The OFFICIAL taking back the Captivate thread

[Simba501]

Hey Simba, I see you went with the Bold. No waiting out for the Torch?

Funny thing is, when I returned the Captivate, the AT&T rep acted surprised when I said the GPS doesn't work (among other things). I was surprised. I had to tell him Samsung even released a statement. Virtually every Captivate has the same problem, and some of AT&T's employees are still oblivious to the fact. I guess because the average consumer probably won't even notice (or care) the GPS doesn't work, let alone complain about it and return the device. Oh well...

 

[Jack45]

Calling a vote to have the moderators merge all "I brought my phone back" threads into one.

Less clutter. Makes it easier to find the threads that we want to read.

Fine idea. Down the road a bit we'll start seeing a subject line that'll read:

WAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!! I returned my phone in August and now the issues I had with it were fixed! What do I do now? HELP!

 

[Slug]

Threads merged.

 

[ayz]

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.

 

[jas2k9]

Fine idea. Down the road a bit we'll start seeing a subject line that'll read:

WAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!! I returned my phone in August and now the issues I had with it were fixed! What do I do now? HELP!

Doubtful. For those - like me, who want to see the Captivate succeed or at worst more Android options on ATT, and who exchanged for an iphone 4, we will be able to sell the iphone, purchase a new Captivate (or other successful Android phone on ATT) and have enough money left over to pay for the data charges for maybe 6 months or more.

Ok, I know I am exagerating, but for most who take it back - oh and I failed to say in my initial post of the iphone stuff, that when I asked the rep at ATT - both in one of my online chats and face to face at ATT store - both said probably go iphone. Anyway, I have not read one thread that has malice in it (from those who returned phones) or where anyone wants to see the phone fail. No, every thread/post wants to see the thing succeed, and all of us feel that we are losing a potentially fun device with many great features - but those features don't outweigh the risks of being stuck with a device for 1 to 2 years that:

Has spotty GPS (on a good day)
Battery issues - temperature and available use
Mail issues
camera issues
syncing issues
text issues - both SMS and MMS
home and other button issues
and the list goes on if you read some of the posts.

And frankly chronically resetting the phone - that can't be good.

Anyway, I am not trying to fight with you or anyone else, just trying to temper the debate - so to speak.

 

[sremick]

If you run GPS Test (which you can get off the marketplace) then open up navigatino, the GPS will work fine. GPS test initials or fixes the software issue. I have tested this several times and it always works.

No it doesn't. In fact, I can use GPS Test to prove the existence of the issue, as it only displays raw GPS data and isn't just providing some vague "position" without it being clear how GPS is playing a role.

I can put the Captivate and an iPhone 3G on my passenger seat. Captivate gets no fix, 0 satellites... iPhone shows strong multi-satellite fix. Open sunroof... now Captivate gets a fix. Move both phones 2 feet onto my lap (sunroof still open), Captivate loses all satellites again, iPhone still going strong.

As for GPS I have a Garmin, so I could care less.

I believe you mean "couldn't care less".

 

[usermike]

Has anyone exchanged their Captivate because of the random turn off issues? If so did this fix it?
I can live with spotty GPS and getting locked into the camera app but I can't deal with never knowing if my phone is on or off when I pick it up.

 

[whsbuss]

Are any of you considering replacing it with the new Torch blackberry? That's my move this Thursday.

 

[AndroidForMe]

Are any of you considering replacing it with the new Torch blackberry? That's my move this Thursday.

Terrible screen, terrible OS, terrible specs. Go for it.

 

[skinien]

Are any of you considering replacing it with the new Torch blackberry? That's my move this Thursday.

There are a couple of videos (I think from crackberry.com) that have speed comparisons between Torch, iPhone4, and the Captivate. They say that the Torch is comparable to the iPhone 3G. Pretty sad to be compared to a two year old phone.

 

[whsbuss]

There are a couple of videos (I think from crackberry.com) that have speed comparisons between Torch, iPhone4, and the Captivate. They say that the Torch is comparable to the iPhone 3G. Pretty sad to be compared to a two year old phone.

I don't deal with other reviews. Played with one over the weekend for an hour. Its not the best display but it sure is a stable phone with very good battery life and a working GPS.

 

[speedfreak32]

Has anyone exchanged their Captivate because of the random turn off issues? If so did this fix it?
I can live with spotty GPS and getting locked into the camera app but I can't deal with never knowing if my phone is on or off when I pick it up.

As far as the camera locking I have noticed If you hit the power button with the camera on it will lock and a small lock icon appears. The soft keys wont work until you hit the power button again.

 

[skinien]

I don't deal with other reviews. Played with one over the weekend for an hour. Its not the best display but it sure is a stable phone with very good battery life and a working GPS.

hmmm.. not sure why you wouldn't "deal with other reviews". If I saw a video that showed three phones run the same tasks in order to compare the speed, I think that would be a useful tool. Unless you played with a Torch, iPhone 4, and Captivate all at the same time.

 

[skinien]

I don't deal with other reviews. Played with one over the weekend for an hour. Its not the best display but it sure is a stable phone with very good battery life and a working GPS.

How were you able to confirm the "very good battery life" after playing with one for an hour? Since you don't deal with other reviews, I'm wondering how you confirmed that information.

 

[razholio]

I was pretty unbiased when I bought my captivate, but left fully open the option to return it (walmart has no restock fee) should it not work out the way I wanted. Turns out I love android, and will definitely have one some day. The captivate, sadly, is not the phone for me. The GPS issue is real, but few know enough of how GPS works to test for it. I suspect the problem is hardware, and antenna based. I could never get more than 3-4 satellites to receive greater than 30% S/N *outdoors*, and would lose lock in a moving car with little success of regaining it. I noticed that while it didn't affect my calls, both wifi and wireless signals were highly susceptible to hand position and phone orientation. I have serious doubts about the antenna engineering on this phone.
Some folks are in some pretty serious denial here. They remain confident that samsung will fix the GPS issues despite the fact that samsung has made no such claim (officially). Keep in mind that the GPS issue really doesn't prevent the use of GPS for the most common uses (location-based services), and many people are convinced there is no problem! It really doesn't rear its ugly head until you try navigation or GPS tracking software. If the 'fix' is too costly for samsung, it may never happen.
edit: I am also totally disgusted with the battery. It seems that some combination of external factors and a certain degree of randomness push this battery from good performance to total suckage. I've judiciously used juiceplotter, top, advanced task killer (to see and selectively kill whats running), and netcounter to try and determine what the deal is and cannot make sense of my battery usage. Without any changes to what is running or the amount of data syncing, I can have mornings of 200KB downloaded and mornings of 16MB downloaded.
I may not be ready to go with the iphone4, but I'm certainly willing to go back to my BB Bold 9700 (which can track me perfectly *inside* my house within 3meters, btw) until a better android device comes out on ATT. Good luck to all ye faithful! PS> to the bitcher bitching about returning phone bitching: STFU and realize your self-lampooning irony circus...

 

[AndroidForMe]

I was pretty unbiased when I bought my captivate, but left fully open the option to return it (walmart has no restock fee) should it not work out the way I wanted. Turns out I love android, and will definitely have one some day. The captivate, sadly, is not the phone for me. The GPS issue is real, but few know enough of how GPS works to test for it. I suspect the problem is hardware, and antenna based. I could never get more than 3-4 satellites to receive greater than 30% S/N *outdoors*, and would lose lock in a moving car with little success of regaining it. I noticed that while it didn't affect my calls, both wifi and wireless signals were highly susceptible to hand position and phone orientation. I have serious doubts about the antenna engineering on this phone. Some folks are in some pretty serious denial here. They remain confident that samsung will fix the GPS issues despite the fact that samsung has made no such claim (officially). Keep in mind that the GPS issue really doesn't prevent the use of GPS for the most common uses (location-based services), and many people are convinced there is no problem! It really doesn't rear its ugly head until you try navigation or GPS tracking software. I may not be ready to go with the iphone4, but I'm certainly willing to go back to my BB Bold 9700 (which can track me perfectly *inside* my house within 3meters, btw) until a better android device comes out on ATT. Good luck to all ye faithful! PS> to the bitcher bitching about returning phone bitching: STFU and realize your self-lampooning irony circus...

Samsung made and official statement to CNET, so do some research before you type garbage. Do not let the door hit you on the way out, btw would you like some cheese to go with that WHINE?

 

[plummy]

Recounting my experience yesterday related to this topic:

Still within the 30 day window, I went back to a corporate store in Redmond, Washington yesterday morning to switch my captivate for a new one in the hopes a new one might have better gps and battery life. (The new device is not an improvement, btw.)

I was a bit surprised when the sales rep didn't want to make the switch and called over the store manager, who also did not want to give me a new device. Finally he did after I told him my "other option" was to take back my upgrade, go back to using my Bold, then cancel my contract. He said all the captivates have the same gps problem, and he would "hate to give me a another one that would just have the same problem." He had a point but I still wanted to try a new one to see. He also stated that Samsung was coming out with a fix in a week, declaring he heard it from "corporate." I really don't believe this, however. If I'm proven wrong --then great, we can all do the happy gps fix dance. And I'll lead!

I'm wondering if the at&t sales force is disclosing this corporate-known gps flaw to customers when selling these devices. hmmmmm.

go to the one in bell square. i originally went to the lynnwood store since it's close to my work, found out they were still on their original shipment, and decided to go to bell square on my way home from work just to see... granted, i waited for an hour before my name was called in the queue, but they're on their third shipment and the box he gave me said rev 1.1 on the side. the guy had no problems exchanging it for me and was also willing to do the gps fix on my original phone if i didn't want to deal with configuring a new phone again. but he was super helpful and pro-android as he had a nexus one as his personal phone and wasn't all hyped up over the iphone 4 and zero issues exchanging it.

Has anyone exchanged their Captivate because of the random turn off issues? If so did this fix it?
I can live with spotty GPS and getting locked into the camera app but I can't deal with never knowing if my phone is on or off when I pick it up.

random shut off is what i returned mine for. when it just sits on my desk, one minute on, the next i realize it's off, that doesn't fly with me. if it was jiggling around in my jacket or something, then i can see how it could happen. but when it just sits there not moving, no. haven't had the issue since, but it's only been a few days. this one seemed a lot slower and laggy when i first got it, but it seems to have sped back up to where it should be. gps doesn't work (at all, first one worked sometimes), and the signal indicator shows a lower reception, though i can still make calls with what appears to be no signal without having the calls break up or drop.

also, this one seems to actually adjust the screen better at night. the first one i had taken it off auto adjust and had it set to the darkest setting, but this one seems to not light up nearly as bright.

 

[Jamiepfef]

Blackberries are not meant to compete with these higher end devices by changing to become the higher end devices. Balckberry stays solid and strong, but are now starting to add more apps as well as touch screen/ qwerty combo..and if some think it's too little too late that is fine. People will continue to buy blackberries regardless. The screen you can say is not good, but of course next to a captivate or an iphone it wont stack up screen or speed. What android and apple cannot replace is the email on a blackberry and the better battery life as well as the notifying blinking button..there's just no need to knock a blackberry it's a whole different type of phone for different purposes

 

[Intervenient]

Samsung made and official statement to CNET, so do some research before you type garbage. Do not let the door hit you on the way out, btw would you like some cheese to go with that WHINE?

AndroidForMe, if you do not have anything constructive to say, please leave. You knew full well when clicking on this topic you would find posters unhappy with their phones.

 

[razholio]

Samsung made and official statement to CNET, so do some research before you type garbage. Do not let the door hit you on the way out, btw would you like some cheese to go with that WHINE?

what are you, 5yo? do you troll all the forum threads and complain about people discussing the TOPIC? your talking about this famous quote: "We are diligently evaluating the situation and will provide an update as soon as possible." , right? yeah, read that again. as has been discussed elsewhere on this forum, 'evaluating the situation and providing an update' could very well mean that samsung will come up with an update on the *situation*, like 'we have evaluated the GPS issue and found that it is working as designed'.

 

[ayz]

Blackberry is garbage for media. However, the OS6 update makes web browsing viable thanks to the webkit browser. For a messaging machine though, the blackberry is unbeatable. Email, texting, BBM, even a google talk app running 24/7. With heavy use, I still could get a full day off my blackberry (9am - 9pm) with 50% battery life left.

The media player wasn't flashy but it was easy to use and worked.

For a business/power user, blackberry is hard to beat (with a working browser now). It does what you need it to do. However, if you use your phone as a multimedia machine and a toy, then it is a bit lacking.

Obviously, it depends on the user. I am a 24 year old in business school for my MBA, so my needs are a bit different than say an IT guy who needs to be able to remotely handle things or a 16 year old who just games in class all day.

I for one will be going back to my 9700 bold for now until the iPhone4 gets here.

 

[Captivate]

im just going to say it, i am tired of people crying. yes there is a gps problem, samsung admitted it, they gave an official statement saying they will fix it, i believe they said in september.

Samsung never said they would fix it...

 

[shepx5]

J

user. error.

Typical ATT response. I see corporate trained you well.

It's very sad that ATT has no other real android options besides the Captivate.

 

[Autolysis]

It really is a shame that Samsung produced such an amazing phone, and doesn't have the desire to support it. I look at my Captivate all the time and think how sad it is that I have to take it back, because it truly is a great phone. Hopefully AT&T will get some HTC phones next year, and all my problems with Android will be fixed by then.

Good, take it back and let someone else buy it open box and be happy.

 

[MarcMaiden]

J

Typical ATT response. I see corporate trained you well.

It's very sad that ATT has no other real android options besides the Captivate.

LOL,

my post got merged from another thread so you have no idea what I was talking about.

The battery issues (which is what i was referring to) are easily user error. Live wallpaper and keeping tasks open kill the battery so fast. and most people do not cycle their batteries which also kills the battery life.

Normal wallpaper + Advanced Task Killer + Battery cylce = great battery performance.

---------

The only real problem the phone has is the GPS. Even the MMS problem sounds like it is something from ATT side.

I own one of these, I could care less if someone wanted to return them...but when a customer doesnt know how to use their phone and complains about it, that's user error.