Tell me how much you love your Captivate!

[hotrod4x5]

Getting mine today. (my first smart phone ever) I can read all the reviews, and I know there are people who hate every phone they ever try.

So tell me why you love YOUR Captivate and what you like about it most and what ap you couldn't live without.

Thanks!!

 

[Buddha64]

I don't hate the phone, but there are things about it I hate (GPS for example). I've compared the Captivate to newer smart phones, like my daughter's Thunderbolt, and it still rocks. (We don't have 4G yet).

Best feature - the AMOLED screen.

Best App - Solitaire.

Otherwise, work would be absolutely monotonous.

 

[northernale1]

i love mine so much,, its now in my end table drawer,,, gotta say battery life is finally good with it in there

 

[Aatos.1]

It's a great phone. Just look under my avatar at Some of the Androids I own.

My point is, the phone got a bad rap from impatient users that didn't take a little time to learn Android. Its as easy as you make it. Larger displays are going to use more power than the tiny 3.5" iPhone display. With some adjusting of preferences I get great battery life.

This forum is a wealth of information if one explores and reads.



Sent via Samsung Galaxy S II using Swype

 

[northernale1]

hey, ive been on this forum for awhile and read and tried everything, like no push for email, turned brightness down, cycled battery, turned location services off,, i stripped it down so much may as well just been a rotary phone,, battery life would hardly get me through a day of work,, i need my phone for work,, so if dropping down a 1/2" to use only 20% of battery, then i find issue with that and will live with the smaller screen,,,

so the bad rap is justified,, its not just impatient users,,,

not to mention the gps that is very inconsistent on when and where it wants to work,, not great for travel

i still have phone when 2.3 comes out i will try and see what happens,,

is android fun,,, hell yes,,,


till then i will save on my electricity bill not charging it twice a week

 

[AndroidSPCS]

I love my Captivate and all my Android phones. I have the Epic as well, so I have several extra batteries and can swap between the phones / batteries if needed.

The Captivate is an excellent phone, and the XDA development community makes it that much better.

 

[avgazn91]

I love my captivate for the Super AMOLED screen (sooo amazing in the sun) and for the speed (1ghz processor and tons of RAM AND internal storage)
I also love the android OS.


However, I hate the battery life, the freezes, the glitches, the original android OS (i swapped over to a completely custom setup using launcherpro+) and the occasional lag.
Also, I hate how my phone has poor signal strength all the time and serious issues with wifi (sometimes fix-able without having to wipe your entire phone).


Overall though, I enjoy the phone and it is very nice. But I would personally not get another samsung phone unless they improve, or it is my ONLY option for a decent Android.

I understand that people need to be patient, and I was, but more than a year and a half delay on 2.2 is ridiculous. But I'm happy to hear 2.3 is on its way this month, maybe next month if all goes according to plan.

 

[Buddha64]

i love mine so much,, its now in my end table drawer,,, gotta say battery life is finally good with it in there

Hilarious...

 

[Buddha64]

My point is, the phone got a bad rap from impatient users that didn't take a little time to learn Android.

There are things about this phone that no" take a little time to learn" will solve like crappy GPS, random shutdowns, lockups... the list goes on.

Nice screen though.

 

[jpovis]

I love mine. I am running Continuum 5.4.1, 2.3.3 Gingerbread. It's fast, GPS is awesome.
All I did was take some time to learn how Android operates, do some research, and meade up my mind to root it and flash ROMs.
How many people clear PC drives and rebuild? Why not this device?
But, if you don't want to take the time and just want something for the common simpleton, then get an Iphone.

 

[MickeyCee]

I love my phone, have had since late 2010. Generally after 6 months I am always wanting another phone but I haven't thought like that at all with my Captivate.

Running stock 2.2 with no issues.

Battery life is good when I am not trying to customize it with new layouts, wallpapers and new buttons and gizmos:
I turn on the phone at 5 AM and turn it off about 10 PM with about 30% life still left on it. I use it moderately, I am not a heavy user so I probably surf the web for a combined 2 hours a day, email about 4 hours a day, and rarely text message. I also am hooked on a game called Jewels which I play a couple hours a day.

GPS has been fine for me, couldn't lock on my location 2 or 3 times since I got it many months ago, but that is ok with me.

Random shutdowns have gone away for some reason, last time I recall it happening was a couple months ago and that was maybe twice a week at that.

Other then that, I have never wanted to smash my phone against a wall or get rid of it......i love it!

 

[hotrod4x5]

Thanks for the replies. I got the Captivate, I will admit, mainly for the price. $19.99 at Costco can't be beat, plus tax based on $199, not $400+ So more savings.

So far I love it. Still waiting for it to lock up, shut down, etc. If the complaints are right, it will do it soon, right?

 

[PhoneMatt]

I guess that I am lucky. I got my phone in October and have not had a shutdown. My GPS isn't too bad- it gets my location within about 30 feet and locks within a minute or so. The only problem that I've had with it came from an app the wouldn't completely uninstall. I generally get 10- 12 hours use from my battery, but I have bought a car charger and keep a cord with me to charge it in a computer, just in case
What do I like about it? The screen. The fact that I can add more memory, practically a necessity. The fact that it is pretty intuitive to use- try doing anything on a Blackberry, if you've never used one before. Being able to root and customize it, the way I want. The camera. (Yeah, I know it doesn't have a flash, but it doesn't do too badly in low light settings.) All in all, it's a generally fun phone to use.
My favorite apps? Daily Briefing, Titanium Backup (spring the 4 bucks for the pay version, it's worth it just to freeze the obnoxious AT&T apps), Color Flashlight, Bubble- it turns your phone into a level- very useful), Bar Code Scanner, 3G Watchdog, Lookout, Sound Hound, App to SD (transfers your apps to an external SD card to save space on your phone), Launcher Pro, and you might as well get Angry Birds, and go nuts with the rest of us. Most of these are free. (Yes, there are lots of free apps that are good.)
Definitely, look through this forum. There are lots of answers on here. Look for any post by SRemick and go to his Cap Faqs site. (The link is in his signature.) It is an amazing collection of tips and instructions. In general, just have fun with your phone.

 

[Buddha64]

I love mine. I am running Continuum 5.4.1, 2.3.3 Gingerbread. It's fast, GPS is awesome.
All I did was take some time to learn how Android operates, do some research, and meade up my mind to root it and flash ROMs.
How many people clear PC drives and rebuild? Why not this device?
But, if you don't want to take the time and just want something for the common simpleton, then get an Iphone.

Plenty of evidence at XDA that ROMs are not the solution to the GPS fiasco, or the random shutdowns many of us experience.

And while we're at it, you can stop being condescending to those who don't find flashing ROMs to their liking, who want a phone to work as it's advertised without needing to screw with it.

 

[DaNaRkI]

The phone really is a great phone, it still is one of the best out there in the market today. It's very powerful and very capable to run any app in the market today (tho some won't be available due to version restrictions)

Now your phone might not meet the expectations for what the phone should be able to do. This is an issue of quality control coming out of Samsung. The first few batches really should not have been released given how inconsistent they were, and that they had hardware defects that eventually Samsung admitted to. The next few batches should have only had about half of them make it out the factory doors, again because of lacking quality control. The batches you can get now are how the phone should have been from launch. But they still suffer from some poor design choices so you'll experience some bumps.

If you feel the bumps are a lil to rough, look into XDA and custom OS' made there. But keep in mind that they can only solve software problems.

 

[northernale1]

Plenty of evidence at XDA that ROMs are not the solution to the GPS fiasco, or the random shutdowns many of us experience.

And while we're at it, you can stop being condescending to those who don't find flashing ROMs to their liking, who want a phone to work as it's advertised without needing to screw with it.

well said buddha,,,,,

and i will get back into android as i did enjoy it,,,
will study the phones alot more here in a year,,,

and jpovis as I dont live with mommy and daddy i dont have time for that,, i need a phone, that emails, calls, texts and PDAs all day without screwing with ROMs

 

[Sarius24]

I love this phone, all I had to do was flash serendipity and BAM whole new phone. Feels so fast and smooth. Everything is great, cept battery life only last a day if i use 3G....dunno why that is but other than that the battery last me 3 days to be exact. Also GPS is a bit wacky compared to my LG optimus one (Lower end phone but much better GPS for some reason)

 

[hotrod4x5]

I love this phone, all I had to do was flash serendipity and BAM whole new phone. Feels so fast and smooth. Everything is great, cept battery life only last a day if i use 3G....dunno why that is but other than that the battery last me 3 days to be exact. Also GPS is a bit wacky compared to my LG optimus one (Lower end phone but much better GPS for some reason)

Serendipity is what exactly?

 

[Sarius24]

Serendipity is what exactly?

It's a ROM.

 

[hutbug]

Well I have had my Captivate for about 5 months now, and at first I was in love. I'm a former Iphone 4 owner, and I loved how I could personalize and customize this android phone.

BUT, it's becoming very buggy, apps starting randomly, sometimes very slow, the buttons at the bottom are extremely sensitive, I hate the sleep button on the right side...just lots of things are irritating me. I can't run Netflix on it; there's no Scrabble game for the Android, no good tetris.

I do love the swype text option, that's wonderful...

I had been hearing about the Infuse since January and I was all excited to upgrade to it, but when I checked it out in person the other day, guess what? It's EXACTLY like the captivate except larger. Every button is in the same place except the charger port. And since my Captivate has 2.2 just like the Infuse, I was totally deflated. I'm sure the camera is better, but not worth a $250 upgrade. And I don't need a front-facing camera.

Now I'm actually thinking about switching back to the Iphone 4! I feel like a traitor, especially since I've been doing so much apple-bashing to friends and coworkers...but there you have it.

 

[Android26]

I love my Captivate to death! Its the best phone of its generation, in my opinion! At the moment, I wouldn't trade it for any other phone out there.

You know what they say: Once you go SAMOLED, you never go back.

100th post! WOOT WOOT

 

[hotrod4x5]

It's a ROM.

ROM= Read only memory. I am guessing that calling it a ROM is a nick name, since ROM is hardware.

 

[Roadkill867]

Bought this phone 2 weeks ago as my very first one and absolutely loved it. However, at this moment it is sitting in front of me crashing and rebooting non-stop, without any interaction from me. So THIS is the joy of owning a phone... Before this though it was fantastic with its great screen and overall performance.

 

[bishop92t]

I really liked my phone, bought it the day they came out. But it got slower and slower until I finally couldnt take it. So I loaded Serendipity on it and holy crap I love this phone now. Its fast, it doesn't stutter, gps works, I don't have to reboot every other day. It basically fixed every little software gripe I have except I still don't have the 2.1 volume button behavior. This its how the phone should have ben released!

Edit: there are at least 2 decent scrabble games, words with friends and wordsmith.

 

[DaNaRkI]

ROM= Read only memory. I am guessing that calling it a ROM is a nick name, since ROM is hardware.

It's called a "ROM" because it gets loaded into the "Read Only" section. This is why it's called "flashing" instead of installing. Tho what the custom firmware gets loaded onto is not really a ROM chip, but special partitions on the "internal SD" that are set as read only.

From what I've learned our phones don't have any actual ROM chips in them.


Since I forgot to mention last time...

I'm very happy with my Captivate and see no other phone worth giving it up for. It does everything I could possibly want a smart phone do and plenty of extras that are "neat" if nothing else. I also consider that I'm one of the lucky few since my phone is yet to show it suffers from a single one of those quality control flaws, in the 4 months I've had it so far.