Captivate vs iPhone: Speed

I did not extensively test an iPhone 4, so I did not get a good feel for its multitasking. The iPhone 2G that I tested did not have multitasking. It was slow at times, but overall responsive.

Android's ability to multitask is great because you can have many apps open and running at once. Unfortunately, it doesn't work well on the Captivate due to memory issues. The good news is that turning off some of the widgets and using Advanced Task Killer to periodically kill lingering apps has helped. The downside of this is that it can cause the battery to drain more quickly. Reports are that the new firmware, available in Europe, solves the issue. This will hopefully be fixed with the Android 2.2 (Froyo) update due in September for the Captivate. The biggest place where this is a problem is that the onscreen buttons don't always respond. Once or twice I've caught myself trying to press a virtual button harder in an effort to get it to respond. The other solution is to periodically power down your phone and start it back up again.

If you don't mind managing your tasks either manually or with an automated schedule, Android's multitasking is a nice feature. Developers don't have to rewrite their apps to support it, like they do for the new iPhone OS. If you don't want to be thinking about phone performance, you're better off with an iPhone.

This is the fourth in a series of posts. You can find the first article here.

Captivate vs. iPhone: Ease of Use

To start off the ease of use discussion, I'll mention that I had been using an iPhone for a few weeks and had gotten used to how an iPhone worked.

At first, I had trouble getting used to the iPhone interface. It took me about three days to feel more or less comfortable with it. I still had trouble figuring out some of the settings, but for the most part, it has a very clean interface and is easy to use. Apple does a very good job of just making things work.

Switching to an Android-based phone, I felt clueless again. It took me about a week to feel relatively comfortable with the phone. (Part of this was my e-mail setup, which will be covered in a later post.) I'm still finding settings I didn't know were there. Google has done a great job of making sure their services just work. It's everything else that you want to do with the phone where the complexity starts.

There is one ease of use point where the Captivate beats the iPhone: notifications. Rather than having a notification pop-up on the screen and having to deal with it right now, the Captivate has a notification area. It displays an icon (or multiple icons) at the top of the screen. A simple flick of the finger and you can see your notifications.

In short, the iPhone has a much better "it just works" Mac OS feel. Android feels more like using a really polished Linux machine or a combination of Linux and Windows. Apple clearly wins this category. It should be noted that different phone manufacturers modify Android. The Captivate ships with Samsung's TouchWiz user interface.

This is the third in a series of posts. You can find the first article here.

Captivate vs. iPhone: Overall Design

I mentioned in my previous post that while some felt the plastic feel of the Captivate was too light, I prefer having a lighter phone, though to be fair, the Captivate is only 0.3 ounces lighter than the iPhone. I was not able to get a good feel for how heavy the iPhone 4 was due to it being cabled to the stand at the AT&T store. The Captivate has a sleek looking design that some have compared to the older iPhones at a quick glance. The phone can slip easily in your hand, so I recommend getting a soft case. I bought the Body Glove Clear Soft Shell Case though I wish my local AT&T store had a case with a belt clip.

While the iPhone does boast a higher resolution display, the bigger, 4" AMOLED display on the Captivate is beautiful. It is nice and bright, though in limited full sun use, it was hard to see. Part of this could be due to the default settings of dimmer the screen as needed.

The mini-USB port is at the top of the phone. My last phone (as well as the iPhone I tested) plugged in at the bottom. That has taken a little getting used to. Samsung included a nifty feature when the mini-USB port is not in use. Rather than leaving the port open or having a rubber flap that tends to break, they have a plastic sliding cover. In theory, it was a good idea. In practice, I tend to forget to close it. It also takes a little extra shove to open completely. The one big flaw with the mini-USB port is that it does not use a standard mini-USB plug. This is a bummer as I have a number of mini-USB cables. It was nice having one plugged into my docking station and another in my bag.

The power button is on the side of the phone. Both my last phone and the iPhone I tested had the power button on the top. This isn't a problem, but I find that I'm still having trouble quickly turning on the phone.

I love that the iPhone 4 has both a front and rear facing video camera. This was a big draw for me. The Galaxy S, which the Captivate is based off of, has both video cameras. Sadly, AT&T did not have Samsung include the front facing camera in the Captivate. I suspect that it was to give the iPhone exclusivity in this department, at least for AT&T phones.

Overall, I prefer the look and feel of the Captivate to the iPhone 4. Previous iPhones are a closer call for me. The bigger screen of the Captivate ultimately wins in my opinion, even over the front facing camera due to the fact that the screen is used all of the time whereas the front facing camera is used for limited applications.

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Why I Chose the Samsung Captivate

I recently took the plunge and signed up for two more years with AT&T. I had been using the HTC Wizard and was long overdue for a new phone. I needed a smartphone and it had to be on AT&T due to the shared-minute plan I am on. My original plan was to get either a BlackBerry for its great e-mail and notification capability or an iPhone because of the great apps. I assumed that I would end up with a BlackBerry because it had a physical keyboard.

To help determine if an iPhone was right for me, I borrowed a friend's iPhone 2G. Unfortunately I could only keep my $30 unlimited data plan by going straight from my current phone to a new phone so I used the iPhone in WIFI only mode.

It took me a few days to a week to get used to the virtual keyboard. If it weren't for Apple's error correcting, it would have taken much longer. I was definitely much better in landscape mode, but still not as fast as with a physical keyboard.

After playing with a number of free applications and determining that the virtual keyboard would be good enough, I realized that my decision was between having the notifications of a BlackBerry along with the ability to tether for free and having a great mini computer that had an okay e-mail program. I wanted to get the iPhone, but I was torn.

It was at that point that I started looking into Android. With Android, I could get some of the same (or similar) apps as the iPhone. I also had the openness to install any application I wanted without rooting or jailbreaking my iPhone, which I refused to do. Android phones exist with all major U.S. carriers, so I would have the ability to keep my apps and switch providers, if I desired. I was intrigued.

My choices switched to the iPhone or the Samsung Captivate. I had the ability to play with the Captivate before it was available for sale. I also played with the iPhone 4. While some feel that the Captivate is too light, I enjoyed the feel of it much better than the iPhone 4. In fact, I enjoyed the feel of the iPhone 2G better than the iPhone 4. The bigger screen on the Captivate also helped typing on the virtual keyboard.

After much thinking and research, I settled on the Captivate despite the lack of the front-facing camera. I still wish AT&T had included it, but the openness of the Android platform (both apps and carriers) as well as the integration with Google swayed me.

I picked up my phone the day it came out. While I've had some issues with it, I still think it was the right choice. Stay tuned for more on my experience with the Samsung Captivate.

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