First, the Android OS is really nice. The top-level screen can have 5 pages of what you want and the applications page superbly organized separately installed applications, to page through them as well. If you are not familiar with this concept, think of the top-level screen as something like the Windows or Mac desktop and the application area as being similar to the Start Menu / Launch Bar OS of your favorite team.
Best of Captivate is the hardware: the screen actually takes up almost the entire face of the phone, and is alive, colorful and bright. The battery cover is a spot of one to two slides that makes it easy to access without being the first thing to fall if you drop the phone. 1 GHz processor inside the phone makes applications faster, and even proves to be quite flexible about the use of data, easy to hold on to my favorite Wi-Fi networks when I'm in range, then switch seamlessly my data network when "I'm not.
Then there are the good things in Captivate: Calls are clear, I have received strong and clean, even when I notice a drop in bars and on those rare occasions I spend a dead zone, apparently to try their better hold on to the call ... I can not explain the technical details, just the gut feeling I have when I've driven or walked through areas that usually give me trouble on any phone and against all odds to stay connected (my office, example, faces a wall of rock that blocks further on top of the building). One complaint about this phone (and many smart phones) is discharging the battery, but I think that is manageable, if you choose to use the toolbar energy (built-in and easy to add) and Advanced Task Killer application (a separate download, and a must for any owner of a smartphone), which can be 2 or 3 days on a single charge. Usually it is easier to make matters worse, the end of the day or leave it plugged in when I'm not going to use it for a while. While Captivate seems very wide, it is also very thin and therefore light is amazing. I added the carbon fiber case hard on the outside and still weighs significantly less than an iPhone 4.
Using Captivate is pretty simple: the connection port for the charger or data cable are one and the same: a "micro" USB connector with a small sliding door to keep dirt out. I prefer this to the removable plastic tab that usually comes in handy if you're not careful. The charger that comes with the phone also also appears in a data cable, allowing you to separate the tooth socket and connect to the computer. Finally, the navigation buttons are only four points touch at the bottom of the screen, a slide rocker on the left side of the phone (by volume) and a release button on the right. I've heard people say that it is hard to tweak a button on one hand inadvertently hit the other (for example, lowering the volume when you go to unlock the phone), but I have not had this problem.
More information about the operating system: using Android 2.1 (FROYO now), I am discovering neat little features that I like. For example, some funds are interactive touch screen. When I'm playing music, if I have to pause, I have to unlock the phone, a small CD logo appears at the top with the controls to pause / next / back. The "Swype" feature of the operating system is extremely sensitive. I have to adjust any of this - the sensitivity really seems to strike a balance between "must grind for an answer" and "breathed on it and accidentally deleted something." Unlock your phone needs a touch of the button and pass along a touch screen. Even the inclination - a feature that began to bother me on my Nokia phone - it appears that both are quick to respond and easier to correct if not intended to rotate the screen. The 2.2 update went Android operating system a few months ago and has been a nice series of subtle ways the features are better - for example, it is now easier to manage the connection to a PC.
As much as I enjoy this phone, not everything is perfect. The buttons sometimes do not respond correctly. Sometimes I have to click twice, and sometimes they try to hit 'back' and accidentally hit "enter" instead. I'm not sure how much of what is in programming, hardware, or my fingers thick. The search window is extremely useful, but not always part of the search correctly. For example, I could be an application that has a long list of items on the screen, and the search will expand the list directly to the issue I'm looking for ... and then another application of the search could launch a web browser and search on the Internet that I have written in. I have not really learned a good way to scroll through a screen of time: often I have to just film down again and again until you get to where I go. And probably the most annoying feature is the interface of the current call. I have not taken that final step to enable voice calls from my list of favorites, so when I manually punch in my contacts or favorites to find someone to call, which seems to require more steps than it should make a call: find contact, tap a photo, press the "phone" icon, if you have two numbers associated with them have to specify that, then you get to take advantage of "calling."
There have been some complaints about the fact that the camera lacks flash. It's a shame that this feature is not present, but other than that I have to say the photos I've taken with the phone have been excellent, better than the first digital camera I bought years ago and certainly better than the last phone had which had a flash. Phone interface is dirt simple, and can even lock on standby, in case you want to eat out for a bit, but be ready to shoot with a touch of unlock button. Application Gallery Android operating system makes quick work of the two groups in the organization of my photos and it's easy to flip through: clean thumbnails at a glance tell me what collection of images I watching, so you can select the group I want to see.
If you're in the market for a smartphone and would like to test the operating system Droid, I can not say enough about Captivate. It has a bright screen, the fast hardware and operating system is running quite well. Despite its flaws, this is a great smartphone excellent, the benefits far outweigh the drawbacks.
Helpful Hint: When connected to a computer, it is not obvious how to work and a lot of people are having problems. When connecting the cable, the "smart phone (Kies)" option does not appear to work. Instead, you have to choose "USB (Mass Storage )"... then do not already have your phone files and folders appear in Windows - Windows 7, which only tell Captivate Samsung has been connected to the computer, but can not "see." You have to take an additional step: from the main screen, access the menu. You will see "USB connected" on the notification list. Tap that and you get a request to "mount" the phone. Upon doing this, everything works: The phone creates two units (one for phone memory, one for the memory card) and can access files and folders as is done in a USB "thumb" drive .
