Captivate vs Windows Phone 7

[3gAndroid]

OK so I'm a couple of days ahead of the announcement, but I wanted to hear from the Captivate Community on the topic of Windows Phone 7.

There's been a lot of coverage, plenty of videos on YouTube, so we have a pretty good idea of what the first units will be like.

Are you seriously considering making a switch? Or adding one into your present mix of devices?

If so why?

If not why?

Your choice aside, how do you see Windows Phone 7 doing in general?

Cheers...

 

[melll]

I think the WinMo 7 is a nice phone but not worth switching from my Vibrant.

Now, if I did not currently have a smartphone, then I would get the 7 over any Android based phone out there.

Mainly for 2 reasons.

Its something new, and I am always willing to try something new.

It looks pretty good software, OS and hardware wise.

And I think it will sell really well for sure.

 

[LeRolls]

I'm only jealous of the XBOX Live integration and being able to play XBLA games on the phone other than that I would totally pick the Android (specifically the Captivate) over Windows Mobile 7 even if I had it to do all over again.

 

[xxbrysonxx]

I haven't been keeping up to snuff on any of the Windows Phone 7 announcements. I remember reading a while back that it didn't support true multitasking and that was one of the deciding factors for me to dive in to Android.

Windows Phone 7 does look sleek and stylish, but I don't foresee myself purchasing a Windows Phone 7 phone in the immediate future (or possibly ever). I'm completely satisfied with Android at the moment (granted, I've only had the phone for 3 or 4 weeks, but I am still learning new tricks daily).

 

[reinbeau]

I'm happy to stay with Android and the Captivate. Plus I don't much care for Mr. Gates these days

 

[RedRyno]

I still having nightmares from 6.1 so I'm cool...

 

[carmendiva]

Oh i ddnt know they had a thread for this

I love Android just becasue of the diversity of all the devices i have owned from Droid 1st gen and Eris/ero to the incredible & Droid x, the xperia, evo, and captivate)

To date, I'd say the Droid X was the best Android phone i have owned.

But if we are talking Captivate Vs Windows 7...From what i have seen, the UI is lovely and something refreshingly new and i like the integration with Xbox & Zune.

Like i read somewhere, it seems that Apple is stuck in it's ways and not really looking to change or evolve(not much anyway) and Android is pass alpha and now into beta stage

But finally from the looks of it, Windows seems to actually be something that could potentially be a game changer and i certainly will jump ship...Unless, At & t comes out with a hot new phone(which i doubt)

 

[chaoscentral]

Unless, At & t comes out with a hot new phone(which i doubt)

Guess it's lucky then they will be the biggest WP7 player at launch lol

 

[3gAndroid]

I'm very happy with my Captivate. Android suits me well and is only getting better. Getting in at just the right time I'll truly appreciate the upgrades & improvements as time goes by. It's going to be fun going forward as there are so many handset makers that competition will make the phones even better. Combine that with the greatly improved and advanced OS as it matures, and you have a very interesting platform to be involved with.

Windows Phone 7? I'm sure it will have some substance due to Microsoft learning from past mistakes, and their near unlimited budget. However I don't care for the "tiles" concept, of the OS. Also unless something dramatic has happened within the Redmond compound, I just don't see any excitement to be had.

 

[emuneee]

I'm not considering the first iteration of Windows Phone 7. I would lose too much functionality going from Android to Windows Phone 7. Maybe this time next year I'll entertain WP7 as an option.

 

[sob33316]

I just got off win mo 6.5. I am very happy with android and would have to see huge changes. That being said, i have heard great things about winmo7. I don't see myself making the change though.

 

[m.e.]

WP7 (based on current rumors)

1) has no OEM bloatware (there will be some OEM apps, but MS requires them to be removable)
2) no Samsung screw-ups, like the braindamaged file system and barely-working GPS - core software comes from MS
3) MS provides OS updates, I would not have to wait several months while Samsung and ATT adulterate the Froyo before releasing it - when update is ready, it is ready for all phones

of course, I'll wait and see if these rumors are true.

The downside is it will probably be tightly locked, so no root-level access. But I mostly need it now to fight ATT bloatware and Samsung failures with GPS and file system - if the phone works out of the box, I can live without root.

 

[tylerdurdin]

I here by vow to stand and to never stray from Android until its death. I will not kneel Windows.

 

[CrimsonPride]

i actually thought about holding off for wp7 when i got the captivate but when i was looking there were just too many negatives, i dont know if they have changed at all. at one time they said wp7 wouldnt have multitasking, i dont know if thats still true but if so then that is just terrible. also, while i am a huge windows fan and use alot of integrable, but i didnt like the way they were integrated and i didnt like the layout of the os either. but its been a long time since i checked up on it so it may have changed

 

[sremick]

To repeat my post from the other thread:

Microsoft is constantly "me too!" in every industry, late to the game and just trying to win via bullying, bundling and brand-recognition... and not based on features, reliability or innovation.

How many people choose a Zune over an iPod?

Windows on a phone is an abomination. Microsoft's broken design methodology and software school-of-thought needs to remain quarantined on the PC desktop where hopefully it can eventually rot away and die from natural selection. We need to use cell phones as an opportunity to break free and have a clean new slate where a better model can grow and develop.

 

[carmendiva]

To a certain extent aren't all these OS
kind of me too...

With Amoled from Samsung, Apple now has retina to compete with this

Video chat was first announced on the iphone 4(in america) i believe yet you now see in a short time both the Evo and Epic have it

i believe all manufacturers are all in that "me too" mindset you speak of

It's something fresh and if marketed correctly, i really truly believe they have a great future ahead of them

 

[Android_J]

Plus I don't much care for Mr. Gates these days

Why, because he spends his time giving away billions of dollars to charity? I don't see Jobs or the Google twins doing this.

As far as I can tell, WP7 will be better than Android right out of the gate. Everything points to a more polished interface and smoother operation. Android is close to awful. Laggy, buggy and missing polish. Android apps are in the same boat. Force close this, force close that, lockups, reboots, etc. Who cares if there's 20 messaging apps if they all suck and the best one (Handcent) is essentially an iOS ripoff? Customizing the phone is overrated. Functionality trumps all and Android leaves a lot to be desired in overall usage and polish.

The only question is hardware specs from the various vendors. Obviously I would *never* consider a Samsung WP7 phone after the Captivate/Galaxy S debacle. I will wait to see what HTC has in store for WP7.

If it wasn't for the iPhone 4 fiasco I would have never tried Android. Glad I had a chance to see for myself though. My conclusion is it's nowhere near as good as iOS. Hell, it's nowhere near as good as Palm's webOS in overall polish.

 

[chaoscentral]

Why, because he spends his time giving away billions of dollars to charity? I don't see Jobs or the Google twins doing this.

As far as I can tell, WP7 will be better than Android right out of the gate. Everything points to a more polished interface and smoother operation. Android is close to awful. Laggy, buggy and missing polish. Android apps are in the same boat. Force close this, force close that, lockups, reboots, etc. Who cares if there's 20 messaging apps if they all suck and the best one (Handcent) is essentially an iOS ripoff? Customizing the phone is overrated. Functionality trumps all and Android leaves a lot to be desired in overall usage and polish.

The only question is hardware specs from the various vendors. Obviously I would *never* consider a Samsung WP7 phone after the Captivate/Galaxy S debacle. I will wait to see what HTC has in store for WP7.

If it wasn't for the iPhone 4 fiasco I would have never tried Android. Glad I had a chance to see for myself though. My conclusion is it's nowhere near as good as iOS. Hell, it's nowhere near as good as Palm's webOS in overall polish.

Well from what I've heard the first set of WP7 devices will be more or less the same aside from a few features like a keyboard or screensize, minimum specs though are I believe 3.7" with an 480x800 resolution, 1GHz CPU, 5MP camera with LED Flash(all WP7 phones will have a flash ) with HD Video Recording, dedicated camera button, minimum of 8GB of built in storage(they will support external SD cards with a catch, more on that below)

On the whole SD card thing, WP7 devices will support an external SD card, HOWEVER it will be below the battery, and it actually gets treated as part of the inernal memory. It is formatted so that only the device you use it on can recognize it, and it can't be put into a another device unless you format it. I'm OK with this, sure it won't allow sideloading, but I'll give that up for the ability to have a REAL mp3 player on my phone. So if you have 8GB built in, and put in a 16GB card, the device will show up as 24GB total instead of a seperate 8+16

I'm psyched for WP7, and will be getting a device without a doubt.

 

[3gAndroid]

When I read posts about how "bad" Android is, especially when compared to another OS that's been out for years and well debugged it makes me realize how little so many people know about Android. Being the young OS it is, I find it quite good. Yet to be fair, if I didn't have years of first hand experience with other phones l would not be so quick to recognize the present value & potential for future excellence.

 

[carmendiva]

I partially agree with Android_J

It seems like he has displeasure for Android and I like Android
but it really feels like it is still is in it's baby stage...

To me android is all about Excellent Hardware and Average/Below average OS and UI
and for now, i can deal with that because honestly, Android phones have the best hardware on phones

but i have to give software to Webos...I just love it and would still have it but their hardware is so 5 years ago lol haha

And IOS is like people say...Great for people who are just learning about smartphones but even it lacks the polish of webos

Windows 7 from the looks seems to be great out of the gate from the videos i have seen but again, things are not always as great as they appear

 

[xnoctis93]

Why, because he spends his time giving away billions of dollars to charity? I don't see Jobs or the Google twins doing this.

As far as I can tell, WP7 will be better than Android right out of the gate. Everything points to a more polished interface and smoother operation. Android is close to awful. Laggy, buggy and missing polish. Android apps are in the same boat. Force close this, force close that, lockups, reboots, etc. Who cares if there's 20 messaging apps if they all suck and the best one (Handcent) is essentially an iOS ripoff? Customizing the phone is overrated. Functionality trumps all and Android leaves a lot to be desired in overall usage and polish.

The only question is hardware specs from the various vendors. Obviously I would *never* consider a Samsung WP7 phone after the Captivate/Galaxy S debacle. I will wait to see what HTC has in store for WP7.

If it wasn't for the iPhone 4 fiasco I would have never tried Android. Glad I had a chance to see for myself though. My conclusion is it's nowhere near as good as iOS. Hell, it's nowhere near as good as Palm's webOS in overall polish.

i know it's your opinion..but I wouldn't go as far as calling android "close to awful". I rarely ever force quit any applications, or reboot. Like others have said, android is a growing OS with excellent hardware and tremendous potential. You may not care about customizing your phone, but there are 1000's of peoples out there who love the ability to have control over their operating system. something you might want to keep in mind..

 

[Android_J]

When I read posts about how "bad" Android is, especially when compared to another OS that's been out for years and well debugged it makes me realize how little so many people know about Android. Being the young OS it is, I find it quite good. Yet to be fair, if I didn't have years of first hand experience with other phones l would not be so quick to recognize the present value & potential for future excellence.

I don't see how this matters. As an end user, it is not one's job care how young an OS is. If Google were giving the phones away for free or at a significant discount then it would make sense. At the same price for Android phones vs other smartphones it makes no sense to Google and their hardware partners a free pass.

iOS was very polished out of the gate. It had missing features, but the features it had worked and worked well. webOS was a ground up, brand new OS and that ran great from the start as well. WP7 is essentially a brand new, ground up OS. I am willing to bet that it will run better than Android 2.1. So the excuse of being a young OS does not really hold water.

Google doesn't seem to want to provide a *great* user experience. They just need to provide a *good enough* user experience. Their money maker isn't in making software or hardware. Their money maker is in data mining people and selling ads. They rush out code to introduce new features with apparent disregard to UI experience. For example, why does the new Google Maps have a giant control panel up on top? It takes away valuable screen space, especially in landscape mode.

Here's another example of lacking polish: http://androidforums.com/samsung-epic-4g/188726-issue-3434-audio-latency.html And another issue is no GPU acceleration. Only 16bit colors in the gallery? Plenty of other issues the deeper you dig.

Hardware is nothing without good code. There *should* be no reason that my Captivate with a 1GHz processor lags, yet it does. Meanwhile the iPhone is buttery smooth with a slower CPU. And having a slower CPU enables it to have a better battery life. Talk about a double whammy.

The devil is in the details. Difference between Porsche and Corvette, CD vs MP3, tailored suit vs off the rack, etc. etc.

 

[3gAndroid]

I wouldn't go as far as calling android "close to awful". I rarely ever force quit any applications, or reboot.

When it comes to my day to day Android ver 2.1 experience with my Captivate, it's been fun, fast & stable. Granted I've spent some time optimizing it, and setting it up to my liking. The result of that work has been very rewarding. In fact I'm so happy with the results I'm giving serious thoughts to skipping Froyo, since my present needs are being nicely met with Eclair.

I'm going to wait for Gingerbread and hopefully an HTC Desire HD from AT&T.

 

[3gAndroid]

I don't see how this matters. As an end user, it is not one's job care how young an OS is.

The point is loud & clear. You love Apple & MS. You hate Google. Got it.

 

[Android_J]

The point is loud & clear. You love Apple & MS. You hate Google. Got it.

So you make a thread about Captivate vs WP7, can't handle the comments relating to the subject and resort to attacking the poster. Got it.

Hating Google has nothing to do with it. Unlike some people, I don't connect my self worth to a product. I posted facts such as no GPU acceleration, audio latency issues and color depth issues with Android (and this isn't even counting the lousy harware such as our very own Captivate). These are objective issues. Care to debate them?

Care to explain why having no GPU acceleration is a good thing? Is built-in lag on the screen a good feature? Poor quality gaming with no GPU acceleration a good feature? Lousy media syncing a good feature? Or is this just a "rah rah, Android is the greatest" thread with no basis in reality?