Samsung Captivate/vibrant users: are you planning on returning your phone?

Nvidiaguy07

Platinum Member
Feb 22, 2008
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I've had my captivate since July 18th, so I believe my month to return the phone is almost up. I have been waiting FOREVER for a good ATT android phone (didnt wanna spend 600 on a nexus one) so when i saw this i jumped on it. Right off the bat i have had trouble with this phone, and I have been waiting for fixes to come out, but given samsung's track record I dont have much hope.

Some of my gripes are:
---------------------------------------------------------------
GPS - completely broken. Samsung has known about this problem for AT LEAST 3 months and there still isnt a fix. (an ACTUAL fix, not that crap that 1 out of 100 people claim that works)

BATTERY - Im a little biased coming from a BB, but almost everyday my battery is completely drained in about 8 hours. As a result i bought a car charger and a AC charger for almost every place i can charge it if i get the chance (work, school, etc.)

DATA - I have to battery pull multiple times a day because sometimes my data just shuts off. Once it cuts out ive waited to see if it will come back once i go somewhere else, but it doesn't until i pull the battery.

BATTERY PULLS - I feel like im constantly doing this for shit not working right - WTF - texts wont send, cant place or recieve calls, etc.

FRONT BUTTONS - Terrible - sometimes ill sit there and press it a million times and it takes forever to pick up that my finger is on top of the button. Either that or its just lagging and will pick up my 10 presses all at once.

LAG and PERFORMANCE - For the most powerful android phone it sure doesn't seem like it. When i press the unlock button i can swipe my unlock pattern sometimes 3-4 times before it picks up my touch. I do like that ive been playing FF7 on a PSX emulator without any hiccups - but id take better performance all around then just good graphic performance.

CAMERA- No LED flash and auto focus sucks. I can honestly say my BB 9700 took better pictures. Why do i have to touch where i want the camera to focus every time? My bb took awesome shots at almost every range (it would focus in and out and then set on the right spot) why cant my captivate do this?
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Theres probably more things than i can think of in this rant, but these are just some.


I really dont know if i should wait it out to see if these problems get worked out or if i should jump ship for now. I figured since this would be such a popular device that even if samsing neglected it, modders would keep it running smoothly, but some of these might be hardware related. I honestly love everything else about it and android, i just wish i didnt have to deal with these problems. Now i have to decide if I should:

Return the captivate and buy the iphone4 and then either:
-sell it immediately and buy a nexus one
-use the iphone for a while and either wait for captivate issues to resolve and sell the iphone for it or a better android phone that comes out for AT&T

I really would like to have an android phone, but i figure if i use the iphone4 for a few months until theres a good android phone out, the iphone has the highest resale value, and i wouldnt be losing (probably making) any money in the process. What do you guys think?
 
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RedCOMET

Platinum Member
Jul 8, 2002
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I'm not crazy about my captivate phone.. but i'm not sure if i want to return it and get a iphone.

Right now, with my captivate, I get to keep my existing data / voice plan. With the new tiered data /txt plans, my total voice/data price would be slightly cheaper...$5-7 per month, but i also get less data for that price. If i bought an iphone, i would need a new data/voice plan that doesn't fit my needs.
 

Nvidiaguy07

Platinum Member
Feb 22, 2008
2,846
4
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I'm not crazy about my captivate phone.. but i'm not sure if i want to return it and get a iphone.

Right now, with my captivate, I get to keep my existing data / voice plan. With the new tiered data /txt plans, my total voice/data price would be slightly cheaper...$5-7 per month, but i also get less data for that price. If i bought an iphone, i would need a new data/voice plan that doesn't fit my needs.

Are you sure about that? From what i understand I'm grandfathered in on an unlimited data plan. I dont think it matters which phone i have as i went from a BB8310 to iphone3G back to 8310 to a 9700 (then they stopped doing unlimited) then to my captivate. I made sure that they let me keep my data plan when i bought the captivate and they also told me that it would be the same deal for the iphone. I'd still get grandfathered in. Technically I went from a BB unlim data plan to whatever ATT calls their android data plan and i still have unlimited data.

Well regardless of the issue of losing unlimited data, would you return yours? Im almost thinking to myself right now if someone offered me a nexus one for my captivate id do it even though its technically a downgrade.
 

Bateluer

Lifer
Jun 23, 2001
27,730
8
0
There should be a CM version coming for the Vibrant/Captivate phones coming before too much longer. If you're experiencing that many problems on stock though, I'd have it replaced under warranty as a first step.
 

BaboonGuy

Diamond Member
Aug 24, 2002
4,125
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root it ftw? sounds like you got a faulty phone though. im currently researching whether to get an N1 or captivate and i havent yet seems people with that many issues.
 

Nvidiaguy07

Platinum Member
Feb 22, 2008
2,846
4
81
There should be a CM version coming for the Vibrant/Captivate phones coming before too much longer. If you're experiencing that many problems on stock though, I'd have it replaced under warranty as a first step.

I can still go swap this one for another since im under 30 days (though i dont think it'll make a difference) should i do that first?

What will this though? I know it helps with battery life, but what else can i expect? and if i do this will my warranty be voided?
 

Nvidiaguy07

Platinum Member
Feb 22, 2008
2,846
4
81
root it ftw? sounds like you got a faulty phone though. im currently researching whether to get an N1 or captivate and i havent yet seems people with that many issues.

i did root it.......

On a side note i just did a factory reset, which now makes the phone seem a little faster (could be in my head).

I think im gonna go swap it out for a different one tomorrow. After reading this guys post it at least gives me some hope:

http://androidforums.com/samsung-captivate/138297-so-i-returned-my-captivate-today.html
 

kaerflog

Golden Member
Jul 23, 2010
1,899
4
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I would vote for iphone 4 until something better come out since its obvious you don't like the captivate.
You will probably make money on the iphone 4 later on.
BTW, I have a HD2 running Android 2.2 and I love it.
 

Nvidiaguy07

Platinum Member
Feb 22, 2008
2,846
4
81
I would vote for iphone 4 until something better come out since its obvious you don't like the captivate.
You will probably make money on the iphone 4 later on.
BTW, I have a HD2 running Android 2.2 and I love it.

I do like everything else about it, it just annoys me that it has so many bugs and chances of them being fixed dont look that great. As is i would defintely return it. If it were a more dependable company than samsung i would probably wait it out with hopes theyd fix the problems. But if no improvements were made to the phone how it is i would be very unsatisfied with it.

But in its defense:
-screen is beautiful and 4" is perfect for me, not as high res as iphone, but side by side i think it blows it away.
-best android specs - if they can ever get it working corectly
-swype is awesome. I dont think i can deal with the iphone keyboard if i stay with that for a while. For fat fingered people like myself this is great.
-Playing emulators is great on this phone (NES, PSX, GEN, and SNES)
-my main reason for switching to android was because i heavily rely on google for almost everything. So using google sync, google voice and everything else on this phone will not be the same on an iphone.
-i like to mess around with my phone a lot, so the iphone leaves me kind of bored.

decisions decisions.............
 
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kaerflog

Golden Member
Jul 23, 2010
1,899
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The decision is easy if you paid $200 for the captiavte.
-Return the Captivate.(assuming you paid $200 for it).
-Get the iphone 4 for the same price.
-Sell the iphone 4 for $600 on craigslist.(profit of $400).(if you do a simple jailbreak and unlock, it will sell easily for $600)
-Buy a captivate off craiglist for $350(I've seen it as low as that).
You will have netted $250 by going this route and still get a have a captivate and not feel so bad about all the little quirks.
 

Nvidiaguy07

Platinum Member
Feb 22, 2008
2,846
4
81
The decision is easy if you paid $200 for the captiavte.
-Return the Captivate.(assuming you paid $200 for it).
-Get the iphone 4 for the same price.
-Sell the iphone 4 for $600 on craigslist.(profit of $400).(if you do a simple jailbreak and unlock, it will sell easily for $600)
-Buy a captivate off craiglist for $350(I've seen it as low as that).
You will have netted $250 by going this route and still get a have a captivate and not feel so bad about all the little quirks.

yea thats what ill probably end up doing. Except ive seen them sell for over 800 on ebay. I think the phone would be worth more brand new in box than jailbroken though right?

just wondering if i should take a hundred dollar loss and use the iphone until a fix or new phone comes out. I just dont wanna get the captivate again and then have to sell it because no fix has came out and a better more reliable phone gets released.
 

ponyo

Lifer
Feb 14, 2002
19,688
2,810
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My wife and I love our Vibrant. She's a new smartphone and Android user and I upgraded from CM5.8 Mytouch3g. My wife loves the stock Korean language and the samsung keyboard.

The multitask and the freedom Android gives can be helpful or harmful. It allows for lot of user error and rogue programs. If you have to do battery pull, you likely have poorly coded app installed that's wrecking havoc.

Nice thing about Vibrant being so thin is that you can feel how hot your phone gets. If you're not doing anything intensive and the phone is hot, you know something didn't get shutdown properly or is still running.

I had most of your symptoms for about a half a day. I tracked it down the source to misbehaving program I installed and deleted it. Haven't had a problem since.

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=751518

This thread might interest you.

I played with my sister's iphone4 and it's a nice phone. It's lot like my wife's ipad. But I still prefer Vibrant screen, hardware, and android.
 

dguy6789

Diamond Member
Dec 9, 2002
8,558
3
76
Just going to echo some of what Naustica was saying since he's very right. Android gives you a ton of freedom, it won't baby you. As a result of this, the user needs to use some common sense when installing and running apps. It will let you run 50 programs at once and kill your battery really fast without warning you. Because of how open the Android Market is, there will be a very large quantity of junk applications for it that could drain the battery or cause crashes and such.

Some tips:

Having to pull the battery on your phone is not normal. Either your device is physically defective or the software you are using is unstable.

When using an app, the first way you should try to exit is by using a button within the app to exit. If that doesn't exist, then use the back button to exit the app. Do not use the home button to exit apps. Pushing the home button is the equivalent to pushing the minimize button in windows.

Install the program system panel lite. Set it up to show CPU time next to all of the running processes. CPU time is an equivalent to how long the app would have spent using 100% of the CPU. *I want to mention really quick that just having a bunch of apps in the running processes section is not a problem and is completely normal. Android apps have a sleep mode where they consume zero resources and battery. They just sit in ram so they can be loaded faster if the user opens them.*

Look for apps that you have not been using in the foreground much that have very high numbers. The app shows CPU usage next to apps as well. Look for apps that show that they are using CPU resources even while not active. Apps that do this are defective and will hurt your battery life and device performance. An app that is in sleep mode should not be consuming any resources. There are a pretty decent number of defective Android applications that will use minor amounts of CPU power all day long doing who knows what, even when it is supposed to be completely inactive. System panel is a great tool for finding out which of your apps if any have this behavior. Write the developer of apps you like that have this problem an email, they are usually very responsive.
 

dougp

Diamond Member
May 3, 2002
7,909
4
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GPS - completely broken. Samsung has known about this problem for AT LEAST 3 months and there still isnt a fix. (an ACTUAL fix, not that crap that 1 out of 100 people claim that works)

Samsung is actually working on a fix, and it'll be coming out in a few weeks. I'm assuming it's going to need approval from AT&T & T-mobile. You can attempt the temporary GPS fix found here if you want to see if it helps you: GPS Settings: Performance Optoins (improvement)

BATTERY - Im a little biased coming from a BB, but almost everyday my battery is completely drained in about 8 hours. As a result i bought a car charger and a AC charger for almost every place i can charge it if i get the chance (work, school, etc.)

As for your battery, not quite sure what the problem is - you'll have to add/remove programs or play with what's active. If you're running 7 home screens with widgets, a live wallpaper, WIFI, GPS & Bluetooth enabled - yes, you'll be draining your battery like crazy. I can make it through a day of 6:30am - 12:30am and get to 40% battery life.

DATA - I have to battery pull multiple times a day because sometimes my data just shuts off. Once it cuts out ive waited to see if it will come back once i go somewhere else, but it doesn't until i pull the battery.

I think this further shows that perhaps your actual phone is the issue - there's always a chance of getting a screwed up device. Since you're approaching your return period this weekend - EXCHANGE IT NOW! I'd have recommended reflashing the ROM, but you'd need to test it for a few days to see if it resolves this issue.

BATTERY PULLS - I feel like im constantly doing this for shit not working right - WTF - texts wont send, cant place or recieve calls, etc.

Again, it sounds like your physical device is screwed up somehow.

FRONT BUTTONS - Terrible - sometimes ill sit there and press it a million times and it takes forever to pick up that my finger is on top of the button. Either that or its just lagging and will pick up my 10 presses all at once.

There's lag on the phone, and a lot of this has to do with the way Samsung has decided to store our data. There's fixes out there to improve real world performance. For the physical buttons, I've noticed they only work if the backlight (behind the buttons, not the screen) is on. I have to press them twice, at most.

LAG and PERFORMANCE - For the most powerful android phone it sure doesn't seem like it. When i press the unlock button i can swipe my unlock pattern sometimes 3-4 times before it picks up my touch. I do like that ive been playing FF7 on a PSX emulator without any hiccups - but id take better performance all around then just good graphic performance.

Here's a few memory fixes you can attempt once you replace it (with a new Captivate.)


CAMERA- No LED flash and auto focus sucks. I can honestly say my BB 9700 took better pictures. Why do i have to touch where i want the camera to focus every time? My bb took awesome shots at almost every range (it would focus in and out and then set on the right spot) why cant my captivate do this?

I've had no issues with the camera. Honestly, it sounds like you really just need to replace your phone.
 

BaboonGuy

Diamond Member
Aug 24, 2002
4,125
0
0
i did root it.......

On a side note i just did a factory reset, which now makes the phone seem a little faster (could be in my head).

I think im gonna go swap it out for a different one tomorrow. After reading this guys post it at least gives me some hope:

http://androidforums.com/samsung-captivate/138297-so-i-returned-my-captivate-today.html

this is a great link. thanks! i'm getting a captivate too and it looks like it's in my best interests to get direct from the at&t store so i can get replacements faster (if need be)
 

snikt

Member
May 12, 2000
198
0
0
When I first got my Captivate I was excited, mind you, not very excited just excited. Now that I've become more familiar with it and its capabilities the honeymoon can now truly begin. The more I use it the more I love it. I don't think I could ever go back to any kind of phone in a lesser class than my Captivate.
 

BaboonGuy

Diamond Member
Aug 24, 2002
4,125
0
0
When I first got my Captivate I was excited, mind you, not very excited just excited. Now that I've become more familiar with it and its capabilities the honeymoon can now truly begin. The more I use it the more I love it. I don't think I could ever go back to any kind of phone in a lesser class than my Captivate.

Have you seen this? http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1538479

Apparently boosts the speed to uber levels.
 

Hmongkeysauce

Senior member
Jun 8, 2005
360
0
76
The fact that there so many fixes is both positive and negative. Positive that the community is bright and eager to fix the holes. Negative that there are so many broken items to begin with. For myself, I'm keeping my Captivate. Coming from an iPhone 3GS, I just feel like I can do a lot more on this phone, and I've only had it for a week. I don't mind the broken GPS, since I already have a GPS unit, although I can this being a huge deal breaker for others. The only complaint I have is the battery life. I just can't go a full day without charging. Seeing that I'm always next to a computer, however, it's minor complaint that I can live with. The only way for me to go back to an iPhone is to get it and resell it like someone mentioned and wait for a better Android phone.
 

dougp

Diamond Member
May 3, 2002
7,909
4
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The fact that there so many fixes is both positive and negative. Positive that the community is bright and eager to fix the holes. Negative that there are so many broken items to begin with. For myself, I'm keeping my Captivate. Coming from an iPhone 3GS, I just feel like I can do a lot more on this phone, and I've only had it for a week. I don't mind the broken GPS, since I already have a GPS unit, although I can this being a huge deal breaker for others. The only complaint I have is the battery life. I just can't go a full day without charging. Seeing that I'm always next to a computer, however, it's minor complaint that I can live with. The only way for me to go back to an iPhone is to get it and resell it like someone mentioned and wait for a better Android phone.

What smartphone (non-BB) can go for more than a day without charging, on regular use? None that I know of. I don't understand why it's so hard for people to just charge their phones overnight ...
 
Jul 10, 2007
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What smartphone (non-BB) can go for more than a day without charging, on regular use? None that I know of. I don't understand why it's so hard for people to just charge their phones overnight ...

there's a difference between charging it when you get home and having the battery in the red at 3pm.
 

Hmongkeysauce

Senior member
Jun 8, 2005
360
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76
What smartphone (non-BB) can go for more than a day without charging, on regular use? None that I know of. I don't understand why it's so hard for people to just charge their phones overnight ...

I never said my usage was regular. In fact, my usage is minimal, compared to many. Less than 10 calls per day, less than 3mins per call on avg, minimal(if any) web browsing. Other activities include Exchange and Music player. Even with minimal usage, my Captivate cannot last an entire day, whereas the iPhone can go on for more. Again, I'm next to a computer throughout most of the day anyways so charging isn't too much of an issue for me.
 

Kanalua

Diamond Member
Jun 14, 2001
4,860
2
81
Got the Vibrant. Love it. Any problems I do have are minor and are outweighed by the benefits of the phone.

Not returning it.

As for the battery, I'm tethered to a laptop all day, so IF i need a late day charge that's not an issue for me. I have noticed that my battery usage has gotten better as i've used the phone longer...i.e. - the battery doesn't seem to deplete as much as it did when I first got the phone...
 
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dougp

Diamond Member
May 3, 2002
7,909
4
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I never said my usage was regular. In fact, my usage is minimal, compared to many. Less than 10 calls per day, less than 3mins per call on avg, minimal(if any) web browsing. Other activities include Exchange and Music player. Even with minimal usage, my Captivate cannot last an entire day, whereas the iPhone can go on for more. Again, I'm next to a computer throughout most of the day anyways so charging isn't too much of an issue for me.

So then, as I said in my original post in this topic - you need to look at what's running on the phone, or return it because it's draining power excessively.
 

ponyo

Lifer
Feb 14, 2002
19,688
2,810
126
I never said my usage was regular. In fact, my usage is minimal, compared to many. Less than 10 calls per day, less than 3mins per call on avg, minimal(if any) web browsing. Other activities include Exchange and Music player. Even with minimal usage, my Captivate cannot last an entire day, whereas the iPhone can go on for more. Again, I'm next to a computer throughout most of the day anyways so charging isn't too much of an issue for me.

I just got home. 7:30Am - 4:30pm. Light usage of checking emails and texting. Couple of calls and browsing internet during lunch. 72% battery life remaining now. Normally it's around 40-60% depending on usage. Only widget Im running is beautiful home on black background.