The three strengths of Android

[ZDroid1]

Three things Android phones have that the iPhone does not have:

1) Widgets
2) Live wallpapers
3) Customizability

I haven't tested any other Androids, but on my Captivate, all three fail, in varying degrees.

Most of the widgets and live wallpapers that I've used drain my battery like you wouldn't believe, and AT&T/Samsung crippled the phone with uninstallable perpetually-running crapware and homescreen, and a somewhat censored market. Widgets and live wallpapers also turn my phone into a Powerpoint slide show instead of a fluid experience.

Root you say? Flash and hack?

Well, to make it fair, we could hack the iPhone too and get all the listed benefits.

I am hereby renaming it: the iDroid.

Yes, out of the box, the Captivate beats the iPhone in the three ways listed above, but alas, it falls short of its real potential on all three fronts.

As it is, I don't use widgets or live wallpapers due to the reasons I mentioned. LauncherPro is great but Touchwiz is still running in the background.

 

[kidsavior]

Three things Android phones have that the iPhone does not have:

1) Widgets
2) Live wallpapers
3) Customizability

I haven't tested any other Androids, but on my Captivate, all three fail, in varying degrees.

Most of the widgets and live wallpapers that I've used drain my battery like you wouldn't believe, and AT&T/Samsung crippled the phone with uninstallable perpetually-running crapware and homescreen, and a somewhat censored market. Widgets and live wallpapers also turn my phone into a Powerpoint slide show instead of a fluid experience.

Root you say? Flash and hack?

Well, to make it fair, we could hack the iPhone too and get all the listed benefits.

I am hereby renaming it: the iDroid.

Yes, out of the box, the Captivate beats the iPhone in the three ways listed above, but alas, it falls short of its real potential on all three fronts.

As it is, I don't use widgets or live wallpapers due to the reasons I mentioned. LauncherPro is great but Touchwiz is still running in the background.

I guess I'm one of the lucky ones. I use widgets AND Live Wallpapers all the time. My phone gets about 12+14 hours of battery life and I've never really had a chance to do the "Drain it completly 3 Times" thing. And thats plenty of battery life for me. As long as it lasts through the day I'm good.

I love this phone and have had none of the problems everyone else talks about. Of course it is my first Smartphone so maybe I just don't know what to expect. My GPS works fine (or it least it has the times I've tried it), I have no noticable lag and I'm happy with my Battery Life.

This phone is great. I wish everyone else had the same experience as I have had with it.

 

[Grut]

I guess I'm one of the lucky ones. I use widgets AND Live Wallpapers all the time. My phone gets about 12+14 hours of battery life and I've never really had a chance to do the "Drain it completly 3 Times" thing. And thats plenty of battery life for me. As long as it lasts through the day I'm good.

I love this phone and have had none of the problems everyone else talks about. Of course it is my first Smartphone so maybe I just don't know what to expect. My GPS works fine (or it least it has the times I've tried it), I have no noticable lag and I'm happy with my Battery Life.

This phone is great. I wish everyone else had the same experience as I have had with it.

I'm in the same boat. I've had nothing but a great experience so far with my Captivate. No issues after 3 months. LOVE IT!!!

 

[SlappyMcgee]

I use live wall paper, and widgets and I average about 14 -16 hrs before plugging my phone in again. When I plug it in to charge I am normally at about 40-50%


Edit: just wanted to add that using live wallpapers does drain the battery faster but thats understandable since you are working the gpu more then if you just had a normal wall paper.

 

[Boldt]

I rarely use live wallpapers but I use many widgets. I get usually 15 hours before I have to charge. I am usually around 40-45 percent before I charge it for the night...

 

[ZDroid1]

Any one of you uses LauncherPro?

I'm just trying to understand why my battery drains so fast. I mean I unplug it in the morning and I just read my email and the news, and it's like down to 90% before leaving the house (if not worse). And I'm like: WTF? Come to think of it, it's down to 99% mere seconds after I unplug it.

To be accurate, I am running two widgets: WeatherBug (notification area only) and Battery Indicator (notification area only), with a one-homescreen LauncherPro and a plain blue non-live wallpaper.

I unplugged it at 8:00AM, and now (four hours later), it's down to 69%. I hardly used it after reading my email and the news this morning (about 30 minutes).

As far as live wallpapers, forget it. I push the power button and swipe the lock screen, and it just freezes for a second or two before taking me to the homescreen. I just gave up on live wallpapers (not that they're essential, so it's not a big deal).

 

[Big Pope Daddy]

I had an iPhone 3G, jailbroke it and loved what I could do, but my battery life was just horrible when I did as well. I had lockinfo, which was great and all, but it must have been sucking the battery dry. Life got better when I took it back to stock, but I was still not getting even a days use out of it.

I will let you know how the captivate is....once it gets here....lol!!!! Dang UPS!!

 

[sremick]

IPhone Comparison - CapFAQ

 

[reinbeau]

I use Launcherpro, live wallpaper, and widgets, and I'll go all day without having to charge - I did get Juice Defender, and that seems to have made a big difference. I'll try to get back here and state when I have to charge again - it was 100% this morning.

 

[RedRyno]

I use live wallpapers to get chicks...

 

[SlappyMcgee]

I have noticed the biggest battery impact is when I plug it in but do not allow it to fully charge. Like plug it in for an hr then unplug to start using again. When this occurs I have found that powering off all the way then allowing it to fully charge helps. Otherwise I will see results like ZDroid1. Unplug it after charging and battery is already showing 98% (using Quick Settings to view battery %)

If things get real bad, and the battery seems to drain quickly through out the day, then I will drain it until it dies then allow it to fully charge overnight. Last time I did this (about 2 or 3 weeks ago) After the full drain / full charge I was at 63% after 16hrs of being unplugged. And I will average that until I plug it in to charge and then unplug before it is finished charging.

 

[xnoctis93]

I use live wallpapers to get chicks...

lmao

 

[sob33316]

i guess i'm one of the lucky ones. I use widgets and live wallpapers all the time. My phone gets about 12+14 hours of battery life and i've never really had a chance to do the "drain it completly 3 times" thing. And thats plenty of battery life for me. As long as it lasts through the day i'm good.

I love this phone and have had none of the problems everyone else talks about. Of course it is my first smartphone so maybe i just don't know what to expect. My gps works fine (or it least it has the times i've tried it), i have no noticable lag and i'm happy with my battery life.

This phone is great. I wish everyone else had the same experience as i have had with it.

ditto!!

 

[cmt074]

What live wallpapers are you using that turn your Captivate into a slide show? I've tried lots of different live wallpapers and none of them have slowed down the experience at all. My phone is completely stock (not rooted or lag fixed).

 

[ZDroid1]

What live wallpapers are you using that turn your Captivate into a slide show? I've tried lots of different live wallpapers and none of them have slowed down the experience at all. My phone is completely stock (not rooted or lag fixed).

I used a bunch of the live wallpapers already included with the Captivate. Some of them actually froze completely while the phone homescreen continued to function as usual, until I turned the screen off and on.

 

[nybmx]

Try an app like spare parts to see what is using up your battery. Also my battery drains extremely fast (~5-10% an hour) when connected to wifi. This is extremely disappointing as others claim it should be the exact opposite.
I think one thing that should be on there as a pro for android is the dev community. The amount of custom roms and tweaks that get released for these phones is unreal. Now I know you can technically put that under your customization strength, but I feel that it deserves its own category.

 

[CriticalCritic]

...and AT&T/Samsung...

There's your problem right there sir. You're drivin' on 2 flat tires.

It is a combination of:

1- The Worst of the big 3 carriers in treatment of Android devices (Verizon, Sprint, & ATT)
and
2- The Worst of the big 3 developers in treatment of Android devices (Motorola, HTC, & Samsung)



The other carriers are pushing Android to compete with the iphone demand (and of course b/c it's the best OS in town, but getting back on topic...), and it seems that ATT is only providing Android to keep from losing customers to those carriers that are pushing Android. Plus, ATT is Apple's whipping boy, so their Android phone is not going to be a significant flagship device that demands high-end developer support. So your best bet is to just go iPhone if you are with ATT.

If you want Android, go somewhere else. And avoid Samsung IMO they have an incredibly poor track record for not supporting their devices, compared to the other developers, after release.


This is all my opinion, and you can take it or leave it... but I do feel strongly about it.

 

[Bob Maxey]

I use live wallpapers to get chicks...

I use Live Chicks to get really tiny eggs for really small omlets.

 

[Bob Maxey]

I have noticed the biggest battery impact is when I plug it in but do not allow it to fully charge. Like plug it in for an hr then unplug to start using again. When this occurs I have found that powering off all the way then allowing it to fully charge helps. Otherwise I will see results like ZDroid1. Unplug it after charging and battery is already showing 98% (using Quick Settings to view battery %)

If things get real bad, and the battery seems to drain quickly through out the day, then I will drain it until it dies then allow it to fully charge overnight. Last time I did this (about 2 or 3 weeks ago) After the full drain / full charge I was at 63% after 16hrs of being unplugged. And I will average that until I plug it in to charge and then unplug before it is finished charging.

IMHO, very few people seem to understand why batteries last a long time in one device, not so long in another. Why I get good battery life and an EVO owner doesn't, is a difficult question to answer. I suppose the hardware makes a big difference; my Zio and someone else's EVO might have comparable life and another owner, with a different brand, might experience greater or worse life because the hardware is always an important part of the discussion.

I asked Mr. Google about batteries, and he provides plenty of links to sites that contradict each other. Everyone means well and does his or her best to help, but three different answers to the same question does not help.

There are experts on this list that do not seem to agree with the experts Mr. Google introduces me to, and there are plenty of sites that do agree. I no longer really care about the how, the what, and the why; I simply got over how cool my Zio is and the availability to all kinds of information I do not really need on my phone, and I decided it is a work phone and I'll save web surfing for the laptop. My battery has gone two days without the need to charge it.

I do not use WiFi or Bluetooth so I turned those things off. I turned off almost everything until I need it. Essentially, I have a cellphone and that's that.

I think the battery issue is a hot topic and everyone has an opinion.

My problem is this: when i surf the web looking for useful information and I am presented with hundreds of different ideas, the web ceases to be of value and one simply needs to use common sense and hope for the best.

My Two Cents,
Bob Maxey