Customer reviews from Samsung US
Samsung - Captivate Mobile Phone - Black (AT&T)
Average customer rating
4.2
(1,846 Reviews)
Rating breakdown 1,846 reviews
5 Stars
949
4 Stars
544
3 Stars
150
2 Stars
109
1 Star
94
82%of customers recommend this product.
(
1,418 out of
1,721)
Customer Reviews for Samsung - Captivate Mobile Phone - Black (AT&T)
Customer Rating
3
Email synch is bad
on October 6, 2010
Posted by: Stef
Expertise:Intermediate
Fianlly updated from an old Motorola Q which was outdated but with very robust applications and immediate emails. The email synch on the Galaxy is very slow and requires restarts twice/day, not exactly what I had expected on a smartphone several years newer than my Q. Other functions work well on the Galaxy.
Pros: Bright display, Realistic color
Cons: email synch is horrible
No, I would not recommend this to a friend.
Features
4
Performance
2
Design
4
Value
3
Written by a customer while visiting Samsung US
Customer Rating
5
on October 10, 2010
Posted by: RuN237RB
Expertise:Intermediate
Excellent phone
I Love the panoramic option for the camera!
I Love the panoramic option for the camera!
Pros: Bright display, Inexpensive, Durable, Lightweight, camera
I would recommend this to a friend!
Features
5
Performance
4
Design
4
Value
5
Written by a customer while visiting Samsung US
Customer Rating
4
Impressive Phone
on November 21, 2010
Posted by: LuvDaPhone
This is my first smartphone and I knew I didn't want an iPhone (FYI - I like flash and I am flash developer.)
I like the sync features along with Apps.
For me, the only con is the battery life. An extended battery should be available for this model.
Cons: battery life ( should offer extended battery)
I would recommend this to a friend!
Features
4
Performance
4
Design
5
Value
5
Written by a customer while visiting Samsung US
Customer Rating
5
Galaxy S THE BEST
on November 24, 2010
Posted by: TomTech
from San Diego, CA
Expertise:Expert
Outstanding interface, AMOLED Screen, Speed, BT, WiFi, etc...
Pros: Built-in speakers, Bright display, Durable, Lightweight, fast
I would recommend this to a friend!
Features
5
Performance
5
Design
5
Value
5
Written by a customer while visiting Samsung US
Customer Rating
4
Great Phone....Mostly
on November 28, 2010
Posted by: DirtyBallooNot
from Orlando, FL
Expertise:Expert
Bullets for those that don't want to read a ton of info:
THE GOOD:
Screen - Large, Bright, Beautiful
Interface/OS - I personally love Droid for it's features and capabilites, but, it may be too advanced for the average user, or they'll never truly appreciate it.
Style/Durability- The phone is both sexy and it won't break when you drop it, although it does feel "cheap".
-External SD Card - Even WP7 doesn't work like a traditional SD Card. It "merges" with the OS so that the phone only sees one large storage, and you can't remove the SD card while the phone is running.
Audio- Sounds very good for a phone.
Camera-quality
SWYPE/Widgets (Droid)
Screen - Large, Bright, Beautiful
Interface/OS - I personally love Droid for it's features and capabilites, but, it may be too advanced for the average user, or they'll never truly appreciate it.
Style/Durability- The phone is both sexy and it won't break when you drop it, although it does feel "cheap".
-External SD Card - Even WP7 doesn't work like a traditional SD Card. It "merges" with the OS so that the phone only sees one large storage, and you can't remove the SD card while the phone is running.
Audio- Sounds very good for a phone.
Camera-quality
SWYPE/Widgets (Droid)
The BAD:
Camera-Lack of flash/hardware phone button
Charging port change/location/door
Samsung/ATT apps (unremovable)
No 2.2
No desktop client (Kies?)
No Outlook sync (Droid)
Camera-Lack of flash/hardware phone button
Charging port change/location/door
Samsung/ATT apps (unremovable)
No 2.2
No desktop client (Kies?)
No Outlook sync (Droid)
PUSH:
GPS/Battery life - Both seem to be a toss-up. My GPS has always worked, but, it is flaky with Google maps nav
GPS/Battery life - Both seem to be a toss-up. My GPS has always worked, but, it is flaky with Google maps nav
Let me say that I owned an iphone 3G, 4G, and currently also own a Focus (WP7) and although Droid, especially 2.1 is not nearly as polished as either, the capabilites, and ability to modify this phone (OS) are unsurpassed. As others have mentioned rooting and upgrading to 2.2 is almost a necessity to see what the phone is capable of. 2.1 is decent, but, not mind-blowing; there's a significant amount of lag and the built-in, undeletable ATT/Samsung apps are not only atrocious, but, CRIMINAL, as NONE of the ATT stock apps will work on WiFi, and since they 've abolished unlimited data plans it seems like there are blatantly trying to screw customers. I've also owed several Samsung "dumb phones" (Epic, Impression, Solstace) in the past, and this seems par for the course, they are also notorious for NOT SUPPORTING EXISTING PRODUCTS. (Hence no 2.2) of course, there's also MOSTLY good with all Samsung products.
The screen, while it lacks the resolution of the iphone, is truly gorgeous and the accelerometor works as good as any iphone. I've also never used any type of screen protection, and have zero scratches after several months. It's also clearly larger than the iphone, which is more pleasant for pictures and videos
SWYPE is truly the easiest way to text, period. I disliked the iphone touch screen and assumed this would be more of the same, but, this feature is brilliant. The touch screen isn't quite as refined as the iphone, perhaps because it's not glass, but, it's close, and a trade-off I'll take every time.
The phone doesn't feel nearly as sturdy as the iphone, but, it's definately more durable and weighs considerably less. I've dropped mine a few times with no ill-effect. The metal back-plate is a head-scratcher, and can get warm when you're multi-tasking.
Camera quality is decent, slightly less impressive than the iphone, but, lack of a flash was a HUGE oversight by SAMSUNG. I couldn't care less about a front-facing camera, but, the lack of a flash was completely ill-thought and short-sighted. (They've since added a flash to the Focus, but, not sure that was Samsung and not MS's HW reqs) Lack of a harware button for the camera was a poor decision as well. (Yet another MS HW req that is on the Focus)
The ability to add an external SD card is a huge plus, and media/file management in general is far simpler than an iphone, or the WP7 for a computer saavy user. Mounting the internal SD card, and using it as mass storage makes moving files back and forth far less painful than Zune or iTunes. The file management can be a bit tedious for the average user though. For example, if you add ringtones or notification tones they must be in a "ringtone" or "notification" folder for the OS to recognize them. (This might be a bit much for the average user, and again, is why I say Droid is less "polished")
With that said. There's no Droid "Store" for music, so, if you prefer to download music from the phone you're kind of out of luck here (there are alternatives, but, the lack of a true media store is baffling)
Battery life is on par with other smart phones (Save the iPhone 4G, which is phenominal), which is to say it's fairly poor, but, it seems some users have had better luck than others, just like the GPS.
The audio actually is the one thing that crushes the iphone. It sounds pretty good used as a media player through the aux port.
The charging port and proprietary charging port (Which changed from the OLD Samsung proprietary port) is on top of the phone, and foolish. This basically means that you can buy a dock or cradle, but, to charge you still need the pigtail to attach at the top of the phone...Silly The trap-door feature is kind of odd as well.
Other than that, the design is a plus in my book. It's a little wider and slightly thicker than the iphone, but, considering the bigger screen it's a fair trade-off.
Another head-scratcher: Samsung Kies. The apparent desktop sync/app platform is the default action when you first connect the phone, however, there's no link to download under Samsung US support site, and you have to do a little work to get it, and it's far from ready for prime-time. With no native support for Outlook in the droid OS, and the fact all the older Samsung desktop clients sync'd with Outlook, this COULD BE a good option in the future.
CONCLUSION: If you are a techie, and don't mind rooting and flashing 2.2 on your phone, you'll love it, and the lack of hardware and OS features should be overshadowed by the capabilites and ability to actually customize your phone. The widgets, apps, and developer support is great on the drois OS. Samsung still fars short in several areas, but, makes a good enough phone.
Pros: Built-in speakers, Bright display, Durable, Realistic color, Lightweight, sd card
Cons: Did not meet expectations, no 2.2 droid os still, no camera flash, no camera harware button, stock apps
I would recommend this to a friend!
Features
4
Performance
5
Design
5
Value
2
Written by a customer while visiting Samsung US
Customer Rating
5
Fast phone
on August 2, 2010
Posted by: Tilex
Expertise:Intermediate
Lightning quick, Andriod, clarity, size, and camera.....This is the 'it' phone!
I would recommend this to a friend!
Written by a customer while visiting Samsung US
Customer Rating
1
Poor Service and useless GPS
on November 28, 2010
Posted by: signguy
from Michigan
Expertise:Intermediate
I traded out my HTC Aria for this phone because of the larger screen. I wish I wouldn't have done it! At my work my aria and past phones had around 3 bars of service all the time, my captivate might hit three bars occasionally, but as soon as you dial it drops to 1 bar or no service. 30 seconds is about the longest I've held a conversation in the building. I never had a problem with any of my previous phones. Also the GPS on this thing is useless. Very frustrating w/ all the apps & navigation programs that rely on it. I wish I would have returned it when I had the chance, but everyone keeps talking about how these things will be fixed. After several months of having the phone, I'm really starting to not believe it.
Pros: Bright display, Durable, Realistic color
Cons: Poor quality, Did not meet expectations
Features
4
Performance
1
Design
4
Value
2
Written by a customer while visiting Samsung US
Customer Rating
1
Poorly Executed Phone
on December 21, 2010
Posted by: StPaulPHoneGuy
from St. Paul, MN
Expertise:Expert
The phone has all the features, but fails terribly. Built in Exchange e-mail application is the worst I have ever had. It's slow to load, crashes all the time and stops running all by itself.
Great screen, best part of the phone.
Samsung has a terrible reputation of upgrading it's phone software. This is deserved. Still waiting for Froyo, something all other phones that compete with this device has had for months. They blame carrier, but then why do other devices have it already. And now gingerbread is out.
This will be the last Samsung phone I will ever own.
Pros: Bright display, Realistic color
Cons: Poor quality, Did not meet expectations, slow upgrades, poor custom ui
No, I would not recommend this to a friend.
Features
5
Performance
1
Design
3
Value
4
Written by a customer while visiting Samsung US