Samsung Captivate = no front facing cam/no 2.2 froyo?

[sublime313]

it's bad enough they didn't put a freaking flash on this phone..

if no front facing cam/no froyo, i'm not buying this. what a joke.

 

[tsanuri]

Considering Froyo has not been officially released might have something to do with that.

 

[lordmaxx]

Wasn't Froyo released to the N1 last month?

But I would agree seems rather silly to cripple one of the cooler features of this phone by removing the front facing camera. Not a deal breaker for me, but I dont understand why (though I would speculate that it was because they don't want to compete with Iphone video chat)

We truly don't know if it was removed yet...one of those holes could be a camera.

 

[HustlinDaily]

The N1 release was only to review models but the OTA link was published and files mirrored before Google removed them. Google has said that FroYo which is out is a beta version.

The official FroYo update has yet to be rolled out. However SK Telecom is getting the Nexus One next month and it will have FroYo. So assuming the official FroYo should be coming next month.

Why is the front facing camera so important? They have had these in Europe/Asia for years and nobody really uses them. Doubt anybody with a brain would use it in public as holding a phone in front of your face and talking is more antisocial than Bluetooth headsets. And most laptops these days are equipped with webcams.

 

[ghostfox1]

Front facing cam isn't needed IMO, and froyo will come, one way or another.

 

[lordmaxx]

as I said, not a dealbreaker for me, but I was hoping this would have it just in case I ever did 'want' to use it. Why remove it in the first place? I doubt AT&T will be charging us less for this phone than they would any other high end smartphone.

 

[HustlinDaily]

Just a guess. Maybe no truth, maybe some. Can't think of any other reason for AT&T to have Samsung remove it:

With the iPhone4 front facing camera, you can only use it over WiFi to communicate with other people who have iPhone4s.

With the front facing camera on an Android phone, apps would be written to allow you to use it over both WiFi/3G networks. Last thing AT&T wants is people streaming over their 3G networks. And even so, with the new tiered data plans, doubt videoconferencing would be a good idea over 3G for AT&T customers.

 

[t-readyroc]

Just a guess. Maybe no truth, maybe some. Can't think of any other reason for AT&T to have Samsung remove it:

With the iPhone4 front facing camera, you can only use it over WiFi to communicate with other people who have iPhone4s.

With the front facing camera on an Android phone, apps would be written to allow you to use it over both WiFi/3G networks. Last thing AT&T wants is people streaming over their 3G networks. And even so, with the new tiered data plans, doubt videoconferencing would be a good idea over 3G for AT&T customers.

I'm pretty sure that's exactly why, actually. AT&T's been removing front-facing cameras from phones on their network for years. Even my old-ass phone (HTC Hermes) originally came to market w/a front-facing cam, but when it came to AT&T (then Cingular) as the 8525, they ripped it out.

 

[ewingr]

Other considerations: No FM radio; Locked down to Android Market only for apps.

I have a need for the FM radio optoin. I may wait to see what comes to Verizon for this phone.

 

[lordmaxx]

Will they allow the XM Radio app is the question for me...Did they lock one of their other phones out of that?

 

[maerlim]

Will they allow the XM Radio app is the question for me...Did they lock one of their other phones out of that?

Somebody said the Aria had it locked out. There are work-arounds for these things on the Backflip. The "no sideloading apps" thing is somewhat of a pain, but it won't stop even a mildly determined user. It's there to stop the average AT&T user (AKA morons) from blowing up their phones.

Scenario 1: App exists on the Android Market, but AT&T has "blocked" it.
Solution: Remove AT&T SIM card, connect via WiFi. The app should be available in the Market now.

Scenario 2: App does not exist on the Android Market.
Solution: Download the application's .apk file (Google search for it) to your computer. Download and install Android SDK from developer.google.com. Turn on USB Debugging option on phone. Connect phone to computer via USB. Use adb included in SDK to install app to phone.

There is a side-affect to both of these scenarios in that you will not be automatically notified of updates to those apps. To install any updates, you will have to repeat the procedure given.

 

[lunatic59]

it's bad enough they didn't put a freaking flash on this phone..

Just because "they" didn't doesn't mean you can't.

...if no front facing cam/no froyo, i'm not buying this. what a joke.

If that's a deal breaker, then don't buy the phone. Personally I don't see the allure of a front facing camera. Even if they jump all the technical hurdles for reliable video calls, it's not really a demanded feature. Video conferencing has been around for decades in one form or another and it hasn't really taken the world by the storm they predicted at the New York World's Fair in ... wait for it ... 1964. I think 46 years is long enough to wait for something to catch on.

As for Froyo ... it was announced that some phones will begin shipping in Korea with Froyo on it later in June which leads me to believe that an official release is close, but they can't wait for "close" to release a handset to the public. And, with Samsung's custom (albeit ugly) home mods, it would add extra delay to the release, which I am guessing will happen right after the i4's hoopla dies down.

 

[Ynomrah]

OK.

The front facing camera has not even been officially confirmed to not be there. If we are all basing this on the fact that the less than synthetic pictures we have received from at&t doesnt really show it, then we might be jumping to conclusions right? I mean we all know these pictures are always digitized to basically show form factor and not fine detail (such as a tiny front facing camera). Take the HTC aria for example. The pictures hosted by at&t don't even look like the same actual phone. Anyway the point is we don't know this yet, so maybe we shouldn't jump to conclusions YET.

 

[Vestitor]

I could be totally happy with this phone. It is about time that AT&T actually put something out that isn't old tech. My only question is will Samsung actually support it and update it to 2.2? Samsung has always been slow for producing updates for their phones. I've had several Samsung phones and software updates was really the only issues i've had with them.

 

[tsanuri]

Will they allow the XM Radio app is the question for me...Did they lock one of their other phones out of that?

It is not that they blocked the app it is a non market app. They are just making a stink about it as they should. If more of those that had perfectly legitimate apps that are not on the android market it might make AT&T reconsider what they are doing.

 

[ewingr]

The front camera isn't a deal breaker for me. The android market only apps, is a concern, but likely I'll be ok if need, based on work arounds.

I was concerned about no FM radio. I was looking forward to that. But I'm told that most phones FM radios do not receive well. An optoin would be to stream a radio, but I do have concerns about the data usage. May just live w/o radio through the phone. Not a deal breaker.

I'm anxious to get this...

 

[t-readyroc]

My only question is will Samsung actually support it and update it to 2.2? Samsung has always been slow for producing updates for their phones. I've had several Samsung phones and software updates was really the only issues i've had with them.

Yes, but were they Android-based Samsung phones? I'm thinking that Android's going to buck the no-Samsung-updates trend.

 

[maerlim]

Yes, but were they Android-based Samsung phones? I'm thinking that Android's going to buck the no-Samsung-updates trend.

Yeah, they're talking about the recent controversy where Samsung said they couldn't update the Behold-II (I think? I'm sketchy on the actual phones) from 1.5 to 2.1. Samsung is updating them from 1.5 to 1.6 instead. There was apparently a single video of some guy saying they were going to be updated when they were launched.

My guess is, somebody decided before 2.1 came out that they would update, then 2.1 came out, they tried it, and couldn't make it work very well (due to hardware I'm guessing).

I don't see that happening with the Galaxy-S family of phones.

 

[=KLRS=ZERO]

Yeah, they're talking about the recent controversy where Samsung said they couldn't update the Behold-II (I think? I'm sketchy on the actual phones) from 1.5 to 2.1. Samsung is updating them from 1.5 to 1.6 instead. There was apparently a single video of some guy saying they were going to be updated when they were launched.

My guess is, somebody decided before 2.1 came out that they would update, then 2.1 came out, they tried it, and couldn't make it work very well (due to hardware I'm guessing).

I don't see that happening with the Galaxy-S family of phones.

actually the behold II was *promised* an update to android 2.0. we dont care about 1.6 because we have had it for the past year via devs. but since samsung dosent even post the source devs cant do much. If it was the hardware limits, would the Hero, Eris, Moment not have it? probably

 

[ardyer]

I was concerned about no FM radio. I was looking forward to that. But I'm told that most phones FM radios do not receive well. An optoin would be to stream a radio, but I do have concerns about the data usage. May just live w/o radio through the phone. Not a deal breaker.

Has there been any confirmation that there is no FM radio? That was something I was really looking forward too, but I hadn't seen no FM mentioned anywhere else...

 

[tsanuri]

Yes, but were they Android-based Samsung phones? I'm thinking that Android's going to buck the no-Samsung-updates trend.

It is not just phones that Samsung does not support it is most of their home electronics line. I personally learned on a early blu-ray player that they do not like to support their hardware.

 

[Tasmin]

Hmm, I hadn't noticed the lack of the FM radio previously. That sucks - I was jogging along at the gym yesterday, reading the CNN closed captioning on the screen, and thinking I'd way rather be listening to NPR instead on my sexy new Captivate.

Wow, I sound like a walking stereotype.

 

[HustlinDaily]

OK.

The front facing camera has not even been officially confirmed to not be there. If we are all basing this on the fact that the less than synthetic pictures we have received from at&t doesnt really show it, then we might be jumping to conclusions right? I mean we all know these pictures are always digitized to basically show form factor and not fine detail (such as a tiny front facing camera). Take the HTC aria for example. The pictures hosted by at&t don't even look like the same actual phone. Anyway the point is we don't know this yet, so maybe we shouldn't jump to conclusions YET.

If it had it, wouldn't it be mentioned on the press release?

Sent from my Liquid using Tapatalk

 

[lordmaxx]

If it had it, wouldn't it be mentioned on the press release?

Sent from my Liquid using Tapatalk

That press release was less than forthcoming with alot of real info.

And as we've seen even in a specs sheet on the AT&T site (the aria spec page) they had 2 different screen resolutions announced....

Take nothing for granted until it has been in the store for 3 days straight without disappearing in a poof of logic.

 

[ewingr]

Has there been any confirmation that there is no FM radio? ...

Not that I've seen. But really, I haven't seen any actual reviews or complete specs. I could be remembering the source wrong, but I think in the press release by AT&T, or maybe it was their signup page to get notified when the phone was available, it said something to the effecct of "...we have not been informed of the complete specs from Samsung yet". That seems odd to me.

Net net, I think it remains to be determined.