The OFFICIAL taking back the Captivate thread

[whsbuss]

My comment on the 9800 battery life was based on how the other BBs I've owned performed. As a phone reseller I have access to most devices including the i4. Since the 9800 hasn't released on AT&T yet I can't really test battery life.

 

[shepx5]

LOL,

my post got merged from another thread so you have no idea what I was talking about.

The battery issues (which is what i was referring to) are easily user error. Live wallpaper and keeping tasks open kill the battery so fast. and most people do not cycle their batteries which also kills the battery life.

Normal wallpaper + Advanced Task Killer + Battery cylce = great battery performance.

---------

The only real problem the phone has is the GPS. Even the MMS problem sounds like it is something from ATT side.

I own one of these, I could care less if someone wanted to return them...but when a customer doesnt know how to use their phone and complains about it, that's user error.

Actually, I know exactly what you were talking about because I saw your response in the old thread before they got merged. I just didn't have the time to respond until now.

There is no reason for any phone with a 1500 mah battery to take 4 hours to charge, as it seems to be the case with the Captivate. That is poor engineering at best and I'll leave it at that.

Yes, the original poster and many other folks may be their own worst enemy in regards to their poor battery life, but you don't know that for sure. Your response to his complaint reinforces what many of us here consider AT&T's poor attitude and customer service which runs rampant throughout the company.

 

[MarcMaiden]

What i say here does not reflect the way I, nor AT&T does business. Everything I say on these forums are my opinions, and my opinions only. I have been using android phones since the original moto droid came out on verizon, which I still have and use. There isnt much of a difference in battery or charge time with the two.

I do not think I have said anything offensive or wrong with my above post. When I say user error, I do not mean to be offensive to the OP. I say it because the OP needs to learn more about the phone first


by the way, how would you respond to someone who wants to exchange/return a phone for an issue that is user error? I would never hesitate to return the phone, if someone is unhappy I would never make a customer stick to a phone they are unhappy with, but I'd also tell them what they are doing wrong.


again, I want to restate that what I say here are my opinions, and does not how AT&T does business.

 

[gunny5821]

I can understand the frustration here by some, but are we pointing the finger in the right direction? I mean aren't a lot of the problems we are experiencing due to the Android OS vs the actual Hardware? I mean Samsung is the maker of the Hardware, NOT the software (Other than the launcher software that lays over the Android). They have already admitted there is a problem with the GPS and they said it would be fixed in late Aug to mid Sep.

My frustrations have to do with the Android OS, specifically, the contacts, the calendar, email (Cannot sync Yahoo nor some others at the OS level), any several other small things. These things should be second nature, but they are not. Again, an Android issue, not the Hardware. I have had my phone for a week now and I am very impressed with the Samsung Hardware, but I am NOT impressed with the Android Software. I have until Sep 3rd (My 30 day window) and unless the Android Software makes some Big Changes, I will be switching it out, again OS fault, not hardware fault.

Just my 2 cents..

Gunny

 

[MarcMaiden]

I can understand the frustration here by some, but are we pointing the finger in the right direction? I mean aren't a lot of the problems we are experiencing due to the Android OS vs the actual Hardware? I mean Samsung is the maker of the Hardware, NOT the software (Other than the launcher software that lays over the Android). They have already admitted there is a problem with the GPS and they said it would be fixed in late Aug to mid Sep.

My frustrations have to do with the Android OS, specifically, the contacts, the calendar, email (Cannot sync Yahoo nor some others at the OS level), any several other small things. These things should be second nature, but they are not. Again, an Android issue, not the Hardware. I have had my phone for a week now and I am very impressed with the Samsung Hardware, but I am NOT impressed with the Android Software. I have until Sep 3rd (My 30 day window) and unless the Android Software makes some Big Changes, I will be switching it out, again OS fault, not hardware fault.

Just my 2 cents..

Gunny

I couldnt agree with you more with this post. While some of the problems are definitely from samsungs end, some problems also come from android as well. Its not a perfect OS, and it never will be (no OS is perfect). It is a way more complex OS, especially when you compare it the infamous IOS.

 

[gunny5821]

I can understand the frustration here by some, but are we pointing the finger in the right direction? I mean aren't a lot of the problems we are experiencing due to the Android OS vs the actual Hardware? I mean Samsung is the maker of the Hardware, NOT the software (Other than the launcher software that lays over the Android). They have already admitted there is a problem with the GPS and they said it would be fixed in late Aug to mid Sep.

My frustrations have to do with the Android OS, specifically, the contacts, the calendar, email (Cannot sync Yahoo nor some others at the OS level), any several other small things. These things should be second nature, but they are not. Again, an Android issue, not the Hardware. I have had my phone for a week now and I am very impressed with the Samsung Hardware, but I am NOT impressed with the Android Software. I have until Sep 3rd (My 30 day window) and unless the Android Software makes some Big Changes, I will be switching it out, again OS fault, not hardware fault.

Just my 2 cents..

Gunny

To make one additional comment that I forgot to mention in my first post. How I could omit this is beyond me, but my GPS is working fine. I have had the phone for a week, have used the GPS for at least an hour each day (For testing purposes) and it works! The only issue is sometimes, when I stop for a period of time, I will see a lapse, but than it catches up and continues to work fine. However, Samsung has admitted there are issues with the GPS and stated they WILL fix it, as noted in my first post above.

Just my 2 cents, but I cannot see how the GPS "ALONE", meaning the phone is 100% in all other areas except the GPS, is a deal breaker to the extreme of returning it for some other phone that will have issues all of its own. For those looking for the perfect phone, keep looking cause one don't exist. The best we mere mortals can hope for is a phone that works and meets our personal standards for most of the time.

Just my 2 cents!

Gunny

 

[ZDroid1]

They have already admitted there is a problem with the GPS and they said it would be fixed in late Aug to mid Sep.


Gunny

How do you know that? Is there a link?

 

[gunny5821]

I hardly believe this manager has heard anything. If there really was a "fix" then Samsung or At&t or both would be making a statement that they have a fix, not trying to hide it from their own employees.

I don't understand why it is so &%$#ing hard to just tell us what the hell is going on. As simple as.. "yes it's messed up. We have narrowed it down to firmware/software problems. it will be updated and we are working to have it released in the froyo ota's later this year."

or "we really don't know at this time". Just come out and say something relevant.

Well Samsung has come out and stated that there is in fact a proiblem with the GPS on the Galaxy S Phones and there is a software fix in play that will resolve the GPS issue and will be released end of Aug thru mid Sep. You aren't going to get a better confession than this. There is no regulation or standard of conduct that states they had to do what they did, but they did. To expect them to provide a blow by blow in detail of what exactly is the problem, well it will NEVER happen! I give them credit for doing what they have done and to expect them to do more is just not far to them. We all need to think in realistic terms here folks, I mean we are all adults and we all should know how Big Bisuness works.. Enough said!

Just my 2 cents!

Gunny

 

[ninjadork]

Where is this Aug/Sep information? The only thing official I've seen from Samsung is a statement saying that would "provide an update as soon as possible." Not a software update, just an update.

Saying the GPS is working as designed would be an "update". They haven't committed to anything as far as I can see.

 

[gunny5821]

go to the one in bell square. i originally went to the lynnwood store since it's close to my work, found out they were still on their original shipment, and decided to go to bell square on my way home from work just to see... granted, i waited for an hour before my name was called in the queue, but they're on their third shipment and the box he gave me said rev 1.1 on the side. the guy had no problems exchanging it for me and was also willing to do the gps fix on my original phone if i didn't want to deal with configuring a new phone again. but he was super helpful and pro-android as he had a nexus one as his personal phone and wasn't all hyped up over the iphone 4 and zero issues exchanging it
random shut off is what i returned mine for. when it just sits on my desk, one minute on, the next i realize it's off, that doesn't fly with me. if it was jiggling around in my jacket or something, then i can see how it could happen. but when it just sits there not moving, no. haven't had the issue since, but it's only been a few days. this one seemed a lot slower and laggy when i first got it, but it seems to have sped back up to where it should be. gps doesn't work (at all, first one worked sometimes), and the signal indicator shows a lower reception, though i can still make calls with what appears to be no signal without having the calls break up or drop.
also, this one seems to actually adjust the screen better at night. the first one i had taken it off auto adjust and had it set to the darkest setting, but this one seems to not light up nearly as bright.

You stated this was on the side of the box, "...box he gave me said rev 1.1 on the side..." Are you talking about the white sticker that has the serial # and UPC # on it? Where on the sticker was the rev mentioned? So in your experience, you noticed you had more trouble with the rev 1.1 phone than your previous one. Did you know the DOB for the 2 phones? You can find this out by registering your phones on the Samsung web site. After you put in your info and serial #, the DOB will pop up under the serial #.

Gunny

 

[gunny5821]

Where is this Aug/Sep information? The only thing official I've seen from Samsung is a statement saying that would "provide an update as soon as possible." Not a software update, just an update.

Saying the GPS is working as designed would be an "update". They haven't committed to anything as far as I can see.

Well I went looking for the info you asked about and found I was in error, that info was provided by a handful of users at various times in different threads. All of which read more into a statement than what was actually said. My Bad! BUT I went searching for the answer and I come to you with the Correct answer and further info to HELP us out in the GPS battle. This comes from "gadgetwidgets.com - Thank You"... So without further ado:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Here is the quote from the Samsung Mobile statement:

​

 

[jasonsmith]

Is the purpose of this thread to scare and sway future new comers to the phone to maybe not buy one because it's almost working for me. All this energy needs to be directed at Samsung and not those who may be enjoying the phone or wish to enjoy the phone. If you no longer have the phone then why even hangout in this part of the forum. If it's really that crappy then so be it but I'm not convinced it is but I don't have one so maybe it is... idunno what to do, up here in Canada eh we don't have many good android options. If there are people actually enjoying this phone speak up cause this is a bad thread for potential users. The more users the better the chance this phone has to succeed.

 

[ninjadork]

I've tried every possible workaround from both here and xda-developers as far as changing settings under the LBSTestMode menu. None of them work. At best they might help with the initial lock, the problem I have is that turn-by-turn directions in Google maps is completely useless when it can't figure out that I already made that left turn 2 blocks back.

I really hope this is just a software issue that Samsung can fix via firmware. Everything else about the phone (well, everything except all the steps I had to go through to enable side-loading apps and getting rid of at&t bloatware) I really like. The GPS is a total dealbreaker though.

This thread should be scaring people away. Right now there's no way in hell I'd recommend this phone or any other Galaxy S to anyone else there is a proven GPS fix provided by Samsung. My 30 days is up on September 2nd, so I'm willing to give Samsung at least until then to address this.

 

[jmreed97]

They have already admitted there is a problem with the GPS and they said it would be fixed in late Aug to mid Sep.

Why do people keep saying that... Samsung has not said they will fix the issue at all. And they most definitely have not given a date as to when the fix will be here.

All they have said is they know there is an issue and they are looking into it.

 

[jas2k9]

Is the purpose of this thread to scare and sway future new comers to the phone to maybe not buy one because it's almost working for me. All this energy needs to be directed at Samsung and not those who may be enjoying the phone or wish to enjoy the phone. If you no longer have the phone then why even hangout in this part of the forum. If it's really that crappy then so be it but I'm not convinced it is but I don't have one so maybe it is... idunno what to do, up here in Canada eh we don't have many good android options. If there are people actually enjoying this phone speak up cause this is a bad thread for potential users. The more users the better the chance this phone has to succeed.

Hi, I cannot speak for anyone else. I am still interested in the Captivate, I want to see it fixed. I exchanged mine with a lot of regret. I don't post suggesting that anyone actually do anything. I want to keep track of successful corrections to issues so that I may one day (soon?) return to Samsung/Captivate/Android (or some combination). I do also stick around to share information that I have - based on my experiences, but other than my post on the switch to the phone I am using now I do NOT seek to generate any friction at all - and even in that posting - it was not about friction - strictly sharing info.

 

[ayz]

If you only use gmail, don't mind not having reliable turn-by-turn navigation (directions only), and can deal with an SMS messaging skin that looks like pacman, then get the Captivate.

If you use exchange-based email or need a reliable full day of battery, no dice.

 

[Peter95]

hey guys..... im new here in the forums.... read most of the posts in this thread and i am too considering in returning this thing.

I have problems with everything. GPS sucks compared to iphones, and for some reason, i cannot get this thing to mount on my computers.
bought an external micro sd, and it will not recognize anything in there.
i downloaded doubletwist, and still did not work.

no one is able to help me with this, so in another week, if i cannot get this thing working, i will return it and just get the iphone like i wanted in the beginning.

 

[Chromag]

If you only use gmail, don't mind not having reliable turn-by-turn navigation (directions only), and can deal with an SMS messaging skin that looks like pacman, then get the Captivate.

If you use exchange-based email or need a reliable full day of battery, no dice.

I have mine tied into our work Exchange server and I get a couple days on a charge with normal usage (ie not streaming Pandora for hours). I also installed Handcent and the IM bubble thing looks similar to my wife's iPhone.

I also used the navigation app this weekend to get me to a Lowes in the area and it worked great.

 

[ayz]

I have mine tied into our work Exchange server and I get a couple days on a charge with normal usage (ie not streaming Pandora for hours). I also installed Handcent and the IM bubble thing looks similar to my wife's iPhone.

I also used the navigation app this weekend to get me to a Lowes in the area and it worked great.

that's great, anecdotal evidence to save the day. the fact that your navigation app worked perfectly and got you to a Lowes this weekend totally invalidates the countless GPS issues posted all over the internet.

 

[Chromag]

that's great, anecdotal evidence to save the day. the fact that your navigation app worked perfectly and got you to a Lowes this weekend totally invalidates the countless GPS issues posted all over the internet.

You also had other problems that you conveniently decided to not address in this reply. I'm not saying that it invalidates the other problems with GPS - and if you had bothered to check the stickied GPS thread you would see I have posted there as well. I also had problems with GPS but I returned my Captivate for another on Friday because the home key kept sticking. My new one has been locking on just fine. Will that trend continue? Who knows, but I am sure that Samsung will push out an update to fix the problem.

But other than GPS I have had no problems with Exchange email or battery life. And the SMS messaging app I'm using is very similar to the iPhone, so I don't see the complaint there.

 

[CoMaToast]

Im sure every problem PPL are complaining about will be fixed around the time 2.2 is out.. Ive had zero problems.. I just like the ease of the Iphone ( IOS ) layout better.. Wayy less confusing.. I wish the APPs for android were as good and complete as the ones on Iphone, but maybe that will change in time.. Im gonna stick with my captivate for now.. If I dont like It, oh well.. My mom is due for an upgrade at anytime, so Ill just have her Re up her contract and grab an Iphone 4 or the next droid that comes out and give her my captivate

 

[gunny5821]

People are complaining about the Captivate, but in all seriousness, if you have a brand new 2 year contract with AT&T and you want an Android Phone, I gotta say the Captivate is the Top Dog in the house. It is definately getting bumped up to the 2.2 OS sometime in Sept I do believe (Don't quote me though). I mean see for your self, here is what they have:

1. Samsung Captivate
2. Moto Backflip
3. HTC Aria
4. Samsung Impression

So I gotta say, the Captivate hits it out of the park. Anything else is just kicking yourself in the butt 1-2 months from now!

My 2 cents! Gunny

 

[chicknlil]

i cannot get this thing to mount on my computers.

First, did you install the USB drivers for your individual computers? They're available in this post.

If you've got all the drivers installed - the way that I've found works best for me is in settings -> applications -> usb settings ...to set "ask on connection" or just straight "mass storage". You'll need to do that with the USB not plugged in.

From there, there seems to be two good ways to mount...

• the app "doubleTwist" seems to automatically mount when connected.
• if you don't have doubleTwist, you'll need to open the 'notification bar' (the bar up top) and you should see something that says roughly "USB is connected" ... clicking on that will ask you if you want to mount your device.

I've heard some people had issues trying to mount while running LauncherPro (I've never had that issue) ... so if you're using LauncherPro, try swapping to TouchWiz while trying to mount and see if that makes a difference.

Hope this helps - I'm running Windows 7 (Ultimate) x64 and it connects with no issues after following the above steps.

 

[TBull74]

Well im not exactly confident with samsung either as my last phone, the eternity was set for an update and confirmed for a couple months after release, needless to say it never came and my eternity alwase had the same problems. But soon after we had all given up on an update the samsung Mythic came out. AKA Eternity 2.0. No touchwiz update just a new phone. But that was a significantly lower quality phone so i feel a lil better about this.

 

[TBull74]

btw the samsung impression DOES NOT run android.