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Buyers remorse?

I can't compare my phone to anything else in it's league because I haven't owned any iphone or other android phone. I can say that the screen is way better than iphone 3gs and older comparing to a friend's.

I have not been having problems with GPS. I think that the GPS is not as sensitive as maybe the iphone or other gps, but the gps is better than an Etrex Legend that I have. I have used the Captivate to find geocaches and it gets me within a few feet of the caches unless I am under tree cover or indoors trying to pick up signal. While finding stuff, I can see where the gps becomes less accurate. I just walk around a little until the accuracy improves and then walk right to the cache. I think the accuarcy is the main issue people are having. I think the GPS problem is one of two things. Either it is a sensitivity issue with the hardware and nothing is going to fix it ever -OR- there may be a way to change the software/firmware to allow more locks on satellites when there's a lower signal strength.
 
falcon26 said:
Those are my 2 grips about the captivate as well. Battery life sucks. I get about 1 day out of the battery with heavy use. My Iphone 4 I got about 3 days. And the GPS. On the Iphone 4 it worked perfect. On the captivate it never locks on to the SAT. And I have tried all the work arounds...
Click to expand...

I believe that GPS is the only real problem with this phone. 1 day battery life of heavy use is about on par with iPhone 4. I have no personal experience with iPhone 4 but that's the impression I get from reading MacRumors:

iphone_battery_after.jpg

Besides, Captivate being a new phone for you, it is likely that you use/explore it a little more than a familiar phone (iPhone 4).

Captivate does provide more ways for users to drain the battery than iPhone 4 :) The most obvious things to do is to switch from Live Wallpaper to a a very dark static one and getting rid of dynamic widgets.
 
dantheman2 said:
I can't compare my phone to anything else in it's league because I haven't owned any iphone or other android phone. I can say that the screen is way better than iphone 3gs and older comparing to a friend's.

I have not been having problems with GPS. I think that the GPS is not as sensitive as maybe the iphone or other gps, but the gps is better than an Etrex Legend that I have. I have used the Captivate to find geocaches and it gets me within a few feet of the caches unless I am under tree cover or indoors trying to pick up signal. While finding stuff, I can see where the gps becomes less accurate. I just walk around a little until the accuracy improves and then walk right to the cache. I think the accuarcy is the main issue people are having. I think the GPS problem is one of two things. Either it is a sensitivity issue with the hardware and nothing is going to fix it ever -OR- there may be a way to change the software/firmware to allow more locks on satellites when there's a lower signal strength.
Click to expand...

I think all of us that are having GPS issues just want to hear from Samsung and what can be done about it. We shouldn't have to mess with GPS settings, root, and put a new rom on it, just to get GPS to work.

Waiting 10 seconds, let alone 20 minutes some people are talking about to try to get a lock is unacceptable. I tested a HTC EVO 4G in a big city and used Google Navigation to get from a to b. It was amazing. There was one time I couldn't get over to take the exit, the phone automatically updated without a hitch. NO PROBLEM AT ALL. I remember that phone was locked on when I openeed maps, no searching for gps anything. I never saw a stupid blue circle covering a mile radius that I may be in.

The Captivate can't even figure out an original path for me to take on Google navigation. I just want to know what Samsung's official response is, or they are going to lose me and I will never buy a Samsung phone again.
 
On August 20th, I will be taking back my phone if there is not GPS firmware update on it's way. I love the phone, but the GPS is a deal breaker for me. None of the "fixes" have worked.
 
As far as the awful battery life, I think this is an apples to oranges comparison. On the iPhone if you set your phone to push every email to your phone instead of using the fetch option, I would assume your 2 day battery life would not be valid.

AKA, try setting the phone to not sync your email real time 24-7 if you want a better battery life. Personally, I like that option and am willing to charge my phone every day.
 
The lack of updates also disturbs me. I asked on twitter if and when they'd release an update to fix the MMS and SMS issues and got back:

Unfortunately, we are unable to speculate if/when update will be available for the Captivate. We do apologize. mel



The when doesn't bother me. It's the if.
 
here is my list:

1. Yahoo e-mail unreliable/intermittent
*Google mail works great (no surprise here)
2. WebPages are easier to read on iPhone
*you need to zoom in most of the time in order to read WebPages
*e-mail formats are also easier to read on iPhone
3. No two way Sync support with outlook
*Need upload contacts to g-mail
4. Samsung Kies (the solution to syncing with outlook)
*Spent 4 hours so far and can’t get it to recognize the phone so I can sync my contacts
*Samsung is hiding this app from the American market, Had to download it form the UK
5. Doubletwist saves to both internal and external SD
*Droid doesn’t have the capability of allowing the user which SD you can save to.
*I now have my iTunes on both internal and external memory
6. Sound is not as loud/good as iPhone 3G using the ear buds
*ITunes
*Pandora
7. Two volume controls
*Phone
*Media
8. GPS issue
*Weaker GPS signal (doesn’t work from my house/garage)
*Samsung taking for ever to announce an official fix
9. Time spent on Forums in order to figure things out
*great community but shouldn't make the user do their own research
 
Intervenient said:
The lack of updates also disturbs me. I asked on twitter if and when they'd release an update to fix the MMS and SMS issues and got back:

Unfortunately, we are unable to speculate if/when update will be available for the Captivate. We do apologize. mel



The when doesn't bother me. It's the if.
Click to expand...

To be fair, other manufacturers (especially Apple) do not give any guidance as to future updates either. And in this case we might be pretty sure that there should be an update pretty soon. Samsung did commit to releasing Android 2.2 for Galaxy S.
 
What is the syncing with outlook problem? I use the mail app that came with my phone and it works great. My only issue is the folder display.
 
I use the mail app that is not gmail for microsoft exchange (outlook for mail)...it's in your app drawer. After logging in all your outlook data will sync over.
 
I'm not trying to connect to an exchange server, I simply have all my contacts synced to my outlook (that's how i maintained my contacts when I had the iPhone 3G). I'm trying to sync outlook with Samsung kies so I can copy my contacts from my hard drive/outlook to the phone.
 
acp said:
I use the mail app that is not gmail for microsoft exchange (outlook for mail)...it's in your app drawer. After logging in all your outlook data will sync over.
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I think they're talking about using Outlook as a desktop email client with POP mail vs. an Exchange server. I do the same thing - there's a nice solution from Google to sync up your calendar to Google/Cal, works really well. The only outstanding thing is contacts and there are three solution as I see it:

Export to Gmail

Kies to Sync

Use a 3rd party product to sync Outlook <> Google


I've done the first two with no problems, though I'd love an automated sync which is why I may invest in the 3rd option soon :)

The only remorse I have is for not just buying the phone through Wallyworld and saving $100+ I was concerned about the data plan and the fact my phone is the second line, and none of the upgrade options appeared to be correct. So I played it safe and just walked into an AT&T store. I'm going to shoot corporate a line and see if they'll hook me up with a freebie of some sort. :D
 
sonicanatidae said:
This was my exact experience. The main difference is I was looking for an Android after Apple broke my 3G with the 4.0 update.

Btw, Baji, you *can* downgrade that 3G back down to iOS3.1.3 and make
it a usable device again. I did and now its my wife's fulltime Bejeweled handheld..:)
Click to expand...

Hmm I will have to give that a go. I still use the iphone for an ipod at the gym and in the car, and I use it as a remote for my media center. Would you happen to have a link to decent guide for downgrading? I tried one right after 4.0 went live and it didn't work at all.
 
I love this compared to the 3GS. My only issue is that it has trouble with my work's WiFi. Other than that, one of the GPS fixes worked perfectly for me and the screen, while not iphone 4 quality, is still way better than the 3GS.

I almost didn't buy this device because of TouchWiz, but then I learned about Launcher Pro and all is well.
 
marcus304j said:
As far as the awful battery life, I think this is an apples to oranges comparison. On the iPhone if you set your phone to push every email to your phone instead of using the fetch option, I would assume your 2 day battery life would not be valid.

AKA, try setting the phone to not sync your email real time 24-7 if you want a better battery life. Personally, I like that option and am willing to charge my phone every day.
Click to expand...

You might think that, but it's actually not true. I always had Gmail in exchange on my iPhone and, lets see, I think I probably took a couple screenshots which might have synced up to iPhoto... Well, the best I have is a 1 day, 1 hour screenshot, but it has 8 hours of usage also. I frequently got to 1.5 days with no problems while using Gmail in Exchange.

It really is an apples to oranges comparison. They aren't even in the same league. The iPhone's battery was ridiculously better. That or I have a crappy battery in this Captivate because it drained something like 30% listening to music and browsing the market for less than an hour. Not good at all.
 
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