Samsung Galaxy S review shootout: Samsung Captivate for Major Carrier - AT&T
Out of the four major U.S. carriers, AT&T was the most in need of a solid Android smartphone, and it's finally got one in the Samsung Captivate. Part of the Galaxy S series, the Captivate is by far AT&T's most powerful and feature-rich Android device, boasting a gorgeous Super AMOLED touch screen, a 1GHz Hummingbird processor, and some great multimedia features. It won't win any beauty contests, and we wish AT&T would stop restricting app access, but overall, the Captivate delivers and is a great alternative to the iPhone 4. The Samsung Captivate for AT&T will be available starting July 18 for $199.99 with a -year contract (voice plan and minimum $15 data plan required).
The Captivate's touch screen was responsive and fast. We were able to quickly swipe through the various home screens and menu pages, and the scrolling experience was smooth, as was the pinch-to-zoom gesture. The display also has a six-axis accelerometer, which comes in handy for gaming, and it was fast to change the screen orientation whenever we rotated the phone.
The Captivate provides a premium viewing experience on its large, brilliant 4-inch display powered by Samsung's Super AMOLED touch screen technology. Super AMOLED technology yields thinner displays, delivering one of the thinnest, most responsive full-featured smartphones in the industry. Samsung's innovative display technology makes watching movies, viewing videos and playing games come to life like never before, even in bright light and outdoor environments.
In addition, the Samsung Captivate is designed with a six-axis sensor that combines the smartphone's accelerometer and gyroscope to provide a smooth, fluid gaming experience when the user is tilting the device up or down or panning the phone to the left or right. The Captivate's user interface also supports a series of advanced touch screen gestures capabilities including multi-touch pinch, long tap and zoom and vertical and horizontal swiping. This series of versatile gestures provide easier and quicker access to many applications including location-based services, Web browsing and digital photos.
Powering the Captivate is a 1 GHz Samsung Hummingbird Application Processor, which produces amazing 3-D graphics, faster upload and download times and full richness of HD-like multimedia content. The Captivate is also outfitted with 3D sound capabilities, giving the user surround-sound stereo quality, when listening on hard-wired headphones.
Below the screen, are four touch-sensitive Android shortcuts: menu, home, back, and search. On the left side, there's a volume rocker, and a power/lock button sits on the right. There's a 3.5mm headphone jack on top, as well as a Micro-USB port, which is protected by a sliding cover. As usual, the camera is found on back, and just as a quick tip: if you want remove the battery door to swap out cells or access the SIM card or expansion slot, slide out the bottom portion of the phone first before removing the door
for more tips, check out http://www.SamsungCaptivateForum.com .
AT&T packages the Samsung Captivate with an AC adapter, a USB cable, a wired stereo headset, and reference material. For more add-ons, please check our cell phone accessories, ring tones, and help page.
Like the rest of the Galaxy S series, the Captivate runs on Android 2.1 with Samsung's TouchWiz 3.0 interface. The latter is definitely improved from previous versions, with some enhanced functionality and a more polished look.
To start, there are new widgets, including one called Feeds & Updates and another called Buddies Now. Feeds & Updates streams updates from Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace, and you can choose to display content from one, , or all three of the social-networking sites, as well as set the refresh rate, ranging from 30 minutes to once a day. Buddies Now is like a favorites list and allows you to immediately call or text those contacts, as well as comment on any of their updates. There are a number of other Samsung widgets, as well as Android widgets and other shortcuts, all of which can be added to one of seven home screens.
The home screens can also be personalized with live wallpapers, but there are elements that can't be changed: the pull-down notification tray on top, which now includes wireless manager and profile functions, and the toolbar along the bottom with quick-launch buttons to the phone app, e-mail, browser, and applications. Pressing the latter takes you to a nice grid view of all your apps; they're spread out over several pages, which you can swipe from side to side to get to. We much prefer this layout over the standard Android one, where you have to scroll up and down. It feels more natural and easier to navigate.
"For one thing, AT&T blocked the phone from installing applications from anywhere other than the Android Market," said Segan. Because of AT&T's dedication to the iPhone, Segan's biggest concern is that "Unlike Verizon and Sprint, AT&T has no strong narrative around why you would want an Android phone".
The Captivate's touch screen was responsive and fast. We were able to quickly swipe through the various home screens and menu pages, and the scrolling experience was smooth, as was the pinch-to-zoom gesture. The display also has a six-axis accelerometer, which comes in handy for gaming, and it was fast to change the screen orientation whenever we rotated the phone.
The Captivate provides a premium viewing experience on its large, brilliant 4-inch display powered by Samsung's Super AMOLED touch screen technology. Super AMOLED technology yields thinner displays, delivering one of the thinnest, most responsive full-featured smartphones in the industry. Samsung's innovative display technology makes watching movies, viewing videos and playing games come to life like never before, even in bright light and outdoor environments.
In addition, the Samsung Captivate is designed with a six-axis sensor that combines the smartphone's accelerometer and gyroscope to provide a smooth, fluid gaming experience when the user is tilting the device up or down or panning the phone to the left or right. The Captivate's user interface also supports a series of advanced touch screen gestures capabilities including multi-touch pinch, long tap and zoom and vertical and horizontal swiping. This series of versatile gestures provide easier and quicker access to many applications including location-based services, Web browsing and digital photos.
Powering the Captivate is a 1 GHz Samsung Hummingbird Application Processor, which produces amazing 3-D graphics, faster upload and download times and full richness of HD-like multimedia content. The Captivate is also outfitted with 3D sound capabilities, giving the user surround-sound stereo quality, when listening on hard-wired headphones.
Below the screen, are four touch-sensitive Android shortcuts: menu, home, back, and search. On the left side, there's a volume rocker, and a power/lock button sits on the right. There's a 3.5mm headphone jack on top, as well as a Micro-USB port, which is protected by a sliding cover. As usual, the camera is found on back, and just as a quick tip: if you want remove the battery door to swap out cells or access the SIM card or expansion slot, slide out the bottom portion of the phone first before removing the door
for more tips, check out http://www.SamsungCaptivateForum.com .
AT&T packages the Samsung Captivate with an AC adapter, a USB cable, a wired stereo headset, and reference material. For more add-ons, please check our cell phone accessories, ring tones, and help page.
Like the rest of the Galaxy S series, the Captivate runs on Android 2.1 with Samsung's TouchWiz 3.0 interface. The latter is definitely improved from previous versions, with some enhanced functionality and a more polished look.
To start, there are new widgets, including one called Feeds & Updates and another called Buddies Now. Feeds & Updates streams updates from Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace, and you can choose to display content from one, , or all three of the social-networking sites, as well as set the refresh rate, ranging from 30 minutes to once a day. Buddies Now is like a favorites list and allows you to immediately call or text those contacts, as well as comment on any of their updates. There are a number of other Samsung widgets, as well as Android widgets and other shortcuts, all of which can be added to one of seven home screens.
The home screens can also be personalized with live wallpapers, but there are elements that can't be changed: the pull-down notification tray on top, which now includes wireless manager and profile functions, and the toolbar along the bottom with quick-launch buttons to the phone app, e-mail, browser, and applications. Pressing the latter takes you to a nice grid view of all your apps; they're spread out over several pages, which you can swipe from side to side to get to. We much prefer this layout over the standard Android one, where you have to scroll up and down. It feels more natural and easier to navigate.
"For one thing, AT&T blocked the phone from installing applications from anywhere other than the Android Market," said Segan. Because of AT&T's dedication to the iPhone, Segan's biggest concern is that "Unlike Verizon and Sprint, AT&T has no strong narrative around why you would want an Android phone".
Source...