Buying Samsung Captivate Android Phone (AT&T)

Buying Samsung Captivate Android Phone (AT&T)

Great phone, just short on MS Outlook Support & Loaded with Att bloatware

I initially had a love / hate relationship about this phone. The love portion deals with the overall phone appearance (good looking phone); the size (fits in my hands and I can operate with one hand - right or left); the monitor is very clear and has great colors; the phone is well balanced and the overall weight is good. The phone is easy to navigate; Bluetooth feature is good (hey, the paring codes is 0000); the WIFI feature is easy to set-up and the phone does a great job is recognizing a WIFI zone. It shows you the zones and gives you the option to accept. The phone sound quality is good as well as the reception (better than my 4 year old Blackberry). The notification feature is very good. I love the swipe feature for password...very good. Battery life seems to be okay, I can get through a full day without re-charging the battery.

My hates deals with the email feature for Microsoft Outlook (POP3 server) and the much missed information regarding this phone such as:
1) There is NO synch feature with Microsoft Outlook via POP3 (like Blackberry). The USB cable that comes with the phone is used for power (with the electric adaptor) and mass transfer. It's not for synching with Outlook.
2) I have two email accounts on this phone; GMAIL and Outlook. Outlook is my main email (I've had this account for over 15 years). The GMAIL account works perfectly as this is a Google based phone; the phone email and calendar are based on Google. Now I have Outlook working (well to a point). I'm getting my Outlook emails, but the phone deletes the Outlook emails within 2 hours of receiving them (It doesn't delete them from the server). I spoke with the Samsung Tech Rep and he acknowledged this problem and said I was one of the few that got MS Outlook to work to this level.
3) This phone is loaded with ATT bloatware; and you can't delete it. I don't recall this being the case with IPhone (we have 3 in my family).
4) I purchased this phone to watch online video streaming like ESPN3.Com college football. Well, the phone has the capabilities but ATT forces you to use their Mobile Video appl. And this appl turn-off your WIFI connection. Yes, ATT forces you to use their 3G network and it's just doesn't have the muscle and coverage. Oh yeah, you must pay ATT $15 a month to use this appl.

Here what would have helped me before purchasing this phone:
1) MS Outlook works on this phone, but you don't have full features and synch with the PC (You get all of this with IPhone).
2) The phone calendar is based on Google. There is software from Google which synch the Google calendar with your MS Outlook calendar. And it works well.
3) BEFORE YOU CONNECT THE PHONE TO YOUR PC: My sure the phone is fully powered, the change the phone USB feature by: go to the phone setting, then the application, then to USB setting, then change it to mass storage.
4) ATT forces you to use their Mobile Video appl to watch on-line TV/Video; even if you're a Comcast customer who has access to on-line TV and video.
5) Bluetooth pairing code: 0000
6) Loaded with ATT bloatware that you can't delete.
7) As of 10/5/2010, there's NO software download required for this phone
7) Don't call ATT and/or go to their stores if you have any questions regarding this phone. Just call Samsung Tech Support

I've had this phone for a week now; and have had a love / hate relationship. It's more love than hate now since I've found solutions to the calendar and the MS Outlook issue is workable for me. I'm still not pleased with the ATT approach to online video, but I don't have any other options with ATT as my family has three IPhones (wife and kids). I would go with the IPhone 4 but it definitely has dropped call issues. I think the future will be IPhone and Android so I'm planning on keeping this phone...if Apple doesn't fix the IPhone 4 drop calls by the end of the month (just joking)....


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