First Look at the Samsung Captivate (Galaxy S)

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Video posted by AHR on July 27, 2010

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First Look at the Samsung Captivate (Galaxy S)

Will has ditched his iPhone, but is this Android phone a worthy replacement?

Duder, it's over...

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29 Comments

DdoubleU on July 27, 2010

Great video as always. Love the Android coverage on Tested.

EDIT: How can we get companies to not put all their crapware on the phones?

Daggity on July 27, 2010

It's too bad phone manufacturers insist on ruining their phones like this. Imagine if you couldn't uninstall Norton Antivirus and terribly ugly and unusable dock programs and the like on store bought laptops because you'd have to void the warranty to do so.

Beomoose on July 27, 2010

Great Vid!

So far as expected: really solid Samsung hardware being held back by dumb Samsung (and AT&T) software. Google needs to work out some kind of system to let phone makers personalize their phones' UIs without kneecapping them with sub-par overlays.

Aeshir on July 27, 2010

THE UPSHOT, WILL! TELL US ABOUT THE UPSHOT!

Zecks23 on July 27, 2010

I got this phone the other day and I'm really enjoying it so far, I've never used or really know what any of the other versions of android look like (stock, htc sense etc) but I haven't had a single problem with the Touchwiz interface. The only thing that does bother me a bit is the built-in non removable apps and the absence of sideloading apps of which I just learned about, but I couldn't really see myself doing that anyway.

The weight is a lot lighter and nicer than I expected and it's comfortably thin as well. Overall I'm very satisfied with my Captivate.

MEBs on July 27, 2010

Geeze, talk about default ap overkill! Great first-look, though.

ipaq3115 on July 27, 2010

I'm not sure about the status of root on these phones but that will probably greatly help the software side of things.

As for TouchWiz I'd probably ditch that after 5 minutes. Try ADW.Launcher from the market. It's similar to the 2.2 launcher and has tons of features.

Zaph on July 27, 2010

I hope Google do something to curb this nasty trend of Android phones coming pre-loaded with unremovable bloatware.

An open OS should be an open OS. Not a yes-its-open-but-you-cant-uninstall-these-10-apps OS.

caretrain on July 27, 2010

So it's like a prebuilt PC and comes with various shitware installed, except in this case you can't even remove the shitware without rooting the phone? Does rooting void the warranty?

Does not seem appealing.

Aus_azn on July 27, 2010

This phone has been confirmed to be fully rootable.

I've read that it is possible to delete the bloatware, but most people are opting to merely hide it in the event that a warranty claim would need to be made.

If I'm not mistaken, rooting does void the warranty. If they find out.

bretthancock on July 27, 2010

My Iphone 3G is on it's last legs and when it finally dies I have to decide between Iphone 4 or AT&T's best Droid device. I get 25% off my monthly bill at AT&T and service is good in my area so they are my carrier. This is really disappointing.

will on July 27, 2010

I've been using Launcher Pro and ADW instead of TouchWiz, which helps quite a bit. The default installed apps that you can't remove just offends me. I wouldn't mind so much if they were useful apps, but most of them are the type of crap AT&T shovels onto feature phones to jack up data usage. Google shouldn't allow that nonsense on phones that are "Powered by Google".

will on July 27, 2010

@Zecks23: The big problem that I'm having is that it's slow, and it shouldn't be. That and those weird chiclets around the icons on the app menu are just fugly.

Evelgest on July 27, 2010

Will, I have to ask, how is TouchWiz compared to.. let's say, "Ninjablur" on the Droid X? It seems both Moto and Samsung have made a mistake loading their own UIs. I've been using LauncherPro on my Droid X for a week now.

Edit: Heh, looks like you answered it on your twitter.

ModdoG on July 27, 2010

The Samsung Captivate has a 4.0 screen not similar to the incredible and Nexus one.
Those phones have 3.7 screens.

Zecks23 on July 27, 2010

@will: Ah, I guess I don't notice it as much because I'm still mesmerized by how much better in every way it is than my old Samsung Rant, granted that wasn't meant to be a super fast smart phone in the first place, and it served it's purpose well. As for the chiclets they are a bit of an eyesore but nothing too bothersome.

Side note - Swype is awesome!

mono on July 27, 2010

Seems as if the Nexus One is still the best Android phone, let alone the best ATT phone, right? Free wifi hotspot and no 3rd party cruft.

Aus_azn on July 27, 2010

@mono: I wish it was subsidized, $530 is too much for me to pay straight on a mobile phone.

simian on July 28, 2010

Reminds me of the amazon music store which isn't accesible up here in CA. Eventually I just rooted my phone and deleted it.
Maybe for Gingerbread they'll add functionality to hiding/disable services under the pretense of increasing battery life.

BagManForHire on July 28, 2010

whats wrong with HTC aria? its a android phone on att whats the difference?

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