Root Yet another set of Root/ROM questions.

[John I]

I am on the fence between trying to get an Atrix or just giving in and rooting my Captivate and installing one of the latest ROMs.

1) Do these latest ROMs allow me to finally use Kies? Kies looks so cool and it is infuriating that I am not *allowed* to use it.

2) Do these latest ROMs actually fix the GPS? I've seen conflicting reports on this. My GPS works now, but it is not very accurate when compared to other phones like an iphone4.

3) After rooting and installing a ROM, will I ever be able to give it back to AT&T for warranty replacement should something break?

4) If there was one main reason that you would recommend NOT rooting and installing a ROM, what would it be? My phone and the data on it is very important to me and my work. I prefer to stay stock and that is why I have held out so long.

5) Is the screen on a Captivate really that much nicer than the one on an Atrix? (OK I know this is not a root/ROM question)

Thanks!

 

[sremick]

1) Not sure. It's not supported in the USA and I see too many complaints from people who are able to use it. Doesn't seem worth bothering with.

2) "fix", no. "Improve", yes... for some people. Experiences vary, and there's no silver bullet. All the more evidence that this might be a hardware issue.

3) Maybe. Depends on how close they look at it. Make sure you back up /efs.

4) The risk of permanently bricking the phone.

5) Has anyone actually seen an Atrix to compare? Until then, I can definitely say that I see a massive difference between SAMOLED and LCD and prefer SAMOLED by miles.

 

[oFUNGUSo]

its funny im stuck to that same fence buddy. i have my cap obviously, then in a few weeks my wifes phone will be abailable for upgrade. i COULD actually upgrade to atrix on her line, then swap phones with her. she dosnt care as much what phone she has, but she does get really annoyed with me that im never satisfied with what ive got.

the problem is, when she goes to upgrade, if she gets a better phone than me im going to be jelous about it, and i will want to switch. i dont know yet if the atrix is that much better than the cap, i guess no one does yet. ill have to go to the store and play with one once they come out. i certainly love the screen on the cap but i really like the idea of being able to get the official update on the atrix. otherwise i dont know if that phone is supposed to be faster or not.....then i dont think i would want to flash the atrix if im able to get the official updates, but i do ENJOY doing custom stuff to the phone.....i dunno
im rambling now

 

[sremick]

The jury is still out on how easy it will be to flash custom ROMs to the Atrix. Motorola has made it very clear they are very unfriendly to the hacking community, and take excessive steps in order to prevent it (or at least make it very difficult).

 

[mnemonicj]

Overall, I have been very happy with the Samsung Captivate hardware. The hardware is everything I wanted in a phone (even though a flash for the camera would have been nice). The software is the only thing that really let me down, so I took Samsung's stock software out of the equation and I have been much happier ever since. Samsung truly crippled this phone with their bloated software, AT&T's bloated software, and with software that made some hardware not do what it is capable of doing (GPS by accident, Wireless AP on purpose).

Now that the custom ROM I am using allows the GPS on my Captivate track incredibly accurately (better than I could have ever expected after not being able to use the GPS for 6 months) and allows me to use the Wireless AP without AT&T double-charging me for the same bits that I already paid for, all while my Captivate is performing faster and more reliably, the Captivate will be my phone for at least another year. I can imagine how much I would want to jump ship and get another phone if I was still using the stock ROM, but now I am free of Samsung and AT&T's limitations on my phone. So, I think I am happy sailing on this ship for a little while longer.

 

[CrimsonPride]

i have 2 phone lines i can upgrade if i want, get any new phone for on contract pricing and none of the phones announced are worth the on contract price to me, they offer nothing more than what i can get with my captivate in my opinion. so i will be keeping this phone for quite a long time i suspect.