Samsung Captivate Review Discussion

[Antoine Wright]

The Samsung Captivate is the AT&T variant of the Android OS-based Samsung Galaxy S smartphone. The calling card for this line of mobiles is the inclusion of Samsung's Super AMOLED screens -- which offer better color and use less power -- and the new Samsung Hummingbird processor clocking in at 1 GHz.

From a specifications side, the Captivate delivers on what many expect from top-of-the-line smartphones. But, devices are more than their specs, as I have found out with my time with this deviced.

The Captivate is available now for $200 with a 2-year contract from AT&T. Off contract, the price is $500.

Read the full content of this Article: Samsung Captivate Review

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[Mi An]

DivX isn't exactly in vogue these days, so I didn't expect it to make the review, but for anyone perusing the comments, native hardware accelerated DivX support is one of the most unique items on the phone. Everything else, other than maybe super amoled (if it's all it's cracked up to be), is pretty standard for your high end Androids. Hardware accelerated video means your GPU is doing it's fair share of the work, and it's better at it than your CPU. In addition to better framerates, it probably leads to lower battery consumption and less heat. I think most devices these days only accelerate h264.

Your typical DivX certified equipment also usually runs standard XviD profiles as well. And while h264 is all the rage these days, its owners could choose to monetize, causing the mass market to abandon it for something freer and leaving you with a library that might need to be converted again to something else to play smoothly on hardware that follows that transition. WebM or something else might well replace XviD/ogg theora someday as the open standard of choice, but going through the intermediary of h264 is a hassle not worth it to some with legacy xvid collections.

/my two cents

[Varjak]

Sounds like an impressive device. I especially like the built in 16 GB of memory AND the ability to accept MicroSD cards. I wish you'd included more about the Samsung interface in comparison to the generic Android interface or HTC's Sense. I get the impression that it's barely noticeable; but I'm not sure if that's true.

One other note about multimedia. I read this at the Times the other day:

A Quirk in Samsung’s New Phones - Gadgetwise Blog - NYTimes.com

There hasn't been much discussion of this issue; but it's going to become increasingly important I think.

[Mi An]

Interesting (@varjak's link). Do producers think their content is more likely to get copied and pirated if it goes over wifi or were they more concerned about bifurcating mobile and desktop stuff so they could double charge later (like Fox's hulu/bitbop split) and they just drew the line at wifi offhand...?

[LandSurveyor]

"There's a generic home screen which has the Google Search bar, and primary apps: Contacts, Messaging, Camera, and Android Market. And then there are other homescreens with some pre-filled content. For example one screen has a link to AT&T apps -- Navigator, YPMobile, AT&T Music, MobiTV, and Mobile Video -- but there are also a few screens left blank so that you can add items them."

Would these pre-filled home screens be the carrier-added bloatware many have complained about and can they be wiped? Without rooting anyway?

[Antoine Wright]

Sounds like an impressive device. I especially like the built in 16 GB of memory AND the ability to accept MicroSD cards. I wish you'd included more about the Samsung interface in comparison to the generic Android interface or HTC's Sense. I get the impression that it's barely noticeable; but I'm not sure if that's true.

One other note about multimedia. I read this at the Times the other day:

A Quirk in Samsung’s New Phones - Gadgetwise Blog - NYTimes.com

There hasn't been much discussion of this issue; but it's going to become increasingly important I think.

Its not noticeable. Honestly, that speaks very well to it. Compared to the G1 in my possession at the moment, it's just a UI with a number of full screened or multi-paned widgets. Depending on how you setup the 7 screens, you won't even notice it except for fringe apps.

"There's a generic home screen which has the Google Search bar, and primary apps: Contacts, Messaging, Camera, and Android Market. And then there are other homescreens with some pre-filled content. For example one screen has a link to AT&T apps -- Navigator, YPMobile, AT&T Music, MobiTV, and Mobile Video -- but there are also a few screens left blank so that you can add items them."

Would these pre-filled home screens be the carrier-added bloatware many have complained about and can they be wiped? Without rooting anyway?

Yea, they could qualify. Thing is, it's nicely organized on one of the screens, so it gets out of he way in a respect, and that's good.

The best UIs are the ones you don't notice, and given the wealth of apps, to not notice the carrier apps is an even better thing. That is, until you need them.

[Antoine Wright]

Interesting (@varjak's link). Do producers think their content is more likely to get copied and pirated if it goes over wifi or were they more concerned about bifurcating mobile and desktop stuff so they could double charge later (like Fox's hulu/bitbop split) and they just drew the line at wifi offhand...?

Its about bandwidth and signaling loads, and carriers are still working on that here. I see that message all the time and frankly speaking ignore it. I know what I want to use, and my mobiles are usually smart enough to choose the best pipe available.

It's another topic to get into why they do this. But carriers have needs to protect their investments too.

[Varjak]

Interesting (@varjak's link). Do producers think their content is more likely to get copied and pirated if it goes over wifi or were they more concerned about bifurcating mobile and desktop stuff so they could double charge later (like Fox's hulu/bitbop split) and they just drew the line at wifi offhand...?

I don't think it has anything to do with piracy. But it does seem a bit schizophrenic. They tout their WiFi network to ease pressure on their cell netowrk, they have severely restricted data usage by their stricter, more expensive data plans and yet they restrict a data-soaking function to 3G? I think they have almost no idea what they're doing from one day to the next.

[LandSurveyor]

I don't think it has anything to do with piracy. But it does seem a bit schizophrenic. They tout their WiFi network to ease pressure on their cell netowrk, they have severely restricted data usage by their stricter, more expensive data plans and yet they restrict a data-soaking function to 3G? I think they have almost no idea what they're doing from one day to the next.

You may not be too far off the mark. We think in terms of where the data stream goes when it leaves our device but there could be all kinds of complications with the backhaul we don't know about. Rather like the power grid, some infrastructure is new and some is quite old and it varies because you are mobile and likely to use your device just about anywhere. I think it's a complex balancing act and probably requires some guessing at times.
We are now in a time period where mobile data uptake is increasing because more people are buying data-capable devices. The Iphone/ATT debacle was just the first tilt of the ship.