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What would you do in my situation? (Please Read)

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 think we are screwed for a GPS fix

Samsung claimed that they sorted out the GPS issue's and got it working right on the Epic 4G:
http://www.phonearena.com/htmls/Epi...g-and-all-systems-are-go-article-a_12831.html
Yet when tested, the 4G cannot obtain good accuracy like other android devices:
http://www.anandtech.com/show/3891/samsung-epic-4g-review-the-fastest-android-phone/10
So, while they may have improved the GPS lock time on the Epic (perhaps by correctly implementing agps?), they clearly haven't solved the accuracy and tracking issues.
Here is another link showing the Epic vs Captivate for GPS:
http://briefmobile.com/samsung-epic-4g-gps-test
The above video shows that the Epic locks much faster, but you can also see that it never obtains good accuracy (always has the blue circle), which means it will likely jump around in places with dense streets.
Since the Epic represents what Samsung considers to be a tested and working GPS, I think we are in big trouble. The GPS "update" that we have all been waiting for is just going to give us the same fix the Epic shipped with, which is clearly no where near the standard of today's smartphones. Maybe someday further down the road Samsung/Broadcom will be able to fix the accuracy and tracking issues, but it really seems doubtful at this point. That being said, I wonder what options we'll have to get a different phone from AT&T. I can't live with poor GPS performance for the whole 2 year contract I signed when I got the Captivate.

Maybe the longer it takes the better for us. We'll see.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App

TheSopranos16 said:
Samsung claimed that they sorted out the GPS issue's and got it working right on the Epic 4G:
http://www.phonearena.com/htmls/Epi...g-and-all-systems-are-go-article-a_12831.html
Yet when tested, the 4G cannot obtain good accuracy like other android devices:
http://www.anandtech.com/show/3891/samsung-epic-4g-review-the-fastest-android-phone/10
So, while they may have improved the GPS lock time on the Epic (perhaps by correctly implementing agps?), they clearly haven't solved the accuracy and tracking issues.
Here is another link showing the Epic vs Captivate for GPS:
http://briefmobile.com/samsung-epic-4g-gps-test
The above video shows that the Epic locks much faster, but you can also see that it never obtains good accuracy (always has the blue circle), which means it will likely jump around in places with dense streets.
Since the Epic represents what Samsung considers to be a tested and working GPS, I think we are in big trouble. The GPS "update" that we have all been waiting for is just going to give us the same fix the Epic shipped with, which is clearly no where near the standard of today's smartphones. Maybe someday further down the road Samsung/Broadcom will be able to fix the accuracy and tracking issues, but it really seems doubtful at this point. That being said, I wonder what options we'll have to get a different phone from AT&T. I can't live with poor GPS performance for the whole 2 year contract I signed when I got the Captivate.
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Click to collapse
Getting a new phone through att after your 30 days up could be an pain in the butt. I could see att saying that the gps is working how its intended and wont let you out of your two year , and make you pay full price for a new phone like 500+ for an smartphone.

I agree, I doubt they'll offer any type of deal or discount on a new phone. Especially since it appears to be the whole Galaxy S line of phones and since over a million have already sold in the US. If they let 1 person switch phones, they have to let everybody and that will likely never happen.
Overall, I'm just really discouraged to see Samsung claim the GPS is fixed on the Epic and then have a review come in describing the GPS so poorly. It gives me little hope for a fix for our Captivates, especially not in any September fix they are releasing.

if epic 4g is fixed according to samsung then we're screwed indeed.
after trying the epic 4g gps fix zip file floating around, i saw the same locking performance issues. there is no way this device behaves as expected. i compared my captivate to g1, droid 1, nexus one and they all worked way better and quicker than the captivate.
for now i returned the captivate back to amazon. if they ever fix it i'll buy it again but im not gambling with my money hoping they fix this properly.
it's a shame it's got such a fatal flaw cause otherwise it's one of the best phones.

quit with the pessimism
just wait and see when the update comes out

What update? Everything points to jf7 having the "fix" if you want better buy a different phone because its obvious they are just trying to fix a hardware problem with software tricks. This can work to a certain extent but my guess is that the sgs will always have a somewhat inferior gps.
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App

Everyone should learn two things from this.
First, buy a device based on what it does NOW, not what someone promises it can do in the future. This holds true for anything you may buy.
Second, buy a device based on its primary use. While having gps in a phone can be a useful and handy tool, the device is a PHONE first and should be phone centric when it comes to performance and features. This is the same thing I tell people who whine about camera performance, if you want a good camera, go buy one. If you want a good GPS, go buy one. Integrated devices are great but rarely can an all in one package best or equal stand alone devices.

With stock JF6 and supl settings it is dismal.
However i am running JH3 with the google settings and it is not super bad. Sure it goes out once or twice a ride, and i some times skip on roads... but it does get me to where i need to go with the navigation app.
I gave up on copilot because it wasn't working as well as the google nav.
The gps with current settings is below par... but livable for now... A fix of some sorts making it a little better would make me happy, but i probably won't buy another samsung phone because of the gps fiasco.

I am also running JH3 with the google settings. It is working ok. Used my iPhone4 on a recent trip and the gps got me off the track a few times as well. I don't know that there is the UberPhone that does everything well. It seems phones improve year by year in some areas but there is always one thing that does not work well. Evo 4G - Wifi issues, Droid X - low call volume etc.

l7777 said:
Everyone should learn two things from this.
First, buy a device based on what it does NOW, not what someone promises it can do in the future. This holds true for anything you may buy.
Second, buy a device based on its primary use. While having gps in a phone can be a useful and handy tool, the device is a PHONE first and should be phone centric when it comes to performance and features. This is the same thing I tell people who whine about camera performance, if you want a good camera, go buy one. If you want a good GPS, go buy one. Integrated devices are great but rarely can an all in one package best or equal stand alone devices.
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Click to collapse
there is a long standing precedent that a phone's gps is going to work and work properly. you can not seriously say the galaxy s line, as it stands, has an acceptable gps performance. not being able to get a lock or getting a 15,30,90m accuracy is bull crap. i can not think of a single phone that has gps performance that's worse than captivate's and there is a reason for it.
with all the location services and navigation software out there there is no excuse for it.
at the same place and time, i've directly compared the captivate (with combinations of all/any "fixes" out there) to samsung blackjack2, iphone4, t-mobile g1, htc nexus one and bunch of others. it's night and day difference man. samsung needs to fess up.
i want what i paid for.

Samsung
My last Samsung phone was an Epix: it was plagued by software bugs and the GPS never worked on most of the phones.
Samsung has much more riding on the Galaxy S phones than the Epix (the Epix always destined to be an also-ran, and never promoted by Samsung), so perhaps they'll do a better job. But I'm kicking myself now for buying another Samsung phone and waiting on another GPS fix.
GPS isn't a primary feature for me, so a minor lag is no big deal. Right now, the GPS on my Captivate is next to worthless.

I agree with Chudy. It is 100 percent not acceptable that a phones GPS will not work well. So much of what is available for Android relies on location: Navigation, GPS photos, Location based searches like Yelp or Places...just to name a few common ones. And lets not even start with the fact that the Compass is extremely jumpy, inconsistent and slow to react to changes in the phone's orientation.
That being said, as you can see from my initial post, even after they push the Epic's GPS fix to our Captivates, we are NOT going to be in very good shape...

TheSopranos16 said:
Overall, I'm just really discouraged to see Samsung claim the GPS is fixed on the Epic...
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Click to collapse
While I've read many times about "Epic and Fascinate" being good on GPS, I have not read anywhere that it is Samsung that says that.
Anyone else read that from Samsung?

I came to my Captivate from two years of iPhones, and I have to admit that the GPS is the only real downer to the device. In my opinion, it does everything better than my wife's iPhone 4 except GPS.
However, I rarely ever use GPS. Even when I go places I usually just look it up on the Maps app and remember the turns. That's how I've always done it, even with my iPhones.
So for me, it's relatively easy for this GPS problem to not really be too much of a concern. I would be much more upset if I relied on it like some members seem to.
I have to say, though: I would be much more upset if I were in my wife's shoes, paying the same amount for her iPhone 4 that I paid for my Captivate that may have better GPS performance, but is lacking in every other way compared to my Captivate. Even the mighty EVO has choppy 720p recording and a lackluster LCD screen. The Galaxy S excels in so many other areas, but falls on it's face when it comes to GPS.
I guess that I'm trying to say that the GPS doesn't bother me too much because I don't use it enough to allow it to. I have gotten frustrated sometimes when I open up the Maps app and the best I get is the 3200 meters circle...I really have to know my general area in order to get any use out of it.
Here's to hoping for a decent fix!

ewingr said:
While I've read many times about "Epic and Fascinate" being good on GPS, I have not read anywhere that it is Samsung that says that.
Anyone else read that from Samsung?
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Nope. That language comes from a few blogers heard from samsung support CSR. We all know how reliable that was.
EPIC 4G definitely does not contain the final GPS fixes. Broadcom only gave Samsung the proper driver in late August (8/23 or around that time from what I heard). There is no way in hell EPIC 4G can contain that driver in time for 8/31 release. The firmware in EPIC is probably 1 month old (or at least couple weeks old).
The new leaks of XFJM6 and JM7 showed some promise as these firmwares were produced after Samsung received the new driver.

Everyone is getting all worked up on pure speculation. Also note, if they had developed the patch on eclair, it would be out by now. It is more likely by the time the captivate was released all eclair development had ceased, knowing froyo was coming there was no point in doing a patch for it. I'll be happy to give them the benefit of the doubt till I have froyo. I doubt they want to tarnish the galaxy name before the tablets come out. That could prove quite costly.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App

I'm in agreement with you.

chudy said:
there is a long standing precedent that a phone's gps is going to work and work properly. you can not seriously say the galaxy s line, as it stands, has an acceptable gps performance. not being able to get a lock or getting a 15,30,90m accuracy is bull crap. i can not think of a single phone that has gps performance that's worse than captivate's and there is a reason for it.
with all the location services and navigation software out there there is no excuse for it.
at the same place and time, i've directly compared the captivate (with combinations of all/any "fixes" out there) to samsung blackjack2, iphone4, t-mobile g1, htc nexus one and bunch of others. it's night and day difference man. samsung needs to fess up.
i want what i paid for.
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Click to collapse
TheSopranos16 said:
I agree with Chudy. It is 100 percent not acceptable that a phones GPS will not work well. So much of what is available for Android relies on location: Navigation, GPS photos, Location based searches like Yelp or Places...just to name a few common ones. And lets not even start with the fact that the Compass is extremely jumpy, inconsistent and slow to react to changes in the phone's orientation.
That being said, as you can see from my initial post, even after they push the Epic's GPS fix to our Captivates, we are NOT going to be in very good shape...
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Click to collapse
And you two completely missed the point of my post. If GPS is a critical feature for you, then you should return the device. There is no other option. Moaning and groaning about how poor it is will not push Samsung to fix it any faster if at all. Coming from HTC WinMo devices I can tell you that every one had the same complaint, video performance was terrible. The problem was that HTC didn't make use of the devices' video accelerator because they didn't include the proper drivers. Many hours were wasted with people signing online petitions and complaining that their four plus year old devices had better video performance but in the end, HTC did nothing. Thus, if the Galaxy S phones don't have a GPS good enough for you, you should return it and select a different phone. That's why you have a 30 day return policy. As for my own view on the GPS, it's not a garmin, but it'll get me where I want to be. GPS is nice to have, but I can read a map well enough to make it to my destination even if the GPS puts me one street over.

Yep, reading maps solo in the car while driving down an [email protected] 70 mph. Some of you people are complete idiots, seriously... The GPS doesn't work.if you think it does you're delusional or trying way too hard to be a galaxy s fanboy.
2 contents and they both basically have no gps.
Saying that is like trinh people to stfu if their phone refuses to let them get any type of data connection...
You can do that on your laptop or netbook, so why should it matter.
Stop posting idiotic crap.
The phones should not have ben released with this problem. It's unacceptable, and its not even hard to test and se the gps is awol...
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App

Anyone Else LOVE their captivate?

I've had it for about a year now, and I love it.
Anyone else? Seems like a lot of people complaining about it.
GPS works fine for me.

samvillian said:
I've had it for about a year now, and I love it.
Anyone else? Seems like a lot of people complaining about it.
GPS works fine for me.
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Click to collapse
I love mine. Mostly for the fact that I can customize it to how I specifically want it. And it seems that every piece of it IS customizable.

jonnyg1097 said:
I love mine. Mostly for the fact that I can customize it to how I specifically want it. And it seems that every piece of it IS customizable.
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Click to collapse
Exactly why i love it. Plus the dev community is alive and kicking.
Never had any major issues i wasn't able to resolve.
I laugh when I see an iphone now.

Love mine. First phone in a long time that I actually feel I will have all the way until my next upgrade.

Other than the fact that GPS sucks, I love mine.

Miami_Son said:
Love mine. First phone in a long time that I actually feel I will have all the way until my next upgrade.
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Click to collapse
aint that the dam truth

Very fond of mine as well.
Never lags behind any of my friend's phones, GPS is acceptable (though not excellent), screen is absolutely superb, and battery life since upgrading to Gingerbread has been wonderful.
Custom ROM and Kernel are a must however.
Not many 1 year old phones on the market that can still run with the front of the pack...

Had mine since day one. For the first time I can remember in the years I've been on att I am not counting days til early upgrade. I actually passed the upgrade date this week (I had an Aria and traded for captivate in the 30 days).
Now I can patiently wait for the SGS II with a year old phone I still love.
Sent from my Captivate running Continuum 5.6

My cappy ****S on all my other friends phones except for my buddy who also has one and lets me customize it for him!! The development for I897 just keeps growing and I love it.

I love both of mine...

Love mine, shame I'll be moving to sprint soon.

I'm still a big fan. Love is a little too strong a word. If the GPS was perfect it'd be the perfect phone. I still get remarks about how amazing the screen looks.

Missed out on being truly great because it is missing an LED notification light and a flash with the camera.
With those two features it would be unbeatable.
PS. My GPS locks in seconds with the newest Continuum.

Yep. First Android device I got. Love it.
Build quality especially.
Helped a friend to update his i9000 to ginger. Can't help noticing how solid the Cappy is.
Sent from my Captivate. Andromeda3, Onix 2.0.5, Matted Blues.

I agree that the one and only thing I'm jealous of the other phones is the Flash for the camera.
I've never had an issue with GPS though, oddly.
I can't think of any other faults though... I also hate the slider for the usb plug. I almost feel like taking the phone apart just to remove that piece. Anyone ever done that?

GPS works for general vicinity.....unfortunately its response time is atrocious.
I've been in downtown Atlanta attempting to locate "Cheetah Club" (not difficult to route to).....while you're on the Interstate, you will get repeated "Do a U-Turn" because you will pass your exit before the GPS ever updates. DOWNTOWN ATLANTA (it isn't like this isn't a technological hub). Our party had to resort to a Blackberry Curve (triangulation) GPS to get us there.
I've been in the Marigny in New Orleans (off Frenchmen) trying to find my car on Touro and Royal (this is actually a unique intersection)......taking 40 minutes of walking around near midnight from St.Claude to Chartres to locate one specific spot (routing GPS) before giving up and just trying to just figure it out on my own (without the phone's GPS).
**and yes, this is with ALL THE GPS 'fixes' enabled.
The GPS works adequately if you're trying to route you to a large destination (city to city), but you're up the creek for inner city navigation.
This phone is a pile of **** and an afront to consumers. Out-of-the-box, you're screwed. With rooting and several improvement modifications, the phone is possibly serviceable. This device is FAR FROM being an acceptable product, let alone an ideal (love) device.

^Trade it in and why did you buy it^

definitely love. Once rooted and customized i still think its one of the top 3 out there and still the best att option.
Be hard to go back to another screen.
Run alot and do martial arts so i take a lot of soaking baths to recover......not only has it worked great as an mp3 player for runs i have recently been using it at home on wifi + netflix to catch up on TV shows while soaking. The picture quality for watching TV/movies is unparalleled when it comes to other smartphones.

boborone said:
^Trade it in and why did you buy it^
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
can't handle the truth?
* bought it because - not many decent Androids to purchase w/ ATT back in Nov '10 and unrealistic reviews posted on forums like these from delusional fans
* I'll upgrade (after purchasing the phone in Dec '10) soon enough.
* if the device requires a great deal of modifications to make it operational -then it isn't a good device.
The AMOLED screen is great. the Camera isn't bad (the fact that it doesn't have a flash actually is nice). The audio/speaker/headphone output sucks balls even with VooDoo overrides, though

first phone i love
ive had the: tmobile dash; tmobile mda 2; blackberry 7105t; tmobile g1; iphone 3g; blackberry 8820; nokia surge; and a few others i cant remember. this is the first phone ive had for this long. got it the first day it was out last july. my upgrade is in a few weeks but theres nothing out there that i would upgrade to at this point. when the galaxy s2 comes out then this will be used for developement. ive sold every other phone ive had but i wont sell this one this is my baby. im new to the flashing and all but im enjoying all that you can learn to do with this phone. btw my gps works great; im a truck driver and used to drive cross country and after i crushed one of my captivates by running it over with a truck the replacement is excellent.

Would you buy the Sensation again?

Considering buying the sensation this next week.
Would you buy the Sensation again - if you had the choice?

Yep.
My S4G build date was 6/2/11
Yep. I love everything about it although the screen could have been a little less... grainy shall we say. If you've seen it in person and like the screen then that won't be a problem. It's just as fast as my vibrant and thunderbolt when launching apps but it doesn't get bogged down like those two do. It just keeps chugging right along without slowing down. I've had rosie (the UI) relaunch once, and haven't been able to replicate it. It's also a dream to browse on. It might not be as smooth as a GS2 side by side but it'll pretty much blow most other handsets out of the water in that area. Gaming on it is nice too, and I find it's framerates are as good as the Galaxy S1 phones which is great especially given the extra resolution this phone has.
I can only produce the deathgrip by completely wrapping the phone tightly which isn't a natural thing. I think those that are complaining of the death grip need to not hold the phone like they're trying to strangle it. I also have big hands so that can't be used an excuse. When holding it naturally I get a full wifi signal all over my house which none of my other devices could do. GPS locks fairly quick, but not as fast as the thunderbolt. But it works to say the least, and compared to my Galaxy S1 it's lightyears better. Compass also works great.
It's wifi speeds are hitting as high as 17Mbs down and 14Mbs up which is pretty solid.
As far as "4G" speeds in my area i'm seeing between 7-8Mbs which is great although your mileage may vary depending on where you live. My Vibrant would only pull in speeds between 4-5.5 Mbs on a good day in these same areas. Verizon LTE in comparison blows t-mo's 4G speeds out of the water. It's consistently twice as fast as t-mo's. In real world performance it only launches youtube videos 1 or 2 seconds faster so it's not that big of a deal.
The build quality is amazing, and the best handset i've ever held. That includes the iPhone4. I showed it to a friend who has the Incredible and he was practically drooling at it's looks and how smooth the OS felt. I don't know about the design as it does allow a lot of lint behind the case. We'll have to see if that's becomes an issue with lint getting under the screen.
I've only had it for one full day now and simply love it. Sorry for the long post.

no im sick of this [email protected]#king phone this is my third one after constantly swaping with tmobile because of problems

phonegod said:
no im sick of this [email protected]#king phone this is my third one after constantly swaping with tmobile because of problems
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
what problems, please explain

Every device has problems. I went through 3 G1's. None of the GS1's had working GPS. The N1 had a ton of problems, and the iPhone has problems. If you go looking for a problem you're going to find it whether it be with this device or not.

So far so good...it's a keeper and will only get much better once rooted!

Yes, love the phone! Coming from a G2 I was hesitant about leaving the keyboard but the screen size and swype has made the transition easy. I havent had any problems with the phone at all although I havent been trying to look for any. Overall this is the 1st phone that I've had that I felt was superior to the iphone 4. Kinda sick of comparisons to the SGS 2, theres about a 500-600 price difference right now and although the Galaxy 2 may be a better phone I think the S4G is a better value....either way theres nothing on the android app store that these phones cant handle...best phone Ive had period

Yeah. The only real problem is the WiFi death grip issue, but whatever.

Had my Rogers One X for a week - impressions

Been lurking on these forums for a long time, finally decided to register to share my thoughts on the One X..
I've predominantly been an iPhone user since the launch of the 3g here in Canada. With a jailbreak and length of usage, I have my iPhone set up to do everything I need it to do almost perfectly. In the last half a year or so, however, I've become tired of looking at iOS. Every time I'd look at android devices with their big screens and useful widgets I'd feel a little pang of jealousy. Thus, I started purchasing Android devices non stop and within the last year, I tried the:
Nexus S
Galaxy Nexus
Galaxy S2
HTC Sensation
and
Galaxy Nexus again
I ended up returning / selling each of these phones for a variety of reasons, the two biggest factors were the lack of comparable pixel density and battery life. After getting rid of the Sensation I bought an iPhone 4S and was disturbed by how much worse the battery life was vs the iPhone 4. My 4 would never come close to dying and the 4S was struggling to make it through a day.
The second galaxy nexus with 4.0.4 was almost perfect BUT the samsung build quality bothered me as it just didn't "feel" like a premium device should in the hand..
I knew as soon as I saw the One X I'd have to give it a try. HTC is known for putting together phones that feel great in the hand and this is a factor for me. So far, this phone has been outstanding! I find myself unlocking it regularly just to look at the display. The battery life has been incredible, I have not come close to having the battery die on me on any given day. Granted, I do more texting, twitter, facebook, browsing and text based things vs playing games. The longest day I've had on it so far is 19h 51m with 4h 18m of screen time and I still had 11% of battery left.
Not being a hardcore android enthusiast as of yet, I don't have too much of an issue with sense 4.0. It's pretty to look at and adds some decent functionality. The downside is the minor lag when flicking between homescreens. I would hope that on a flagship, powerful device they'd be able to have virtually no noticeable lag whilst performing such tasks.
This phone does most things flawlessly, I have zero complaints regarding phone performance, call quality, text msging etc. As a phone, it seems to be working extremely well thus far. It also feels great in the hands, the polycarbonate shell almost has a ceramic feel to it. The size is a bit shocking coming from an iPhone but is easy to adapt to.
However, the device isn't without it's bugs, these are the ones I've noticed so far:
-Display: I know HTC is using two different LCD panels, mine is definitely the warmer of the two being used and the whites have a bit more of a yellowy than a blueish tinge to them. I'm not sure how much this bothers me as of yet as in every way the display seems great to look at, I run auto brightness and don't expect it to be extremely bright. I'd be interested in knowing whether anyone with a Rogers unit has a whiter or yellower display?
-Wifi seems to be an ongoing issue. At first it seemed like it would barely hold onto a solid wifi connection at home. I googled like mad and saw a suggestion regarding hard coding the IP vs using DHCP to solve the issue. I didn't think that would be the solution and found another person saying the phone seemed to work better with a wireless network mode of b/g vs b/g/n so I disabled N on my router and the wifi seems to be much more consistent now but not perfect. At times the wifi bars will just disappear for no apparent reason. I've never had an issue like this with any other wifi device at home. Also attempted a channel change. Hoping it's a software issue that gets sorted with an update
-Camera seems pretty average to me.. This is one area where I think the iPhone still excels beyond any other phone I've ever tried. Its simple camera tends to take pretty good 95% of the time. With the One X so far I had a buddy attempt to snap a quick picture of me and it wasn't great. Have tried a few test pictures around the house and the quality seems okay but not great. Keep in mind, I haven't messed with settings, just literally point and shoot. I don't feel as if though you should have to adjust settings to produce a good quality image with a camera phone, I'm not a photographer and have no real interest in learning about photography. I just want to capture a moment on demand and have it captured fairly well without much effort
-Status bar icons: Last night was the first time I've set an alarm on the phone. The icons in the status bar seemed to be going a bit nuts, the alarm icon would disappear and reappear for no apparent reason. Not sure if I just need a reboot because I haven't heard anything about this anywhere
-Call volume display: When I adjust the volume during a call, the volume display is still on the screen when I'm ending the call, which could be minutes later. For some reason it doesn't seem like it's automatically closing off the screen
Anyway, sorry for the long winded intro and thoughts. Would love to hear feedback regarding the issues I've experienced and would be glad to answer questions regarding the device for those of you still waiting to pick yours up.
Cheers!

Thanks for taking the time to give us info. Good to know.

Minor723 said:
Thanks for taking the time to give us info. Good to know.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1. Can't wait until Friday!

Hey there tawheed12! Picked up a One XL from Rogers friday last week as well, I'll share my experience with the issues you mentioned and maybe we can get a better picture of what's wrong. (no pun intended)
I too have noticed a yellowish tinge. However, I've been reading a lot on Google Books (reading a book on a screen this size is a real treat) and I've noticed that the more I use the phone with a solid, or near solid white screen, the less the yellowish tinge. It could be my imagination, but it could also be the screen needs to be "broken in". I don't know anything about the manufacturing process for this new generation of SLCDs so it might be possible it just takes time.
I tested the alarm and the call volume display issues, they don't seem to exist on mine for some reason. Alarms stick and the volume bar fades away after a few seconds. I tested normally and in speakerphone mode. I wonder if it's a third party app you're using?
As for the camera, I've fiddled around with most of the settings, and it seems to take more focused/better shots if you turn off the continuous shooting mode and frame your pictures normally. I know the high shutter speed is supposed to be a huge selling point but the bursting just seems useless to me. Still, even with it off, photos aren't brilliant or anything. HDR and Low Light modes can be useful sometimes, everything else just seems gimmicky or redundant to me. I have taken a few good shots though, if you want to compare let me know and I'll upload some.
My router is and has always been less reliable than my phone so I can't test that one out for ya
One thing I've noticed, the stock music app seems a little nonintuitive in some areas. Google Voice Actions' "listen to" command won't actually play anything, it just does a search in the app, and it will only do it ONCE. Further tries just bring you to the original search and ignore what you said. Hardly hands free. It also has random issues mixing up album arts with different albums in the queue. I've switched to Winamp in the meantime, but it's a shame because the stock app works very well otherwise.
One thing really bothering me, my camera clicks when changing focus. It was quiet at first, but it's getting louder fast. I hope there isnt an issue with our batch of phones! I'd appreciate knowing if anyone else is having this issue.
Anyways, hope I helped!

MatinatorX said:
Hey there tawheed12! Picked up a One XL from Rogers friday last week as well, I'll share my experience with the issues you mentioned and maybe we can get a better picture of what's wrong. (no pun intended)
I too have noticed a yellowish tinge. However, I've been reading a lot on Google Books (reading a book on a screen this size is a real treat) and I've noticed that the more I use the phone with a solid, or near solid white screen, the less the yellowish tinge. It could be my imagination, but it could also be the screen needs to be "broken in". I don't know anything about the manufacturing process for this new generation of SLCDs so it might be possible it just takes time.
I tested the alarm and the call volume display issues, they don't seem to exist on mine for some reason. Alarms stick and the volume bar fades away after a few seconds. I tested normally and in speakerphone mode. I wonder if it's a third party app you're using?
As for the camera, I've fiddled around with most of the settings, and it seems to take more focused/better shots if you turn off the continuous shooting mode and frame your pictures normally. I know the high shutter speed is supposed to be a huge selling point but the bursting just seems useless to me. Still, even with it off, photos aren't brilliant or anything. HDR and Low Light modes can be useful sometimes, everything else just seems gimmicky or redundant to me. I have taken a few good shots though, if you want to compare let me know and I'll upload some.
My router is and has always been less reliable than my phone so I can't test that one out for ya
One thing I've noticed, the stock music app seems a little nonintuitive in some areas. Google Voice Actions' "listen to" command won't actually play anything, it just does a search in the app, and it will only do it ONCE. Further tries just bring you to the original search and ignore what you said. Hardly hands free. It also has random issues mixing up album arts with different albums in the queue. I've switched to Winamp in the meantime, but it's a shame because the stock app works very well otherwise.
One thing really bothering me, my camera clicks when changing focus. It was quiet at first, but it's getting louder fast. I hope there isnt an issue with our batch of phones! I'd appreciate knowing if anyone else is having this issue.
Anyways, hope I helped!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good to know about the screen. It doesn't really bother me too much until I hold it next to a device with more of a blueish tinge.
I noticed the camera focusing sound too, very odd. Never had a phone that makes any type of audible noise when focusing.
I haven't used the music app so can't really help you on that one.
I'll try and take some good pics and upload them and we can compare!

My only real complaint so far is the wifi. It seems VERY shaky at much smaller distances than other phones I've had, to the point that putting my body between the phone and the router at about 20 feet makes the signal disappear. This is the only phone I've ever owned that had this much trouble with the wifi in my house. Hopefully this is something that can be fixed in software.

I still haven't experienced any issues with WiFi on mine. It's rock solid.
The only thing I can think of, is that I've disabled Packet Aggregation on my router (Asus RT-N56U) due to some incompatibilities with my D-Link AP (constant disconnections). Perhaps it's the same issue.

Don't own one yet, but I've played with the demo unit at AT&T numerous times. About half the time I've had the wifi drop out on me. This is concerning and hope it can be fixed with an update. Regardless, I will be preording my unit tomorrow.

DannySmurf said:
My only real complaint so far is the wifi. It seems VERY shaky at much smaller distances than other phones I've had, to the point that putting my body between the phone and the router at about 20 feet makes the signal disappear. This is the only phone I've ever owned that had this much trouble with the wifi in my house. Hopefully this is something that can be fixed in software.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I *HAVE* to assume this is a software issue. It's ridiculous how bad it is. Changing my router to just b/g did make it much more consistent but still not even close to 100%. It's constantly slower than my iPhone testing from the same spots of the house. Could always try to enable the "Best wifi performance" option or whatever but it apparently sucks down quite a bit more battery.

I can also say i have the same issues regarding the wifi! Seems to be a widespread issue.

Great news about the battery because I just mostly text and i talk about a good hour on the phone daily, not really a phone gamer, so my battery should be great fingers crossed.

UMGixxer said:
Great news about the battery because I just mostly text and i talk about a good hour on the phone daily, not really a phone gamer, so my battery should be great fingers crossed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Considering your usage, I think the battery will be more than adequate!
I do keep my brightness on auto, limit some push notifications and keep my GPS off though I doubt the latter two make much of a difference.

tawheed12 said:
Considering your usage, I think the battery will be more than adequate!
I do keep my brightness on auto, limit some push notifications and keep my GPS off though I doubt the latter two make much of a difference.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I never have gps on since it sucks so bad on my captivate I have just given up on it for now lol

I got mine about 3 days ago - yesterday and today I have noticed the battery life improving greatly - the first few charge cycles it was a hog, but it seems to be evening out.
I've had many flagship android phones and had an iphone at 6 different times (from 3G to 4S) so I would say I've had my fair share.
This HTC One X is the first android phone I've had that truely feels high end - I LOVE the screen and its all around a great looking device. No complaints from me actually - its also the first android phone I've had I didn't immediately want to flash a new rom on. I will likely flash AOSP on it though at some point, whenever that is possible.
in short - it's a FANTASTIC phone! battery life blows the 4S out of the water.

aussois said:
I got mine about 3 days ago - yesterday and today I have noticed the battery life improving greatly - the first few charge cycles it was a hog, but it seems to be evening out.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you are an avid ROM flasher, you know that on new phones, and after ROM flashes, the battery meter is not calibrated. The actual battery consumption is not changing. Just the % battery that is being displayed is changing (getting more accurate).

kinda lame the "Camera seems pretty average". this is supposedly one of the strong selling points of the device. i'll have my GNex laying around for a bit after i get mine so i'll be doing all kinds of comparisons between the two. i have no doubt, though, that it's going to trump my GNex in spades.

mrvirginia said:
kinda lame the "Camera seems pretty average". this is supposedly one of the strong selling points of the device. i'll have my GNex laying around for a bit after i get mine so i'll be doing all kinds of comparisons between the two. i have no doubt, though, that it's going to trump my GNex in spades.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
On the at&t model the camera is clean. Compared to my iPhone 4s and vivid cameras
Sent from my HTC PH39100 using xda premium

rambo8987 said:
On the at&t model the camera is clean. Compared to my iPhone 4s and vivid cameras
Sent from my HTC PH39100 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
that's good to know. yeah i've been lurking on the engadget review for the international one and they had this to say:
"Now let's talk about image quality. We pitted the One X against the current cream of the crop -- the N8, Amaze 4G, iPhone 4S and Galaxy Note (which uses the same module as the Galaxy S II) plus Canon's S95 compact point-and-shoot. The camera landed somewhere in the middle of this star-studded pack, marginally beating the Galaxy Note and iPhone 4S while almost matching the Amaze 4G. Sure, it's not in the same league as the N8 (which rivals the S95 in some cases), but this is one stellar camera, especially when you consider that HTC is not positioning this phone as an imaging-centric device like the Amaze 4G."

mrvirginia said:
that's good to know. yeah i've been lurking on the engadget review for the international one and they had this to say:
"Now let's talk about image quality. We pitted the One X against the current cream of the crop -- the N8, Amaze 4G, iPhone 4S and Galaxy Note (which uses the same module as the Galaxy S II) plus Canon's S95 compact point-and-shoot. The camera landed somewhere in the middle of this star-studded pack, marginally beating the Galaxy Note and iPhone 4S while almost matching the Amaze 4G. Sure, it's not in the same league as the N8 (which rivals the S95 in some cases), but this is one stellar camera, especially when you consider that HTC is not positioning this phone as an imaging-centric device like the Amaze 4G."
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Trust me. When you get this phone. You won't be dissappointed. Esp in camera area. But again, its a phone, not a dedicated camera, so its kind of silly seeing people dis phone makers because areas like cameras, gaming, screen reso is not stelllar. Want a great camera? Lol buy a camera, want a great gaming console? Buy a game console. Want great display? Go get a 55 LCD screen tv. Maybe I'm just excited about this phone.
Sent from my HTC PH39100 using xda premium

I have to agree the only two complaints I have with mine. The first is the Wi-Fi it seems spotty unless I am less than ten feet from my router. The only other complaint I have is with the sense keyboard. I am testing a few alternatives so its more a preference than anything. Bottom line though the One X is probably the best device I have used in a long time.
Sent from my HTC One X