Better alternative to iPhone December 8, 2010

Reviewer:  BC 

I've had this phone for about 2 months now and I think it is worthy of a review. If you're choosing between this and the iPhone I HIGHLY suggest you choose this and save yourself some money. There's no need to spend 200 more dollars on pretty much the same phone, if not better.
The Captivate is a great phone, but not prefect.
Pros:
- Slick and easy to use interface: Widgets and icons on the home screen make it easy to use while still looking really good.
- The AMOLED display is amazing.
- Setting up email is simple and quick.
- Flipping through menus and screens is a breeze and there is no waiting and little lag.
- Even though there aren't as many apps as the iphone, there is still everything you need and more. There are all of the productivity tools you need for a phone and there are plenty of games, the games aren't as advanced as the iphone's but they are getting there.
- FREE GPS navigation. Full featured, turn by turn directions. You can pretty much get rid of your portable car gps.
- Very customizable. The live wallpapers are neat, widgets are helpful, wide range of apps that can get your phone exactly how you want.
- Text messaging is a breeze, the buttons are responsive and the SWYPE input option is very fast if you can get used to it.
- Camera is really good for a phone and the video is REALLY good for a phone. Videos look very clear and sharp and there is no lag on it.
- Good call quality.
- 16gb of memory on board is a huge plus. And it's expandable to another 16 gb.
- If you have a wireless n router, then connect the phone to it instead of using the 3g. I just started using this last night and it is extremely fast, it amazed me how much of a difference there was. Pages loaded entirely in about 2-3 seconds.
- Battery is good if you have it on the right display settings. You should have to charge it every night unless you use it all day.

Some cons:
- AT&T bloatware. I highly suggest rooting the phone whenever you can. This way you can delete the AT&T bloatware, which makes the phone run faster. If you add too many apps with the att apps on there the phone begins to run a little slow.
- Apps are saved only on a 2gb internal memory card and you can't save them to the 16gb card unless you root the phone.
- I have about 1500 songs on the on board memory right now and the stock music player runs a little slow. It is not as breezy as and iPhone, but it still works well.
- The phone can get laggy at times when too many apps are being used.
- No notification light. Text, calls, email, etc. can go unnoticed if you don't hear the notification. Theres an app called NoLED that is useful but still a light around the phone would have been better.
- No front facing camera. No big deal. How often do people need to video chat on their phone anyway?
- The phone is BIG, people with smaller hands may not like it, but I have pretty big hands so it fits perfectly.
- The gps signal is weird. When I use it and have the phone in my lap while driving, it will lose signal, which can potentially get you lost. But if you keep it on the dash and it can clearly see the sky, the signal is fine.

Again, I highly suggest rooting your phone and getting the Titanium Backup app, this will allow you to delete those really unnecessary ATT apps and have the phone run faster.
Also if you do get this phone, do NOT get a task killer app, it actually makes the phone slower for some reason. The phone is made to handle multitasking.
The cons are all things that are easy to look past and they're just little gripes that I think may matter to some people. I'm glad I chose this over the iPhone and I would do it again any day. It pretty much depends if you prefer android over the iOS. (I feel like they're generally the same in most aspects)
This should be everything you need to know if you're considering this phone. Thanks for reading.

Captivate problems September 30, 2010

Reviewer:  catman2 

Received the phone a week ago and as usual the Amazon transaction went smoothly. The phone was activated through ATT with no problems.

Pros: Display is great and the processor is very fast.

Cons: After two days, the phone started shutting itself off randomly, 4-10+ times a day. A Google search turned up a lot of complaints for the same problem. So far, no solutions. Neither Samsung or ATT acknowledges a problem. Until a fix if found, the Captivate phone is unreliable, so use caution when buying.

Beautiful handheld computer with phone! August 1, 2010

Reviewer:  S. Lund  (Massachusetts) -

After my almost 2 year old Samsung Eternity had a swim in a glass of coca cola(and survived but is starting to act up a bit)and has been trusted, sturdy and reliable, I decided to stick with Samsung and check out the Captivate and Android. (Still not drawn to the iphone...)
It was with much anticipation the Captivate arrived, and I have spent a lot of time in the last few days checking it out. I believe all the technical stuff has been covered by others more savvy than me, but for what it's worth I'll throw in my few cents:

- Having this big beautiful screen and all the apps to play with, of course you want to play with it. However, I found that I burned through the battery very fast and had to charge it twice a day. It did help to download the App Killer which stops selected items from running all the time. But still.
When you go in and look at how the battery is used, the majority of the power goes to just the display, although I had it at 30 sec. timeout and lowest brightness setting.
Not much point for me having a phone with all those possibilities, but not juice to make a phone call in the afternoon. Especially since this is my primary phone.
- I liked the USB/ adapter charger, but the cord for some reason is quite a lot shorter than what I'm used to, making it hard for me to use the phone while it's charging/ plugged in.
- I disliked that the power button and the volume button are located in the same spot on opposite sides of the phone, as I found it difficult to not hit both by accident when trying to either adjust volume or unlock it, and vice versa (with one hand).
- By the way there is a double lock on this phone: you first need to press the power button, then slide the screen (there are different ways to do that) and I found this cumbersome. But there's an app for that (!) which eliminates the slide unlock :)
- Others have complained that there is no text correction function, but there actually is if you use the Samsung keyboard: hold and press the [123] button and voila! LOVE the keyboard, what an upgrade from the Eternity!
- Where I live (Nantucket Island) the signal bar has been very dicey. I have not had a dropped call and the sound is crystal clear, but compared to the Eternity (best coverage I have ever had) it made me a bit weary.
- The included headphones are great with 3 sizes of bud cushions to fit your ear canal. However, as far as I can see it only works with the music player and not as a hands free. (?)
- Big sure is beautiful, but this phone is too big for me, although it's very slim and light. Coming from the Eternity it felt like it was a handful, even without a protective cover.
And speaking of which... the phone is so new that I have not been able to get a cover for it, which has made me a little nervous to use it in the event I want to return it. There are some out there, but most are not available until around mid August.

There are so many things I love about this gadget, and it's been a tough decision to send it back... but that's what I'm doing; primarily because of the battery life, signal bars and size. I give it 4 stars although it may qualify for 5, simply because it doesn't fit my needs as much as I would want it too.

Could be a Great phone, but it falls short with MS Outlook Support & Loaded with Att bloatware October 12, 2010

Reviewer:  USC Gamecock "Iam 24601" 

I initially had a love / hate relationship about this phone. The love portion deals with the overall phone appearance (good looking phone); the size (fits in my hands and I can operate with one hand - right or left); the monitor is very clear and has great colors; the phone is well balanced and the overall weight is good. The phone is easy to navigate; Bluetooth feature is good (hey, the paring codes is 0000); the WIFI feature is easy to set-up and the phone does a great job is recognizing a WIFI zone. It shows you the zones and gives you the option to accept. The phone sound quality is good as well as the reception (better than my 4 year old Blackberry). The notification feature is very good. I love the swipe feature for password...very good. Battery life seems to be okay, I can get through a full day without re-charging the battery.

My hates deals with the email feature for Microsoft Outlook (POP3 server) and the much missed information regarding this phone such as:
1) There is NO synch feature with Microsoft Outlook via POP3 (like Blackberry). The USB cable that comes with the phone is used for power (with the electric adaptor) and mass transfer. It's not for synching with Outlook.
2) I have two email accounts on this phone; GMAIL and Outlook. Outlook is my main email (I've had this account for over 15 years). The GMAIL account works perfectly as this is a Google based phone; the phone email and calendar are based on Google. Now I have Outlook working (well to a point). I'm getting my Outlook emails, but the phone deletes the Outlook emails within 2 hours of receiving them (It doesn't delete them from the server). I spoke with the Samsung Tech Rep and he acknowledged this problem and said I was one of the few that got MS Outlook to work to this level.
3) This phone is loaded with ATT bloatware; and you can't delete it. I don't recall this being the case with IPhone (we have 3 in my family).
4) I purchased this phone to watch online video streaming like ESPN3.Com college football. Well, the phone has the capabilities but ATT forces you to use their Mobile Video appl. And this appl turn-off your WIFI connection. Yes, ATT forces you to use their 3G network and it's just doesn't have the muscle and coverage. Oh yeah, you must pay ATT $15 a month to use this appl.

Here what would have helped me before purchasing this phone:
1) MS Outlook works on this phone, but you don't have full features and synch with the PC (You get all of this with IPhone).
2) The phone calendar is based on Google. There is software from Google which synch the Google calendar with your MS Outlook calendar. And it works well.
3) BEFORE YOU CONNECT THE PHONE TO YOUR PC: My sure the phone is fully powered, the change the phone USB feature by: go to the phone setting, then the application, then to USB setting, then change it to mass storage.
4) ATT forces you to use their Mobile Video appl to watch on-line TV/Video; even if you're a Comcast customer who has access to on-line TV and video.
5) Bluetooth pairing code: 0000
6) Loaded with ATT bloatware that you can't delete.
7) As of 10/5/2010, there's NO software download required for this phone
7) Don't call ATT and/or go to their stores if you have any questions regarding this phone. Just call Samsung Tech Support

I've had this phone for a week now; and have had a love / hate relationship. It's more love than hate now since I've found solutions to the calendar and the MS Outlook issue is workable for me. I'm still not pleased with the ATT approach to online video, but I don't have any other options with ATT as my family has three IPhones (wife and kids). I would go with the IPhone 4 but it definitely has dropped call issues. I think the future will be IPhone and Android so I'm planning on keeping this phone...if Apple doesn't fix the IPhone 4 drop calls by the end of the month (just joking)....

UPDATED (10-19-2010). I can't deal with the at&t bloatware (att nav and other) and the phone continues to delete my email from the phone. I had enough and returned the phone for an Iphone 4. At least it works with Microsoft Outlook. I'm given the phone two stars.

DO NOT BUY; BELOW ONE August 15, 2011

Reviewer:  RA 

1st phone speaker went out after six months! 2nd a referb crashed & will not reboot lost all data after 8 weeks. Now on third phone, a referb, under warranty with much regret. Has no light for camera. The Samsung program to sync this phone had so many problems I gave up on it. Android 2.2 seems to solve many problems but not all; this phone still needs help. Can only open 4 web browser windows compare to 8 on I phone. Still searching to find app that will save all my applications I load on this phone. I have lost all confidence in this phones reliability. I expect the 3 rd phone to fail; all under one year from purchase! Biggest mistake I made was buying one. The first two phones were kept in an otter box defender case with a skin covering for protection. Even with no abuse the hardware failed. The battery has performed poorly over time; after three months it starts to get weaker at holding charge. & yes under warranty you keep your old battery & receive a referb phone; which someone else has already had trouble with!

A complete disappoinment August 9, 2011

Reviewer:  Timothy Ace 

I thought for sure this was going to be a good phone, but after having it for a year I'd have to say this has been the only phone I've ever purchased that I couldn't wait the full two years to get another one.

First the pros:
1. Vibrant LCD that you can see easily in the daylight
2. Camera takes OK pictures
3. Phone is thin

Now the cons:
1. Battery life SUCKS. Even with nothing running it has to be charged every night.
2. The phone loves to crash. I've gotten two replacements for this phone and all of them freeze up unexpectedly every couple days
3. The phone responsiveness is SLOW. When the phone doesn't freeze entirely, it always ends up pausing on you while you're trying to do something. This apparently stems from the fact that Samsung uses their own proprietary RFS file system to store things on the internal memory. Do a search for "lag fix" and you'll find a ton of people who have wrote custom firmware hacks to change the internal filesystem to EXT4. Doing that fixes the lag and makes the phone usable.
4. No flash for camera
5. The video sucks. Taking HD video results in skips and pauses and jerky video.
6. Poor support by Samsung. It took over a year and a half after Froyo was released for Samsung to release it to this phone. Not Gingerbread has been out for ages and the only people offering it is homebrew developers that write custom firmwares which void your warranty. SUPPORT YOUR PRODUCT SAMSUNG!

I will not be buying a Samsung again.

I should note that I'm an computer programmer and Android developer. I know there are obvious things like killing off background apps that improve battery life and performance.

3 different phones, none lasted more than a month March 15, 2011

Reviewer:  Anna Jung 

This phone is great when it's working properly. Unfortunately, that doesn't happen. I exchanged this phone twice, but when the third malfunctioned, I gave up. I had each phone for around a month and they were treated well (no damage, no falls, no water).

Phone #1
This phone arrived damaged, but I didn't realize it. First, the charger didn't stay snugly in the phone (I thought it was a quirk of all the phone). Second, the phone would randomly shut itself off. I did a search online and apparently this is a common Samsung Captivate issue. So I got a replacement from AT&T.

Phone #2
This phone worked about a two weeks then decided to stop connecting to wifi. I got a replacement from AT&T.

Phone $3
This one lasted three weeks. Then a white line appeared across the screen and wouldn't leave. This also seems to be a fairly common Samsung Captivate/Galaxy issue. After this phone, I opted for a different phone entirely.

All in all, I loved this phone during the brief periods of time when it would work properly. But going through 3 of them, all of which lasted less a month, sours a person. There is clearly a quality control issue at Samsung and I will never purchase another Samsun phone.

It's a keeper January 24, 2011

Reviewer:  PhoneShipper 

I did a lot of research before making the plunge and going with the captivate. I knew I wanted to go with Android, but didn't know which carrier/phone combo to go with. I spent the better part of a month reading reviews, comparing specs, going to brick and mortars to get a feel for the phones and the interface before I finally went with the captivate. I have not been let down. I knew what to expect when I got the phone and yes I had the problem with the GPS locking on. This was easily fixed with the Samsung GPS Restore available in the Android Market and a quick restart of the phone. GPS has worked great ever since. Battery life wasn't as bad as what I was expecting. I can usually get through a full 10 hour day at work before I need a charge. I do have a spare charger at my desk at work just in case. I had also heard that the Captivate was not syncing well, or at all, with Outlook accounts. Mine works fine. It syncs up with my Outlook email, my contacts, and my calendar with no issues. I've had the phone a week and have had no problems. Everything has worked great and it's FAST!!! I could not be happier with my first android phone. I would gladly recommend this phone to anyone in the market for one.

Can't find a better phone. July 29, 2010

Reviewer:  ND  (USA) -

I have been waiting for a smart phone to come out that had similar features to an Iphone but was an Iphone. I know it sounds silly but I really didn't want the Iphone brand.

So far with the phone I haven't really had any complaints. I think the only thing I wish was better is the battery life. But that is what you have to deal with when it comes to a smart phone.

The screen is amazing, everything runs smoothly and the features are amazing. I have seen alot of people complain that it automatically syncs up to your google contacts, well I think that is a plus. It has made me update all my google contact info and now I have all my information in a place other than my cell phone (a great thing if you are prone to loosing a phone or if it crashes)

However, you don't have to have the google contacts. There are options to not sync up with your gmail account, or you can have it only display contacts with phone numbers.

Overall it just takes some playing around with to really get the feel of this phone. It does take some hunting. But if you are good at figuring out technology and don't need everything told directly to you this will be a great phone for you.

33% You Will End Up Getting Replacement December 8, 2010

Reviewer:  F. Fisher 

I read all the reviews before I purchased the Samsung Captivate. For me, and I believe many others, it was between this smartphone or the iPhone 4G. Looking back on it, I was a little naive after reading all the reviews. Most people gave it 5 stars and just loved the phone. Then I realized these people hadn't had their phones very long.

I, like them who praised the phone, absolutely adored the phone. The big screen was fantastic, and the 1GHz processor would make any geek happy. The battery life didn't last long, and that was really annoying. However an update that they pushed out fixed it and the battery was no longer a issue.

Then one day, I pull the Samsung Captivate out of my pocket and try to unlock it. Black screen. I hit the power button, nothing. I thought this was odd, because it had 95% battery power and I'd taken it off the charger not a hour earlier. I then began to panic, as I remembered all the 1 star reviews had said 1 of 2 things: 1) This phone constantly shuts off without warning and 2) the phone will not turn on.

I was #2 for me. I had shut these 2 bad things out with the "it won't happen to me" attitude. And bam, 2 months after using the phone without issue, the phone is as dead as a doornail. I google'd all the work arounds, the hard resets, removing the battery, etc. etc. Nothing works. The phone is literally dead. And so is my love for the Samsung Captivate.

Exquisitely built, Intuitive and SMART. I love this phone September 19, 2010

Reviewer:  Nick 

I LOOOOOOOOVE this phone. It is almost perfect in every way. Hardware design, look and feel; Software (Android is a beast); Apps; Multimedia....and have I mentioned the most gorgeous screen I've ever seen on any display? Period. I'm not just talking phone displays...any display. This display rivals top notch HD TV's (ok that's a little hyperbole but you get my drift...it's awesome!!)

Now as a disclaimer. I read a lot of the reviews here on this phone and so many of them are comparing it to the iPhone 4. Let me just say that I'm not here to bash the iPhone, I'm not an Apple hater, I've never used an Apple product nor am I inclined to. So I don't know how this phone compares to the iPhone 4. And frankly, I don't care. If people keep going around comparing things to Apple it just signifies that Apple is better.

So now that that is out of the way lets go into specifics. Starting from the outside. The phone is exquisitely made. Of all the Galaxy S's I think this looks the best in terms of form factor. Super thin for a smart phone, candy bar design with curved top, 4 touch sensitive buttons at the bottom, and a really nice carbon fiber battery cover. feels light in the hand compared to other phones but not too light. Battery life is what you'd expect from a smartphone: two days with average use, a day on heavy use (video, internet, etc).

Next, the screen. WOW, what can I say except its fabulous. Colors are rich and vibrant, it displays the blackest blacks you've ever seen on a phone (so black you don't know where the screen ends and the black border around the phone begins). Its bright, text looks clear and crisp and its bright. Videos look excellent. The music player is awesome. It has two different looks. A straight music player look and a nice cover flow revolving CD look,with lots of different sound options. The camera is awesome. the only complaint I have with this entire phone is the lack of LED flash. Indoor pics look OK but could look better. Otherwise, outdoor shots and shots indoor with good light are excellent. Lots of different options to choose from. And video capture quality is excellent.

As for apps and software. What can I say but Android. Productivity and entertainment apps abound. Samsung's UI is also very easy to use and intuitive. calender and contacts management is a breeze. Syncing your contacts with their respective facebook and twitter is easy. Samsung specific apps like daily brief and Friends and Updates (puts your Facebook and Twitter updates together) are very useful. And ofcourse you have plenty of Android Market Apps at your disposal. Some I recommend include Vlingo (speak any command and your phone responds), Opera Mini Browser (though the stock browsers is great too), Google Voice, Album Art Grabber (to spruce up your music player), Fx Camera (uses your camera to take cool pics with different effects) and Gmote (one of the best apps ever, accesses the videos, music and presentations on your computer and controls them like a remote)

All in all. This is THE best smart phone out there. Good job Samsung

I like it November 9, 2011

Reviewer:  Kirk Ford  (California) -

I got this phone about a year ago from AT&T with my new plan. Immediately the phone had technical issues, and had to be replaced. The replacement phone did the exact same thing and was also replaced. The third phone has been working great ever since.

I absolutely love the screen for it's clarity and brilliance. The Android system is very easy to use and works with just about any software. I do have some problems connecting it to my PC every now and then, it just doesn't show up.

Battery life is pretty good. If I use it just calling people and texting, the battery will last all day long. I charge it every night. If I use a lot of battery intensive apps on the brightest setting, the battery will last about 4-5 hours (not bad). Sound quality is decent, camera is nice with lots of good settings.

All in all I really like my phone, and I'm more inclined to buy Samsung products in the future. 4 out of 5 stars due to the technical issues with the bad batch of phones.

weak antenna; won't vibrate; short battery time July 18, 2011

Reviewer:  djon  (Carrollton, MO United States) -

This is my first smart phone. I love its potential and I love the swype keyboard, but the phone does not perform as I expected. I cannot update to Froyo 2.2 because I have a Mac, and no access to a PC. Reception is bad in my small rural town. That is partly AT&T, but other phones pick up a signal when the Captivate will not. Battery time is very short! The vibrate function has quit working, and it's out of warranty. When my contract time is up I'm likely to quit AT&T, and will NOT get a Samsung.

GPS is broken and AT&T and Samsung don't care July 14, 2011

Reviewer:  Wizzman  (Raleigh, NC USA) -

So much is great with this phone it could have no peer:
1. Screen
2. Memory
3. Apps
4. Service

But they threw it all away with a horribly defective GPS. I have owned six Captivates and they all have the same issue.
other things that could be better

Camera clarity and lack of flash
Battery life is marginal
Laggy response
Flaky Bluetooth stack connecting and disconnecting

Maybe they'll test the devices before the next phone launches.

Great, But Flawed December 14, 2010

Reviewer:  ComfyShoeMaven  (Houston, TX) -

This is my first Android phone, and I really love it! The fact that I got it for a penny (yes, one penny) through Amazon Wireless is just icing on the cake! I haven't had this phone for very long, so my review is based on what I've experienced so far.

Pros:
The big, beautiful screen is wonderful. The colors are so vibrant.
I love being able to enter so much information for my contacts.
The keyboard is great, if not a bit sensitive. However, a stylus helps with that. I'm still trying master the Swype keyboard. It isn't as easy as the videos make it look (big surprise).
Being able to store so much information on the phone is great. I've downloaded lots of music, plus folders, and still have a ton of memory left.
Love the variety of Android apps. I download them when I have access to WiFi, so that I don't use up my limited data plan.
Unlike some reviewers have indicated, the GPS worked fine when I tried it.
I actually don't make very many phone calls, but when I have done so, the caller's voice was very clear.
This phone pairs up with other Bluetooth devices very easily.
The pictures and videos I've taken, look great.

Cons:
I'm not happy that many web sites haven't caught up to the Android, yet. I tried to access numerous free TV sites only to be told that none of them support Android at this time. I hope this is something that will be rectified soon.
After having dealt with Sony-Ericsson support people, I've been very disappointed with Samsung support. Their web site isn't very user-friendly, and they keep apologizing about their lack of information as to when this or that will be available. Also, after a very long chat with a Samsung person, to no avail, I finally got the help I needed from an AT&T tech.

UPDATE!!
I've had this phone for seven months now, and I'm not as crazy about it as I was in the beginning.

I will not be buying another Samsung phone because Samsung support sucks. When they came out with an update that included a Flash Player, I had trouble downloading it, contacted Samsung, and they never answered back. I've been too frustrated to do anything about it, but plan to call AT&T support to see if I can get any help from them.

Ending a phone call on this thing takes forever. Sometimes I have to press "End Call" for a long time before it will end, and I have to watch very carefully to make sure it doesn't stay connected.

Making a phone call isn't that easy, either. It's hard to explain exactly what this phone does, but it sometimes seems to have a mind of its own when it comes to making phone calls. I'm just glad I don't make that many of them, or I would probably have thrown it against a wall by now!

The phone has become very difficult to turn off. I have to hold the side button for a long time, and then I have to press on the "Power Off" button for what seems like forever. It shouldn't be that hard to turn the blasted phone off!

I still like it for surfing the web, and it picks up on WiFi pretty easily so that I don't have to pay AT&T for data usage. However, when my contract is up, I will be choosing another phone, probably from Sony Ericsson or Motorola.

UPDATE II

I finally took my phone to an AT&T repair store, and they agreed that it was "buggy," so they replaced it. The replacement phone, with its upgrade to 2.2, works much, much better, so I'm a bit happier. That being said, I still want a different phone when my upgrade time comes. I've been looking at the HTC, and have added it to my list of phones to consider.

BTW, when I was at the repair store, I overheard one of the reps tell someone that the Pantech phones were the most trouble-free phones. I don't know if they make an Android phone, but if they do, I might look at that brand as well.

There are solutions to ALMOST everything August 18, 2011

Reviewer:  Joycie 

First of all, this phone really gets 4.8 stars, even though I LOVE this phone to death.

***Warning: This review is NOT average. Proceed to next review if you would like to hear the obvious restated over and over again, like the GPS issue, or the freezing issue again***

I'm 17, soon to be high school senior texting lover with all the toys and whistles. Joy. So, while I am not a programming whiz, I do consider myself to be quite tech savvy. I don't need to go on about how great this phone is, I would rather go over the cons and some solutions to some issues. And YES, this phone DID shut down on me randomly. ore on that later.

1. ***Mom would not let me root the phone! How am I supposed to customize my cappy??***
Solution: The Android Marketplace has lots of little goodies in there.. the GO Launcher, GO SMS, and GO Contacts allowed me to customize different aspects of my phone through the various themes you could download for them. My Contacts and Dialpad are now ICE themed. My Launcher [the home screen] is now "cartoon themed" with cute little icons. It really does look good. Really. Thanks to the launcher, I customized the bottom dock [something that you cannot do with the regular launcher]. From the outside, the launcher just allows you to change your icons and allow you to have different shortcuts on the "dock" area [for me, I did not want "email" since I'm not too keen on email]. My messaging, GO SMS, is by far my favorite. I'm using a rilakkuma theme, and I can customize all the colors of the texts, the hyperlinks.. believe me, there are SO many more settings for GO SMS than the regular boring messaging. It also allows you to individualize it, so different people can have different themes with different fonts and text colors.

2. ***No front facing camera!***
Why AT&T?? WHY did you have to remove it? The other samsung galaxy phones have a second camera in the front, but on the cappy, you can't use skype easily because of this lacking camera. *sadface* And how am I supposed to take pictures of myself or of my friends and I? GRRRR. Also, on a side note, the lack of flash doesn't bother me too much. I find that flash usually whites out objects too much anyways. Oh, there is no solution to this. Also, taking self pictures is a pain. Really.

3. ***PHONE HAS SOME MAJOR ISSUES! LIKE RANDOMLY SHUTTING DOWN!***
A. Yes, this phone shut down on me randomly TWICE on me within a week of getting the phone new.
B. Alarm was not working at all! And yes, I really did set it correctly, to the loudest volume, so I know I didn't just sleep through it.
C. TEXTS WON'T VIBRATE WHEN RECEIVED!! The phone made this little "bump" like when you hang up a call. It's not even that strong. So I missed many many texts. Irritating, being a teenager who likes to respond quickly.

Solution: Factory reset the phone. It solved ALL my issues. SERIOUSLY. My phone has never since shut off on me, the alarm works perfectly, and I am now alerted with a LOUD vibration when I receive a text.

4. ***GPS on the Samsung Captivate***
There are two: AT&T Navigator for $10/mo and Google Maps for free. Guess which I use. I had a problem with it once: my phone froze. It has not happened since, and for me, Google Maps has worked flawlessly otherwise. I blame that freeze up on me pressing too much and more or less overloading it. Oops.

5. ***The battery life is REALLY bad [in my opinion]***
I don't know what I was running, but one night, my battery drained from 68% all the way down to 23%. That did not make me happy at all. I turned off syncing to everything, my GPS is almost always off except when I need it, and it is completely in standby. Whatever the case, I downloaded Advanced Task Killer and JuiceDefender to help me save my poor battery. I discovered through Task Manager that even after closing say, Google Maps or Angry Birds, the program is still running in the background. Thanks to the handy little ATK app, these will automatically be closed upon me hitting the lock button on my phone. Now, on standby, my phone loses 4-5% per 8-9 hours [when I'm sleeping].

6. ***The feeling of the checkered battery cover door***
This is just personal preference, but the whole phone is sleek and smooth, while the battery door has more of a matte, not so smooth finish. Solution: Get a decal sticker. It keeps dirt off. And then I topped it off with a clear case, so the dirt gets on the decal. Besides, decal stickers come in so many designs, AND you can custom it on skinit.com

So besides the above..

Loves: swype, the sliding usb port door [open ALL the way], speedy processor!!, live wallpapers, the fact that I can create empty screens with no icons to just enjoy my live wall paper, very sensitive touch activated quick keys, sensitive screen, super bright screen even at lowest setting

The list goes on and on, but this review is getting very lengthy. Thank you with your patience with me(:

Paperweight June 13, 2011

Reviewer:  November  (Miami, FL) -

I have never regretted a phone so much until I bought this one.
This phone is practically a paperweight.

Two weeks in my sim card died for no reason. Then, the charger stopped working while my grandmother was in the hospital dying.

Any application I install on this phone constantly force closes for no reason. Facebook, google maps, twitter, mail... They either force close or the whole screen goes dark and the phone stops working until I take the battery out.

The GPS doesn't work, period. Anything that requires it to know your position fails. It takes forever to figure out where you are. Most of the time it never does.

I can't even use it's PRIMARY FUNCTION, making phone calls, without waiting for the thing to unfreeze. It stills for over a minute frozen and then half the time won't make the call.

It has been like this since I got it. I've put barely anything on it. I've tried everything to get it to work properly. The system is honestly just bad. It looks nice to people who pass by but stay away. Seriously.

Where's the update February 19, 2011

Reviewer:  Raymond Kui  (USAF ACADEMY, CO United States) -

I've owned the phone since it was released and have been severely disappointed by the lack of an OS update to Froyo. Especially now that Gingerbread is out. So SAMSUNG, why can't we get an OS upgrade? I was told by AT&T that an update would be coming shortly for Froyo and bought the phone in good faith based on that information, but it wasn't true in the slightest. Now with Gingerbread coming out and no update in sight, all I can say is I will never buy another product from SAMSUNG again due to the lack of support.

Honestly...just get an iphone February 17, 2011

Reviewer:  BostonMan "BostonMan"  (Boston) -

I had an iphone 3g and didn't like having to go through itunes for everything. I wanted to be on the open platform...so I switched to Android. Well..there are some good things about this phone. Namely that you're seamlessly linked into Google services. However, after having this phone for a few months now, I have to say that I miss my iphone. The reason for this is that the keys on this phone are sticky..something that surprised me given that this is supposedly the fastest processor (hummingbird) that you can buy right now and on the quadrant score, it was off the charts. Secondly, the gps is rarely accurate and kindof slow. I am in Manhattan a lot of the time and used to rely on my iphone's gps functionality quite a bit. No more with this phone...so I miss that. Third, when I'm typing into it, the interface just isn't as accurate. I used to be able to type into the iphone really fast and then when I looked up at what came out, it was almost always accurate. On this phone, not so. I always have to go back and change word spellings and stuff. I've tried all sorts of input methods and nothing has worked quite as well as my trusty old iphone did. Fourth, the camera is good but clunky. its slow to load up and take a picture and I really have to focus on the thing and make sure I"m pushing the right buttons and orienting it the right way. With the iphone, it was dead easy. I just pulled it out of my pocket, went to the camera, and snapped away in no time. On the upside, I do like the widgets. The iphone never gave me the ability to have a page with useful widgets like weather, mint.com, and the news. This is a great feature that I really like about it. There are some minor annoyances here and there that have kindof added up and over a few months of having it, have begun to frustrate me. I get a lot of texts and with the iphone, I could see the text on the screen without having to open the phone or do anything except look at it. WIth this phone, it tells me that I got a text and I don't know from whom or what it was. I have to move this silly puzzle piece to open the phone and then it loads up the conversation. This kind of thing sounds like such a minor issue but I have to tell you that over a few months, it has really made me start missing my iphone. Unfortunately, I'm not up for renewal with AT&T for another 2 years so I'm going to have to hope that they change a lot of things about the software on this phone in the meantime, but that has yet to happen. I just miss the overall ease of use and simplicity of my iphone...and while I enjoy some of the high tech features on this thing, I'd rather have a simple, easy to use device that seamlessly integrates into my fast-paced lifestyle.

Here's a list of my issues with the phone:
- sticky keys when typing
- doesn't recognize words correctly (often but not always)
- clunky interface; lags a lot, even with Ryanza's lagfix
- GPS rarely works; even with the GPS update
- camera is poorly designed and clunky
- texts are sometimes not sent..I have to "resend" often. There is no auto-resend on failure like the iphone
- the background screen always scrolls when I move from one screen to the next but I wish there was an option to hold it still
- the touch interface (touchwiz I think) is just plain clunky in comparison to the iphone
- After having an iphone 3g for 2 years and this for 4 months, I can honestly say that this feels just plain clunky clunky clunky. However, towards the end of its life, my iphone had a lot of the clunky issues too (sticky keys, etc.) but something about it was just ...don't quite know how to put my finger on it...but it just felt better somehow.

Things I like about it:
- Jailbreak and tether or turn it into a hotspot (yay)
- voice entry is pretty awesome. I can speak into it and its usually accurate.
- The ability to have a widgets page
- Can change the battery and add a microsd card (but I haven't figured out how to expand my music capacity yet even though I put a 8GB card into the thing)
- open platform is the future (once they work through all these human interface kinks).

Has issues... November 8, 2010

Reviewer:  TimMOusa 

I have had this phone for about a week now and I am having to send it in for an exchange. The phone has awesome features, but like many other people, I am experiencing problems with the phone shutting itself off. Any time the phone goes into sleep mode, it automatically powers itself off. I have downloaded an app that helps keep the phone on, but I believe it also wears on the battery, because I can only go for about a day before having to recharge...even with minimal use.

All of this being said, I am exchanging for the same model, because I have friends that are not experiencing these issues.