I'm getting a Samsung Captivate soon from AT&T. Got a refurbished unit they were selling for free with an upgrade. I'm a little worried about it being a refurbished model, but I figure if it comes with a 3 month warantee, I can get any problems fixed beforehand. I'm coming from an iPhone 3G and have never used an Android before, but have been following the general news (updates on the OS itself) for a while now. I did have a few questions though. 1) I've been reading up on a few different roms available, and was looking at other tweaks to get the most out of my phone. Which "rom" is right for me? I'm looking for stock Android (2.2 or 2.1) with all of the bloatware removed. Also, already rooted (I assume all of the custom roms do this already?) I assume if you run stock Android you can re-apply themes and still tweak to your heats content, themes and widgets are available in the market? 2) I hear of something about an ext2 filesystem fix to speed up the phone? 3) What's the best way to get the most battery life out of the Captivate? 4) I also hear there's problems with the GPS? 5) I was looking for an option of streaming audio / video from my Windows 7 machine to the Android phone. I used AirVideo / Subsonic apps on my iPhone, anything comparable on the Android side of things? 6) Do the emulators (NES, SNES, GBC, GBA, etc.) work well with the phone? I tried emulating with the iPhone and while it worked, it wasn't a pleasent experience trying to play a game with touchscreen controls, my fat fingers kept on getting in the way! Really I want to just figure out which rom to use for now, and then I can kind of go and experiment from there. I played with Android 1.6 a tiny bit back when I was looking at the Android on iPhone project, although it was slow, I liked it! Thanks a ton guys for helping me answer some of my questions!
1)cognition 2.2 is really the only rom worth anything right now that i am aware of. its nice and does everything you asked for. 2)those are with lagfixes, if youre going to run cognition i believe it comes with a lagfix already installed, voodoo to be specific 3)battery life is good, you need to break them in though. the only thing i do to save battery is turn brightness down when i am inside and changed my syncing stuff back and only auto sync the stuff i need to 4)i dont have problems with the gps, some people do but mine works fine. everytime i flash a new rom i turn on gps tester and just let it sit for awhile because sometimes i wont pick up any satellites for a few minutes, but after that i get 6-10 with nearly an instant lock. works very well for me 5)dont know i just put my music on my phone 6)i only have an nes emulator and its great. there is a psx one which could be cool and i plan on trying soon
1) There's no "stock" 2.2 so if you want "stock" stick with 2.1. All the 2.2 ROMs are buggy leaked internal development builds, not meant for end-user use, all with plenty of known issues and new issues being discovered daily. Unless you want to be re-flashing a new ROM every day and don't mind risking all your data, stick with stock 2.1 for now. Official 2.2 is coming. Read here: Froyo - CapFAQ 2) Avoid lagfixes. The risk isn't worth the speed boost. Read here: Lagfix - CapFAQ 3) Read here: Battery - CapFAQ 4) Read here: GPSnav - CapFAQ 5) Can't help here, sorry. 6) They work, as long as you don't mind the button overlays on the screen. Just remember that using ROMs for games you don't own is illegal and discussing how to obtain such ROMs is against forum rules. As you can see, most of your questions are answered by the Captivate FAQ, so always be sure to check there first: FAQ - CapFAQ
So you guys are saying not to bother with custom roms right now, because there's no good ones for the Captivate? I was just looking for a rom that has all of the crap removed, and that I could start out fresh with getting the best speed / battery life available without having to reflash daily for updates.
Again, as suggested before: Read the Captivate FAQ: Uninstalling stock apps - CapFAQ Battery - CapFAQ
The Cognition 2.1 (non-BETA) might be what you are looking for. Its built on the standard eclair and all the AT&T stuff is gone. All the 2.2 roms are built on a leaked build that can issues. I've been using it for 3 weeks and its been pretty solid for me. It does say "BETA" all over it so you shouldn't be surprised if it does something weird.
I can't recommend Cognition 2.1 due to the integrated lag fix. A dirty, dangerous solution to a arguably legitimate problem.
I've finally had a chance to read through this FAQ. My compliments to all those involved. It's a great resource, well done, and very beneficial to everyone who's new to Android, the Captivate, or just needs some solid info. Cheers...
