How I learned to like the iphone or

[bentroxell]

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.

http://androidforums.com/samsung-captivate/139238-why-i-returned-my-captivate-iphone-4-a.html

 

[jas2k9]

I promised updates - good or bad:

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.

 

[Dimcorner]

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.

 

[getDange]

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??

 

[jas2k9]

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.

 

[sremick]

When you get an iPhone, you get Apple's phone.

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.

 

[jas2k9]

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.

 

[Dimcorner]

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.

 

[MikeyMike01]

I'm mad when things DON'T have Drag and Drop...

I wouldn't use iTunes if you paid me. It's awful.

 

[RCPD Rookie]

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?

 

[Chromag]

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.

 

[kidsavior]

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

 

[jas2k9]

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

 

[bdiddy619]

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

 

[jas2k9]

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.

 

[kidsavior]

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

 

[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]

"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.

Anyway, I could risk such a gamble.

 

[ayz]

Exactly.

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.

 

[qwertyaas]

Some good posts in the thread, including the OP.

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.

If only ATT carried more Android phones...

 

[gr4v3r]

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.

 

[phkowboy]

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.

 

[Autolysis]

I have literally none of those problems except for the gps issue.

How hot does the phone get? I was playing quake 3 last night for over anhour and the phone temperature was only slightly elevated.

 

[jas2k9]

I have literally none of those problems except for the gps issue.

How hot does the phone get? I was playing quake 3 last night for over anhour and the phone temperature was only slightly elevated.

Hot enough that it can cause some discomfort (won't burn - I assume, but I didn't hold onto it at that point).

Hot enough that when I put it in my shirt pocket I could feel it on my chest.

And finally, hot enough that when I placed it in my daughter's palm she pulled her hand away and was not amused.

It had happened on multiple occasions - so I don't fee it was isolated.

 

[Autolysis]

Hot enough that it can cause some discomfort (won't burn - I assume, but I didn't hold onto it at that point).

Hot enough that when I put it in my shirt pocket I could feel it on my chest.

And finally, hot enough that when I placed it in my daughter's palm she pulled her hand away and was not amused.

It had happened on multiple occasions - so I don't fee it was isolated.

I would try to exchange it man. My phone barely gets warm.