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Hey everyone! I just picked up the Samsung Captivate on launch day and it is a very impressive phone (don't ask me why big tech blogs like Engadget and Android Central haven't even done a review on such a great phone, but this is for another day) I love the screen it is by far the best looking screen I have ever seen on a mobile device and it was even a big jump coming from my Nexus One (which I still own and will never part with, long live the king). I have been very impressed, but I am having some major problems (yes I am having some GPS and some other bugs like the lag issue which hopefully can be fixed with a firmware or Froyo). Please read on and let me know if you too have any of these problems as I have yet to of seen any of these in any threads. I am really considering taking this back tomorrow and demanding a replacement and if I have the same problems I will unfortunately have to permanently return to my Nexus One.
1. I noticed from the moment I played with the phone (after the longest charging I have ever seen in a phone btw) that when I grab the phone within a second or two I lose a couple bars of service, and yes I know that "bars" mean nothing so I have been watching my phone in "Menu > About phone > Status > Signal Strength" and I have my Nexus One (on AT&T and I have never noticed any of the T-mo N1 problems with losing service) I set my phone down in many different places in town like my apartment, work, fiance's work, a couple restaurants, and even the pool and it has given me a lot of concern.
-Sitting down on the table at my home the N1 comes in at -69 dBm 23 asu and the Captivate comes in at -81 dBm 16 asu. I have never even dropped a call here on my Nexus One ever. Picking up the N1 it will jump up to between -71 dBm and -83 dBm (sometimes a little higher), but the phone still seems to run like a champ and I have owned it going on 5 months. The Captivate once picked will jump back and forth very quickly from 81 dBm to between 97 dBm and -112 dBm and will continue to jump around going from 5 bars down to between 3 and 1 bar and then I set it down and it seems to jump back up.
I don't know a lot about signal strength even though I have done some research so this may not even be a huge problem, and that is why I am asking all you wonderful people here at XDA on your opinion as I really don't want to get stuck with a lemon. I know I am an early adopter and being a huge Android fan I run the risk of "bugs" because I always want the newest, fastest, brightest, and best before anyone else (hell, that's why we all hang out here right?). I would really appreciate it if anyone could respond to this and give me some quick advice. I have given it a couple days now.
2. I am one of those people that keeps their Nexus One in the included Android sleeve and it doesn't have a scratch or mark on it. I have always kept my tech in very nice shape and you could say I am on the OCD side of things. This brings me to my second big gripe. Where the screen meets with the plastic on the top and bottom seems to have a small gap and it is collecting so much dust. I was cleaning it out in the first couple hours and this phone hasn't even been in my pocket yet (I am using my N1 and my phone during work until I find me a nice case or sleeve). It isn't just a little bit either. It hasn't made it's way under the screen so I can deal with a little dust and maintenance (god knows I did with my Nexus One). I am worried that I will run out of time and end up with a screen with dust under it and a fight with Samsung trying to replace it. I really want to root this phone and remove it's only flaws and we all know the wonderful devs here at XDA will have some great ROMs running Froyo in no time and we can't always count on Samsung to keep up with things.
These are main gripes, but like I said I am having problems with GPS (and know I am not basing my problems off of being in the house that is just ludicrous to even ***** about something stupid like that). It took me forever to get my Captivate to lock on and now it seems to triangulate by the AT&T towers and I jump all over the place, and again I have never had any problems with my Nexus One I use it all the time as my main GPS. I have been following threads on these problems ever since the Galaxy S i9000 launched over seas as I have been wanting this phone for awhile. I also have been watching the threads about the "Galaxy S Lag" that I am sure most have experienced. I kinda think some of this has to do with coming from my N1 rooted with great ROMs and Froyo for the past couple months and going back to Eclair 2.1. I know that they don't have the HIMEM (or whatever it is called) and I am only working with half of my RAM so I am a little more patient with these two problems then I am with potential hardware problems.
If you could take a second and drop a comment on this thread about how your Captivate is running and especially holding up on the signal strength and gaps in the hardware between the screen and housing I would really appreciate it. Also, if you could let me know what you all would do in my situation as I really do love this phone and it has a lot of potential for some time in the Android world. Thanks again, you all are great and the Android community is second to none. Thanks again to all you devs that work so hard for free to make all of our devices that much better and for helping us get the most life out of our hard earned high end products. Android For Life!
Cody
hi
Your observations are exactly reflecting my opinion (minus the nexus one : captivate is my very first smart phone).
I am facing all the issues u hav mentioned
1. The bars keep varying a lot but i am inclined to believe that its a software problem bcoz i never had a drop call with the zero signal. But today morning my calls were continuously dropping. It could be an isolated incident though bcoz after tht the calls did not drop.
2. To verify the fact that the signal bars could.be misleading i made quite a number of calls, was on the speaker during the calls. I was observing the signal strength menu ( the one tht shows in dB) and to my surprise ii was still on call when the strength showed 0 dB . The signal strength indicated zero for more than a minute on multiple calls but the calls did not drop.
3. GPS issue is very significant but i am confident that will be fixed.
4. And yes i too found a significant gap in the hardware where dust is already accumalating. The charging port too does not look very sturdy.
Having said all this i really love this phone and am thinking most of the aoftware issues can definitely be resolved.
WRT hardware this phone is the most powerful in terms of graphix too and i can only imagine the awesome performance when running froyo.
I think i am gonna get my phone replaced. But definitely not thinking of switching to any other phone.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App
itzz(AN)dRoiD
Hey thanks for writing back it makes me feel a little better knowing that I am not the only one. I too think that many of the problems are just problems that all early adopters have to worry about although it is a little disheartening that Samsung launched the i9000 over seas with some of the same problems and didn't fix the two that came to America (Captivate and Vibrant). I am very aware that these things take time and I won't ever say anything especially since I am not developing myself. We have some great devs working on Android phones of all makes and providers and I have confidence that a great phone like this is going to attract some great devs and who knows maybe in a couple years I will be able to give back to the community with work on some killer Android phone as I am going to school for that kind of thing and would love to mess around with it.
I too am not to the point of giving up this great phone. I know my post was filled with negatives and concerns, but this phone is great! I feel that the phone is built great and I am not to worried of breaking it as I am with some phones out there. I am blown away by the screen and 4" seems to the best size out right now in my opinion as I have messed with the Droid X and EVO 4G and I feel that the Super AMOLED blows these screens out of the water. It is a huge jump from the AMOLED on the N1 and I still love that screen. I know this phone has some great specs and I think besides the Sprint Epic it has the best looking feel to it. It is a sexy phone indeed and has the potential (along with the EVO, Droid Inc, Droid X, and Droid 2) to lead the next generation of Android phones. Being on all four US carriers and more all over the world is going to attract a great many users and better yet a lot of great devs that should be working on this great phone. It is the fastest (spec wise) Android phone out right now and I am blown away by just how much of a difference the processors GPU makes compaired to 1 Ghz Snapdragon phones. The screen is my favorite part and the MaxTouch Sensor and Super AMOLED screen make for a very responsive device and it really feels very smooth. I am willing to be patient with things that can be fixed like software (just wait until this beast gets Froyo you will be amazed), but hardware is a different story. Coming from the Nexus One (best phone I have ever owned and I refuse to give it up with all the development behind it) I refuse to deal with hardware limitations as this will be my phone for atleast the next year. Using a generation old touch screen on such a high powered best in class (at the time of course) phone is very silly and it was and still is a huge annoyance that I have had to learn to deal with while using the N1. MaxTouch was one of the main reasons I wanted this phone along with Super AMOLED (I really can't see myself going to any other screen ATM), Hummingbird Processor (and PowerVR GPU), and overall sexiness. It's a great phone and I am sure I will enjoy it as I am enjoying it now with some minor problems I just wanted to see what other new Captivate owners are experiencing and see what I could expect if I was to exchange it tomorrow.
Again, thanks for the response and good luck! I am sure I will continue to see you around as we are now in the same Android family.
generally the dust gets inbetween the screens. But since they are together in the new Super Amoled, i don't think there will be dust inbetween the screen!
Hi Angermeans,
Regarding the GPS issue, did you try the fix from the Vibrant forums? If not, go check it out. The thread is called "Gps fix 101" in the Samsung Vibrant section of the forums. Also, before you do that enable the "Use Wireless Networks" setting under Location and Security settings, if you haven't already done so.
I too had the GPS issues and once I did what was written on there (and added the Cold Start option, as you can see in my post there, you might not need to do that), my GPS locks on in seconds, I even got a lock indoors. I also locked while driving 70mph on the freeway. At home, I compared it side-by-side to an iPhone 4 and it seemed the same. I really hope it helps you out, it's lame to have the excitement towards this awesome phone dampened like this....I hope AT&T (and Tmobile) and Samsung address this crap...it's a shocker why they even let the phone get released with this bug...this phone deserves better than this
You know what I really didn't even think of that! I did read somewhere that the super AMOLED was going to be losing part of the screen and really that was my biggest concern especially since I have spent the better part of the last five mo
nths fighting with dust trying to get under my screen with my rooted nexus one. Thanks for sharing that information that helps put my mind at ease as I swear I read that it is impossible to get dust under samsungs super AMOLED screen.
angermeans said:
You know what I really didn't even think of that! I did read somewhere that the super AMOLED was going to be losing part of the screen and really that was my biggest concern especially since I have spent the better part of the last five mo
nths fighting with dust trying to get under my screen with my rooted nexus one. Thanks for sharing that information that helps put my mind at ease as I swear I read that it is impossible to get dust under samsungs super AMOLED screen.
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I've taken apart multiple nokia phones because of dust, and it is because there is a gap between both screens. With these, it is air free. That is why they are able to make the screen so thin. I prefer not having the gap, because if you look well enough, you can see the two screens.
With "Use Wireless Networks" enabled under Location and Security settings I've always been able to get a lock within a second or two, but it doesn't seem to be a strong lock. In Google Nav, the GPS accuracy circle around my car will randomly appear, get bigger, and then disappear, and it will occasionally think I'm off the road or will take a second to catch up after I've turned. It's usable, but I wish it was better. Hopefully it can be fixed by a software update.
No I didn't but I just read something about that on a thread just a little while ago I'll haveto check that out tomorrow especially since it worked for you thanks for sharing that. This is why I love the android community and XDA forums. Now most off my concerns are put to rest and I can continue to enjoy this phone. Now time to worry about bigger problems like when samsung is going to push froyo out to this beast! I have been spoiled using the nexus one. Do all you guys have your phones rooted? I was holding off until I decided if I was going to take this phone in for another captivate.
Yeah you are right I read somewhere tonight that some people think that samsyng did this on purpose to save battery life I'll try to find the thread and post it tomorrow. Hopefully its not a ****ty GPS chip in the phone I can't imagine samsung going top off the line in everything else in this phone and then cheaping out on a chip but then again google and HTC did the same thing with the nexus ones screen so you never know when it comes to high end android phones. I have yet to see any of the top of the line android phones ber perfect they all seem to have some problem especially HTC.
I bought the case sold at the at&t store and that solved the losing bars issue.
I posted in a different thread that I changed and tweaked my gps settings and it was spot on unless i was by a tree the size of a house.
I was very happy with it for my 2 mile drive. I will use it tomorrow since I need to navigate somewhere I've never been and update on here.
I am done with Samsung after this. This is the second Samsung smartphone that I have owned where after sale support is HORRIBLE.
I was wondering how many people feel the same way.
Is the Captivate your last Samsung phone?
Most likely the last. If it weren't for the screen and snappiness after the lag-fix, it would probably have been returned by now. After the lag-fix I'm fairly impressed with the speed of the device, just wish the blasted GPS would work like it does for iPhone, HTC and Motorola users. I feel cheated. Downloading new apps from Marketplace is another point of weakness for those of us in the land where 3G is nothing but a dream. There is a problem downloading apps on the Edge network, sometimes they start downloading right away and other times you got to walk away from the phone for a few hours and it'll download when it feels like it.
My wife has the Rugby II from Samsung and I'll be darned if that thing won't last for days without a battery charge. Amazing how long it manages to live without a battery recharge.
Abso-freaking-lutely
I thought samsung had gotten serious when it said it wanted to be the #1 smartphone manufacturer and they promised a strong commitment to software updates since they knew that their name was garbage in this arena. Well I bought a Captivate on release day and its been nothing but trouble ever since. Random reboots, GPS that's non-functional, etc. Then finally 2 months later they release a supposed GPS fix, that 90% of the people cant even install on their phones and it doesnt even fix the GPS, mine works worse now than before. And on top of all that now my digital compass is unusable, it always points 90-180 degrees in the wrong direction. On maps its funny, I'm driving one direction and it points behind me or perpendicular to me. And dont even get me started on the completely pathetic battery life. 12 hours on one charge is completely unacceptable. Iphone4's that are using the same CPU/GPU get days on their batteries. The S-AMOLED screen looks pretty good (not as good as the retina display, but better than just about anything else) but it is a total battery hog.
I REALLY, REALLY, REALLY wish I had just gotten the iphone4, its so much better, its not even close.
argolfermd said:
I am done with Samsung after this. This is the second Samsung smartphone that I have owned where after sale support is HORRIBLE.
I was wondering how many people feel the same way.
Is the Captivate your last Samsung phone?
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This is my second samsung phone in 10+ years and my first smartphone from them
I'm actually complete opposite from you maybe because i haven't had any issues outside of the GPS and i'm more than willing to give them a chance to fix it. It's not like i'm using the GPS all the time for the fact that i live in nyc
If they can't fix the GPS to work like it should (like on the Nexus One, Droid, etc), then yes, this will probably be my last Samsung phone. They've screwed people over with the Behold too (atleast I think that was the phone).
HTC isn't known for great reception, but I loved my Nexus One and wish I wouldn't have sold it now.
Hardly. I've gone from an old Sammy flip phone, to the Blackjack, to the Jack, to the Captivate. Whole family is on Samsung's now, Flight, Impression, can't think of my daughter's at the moment. Love Samsungs!
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App
No, but only because of xda
If I had to rely on Samsung for support, then I would have voted yes. The JH7 update has been a fiasco. Without this forum and the dedicated work of designgears and clockworkmod, my phone would still be in an unstable state from the failed (at 100%!) installation. I'll be sending both of those guys some money to pay for the great support -- it's unfortunate that companies like Samsung and AT&T don't have a clue and can't provide the same level of service. Keep in mind that Samsung has full access to every detail of the hardware and software while our guys have done everything through reverse engineering. Incredible job!
Hurricane Andrew said:
Hardly. I've gone from an old Sammy flip phone, to the Blackjack, to the Jack, to the Captivate. Whole family is on Samsung's now, Flight, Impression, can't think of my daughter's at the moment. Love Samsungs!
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App
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I never used a samsung smartphone before this one, but when I had regular flip phones, I wouldnt use anything other than a samsung, I loved them. Everytime Sprint came out with the newest samsung flip phone I'd run to get it, they are just excellent phones. Everytime I strayed from samsung to try a razr or LG, etc I always regretted it within a week and went right back to samsung. But I am utterly disappointed in this captivate. I am kicking myself everyday for not returning it within the 30 days to get an iphone. I kept holding out hope for fixes for most of its shortfalls and everyone keeps saying how open android is, well so far nothing. No fully functioning custom ROMs, no cyanogen, no AOSP, and you have to root and hack like hell to get any customization at all. Its no more open than the iOS, on that you have to jailbreak but then you can go to Cydia and there are thousands and thousands of apps and customizations you can load.
jason531 said:
If I had to rely on Samsung for support, then I would have voted yes. The JH7 update has been a fiasco. Without this forum and the dedicated work of designgears and clockworkmod, my phone would still be in an unstable state from the failed (at 100%!) installation. I'll be sending both of those guys some money to pay for the great support -- it's unfortunate that companies like Samsung and AT&T don't have a clue and can't provide the same level of service. Keep in mind that Samsung has full access to every detail of the hardware and software while our guys have done everything through reverse engineering. Incredible job!
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Exactly! POTD!
I love my Captivate, but only because it isn't stock. If I had to keep my phone stock, I think my satisfaction levels would go way down.
DKirk said:
My wife has the Rugby II from Samsung and I'll be darned if that thing won't last for days without a battery charge. Amazing how long it manages to live without a battery recharge.
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You do realize you're comparing a messaging phone to a smartphone right? No smartphone will consistently give you that kind of battery life with any kind of use.
Great Tech, GPS is ok at best./......my first android device, and i like it a lot.
I really like this phone, but if Samsung doesn't fix the GPS for current Captivate owners, I will never buy another Samsung product.
And, either way, I won't go with AT&T again either.
I had the iphone 3g, 3gs, and the iphone 4 for a few weeks. I also had a nexus one for a while. All great phones, all great GPS accuracy. I left my iphone 3gs for my Nexus One because of the voice to text, and the google navigation. The iphone 4 dropped almost all my calls. It went back fast. I went with the Samsung Captivate because it trumped my Nexus in a lot of ways. I did not expect this GPS issue when I purchased it. By the time Samsung had announced that the GPS issue was indeed an issue, I had already returned mine 3 times because the GPS would not lock. They announced a fix sometime soon in the future, so I stuck with it. I would gladly go with another android device if it was available for AT&T and was comparable to my Captivate. The only other device close is the Sony Ericsson X10. I am not going back to 1.6 and no multitouch.
Unfortunately this is the best Android that will work with AT&T's 3g network at the moment. Samsung built an awesome device, they just need to fix the GPS.
Yup, this is going to be my last Samsung phone.
Samsung is just too incompetent.
I had an HTC before this and it wasn't perfect and there were many vocal members that thought negatively about it. My fiance has an iPhone and is always complaining about it. When I look at Motorola threads I see lots of complaints.
I'm seeing a pattern here. No phone is perfect.
This is the best phone I've played with though. I rarely use GPS so that obviously doesn't affect my like/dislike of the phone. And from what I can tell most people are angry because of the GPS.
I can't honestly understand what the big deal is with GPS. Do people get lost that easily that they need to be looking at a GPS map every minute of the day? I'm sure for some jobs it could be a mandatory thing, but I'm just a little mystified at how many people are upset about GPS like their lives depend on it every day or something. Maybe I'm just lucky that I don't get lost easily, or can follow directions from mapquest?
I'm not trying to insult people with GPS issues, I just truly don't understand how so many people think the GPS issue is a deal breaker. Especially considering it will almost surely be fixed sooner rather than later.
And if people are upset about the update from Samsung not working... patience? I mean you're on the XDA forums posting, so you must have some experience here and know that when there's a problem with smartphones it gets fixed pretty quickly by the community you're a part of. So what's the rush to condemn Samsung for a buggy patch that'll probably be re-written soon anyhow?
This is my first Samsung phone. So far I'm pretty impressed. I had Apple 3G, RIM Blackberry Perl, Motorola Razor, Sony Erickson (forgot the model #) ect... So I had tried so many different brand in my years owning regular cellphones and smartphones. But so far, Samsung Captivate is the best among them all.
If Samsung would come out with a dual core or three core cpu, 4 to 5 inch monitor, front facing camera and 1080p video recording smartphone next year, I'll definitely get it...
I kind of knew that all OTA firmware updates from all major cellphone manufactures will have some kind of issues. That's why in the future, I will download the firmware and install the updates manually.
I agree with sschrupp. Ignoring the GPS issue, I've had no problems with this phone. I had iPhone before this, and I liked it, but not as much as I like this phone. Android satisfies the need to tinker and tweak (thank you XDA). The hardware is pretty darn good too. I get good reception here in the boonies of Kansas, the screen is gorgeous. ignoring GPS issues, I really like this phone.
sschrupp said:
I had an HTC before this and it wasn't perfect and there were many vocal members that thought negatively about it. My fiance has an iPhone and is always complaining about it. When I look at Motorola threads I see lots of complaints.
I'm seeing a pattern here. No phone is perfect.
This is the best phone I've played with though. I rarely use GPS so that obviously doesn't affect my like/dislike of the phone. And from what I can tell most people are angry because of the GPS.
I can't honestly understand what the big deal is with GPS. Do people get lost that easily that they need to be looking at a GPS map every minute of the day? I'm sure for some jobs it could be a mandatory thing, but I'm just a little mystified at how many people are upset about GPS like their lives depend on it every day or something. Maybe I'm just lucky that I don't get lost easily, or can follow directions from mapquest?
I'm not trying to insult people with GPS issues, I just truly don't understand how so many people think the GPS issue is a deal breaker. Especially considering it will almost surely be fixed sooner rather than later.
And if people are upset about the update from Samsung not working... patience? I mean you're on the XDA forums posting, so you must have some experience here and know that when there's a problem with smartphones it gets fixed pretty quickly by the community you're a part of. So what's the rush to condemn Samsung for a buggy patch that'll probably be re-written soon anyhow?
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I agreed with you. No cellphone is perfect, especially when they are made in China or other asian places... they bound to have some kind of defect or it will not last more than one year...
Wow you guys are crazy
This phone has been great, the best I have owned in years.
So the OTA update didnt work for you because you modified your phone from the original state? Boo Hoo. You cant expect a patch to work for your modified rom when it was designed for stock
yes If i can find a nexus one under 400 bucks this thing is gone tonight. i could care less about GPS since (call me old fashioned) i just look at what street to take but the fact that i have to wait until october for froyo id rather deal with edge on at&t then eclair and no CM
Hey guys. My name is Jordan. I have been on Android Central and XDA Develipers for a while now and have been working on starting to do my own reviews and stuff and have started a website I am looking to see what peoples opinions are. I have my first post up there and plan on doing more just want to get some opinions from the people on AC. Please let me know. Link removed by moderator
Oh where to begin. For me I have come from many Android Devices such as the Moto Droid 1, Droid 2, Droid X, HTC Aria, Samsung Captivate, and Dell Streak along with getting to play with many others such as the HTC Evo, LG Ally, LG Vortex,
all of the LG Optimus series, Nexus 1 and Nexus S. All of these phones have been fun and I have been in the constant toss up of weather to stick with my Captivate or move over to one of the new phones. I work for AT&T currently and we have 3 new phones that are coming out within the next few months. I took a look at everything and have been sitting there for about 2 weeks and finally decided it was time to switch. I loved my Captivate but it was behind the curve and got tired of waiting for the offical 2.2 update to come out.
So after I decided if I wanted to switch it was time for me to pick which one of these 3 new phones I wanted to go with. So I sat down and did my research and looked at everything I could. The first phone to get knocked off was the Samsung Infuse. The phone seems like it will be cool but it had some negatives. After having the Captivate and waiting for the update that kind of got me fed up with Samsung. I know that it is partly At&T's fault but is also part Samsung's also. The other thing about the phone is that it is a 4.5 inch screen. Witht that size it is pusing it beyone beleif. I personally feel anything larger then 4.3 is going to be to big. Yes the Super Amoled + screen will be nice and so will the 16 gig internal storage but to me the 2 main problems I had with it were way to large of negatives. So that left me in a toss up between the Atrix and the Inspire. I looked at the Inspire and figured that I really couldnt find any negatives about the phone. The Atrix
on the other hand is hard. I like the fact that it is Dual Core but it is also a negative where it will suck a lot of battery. Next I hate the price tag. $199 and $459 for the laptop dock. That is flat out rediculous. The $199 for the phone is fine but the Dock is to expensive. Next is Moto Blur. I am not a fan it seems to slow phones down and is a big pain in the butt for most users. So after all of that I decided the Inspire was the way to go.
So I picked up the Inspire with a 4G sim card and have been using it for the last few days. The phone has been running really smooth.
First off is going to be overall looks of the phone. The phone is absolutely beautiful. The size is just right it isnt to small, not to big, but right in between. I like the look. It dosent look like a cheap plastic phone either. It seems like it has a good build quality to it. I like where they have the buttons positioned and am happy that the speaker grill and buttons are all chrome finished. It gives the phone a nice look. The battery door is the one big negative. It is a pain to pull off but if you are a person that dosent see yourself doing this often then you will be perfectly okay with this. Another think that is kind of inconvinent is the position of the 3.5 MM headphone jack.
Next I want to go into the overall User Interface of the phone. The UI is awsome. I have always been a fan of HTC Sense and this definantly dose it justice with it being the newest version of Sense. The clock widget with the weaher and temprature is awsome.
It dose not slow the phone down at all. It is very snappy and I like the set up of it. Along with sense you get a lot of cool backgrounds that are cool and fun to use. With the new sense you are also able to create and account that will alow you to track your phone if it is ever lost and maybe even wipe the phone which I am not completely sure about that but I beleive you can.
Next is the screen. So the screen is something that I was really surprised about with this phone. To be quite honest it was my biggest fear in switching. Coming from the Super Amoled to the LCD wasnt bad at all. To be quite honest they look almost identical. The phone displays pictures and video quality very well. It works awsome and is clear I have no complaints. Along with that the screen is also very responsive. It dose not have any issues with not responding to my touch and it is clear and very snappy. Part of this snappiness is because of the nice 1 GHZ proccessor.
So how about that 8 megapixel camera? It is a very nice clear camera for both still and video quality. I have used it for multiple purposes so far. One of the big ones is when I have been working on my girlfriends car the last few days. I was able to take pictures of parts that were broken or things that may be causing the issue and they were clear and able to displayed perfectly. I sent the pictures to multiple people and they were all very surpirsed. Another nice feature is that you are able to zoom in very far with the camera. It was needed for a few pictures and kept it very clear along with a few dark shots that LED flash helped quite a bit. Video is perfect also. I was doing a few videos for a friend that was
doing some random BMX stuff also. Worked good and was able to send them to my friends for them to use as they want.
So what good is a phone if it has crappy call quality. I have used many different phones as previously noted and to be quite honest this is one of the most clear call qualities I have ever had. I have called friends on different carriers and different devices and all said that I sound clear and I was not muffled and using speaker phone was the same thing just fully clear. On my end calls came through clear and wasnt muffled also sounded amazing with the speaker phone. Both spearks are clear and allow you to turn the phone up quite a bit if need be. Another very good quality.
Signal Strength is awsome I have not had any dropped calls and seem to be running in Hspa+ and HSPDA. I have gotten signal in a few areas where I previously
would not have been able to.
So the last thing and one of the most important is Battery life. It is something that could be better. I have tuned setting and the phone seems to only get me through about 7 or 8 hours with minimal texting and internet browsing and a few phone calls that come up to less then 1 hour. This is alright but is not the best. I was able to get a 12 hour day out of my Captivate but this is something I can work around and that isnt a big issue for me beacuse I am normally out for that time and have a tendancy to charge my phone multiple times a day without even thinking about it. So for some people this may be a major negative but for me not so much.
So overall I have fallen in love with this phone and am happy with it. I will be posting some benchmark scores here soon. I will continue using this phone and can not see any issues with what I used to have.
I just became elegible to upgrade my phone, I keep hearing things that vz is gonna switch to tiered pricing and would prefer to get locked in before they change things. Really split between those 3 choices, get a charge with it's amazing amoled screen thats larger and customization of android, or go with iphone 4 with it's higher pixel density, built quality and pretty good camera detail, I can always wait for the apple event on the june 6th-10th and risk being closer to tiered pricing.
I looked at dx 2 but I just couldn't get into the whole pentile screen, it just wasn't right for my taste even with a higher resolution.
Get the charge. You can always sell it on craigslist for an iphone 4. Besides iphone sucks lol
Sent From My VooDood Charge
I've used every single iPhone every year since Apple initially release it. It wasn't until last summer (2010) that I got on Android. At first I didn't like it; i thought it was pretty complicated, confusing, and too frustrating to use. I didn't like Android 1.8 that was pushed onto the HTC Hero as well. So I went back to iPhone. A week later, I got the HTC Evo 4G. I started to like Android a bit more, but still used iPhone 4 as my "daily beater," if you know what i mean.
Long story short, I LOVE android now. I never want to use another POS iOS software device again. Android is the way to go, buddy.
Z51 said:
Get the charge. You can always sell it on craigslist for an iphone 4. Besides iphone sucks lol
Sent From My VooDood Charge
Click to expand...
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Question: If you buy the Charge on contract, and let's say in 6 months you want something else, you can't sell it because it's ESN will still be tied to your account till the contract is up, correct?
ChaOConnor said:
Question: If you buy the Charge on contract, and let's say in 6 months you want something else, you can't sell it because it's ESN will still be tied to your account till the contract is up, correct?
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It's tied to your account until you want to change it, but it requires little to no effort. You can either change either online through the verizonwireless.com portal or by calling customer service.
Once you have changed the ESN/IMEI tied to your account to your new phone, you can do whatever you want with the old phone as it is no longer tied to your account.
There is absolutely no comparison between these two phones. The charge does everything better except iTunes and battery life. Faster phone and way faster network = no comparison.
I What?
Sent from my SCH-I510 using Tapatalk
Syn Ack said:
There is absolutely no comparison between these two phones. The charge does everything better except iTunes and battery life. Faster phone and way faster network = no comparison.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, out of the box, the Charge lags quite a bit. In fact, it's almost to the point where it is unbearable. But the Debloated ED2 solved that problem. There is ZERO lag now.
Android is a hobby, not just a phone, and once you start playing with it, you'll be hooked. iPhone is pretty much a phone for simpletons who just want a smartphone.
The Charge is similar to the iPhone in some minute ways, probably the closest thing to an iPhone on the Android OS. Im trying to sell my iPhone for Verizon now because I just like Android better.
Sent from my SCH-I510 using XDA Premium App
im considering going back to my iphone 4, switching back n forth between the charge and thunderbolt right now .... as someone said, there can be quite a bit of lag with the charge, try adding a widget to your homescreen, takes a really long time to load the menu of choices ... i actually like using the tb more than the charge but can't read the screen very well in sunlight, so i use the charge more...
as for the iphone 4, most of the apps are done better than the android version, no idea why but that's the way it looks to me.... a minus for the iphone 4 is lack of voice integration, sometimes i'm too lazy to type a txt msg, so i just speak it when i'm using an android phone... it can be done on iphone 4 but you have to use 2 programs, just a pain in the ass ...
also, i don't have great eyesight anymore so it's hard to read the fonts on the iphone 4 at times, on my charge i've installed bigger system fonts so i can read pretty much everything without wearing glasses
oh yeah, games run better on iphone 4 than the charge... could be because of the smaller screen on the iphone, angry birds seasons can really lag on my charge..
another plus for android is the 'integration' of things like pics... there is an option to share with many different social networks, email, txt, etc... can be done on the iphone but usually have to use a different program....
all in all, it's a tough choice.... the iphone is really easy to use, has some great apps, and is stable for the most part..
the charge has a really nice screen, not the resolution of the iphone, but still looks great ...
too many choices, lol, hope this helps some.
Yea, what everyone else said in comparison between iPhone and Android OS/Charge is spot on.
If you're not ready to settle for a Charge and a bit unwilling to go back to iPhone/iOS, then you can definitely wait for the SGS2. I picked one up from the grey market (expansys) and I am loving it. Definitely one of the best phones i've ever used.
I would love to get a galaxy 2 but I don't think its even mentioned to coming to vz, I would prefer to stay with vz, been with them for years and am content with the service.
It's like having to choose from vanilla and chocolate but preferring strawberry.
Only concern with going with iphone is I might get renewed in a 3g data and not be allowed to switch to a 4g device without going for the new tiered pricing if thats what they have if I want to sell and change the phone. There's also low quality on youtube video unless I go wifi and it would be more complicated getting my own ringtones in it. Then again the iphone 4 is well built, reliable and stupid proof. Might be harder to unbrick an iphone 4.
You'll only receive biased answers asking this sort of question here - especially given your posting in the Charge sub-forum.
Having owned both the iPhone4 and Charge, I can say they are both great devices. The answer really depends on what you want to get out of your phone. The iPhone has far superior battery life, itunes syncing keepings things simple, the browser is far superior to any Android browser, and overall - the phone just works.
With that said, Android/Charge is the better option in my opinion. I love LTE, much prefer the 4.3" SAMOLED screen, and love that I can easily swap things like keyboards, themes, fonts, etc. I also like how google does not try to tell you what you want, much like Apple does.
If you want to lock in unlimited data, why would you lock in unlimited 3G data? The only phones on your list right now to lock in unlimited data should be Thunderbolt, Revolution, and Charge, and I'd say that the Charge is by far the best of the 3.
ellover009 said:
I would love to get a galaxy 2 but I don't think its even mentioned to coming to vz, I would prefer to stay with vz, been with them for years and am content with the service.
Click to expand...
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It seems like it's coming to Verizon under the moniker Function.
PeterDLai said:
It seems like it's coming to Verizon under the moniker Function.
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Click to collapse
The question is when will it come out? I feel like it's coming out later rather than sooner.
Iphone has great build quality.... but that's it
Apple blows. Get the charge
Sent from my SCH-I510 using XDA Premium App
Anyone played with some nes, snes, and psx emulators on the charge? Can it keep up? Is it true you can use Bluetooth gamepads with android phones and any recommendation on a pad? I played with the xperia phone but was not impressed with the screen.
I got my charge this Sunday. I totally love this thing so far, it's not perfect but I am pretty happy with it. I am coming from a touch pro 2 phone. Only thing I miss from the tp2 is that speaker phone was quite a bit louder, and even output volume through usb jack to cassette deck adapter is not as loud as the tp2.
There's some trade off and most are positive. it's a little wider but it's thinner and a lot lighter, I definitely do not miss the extra weight associated with the tp2 and it's keyboard. Screen is responsive, I have not encountered any slowdown with the exception of flash heavy sites. But then again I am not running too much unnecessary junk on the phone.
Battery is usually 2/3 by the time I get back home or 6/7th if I don't use it much. I ended up getting the dock and it's nice, you can charge the phone and at same time an additional battery in a special compartment, don't even need to charge phone. Low battery, please, I just pull one outta the charger pop it in and put the depleted cell in there.
I wish I could force the camera to orientate itself to portrait instead of assuming your taking landscape pictures.
Programs I loaded so far are Google maps., Beautiful widgets, angry bird rio, psx4droid (got lunar 2, ff7 and crash bandicoot warped working), unEcm and linda manager (lets me browse files).
I still got some work to do, I have avoided getting the ed2 update because it intrudes with rooting. I've been content with the phone so far so I don't know if I will bother rooting and doing some mumbo jumbo with some voodoo kernel thing. ( I'm still new to the lingo, supposedly it helps make the phone faster).
Upgrades I am thinking of doing is maybe flipping my memory card and putting the difference towards a class 10 card, I ordered some phantomskin screen protector, meanwhile I got the anti glare one from vz the day I got it but I think it just makes it glitter a bit.
Rooting and the kernel thing are still under question.
I love the contrast.
Hi everyone? How is it goiing? Its me again, sorry for bothering.. i made a thread a week ago to receive an opinion between atrix 2 and sgs2, everyone told me that sgs2 was the best choice, the day before to buy it i found the next issues that are common in sgs2:
-Very bad Battery Life
-Overheating problem
-Yellow thint in the left superior corner in low brightness
-Green tint when white color is present and you watch it from up, left, down and right sides but its perfect looking at it straight over the display
-pink spot in the centre of the camera in white scenes and low light conditions
-blue tint in camera when night mode is on
-laggy 1080p recording in low lights conditions
-buggy stock firmware that makes the device reboot itsefl and crash.
So.. what now? I dont have much time to change it millions of times, its frustrating, i thought i found what i needed.. so now i dont know what to do.. probably i should wait with my defy until a newer device comes out, what you think?
Thanks for your time, best regards from Argentina.
Well if you don't want to risk it then don't.
However I will say the sgs 2 and is the best android phone you could get and most if not all of those issues are minor, you will not face or may be fixed. Cuz if they were major, I'd have returned this phone already or intentionally break it.
$1 gets you a reply
Yeah i know .. i know their are minor issues, i just hate the technical services centres, they are too far and let you waiting a couple weeks.. Otherwise atrix is not officialy in my country, a seller who often travells to the usa brought many unbranded and sim free atrix origonally from at&t and it is crazy overpriced (800 dollards) and the galaxy s2 is better, cheaper because of the carrier block and 2 year official warranty. Are you experiencing some of the issues i mentioned before?
I've been trying to decide if i should get the SGS2 recently as well, except my problem is deciding if i should wait for SGS3 or Nexus, but from extensive research on SGS2 i can tell you a couple things..
SGS2 is gonna have far better developer support
Some of the issues you're reading about may be only a few people, I've heard good results with battery life for SGS2, but remember any phone with a decent sized screen is going to suffer from poor battery life
Atrix hardware just isn't comparable and is more expensive, unless you're really attached to getting the lapdock
if there's a software issue with the SGS2 it's pretty much certain that its known and there at the very least 1 fix for it.
personally I had this debate when i got my captivate, and it took me one look at motoblur (the interface that motorola puts over stock android) for me to make my decision, i can honestly say i hate motoblur.
there are always going to be little problems with both phones, the new atrix just came out so people haven't really had time to discover ever little flaw but that doesn't mean they're not there.
SGS2 has better hardware, and personally i hate motoblur so SGS2 wins on the software side too. And SGS2 developers are incredible here on XDA so you will have access to all the tech support you could ever dream of. To me its a no brainer (unless your attached to getting the dock for the atrix).
I suggest you go to a store, play with both phones as they have quite a quite different feel to them, and just pick the one you like more, they will both work just fine I'm sure. From experience I can tell you that you'll just drive yourself crazy researching. Good luck
Hi there! SGS2 user here. Here's my mixed bag of complaints and thumbs up's
1. Amazing codec support. It can play almost all files that I throw at it, may it be anime in MKV format, youtube HD, HD Video projects rendered from Sony Vegas Pro, etc! It's good for on the go anime and when I need to show my video projects to others. Best of all, it has USB Mass Storage: no pesky itunes or mandatory video reformatting. Just plug and mount, copy and paste, simple.
2. Screen is a mixed bag as well. On the positive side, it's big, bright, and just looks stunning. Also, when the pixel is black, it really is black in the sense that when i am displaying white text on black background, no matter how much the brightness is set to, only the white text brightens and the black backgrounds stay the same. This is the nature of Super Amoled. But the thing with Super Amoled is, it's power-hungry. Yes, when you use black backgrounds, you save more battery because the black pixels are off. Well not really off, but almost off. The problem is that most websites and most movies are not black all the time. On the average, I can get 3 hours max of compounded screen on time per charge. Also, since Amoled is oled or organic lead, the pixels lose brightness pretty fast. Mine's about 3 months old and i can already notice some pixels that are not as bright as the others when displaying a solid color. Take note though that this is only visible IN EXTREMELY LOW BRIGHTNESS. I use an app called screen filter to lower the brightness way beyond the screen can take. Also, black crush (google it, to lazy to explain) happens when in extremely low brightness levels. Last thing, MHL is the technology the SGS2 uses for TV-out. It's actually TV-out and power in, meaning you need to plug in your charger for it to pump out video. Theoretically, this is done so that when you watch video, you can charge your phone. The thing is, the screen is so power hungry that your battery even depletes even when you are plugged in.
NOTE: I easily solved this batter problem by purchasing
1. An extra battery
2. A samsung external charger/phone stand
http://www.ebay.ph/itm/NEW-SAMSUNG-...AU_MobilePhoneAccessories&hash=item19c9ec5e32
3. Yes, it gets hot especially when playing intensive games like Dungeon defenders or when watching a movie through tv-out. But hey, it's really thin, so I'm not surprised the heat can reach my hands.
4. 99.9% lag free. Really, I've never owned a phone as lag free as this, even on stock. This has got to be the speediest phone i've owned.
5. About the tints: well, I don't really experience them since i've installed a custom rom. Or maybe I don't have a trained enough eye. Overall, I like the screen.
6. I don't record 1080p video mainly because the image gets cropped. It's a hardware limitation, AFAIK. Nonetheless, I'm satisfied with 720p. Actually, since I own a DSLR, all phone videos and images look crap to me, but hey, the SGS2 images and video still look nice. AND THE FLASH IS QUITE POWERFULL TOO, very bright for night time video.
For any more questions, feel free to ask.
Thats one of the reason by wich i love xda, veru fast and usefull replies thanks you guys for wasting time to help! And it really drove me crazy, searching, looking for fixes. Reviews, agh, damn, i spent the entire week deciding, even on work lol i'm a sick of mobile technology, smarthphones are my passion and i spent much time reading threads like this. So .. it heats because of hungry display and powerful processor, battery drains because of display, and of course it would be fine in 720p.. i think i'll take the risk, i cant die without trying SGS2! I'll use the entire functions before the 10 days that my carrier gives to exchange it for a new one in case of factory defects, i hope there is no issuees, wish me look!! Thanks you all! I'll notice you when i get home with it.. does the camera suffer the pink issue? Whatever, here i go sgs2
Since day 1 I specifically tested for the pink issue but couldn't produce it. But other users have it too but are saying its been fixed through the new camera firmware, so all in all you won't get it or it will be fixed.
$1 gets you a reply
previously I apologize if I am wrong opinion
I also compare between atrix, sgs2 and Optimus 2x and finally I decided to buy the Optimus 2x
please note that no single man-made is perfect, there must have been the weakness behind it
so I can only give encouragement to you in order not to regret what you buy
sgs2 also have more side than the other handhelds
you can optimize your handheld to fit your needs
you try to thread sgs2 visit there you will find all the advantages of which have been optimized sgs2
i`m sorry, i can`t speak english well
Well, Galaxy R is cheaper and has a better GPU. And its pretty decent handset.
Sent from my Galaxy Ace running J.A.F CM 7.2 Odexed using XDA App
i have an atrix 2, and while i like the design, look and feel of the phone, and most importantly to me, the way it interacts with the car dock, i will say it has it's share of issues.
i cannot get the emails to stop syncing, even with the accounts set to fetch manually
settings menus are just confusing, you can change the same setting in 2-3 different places
even though the phone state 8gb internal memory, this is not true. it is not accessible to the user, you basically get 5gb of app storage. you are then given a 2gb sdcard to fit your pics, music, videos, lol
people are having a lot of sdcard read/write problems
apps2sd renders the sdcard useless
the camera absolutely sucks. takes forever to focus on anything, then snaps, wait... wait... wait... oh, it's blurry
even though it's not a blur phone, it has an ass-ton of blur apps running. freezing some works, but, i found that the blur and social network integration is so intertwined with system apps that you will get a lot of force closes on system apps when you freeze a lot of the services
there is a device health monitor service that runs, and runs gps 100% of the time, killing the battery. you can freeze this, but if you were like me and purchase the phone in hopes of getting away from having to hack and mod a phone to get it to run the way it was supposed to, your screwed.
the gallery app sucks
the music app sucks
you can hear yourself in call on the ear piece, which is oddly annoying
some of the atrix 2 devices have the infamous nexus s bug where the screen goes wonky sometimes while plugged in
bootloader is on lock down
there's no development happening at all
i'm actually at the point of exchanging it, i have 8 days left on my 30 day return period and i'm looking at getting the samsung focus s since there's nothing else worth having at that price point.
but don't get me wrong, not all atrix 2's are having these issues, and it is a good looking device and runs rather smoothly. the accessories, while expensive, are really cool too.
Well first of all i should assume the fact that nothing is perfect, i think i'm becoming a bit perfeccionist, but hey, when we spent some money in buying something we have a too big spectation! And when we find this little issues we say, damn, i wasn't expecting that! It's not working like it should.. Thanks svtfmook for the Atrix opinion, is the first i read and i think that Motorola focuses in Elegancy of the desing and high quality hardware handsets.. Otherwise Samsung has their own processor, the exynos chipset, and focus on the display, the functionality.. whatever.. Comparing the opinions, i think i should get the Galaxy S2 and stop complaining about those little issues.. I think its fine, i can live with it.. i admit i love the way that galaxy s2 do the things faster, i saw many reviews and i said, wow! What a Phone, just like neilbantoc says, The sharp and bright display and the speedy processor are battery hungry .. I think it won't worth waiting either, o don't think that the next phones will be far different to SGS2.. on 10th december i'll go for it, i'll see it how it works and everything and i think i'll fall un love.. Thanks you all, and its a honor for me to be a member and talk with you guys in XDA, its a great forum and i apreciate your patience to explain, there's no forum like this in Argentina, i'll promise next time i will speak english a bit better, sorry haha, take care