection, are you plugging directly into the backplane usb connector on your motherboard? I've tried for a week (yes I got mine early) to connect to my work computer and finally I saw a post today where someone said it wouldn't work in the FRONT usb connectors, only the back. I had been trying to connect to a USB Hub all along. Once I plugged into the back, it connected flawlessly. Drag down your notification bar, tap/hold the USB connection, then select "mount" to mount your phone so it shows up in mass storage mode, and you're good to go.

Are you willing to be patient and let the folks who write apps and develop this infrastructure do their jobs? Or do you want it to work the best it ever will work out of the box? If you pick the latter, go back to iphone.

Meanwhile I've got some capacitors and resistors to go sort ;)

Yea bro, at this point i have tried every USB port on my PC, front back, side, the ports on a hub, the KB, everywhere, same prob.

As for letting people develop some awesome stuff for it, sure, hells ya, go for it. But in the mean time, I would like to have a phone that works for the stuff I need/want to do on a daily basis, like locate me on a map, alow me to put music, and video on it, allow me to use fuctions i need with out waiting forever, (The mobile banking for example SLOW!!), and last an 8 hour work day before I have to charge it, and tell it to call someone so I can leagaly use my blue tooth while driving.. hand free isnt really hands free if i have to use my hands to ulock, tap, dial, etc. So far, this thing isnt doing that.
 
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Are you willing to be patient and let the folks who write apps and develop this infrastructure do their jobs? Or do you want it to work the best it ever will work out of the box? If you pick the latter, go back to iphone.

thats what i feel about the whole thing, pretty much summed up. im confident that with some patience, Samsung will get everything sorted out with these phones - and everything THEY cant fix, the geniuses between here, Android Central, and XDA will be able to polish everything else up.... lets not forget that Samsung hasnt launched the CDMA versions of this device, so ill give them some leeway to do that, and THEN theyll have to ante up when it comes to consumer satisfaction.
 
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Sis, but that's ok :) Have you tried removing your ext sd card and then trying? Someone said they were having probs and ended up being a bad sd card. Doubt that's your problem, just asking. I don't do the voice commands so I can't help you there. I tried the gps thing too, and then opened google maps and just left it open for like 5 minutes while I was outside. It locked up and *knock on wood* it works now. Haven't tried mobile banking, the whole thought of that scares me. :(
Good luck in whatever direction you want to go in! I'm going to stick it out with the captivate and see what happens.
 
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Sis, but that's ok.

Lol ok, thanks sis, I am really hoping that I can get this figured out.

Some of the other posters aren't seeming to realize that I am willing to let Devs work on things and make some cool features and tweeks but right now i need at least some minimal functions, music,video, and basic appery, which isnt happening ATM.

One work around i found for the USB problem is take the SD card out of the phone, put the card in my PC and put stuff on it, and put it back in the phone. I have had some success with that, but it is a hassle and sometimes the phone freaks out after doin that (and yes, i turn it off before removing the card and before reinserting it).
 
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Infinite-t, when you connect the mini usb to the phone are you sliding the usb door all the way back until it clicks? there is a point where you slide it back and it stops then you have to really push it and it should go farther and click, that makes it sit in the usb slot better

I was about to take a hammer to mine I was so frustrated with getting the stupid thing to connect. I tried this and it works like a charm. THANKS!
 
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Yes there is.... hit the voice search app, or hold down the search key. and say "Call (name)" You can also use it to voice search google or say "navigate to (address or name of place)

I'd never tried this because my car has its built in voice command thing. But I tried it just now with my captivate and infinite-t is right. When I hold the search button down and say "call john doe" it gives me a web google search list of results for "call john doe" It doesn't actually go to the contact list, find john doe, and call him.

I'm using launcher pro. Trying not to threadjack, but how DOES the voice part work?

Edit: found this - some have luck, some don't. WTF?
http://forums.wireless.att.com/t5/Samsung/No-Voice-Dial-on-Samsung-Captivate/m-p/1979912

Edit2: I found this comment in another thread: "Turns out that if your contacts are in Google GMail then you should have no trouble voice dialing with the Google Voice Search."

Infinite-t care to try a voice contact that's in your gmail and seeing if that works.
 
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