PSN ID
by The good: The Samsung Captivate features a gorgeous
Super AMOLED screen, a 1GHz processor, and 16GB of onboard memory plus an expansion slot. The Android 2.1 device also offers great call quality, full wireless options, and a HD video capture.
The bad: AT&T won't let you sideload apps. Camera lacks flash.
The bottom line: The Samsung Captivate is easily
AT&T's best Android offering to date, delivering great performance, tons of features, and an easy-to-use interface.
Review:
Photo
gallery:
Samsung Captivate
Editors' note:
Portions of the User Interface section were taken from our review of the
Samsung Vibrant since both phones share the TouchWiz UI.
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 two-year contract (voice plan and minimum $15 data plan
required).
Design
Like many of today's touch-screen smartphones, the Samsung Captivate
features a slate design that's not particularly sexy. In fact, it's
rather lackluster, but the look is clean and simple. At 4.18 inches tall
by 2.5 inches wide by 0.39 inch deep, the device is a bit of a handful,
but Samsung managed to keep the handset pretty thin, so you can still
slip it into a pants pocket. Plus, the Captivate has a much more solid
build than the Vibrant, which comes at a price of a little extra weight
(4.5 ounces vs. 4.16 ounces), but we much prefer that to a cheap-feeling
mobile.
The Samsung Captivate isn't the most attractive phone, but it
has a solid construction.
The front of the device rocks a 4-inch Super AMOLED
capacitive touch screen, which supports 16 million colors and a WVGA
resolution (480x800). It's one of the best-looking screens we've seen on
a smartphone, showing off rich and vibrant colors and a sharpness that
makes text easy to read. Aside from the brilliance and crispness of the
display, there are a number of other advantages to Super AMOLED screens,
including wider viewing angles and improved responsiveness. They also
consume less power.
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 uses Samsung's TouchWiz 3.0 user interface, but
you also get some controls below the display.
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. 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. User interface
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, two, 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 two 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. Admittedly, we missed some
elements of HTC Sense, such as the Leap screen, which provides a
thumbnail version of all your home screen panels, but for the general
consumer, TouchWiz does a good job of making Android quite user
friendly, almost to the point that it doesn't even look or feel like an
Android phone.
Super AMOLED screen, a 1GHz processor, and 16GB of onboard memory plus an expansion slot. The Android 2.1 device also offers great call quality, full wireless options, and a HD video capture.
The bad: AT&T won't let you sideload apps. Camera lacks flash.
The bottom line: The Samsung Captivate is easily
AT&T's best Android offering to date, delivering great performance, tons of features, and an easy-to-use interface.
Review:
Photo
gallery:
Samsung Captivate
Editors' note:
Portions of the User Interface section were taken from our review of the
Samsung Vibrant since both phones share the TouchWiz UI.
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 two-year contract (voice plan and minimum $15 data plan
required).
Design
Like many of today's touch-screen smartphones, the Samsung Captivate
features a slate design that's not particularly sexy. In fact, it's
rather lackluster, but the look is clean and simple. At 4.18 inches tall
by 2.5 inches wide by 0.39 inch deep, the device is a bit of a handful,
but Samsung managed to keep the handset pretty thin, so you can still
slip it into a pants pocket. Plus, the Captivate has a much more solid
build than the Vibrant, which comes at a price of a little extra weight
(4.5 ounces vs. 4.16 ounces), but we much prefer that to a cheap-feeling
mobile.
The Samsung Captivate isn't the most attractive phone, but it
has a solid construction.
capacitive touch screen, which supports 16 million colors and a WVGA
resolution (480x800). It's one of the best-looking screens we've seen on
a smartphone, showing off rich and vibrant colors and a sharpness that
makes text easy to read. Aside from the brilliance and crispness of the
display, there are a number of other advantages to Super AMOLED screens,
including wider viewing angles and improved responsiveness. They also
consume less power.
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 uses Samsung's TouchWiz 3.0 user interface, but
you also get some controls below the display.
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. 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. User interface
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, two, 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 two 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. Admittedly, we missed some
elements of HTC Sense, such as the Leap screen, which provides a
thumbnail version of all your home screen panels, but for the general
consumer, TouchWiz does a good job of making Android quite user
friendly, almost to the point that it doesn't even look or feel like an
Android phone.
